The American Mafia - Quarteraro Brothers

Quarteraro Brothers

Carlo and Vincenzo Quarteraro were believed to be the perpetrators of the first New York City killing to be officially associated with the Mafia.

Antonio Flaccomio was stabbed to death near the Cooper Union Building at Eighth Street and Third Avenue, Oct. 14, 1888. New York's chief of detectives, Thomas Byrnes, told the New York Times that he believed the killing had been ordered by a secret society known as the Mafia. He added that Flaccomio had been targeted for betraying a fellow Mafia member.

Another reason for Flaccomio's death was suggested by some newspapers. It was learned that Flaccomio had killed his brother-in-law and business partner Camilio Farach in an 1884 quarrel in the woods of Staten Island. Farach's brother Raymon swore revenge on Flaccomio and was initially believed - along with brother John Farach - to be a key player in Flaccomio's 1888 killing.

One other motive in the killing surfaced in the papers and was astonishingly perceptive for its time (recall that federal authorities did not recognize an organized Mafia until the late 1950s). A news story, which probably originated in one of the now-defunct newspapers of New York and was run in the Atlanta Constitution of Oct. 28, 1888, stated that Flaccomio's death had been ordered by a Sicilian society called Mafia based in New York and New Orleans.

According to the news account: "Flaccomio had been adjudged a traitor to the organization, of which at one time he was a prominent member, and it is said that Carmilio Farach... had been enrolled in the same society. The unjustifiable killing of Farach was one of the causes which led to the removal of ... Flaccomio and the second one was the recent betrayal of several of his countrymen who were counterfeiters and brother members of the Mafia."

With the aid of Francesco Aita and Natale Sabatino, the Quarteraro brothers performed the execution. Carlo Quarteraro is believed to have wielded the murder weapon and to have fled to Sicily afterward. Vincenzo was apprehended and stood trial. The Quarteraro trial in spring 1889 resulted in acquittal.

According to legend, Byrnes responded to the verdict by declaring that the Italian/Sicilian criminals in the city could "go ahead and kill each other."