Anthony Oberto (January 10, 1980) also known as “Tony Two Guns” was a New York Mafioso and freelance gunmen for numerous Mafia and syndicate families on the East Coast of the United States. He was also involved in operating a tri-state auto theft ring and a series of gangland style shootings in the late 1990s. He was implicated in the murders of two New York city drug dealers in 1999, who had tried to kill him a year earlier. He was one of the youngest members to be involved in organized crime. He has long standing ties with the Gambino crime family and strong ties to the Philadelphia family. After his arrest and facing a slew of charges and life in prison, he agreed to testify and turn states evidence and became a government witness. He entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program in 2000. After testifying against his former associates in 2001, he left the program for breaking various rules associated with the program. His current whereabouts are unknown.
Early life Called “Tony Two Guns” because he always carried two pistols, he began his criminal career working for Louis Vallario, a well known captain in the Gambino family. Vallario was his paternal uncle and mentored him at an early age. Working as a low level courier and bag man, Tony slowly reached the status from associate to street soldier. His talents were soon noticed as a trigger man. When certain drug dealers and criminals came into Gambino territory and operated without paying street tax or stealing and robbing without family approval, Oberto was dispatched to eliminate these threats to the families business. At only twenty years old he was linked to three gangland slayings and was implicated in the murders of two infamous drug dealers from Queens in 1999. He also masterminded a tri-state auto theft ring that operated from New York to Pennsylvania to Minnesota. Netting hundreds of thousands of dollars per week for the family, he became an exceptional earner and was considered a rising star among his peers. Family ties He had numerous uncles and cousins who were already made members or associates in the Gambino crime family. He is the nephew of Louis Vallario and is related through marriage to , then a high-ranking captain in the family. He is the cousin of John Veasey, a notorious gunmen for the Philadelphia crime family. When Oberto was in his late teens he was sent to spend the summers in Philadelphia where he was schooled by his cousin John on the skills and tools of the trade. Veasey taught him how to shoot, and gave him the moniker “Two Guns” because he would always like to shoot with two guns instead of one. He would constantly display his guns to get his point across to stubborn individuals who would not pay. If someone pulled a gun on him, he would always pull two. After a while the nickname stuck. Attempted murder In 1998 when he was sent to collect a debt from a pair of drug dealers from Queens who had up to that point had been paying street tax and now refused to pay. Oberto was sent to Queens to an arranged meeting set up by the drug dealers who finally agreed to pay the money plus interest. The meeting was set at a small pizzeria off of Queens Boulevard. The dealers didn’t show up, and after waiting for over two hours, Oberto left. As he began to walk to a nearby pay phone to inform his uncle of what happened, a large van pulled up along side him practically driving onto the sidewalk. The sliding door of the van opened and two men grabbed Oberto and pulled him inside the vehicle. He was brought to an apartment basement nearby and was repeatedly pistol whipped and beaten to the point of unconsciousness. He suffered numerous injuries including a broken jaw, three broken ribs and various lacerations from a knife. He was also shot at point blank range in his right ankle. His body was dumped along Woodhaven Boulevard and was left for dead. A passer-by in a car noticed a van pull over on the side of the road and saw a man lift something out of the side door onto the street. The good Samaritan pulled up in her car after the van had left and she found the barely breathing young man covered in a pool of blood and lying face down on the street. She called an ambulance and Oberto was rushed to the Jamaica Medical Center in Jamaica Queens. He spent the next 6 1/2 months recovering from his injuries. The two drug dealers that nearly killed him were Ramon Fuentes and Franklin Vega, two low level criminals who thought themselves untouchable because they both were selling drugs for members of the Genovese crime family. Revenge After his long hospital stay, Oberto sought revenge, but was prepared to wait for the right time. Louis Vallario arranged a sit down with made members of the Genovese faction regarding the matter. An agreement was made between the two and rather than start a feud, the Genovese family gave up the two dealers in exchange for compensation. The dealers were two ex-cons who constantly abused their power as associates. The pair were frequently robbing and extorting businesses in other family’s territory. They worked for , a powerful Caporegime in the Genovese family, who was glad to get rid of them. He was quietly paid off by Vallario and in turn he was given their home addresses. Upon hearing the news of his assailants' whereabouts, Oberto followed both men over a period of days. After the fifth day he waited until Franklin Vega entered his apartment on 138th street and Hoover Ave. Oberto waited outside until he was able to grab the door from a passing tenant leaving in a rush. He went upstairs to the front door of Vega's apartment. He held a silenced pistol against the door above the peephole. Oberto quietly tapped on the door and as he could see the shadow in the peephole, he pulled the trigger and shot Vega through the door. His body fell to the floor, Vega was killed instantly with a single gunshot wound to the head. After he killed him, Tony quietly picked up the shell casing and put it in his pocket and calmy left the building and took the train back to brooklyn. Ramone Fuentes was killed the following night. Oberto and fellow crew member Joseph Desimone got a tip that Fuentes frequented a bar on Liberty avenue usually every night. Desimone and Oberto waited in a parked car across the street from Roy’s Restaurant and sports bar. They waited until he got out of his car and went into the bar. Oberto got out and punctured the rear tire of Fuentes' car with a pocket knife. The two men waited for over four hours until the bar started to close. Fuentes was one of the last people to leave the bar. Fuentes noticed the shredded tire and opened the trunk to get out a tire iron. Oberto and Desimone approached him, pistols drawn. Oberto shot Fuentes three times: twice in the head and once in the throat. DeSimone pushed Fuentes into his trunk and shot him twice more. Oberto closed the trunk of the Lincoln and they got into Desimone’s car and drove off. Later testimony revealed that there were no witnesses on the street that heard the shots. After numerous parking tickets on Fuentes’ Town Car, his body was discovered a week later. By eliminating the two men that had nearly killed him, Oberto further cemented his reputation on the streets as a feared killer at only twenty years old. The Reign of the Tri Borough Trio Not long after, Oberto was given other opportunities to expand his criminal resume. He and his newly formed crew became involved in even more lucrative schemes that included robbery, extortion, narcotics distribution and auto theft. There were seven members of Oberto’s crew: Joey Desimone, Carmine Lombardi, James Agrilio, Anthony Provenzano, Vincent Artuso, Louis Delecassio, and Frank Longo. Each crew member had different connections all over the city. They were known as the Tri-Borough Trio because they operated out of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Although they were considered “small time” by their much older counterparts, the crew was able to operate in all three boroughs by paying street tax to local captains in each family's territory. The crew was pulling in over $900,000 a week. An internal power struggle within the crew would lead to Oberto’s downfall. At the height of the crew’s power they were constantly being put under surveillance by Kings County authorities, The Nassau County authorities and soon the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI targeted their operations in a city-wide sting operation and soon federal indictments were handed down implicating various members of the trio and made members of the family. There was also signs of jealousy forming within the crew over Oberto making the most money, and over his second in command and good friend Joey Desimone, who was profiting from selling narcotics for the crew. Vincent Artuso along with Frank Longo decided they could make more money for themselves so they decided to kill Oberto and Desimone and take over their profits on the street. Meanwhile Anthony Provenzano and Carmine Lombardi were locked up in Rikers Island on robbery charges, and James Agrillio was killed weeks earlier after he was stabbed by a man in an altercation at a bar. With each member of the crew going away Artuso saw this as a way to make a power play to take over the gang and increase his earnings. Oberto was not aware of the plot against him and did not expect members of his own crew to kill him. Arrest and trial The attempt on his life came on April 13, 2000 when he and Desimone were called to Brooklyn to meet Artuso and Longo and other crew members for a meeting. However Artuso had dispatched Frank Longo to kill them both. As Desimone picked up Oberto from his apartment on 86th street, he was being tailed by Longo in a black Buick sedan. Desimone pulled up to a stoplight and Longo pulled up beside him. Longo fired a 12 gauge shotgun and pointed at point blank range into the car. Desimone was killed instantly and Longo sped off thinking he had killed them both. Oberto only had minor injuries, and as Desimone was shot, Oberto grabbed the wheel of his car as it accelerated and crashed into a nearby tree. Fearing Longo would come back to finish the job, Oberto left the scene of the shooting and was noticed by a passing police officer. Oberto began to shoot at the oncoming squad car and other vehicles to try to get away. After a nine block chase on foot, limping and bleeding, he was surrounded and was tackled by three police officers and an off duty detective. He was charged with attempted murder of a police officer and numerous other charges. Oberto was facing life in prison and was given a choice to cooperate or face the rest of his life behind bars. After finding out about his crew's betrayal and after making calls to his uncle who wanted nothing to do with him, he agreed to testify for the federal government and was placed in the Witness Protection Program on April 30, 2000. In exchange for his testimony, Oberto was given immunity and testified in several trials against his boss and former associates in the year to come. He helped to convict Frank Longo and Vincent Artuso on murder charges and other members of the Gambino and Genovese family. He also testified against the Ozone Park Boys, a rival street crew and also helped to convict over a dozen low level criminals and drug pushers. Described by prosecutors and defense lawyers alike as an individual with a charming charisma and the ability to get along with virtually anyone, “When you meet him he doesn’t even look he would be involved in the mob, he looks more like a young college kid.” Standing five foot eight, skinny with brown hair, brown eyes and youthful features. After all the trials were over Oberto was relocated for a brief time in the witness protection program. However Oberto broke various infractions set by the federal marshals, and he was taken out of the program. There is still an outstanding contract on his life from the Genovese crime family. His current whereabouts are unknown.