| Salvatore D'Aquila | |
| Nationality: | Italian |
| Birth Date: | 7 November 1873 |
| Birth Place: | Palermo, Sicily, Italy |
| Death Place: | Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Cause: | Gunshot |
| Resting Place: | St. John Cemetery, Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Alias: | "Toto" |
| Occupation: | Crime boss, mobster |
| Predecessor: | Ignazio Lupo |
| Successor: | Manfredi Mineo |
| Allegiance: | D'Aquila crime family |
Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila (pronounced as /it/; November 7, 1873 – October 10, 1928) was an early Italian-American Mafia boss in New York City of the D'Aquila crime family, what would later become known as the Gambino crime family.[1] [2]
Salvatore D'Aquila was born on November 7, 1873, in Palermo, Sicily, to Salvatore D'Aquila and his wife Provvidenza Gagliardo. D'Aquila emigrated to the United States in 1906 and became an early captain within the Morello crime family in East Harlem. D'Aquila was arrested in 1906 and in 1909; both times the charges were dropped.[3] In 1910, boss of bosses Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello was imprisoned and Salvatore D'Aquila separated from the Morello family.[4] D'Aquila formed his own crime family and was appointed the new capo dei capi. His crime family operated from East Harlem and the Bronx, where he rivaled the Morellos'.
D'Aquila expanded his crime family's power into Brooklyn and southern Manhattan's Lower East Side/Little Italy neighborhoods. The most prominent members of the D'Aquila family were Umberto Valenti, Manfredi Mineo, Giuseppe Traina, and Frank Scalise. In 1920, after Giuseppe Morello was released from prison, D'Aquila tried to have him and his closest allies murdered. In 1925, D'Aquila moved back into the Bronx.
On October 10, 1928, D'Aquila was shot dead on Avenue A in Manhattan, aged 54. After his murder, D'Aquila's family was taken over by Manfredi Mineo.[5] [6]
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