Angelo Sepe

Angelo John Sepe (January 14, 1941 South Ozone Park, Queens - July 18, 1984 New Utrecht, Brooklyn) also known as "Angie", was a associate of the Lucchese crime family. He was a suspect in the 1978 Lufthansa heist, a petty thug, and ex-brother-in-law of Lucchese crime family associate Tony Rodriguez.
Family history and lineage
Angelo Sepe's ancestors "Philipe Sepe" and "Josephine Marino" were both villagers from outside Marigliano, in the province of Naples, Campania Caserta, Italy. The couple married and immigrated to the U.S.A. in the 19th century via ocean liner.
Upon their arrival Phillipe and Josephine settled in Brooklyn, New York and raised 6 children; Vincenzo born c.a. (1871), Rose born c.a. (1872), John (a.k.a Jack), Anthony, Marie and Florence (dates of birth for the latter 3 are unknown).
Through marriage, Sepe could boast that he was in fact, literally, part of a "true" organized crime family: he was a nephew to both Colombo crime family capo Ralph Spero (December 17, 1925 - February 3, 1992) and Thomas Spero (December 28, 1923 - February 1980) as well as a being a cousin to Colombo crime family member Thomas Spero, and was also a brother-in-law to Colombo crime family associate Tony Rodriguez.
Personal life
Born and raised in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York, Sepe was known to have attended Shallow Junior High School and New Utrecht High School. Possessing an unkempt appearance and short temper, Sepe was expelled from Shallow Junior High School for truancy and violent behavior. Later, Sepe reportedly attended New Utrecht High School where he was again expelled for the same behavior. During the same period, Sepe began his criminal career as a juvenile delinquent by committing petty crimes and other small crimes with the street gang The Rampers, eventually amassing 14 recorded arrests by the age of 18. It was also during this time that Sepe was introduced to organized crime, through Thomas and Ralph Spero (his uncles by marriage) and Colombo family members themselves.
As Sepe grew into adulthood, he became engaged to, and subsequently wed, the sister of Colombo family associate, Tony Rodriguez. Despite a turbulent and often violent marriage in which Sepe was the aggressor, he began courting Joanna Lombardo, aged 17, of Long Island City, Queens. Despite an unwritten La Cosa Nostra protocol to remain with your spouse, Sepe divorced his wife and eventually took up residence with Ms. Lombardo - scraping together a living from transport truck and hijackings. Regardless of Sepe's financial status, he was reported to have been a heavy cocaine user, indulging in more than 2 grams a day.
Allegiance to the Lucchese crime family
Much later, the late 1970s Sepe aligned himself with the Lucchese crime family to be with his friend Thomas DeSimone. Sepe met Thomas at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary where Thomas was serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted of a transport truck hijacking. He himself was sentenced to five years in prison after being arrested for bank robbery in 1973. Sepe first came to the attention of Jimmy Burke with the help of Thomas DeSimone. Jimmy and Paul Vario were always looking for a young man who knew how to be brutal when the moment demanded drastic action.
Jimmy began giving Sepe odd jobs and was promised by Jimmy that he would introduce him to his capo Paul Vario. After his "transfer" to the Lucchese crime family, Sepe became a member of the crew headed by Paul Vario. From being raised under the guidance of his surrogate father figure, his uncle Ralph Spero, he learned the omerta and learned the old style ways of the Mustache Petes. After Ralph was executed by Sammy Gravano years later in 1980 for becoming a FBI informant, Sepe was very distraught and angered over his uncle's brutal gang land style execution. This severed all his personal and business ties with the Colombo crime family. Later, Jimmy Burke took Sepe under his wing.
Sepe was not well liked by the rest of the Vario Crew. Sepe and Thomas were both told to stay clear of The Suite, The Bamboo Lounge and Robert's Lounge because of the constant police surveillance they brought onto themselves, but they blatantly disobeyed the order. Both he and Thomas DeSimone were considered by Henry Hill to be "young and crazy." He lived in a truncated emotional world with extremely limited social relationships, other than his fellow criminals. Even with his mere height Sepe had a presence about him that made him a feared freelance contract killer for the Colombo crime family and later the Lucchese crime family. He was a listener of rock and roll and disco which he would play to drown out the words of conversations he held in his brand new 1979 Ford Thunderbird after discovering that it had been bugged.
Sepe was so obsessed with taking care of stray animals that to fellow mobsters he seemed odd and reclusive. His home located at 8861 on 20th Avenue in New Utrecht, Brooklyn became known by friends and neighbors as a animal shelter and animal sanctuary for stray and abandoned animals, including rabbits, birds, ferrets, raccoons, turtles and whatever else he came upon, or wandered in from the home's nearby Gravesend Park located in neighboring Gravesend, Brooklyn.
While incarcerated in prison he received a position as a chef and worked alongside his cell mate Thomas DeSimone at Leavenworth. They would perform contract killings while incarcerated and were known to leave the bodies in the prison's industrial-sized bread dough mixing vats.
Criminal involvement
Sepe was a friend and fellow hitman of Tommy DeSimone. Sepe helped murder Parnell Edwards with Tommy DeSimone and allegedly helped in the murder and at least the first attempt to murder Martin Krugman.
This attempt was later called off by Burke. Jimmy Burke was convinced by Henry Hill to spare him because of the money Krugman was earning through his successful bookmaking and loansharking racket. Jimmy Burke and Tommy DeSimone would later follow through with their plan and murder Krugman a short while later. Shortly before Sepe's murder he bought a 1979 Thunderbird for $15,000 cash. This attracted the attention of the police for his role in the murder. He is also suspected of being involved in helping Jimmy Burke murder his front-man and con-artist Richard Eaton. Before he was murdered he was being charged for having possession of a concealed weapon. Following the Lufthansa Heist it is alleged that he accompanied Tommy DeSimone to the apartment of gofer Stacks Edwards, where Tommy DeSimone fired 6 bullets into the head and chest of Edwards on the orders of Jimmy Burke. He also helped DeSimone murder Martin Krugman, Theresa Ferrara, Paolo LiCastri and supposedly Louis Cafora (and his wife Joanna) on the orders of Jimmy Burke including a warehouse foreman with DeSimone in Morristown, New Jersey.
The Lufthansa heist
When Jimmy Burke was looking to bring together a team to pull off the Lufthansa heist, Sepe suggested his ex-brother-in-law, the convicted loanshark and drug trafficker Tony Rodriguez. In January 1978, Rodriquez had been arrested with Sepe in his Bridgehampton, New York home where Sepe lived with his long-time girlfriend "Hope Barron" in 1979, the FBI recovered cocaine, heroin and firearms. Sepe and Anthony both went free though when it was discovered that the search warrants were not properly executed by the FBI. His brand new Cadillac was bugged by the FBI and they attempted to implicate him in the death of Richard Eaton. He was also seen before the robbery by witnesses to be in possession of a revolver.
Sepe was a suspected "stick up" man for the Lufthansa heist. He was brought on by the suggestion of his former Leavenworth cell mate Thomas DeSimone in 1977. Kerry Whalen, the night-shift security guard who had been hit across the forehead when he first encountered the masked gunmen, picked out a mugshot of Sepe who he said resembled the man who hit him. After rounding up the hostages Sepe had taken his mask off to wipe his sweaty brow and thereby revealed his identity. Following the heist he bought a brand new 1979 Ford Thunderbird for $9,000 in cash in $50 and $100 bills. The police bugged Sepe's Thunderbird and managed to record him talking to an unidentified man about "....a brown case and a bag from Lufthansa..." This alone was not enough to convict him for the robbery.
Death
Sepe and his girlfriend Joanna Lombardo were murdered on July 18, 1984 in Sepe's basement apartment located at 8861 20th Avenue (Shore Haven Apartments) in Bath Beach, Brooklyn. Two Mafia killers with pistols equipped with silencers came to Sepe's home for revenge. Volkman and Cummings say that, "Before he could ask the hoods not to harm his girlfriend, they put three bullets into his head. Then they walked into a tiny sleeping alcove. One of the gunmen put his gun into the open mouth of the sleeping girl and pulled the trigger."
Various theories have been offered for Sepe's murder. In the book The Heist it is claimed that a week prior to Sepe's death, Sepe had robbed a Lucchese crime family-affiliated drug trafficker, and that Sepe's murder was retaliation. It is also suspected that the Gambino crime family may have ordered Sepe's murder because it was known he was seeking revenge for the murder of his uncle Ralph "Shorty" Spero. Ralph Spero was murdered by Sammy Gravano in 1980.
Sepe was one of the few conspirators in the Lufthansa heist who was not murdered by Burke. The others were Hill and Tommy DeSimone. DeSimone would later be killed by the Gambino crime family in an unrelated situation. Hill would later enter the Witness Protection Program.
Sepe's young son, Nicholas Philip Sepe (24 July 1978 - 29 August 1984), died under 'mysterious' circumstances not long after his father's murder. Nicholas was buried in Stirling Cemetery, located outside Greenport, Long Island, New York.
Portrayals in film
The character Frank "Frankie" Carbone was based on Sepe and was portrayed by actor Frank Sivero in the movie Goodfellas. In the film Frankie is involved in the Lufthansa heist and accompanies Tommy on the murder of Parnell Edwards. One major difference is that in the film Frankie was killed by Jimmy Conway (based on Jimmy Burke) and discovered frozen solid in a meat truck. In real life Richie Eaton was the one who was killed by Burke and left in a meat truck.
In the film The Big Heist he is portrayed as "Angelo J. Sepe" by actor Robert Morelli.

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