9 Restaurants Where Mobsters Were Whacked

Restaurants, often chosen for their public nature and their ability to catch targets off guard, have witnessed some of the most infamous mob hits in history. These seemingly ordinary establishments have become legendary in the annals of the Mafia, forever associated with the dramatic events that unfolded within their walls. Here are nine restaurants where mobsters met their untimely end — and what has become of these locations today.

1. Nuova Villa Tammaro Restaurant

2715 W 15th St, Coney Island — April 15th 1931

Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria’s favourite restaurant was Nuova Villa Tammaro — a popular seafood spot on the Coney Island waterfront. On 15 April 1931, Masseria arrived to join Charles “Lucky” Luciano for an afternoon of drinking, card playing and dining.

Luciano excused himself from the table to use the bathroom. During those few minutes, gunmen entered and opened fire. Masseria was found lying on the ground with a bloody ace of spades clenched in his right hand — an image that passed into mob legend. The hit had been arranged by Luciano himself, clearing the path to end the Castellammarese War and reshape American organised crime entirely.

The eatery was later closed and is now the site of the Banner Smoked Fish Company.

2. Umberto’s Clam House

132 Mulberry St, Little Italy, Manhattan — April 7th 1972

Crazy Joe Gallo received one hell of a birthday present — an assassination. He was dining for his 43rd birthday with his sister Carmella Fiorello, his new wife Sina Essary, her 10-year-old daughter Lisa (his new stepdaughter), his bodyguard Peter “Pete the Greek” Diapoulas and Pete’s companion Edith Russo.

Joey was on his second helping of shrimp and scungilli salad when four gunmen entered and began firing. A table was flipped to shield Gallo’s wife and daughter. Diapoulas, wounded, returned fire but missed as the gunmen fled. Severely wounded, Gallo stumbled to the restaurant door, cursing the fleeing gunmen, before falling to the floor of the street in a puddle of blood — the first time in mob history that a mobster had been shot and killed in front of his wife and children.

The original Umberto’s eventually closed. The location is now an Italian restaurant called Da Gennaro.

3. Joe and Mary’s Italian Restaurant

205 Knickerbocker Ave, Bushwick — July 12th 1979

Carmine “Lilo” Galante — nicknamed for his ever-present cigar — had risen to head the Bonanno family and become a target by wanting to become Boss of all Bosses, making clear he wasn’t afraid to eliminate rivals to get there. He was dining at Joe and Mary’s with Leonard Coppola and restaurant owner and cousin Giuseppe Turano. His two bodyguards, Baldassare Amato and Cesare Bonventre, were also present.

Three ski-masked men entered and opened fire with a shotgun and handguns, leaving Galante and his two companions dead. Curiously, Amato and Bonventre — the bodyguards — emerged entirely unscathed, leading many to conclude they had been complicit in the hit.

Galante was found with an eye shot out, crumpled on the ground, a cigar still clenched in his mouth. The image became one of the most iconic in Mafia history. The Italian restaurant is now a Mexican eatery called Taqueria La Asuncion.

4. Sparks Steakhouse

210 E 46th St, Midtown Manhattan — December 16th 1985

Paul Castellano and his bodyguard Thomas Bilotti had just come from their lawyer’s office when they pulled up directly outside the restaurant. They were immediately surrounded — four men unleashed a barrage of shots. Castellano was hit a dozen times. Bilotti was hit four times and collapsed on the pavement. Both were dead when police arrived.

It was the work of John Gotti and Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, who had hatched the plan two weeks prior. Gotti watched the hit from a car nearby and walked into the Gambino family’s top seat that same night. It remains one of the most audacious mob murders in American history — carried out in broad daylight on one of Midtown Manhattan’s busiest streets.

Sparks Steakhouse remained open and became a dedicated tourist spot for Mafia enthusiasts for over three decades before finally closing permanently in 2019.

5. The Palace Chop House

12 East Park Street, Newark, New Jersey — October 23rd 1935

The Palace Chop House and Tavern in Newark was Dutch Schultz’s headquarters. On the evening of 23 October 1935, Schultz and his men were dining and talking business at the tavern. At around 10:15pm, Dutch Schultz was shot in the men’s room. He staggered out to the main area, eventually sitting down at a table, before being transported to hospital where he died the following day after delivering hours of delirious, rambling statements that were recorded verbatim by a police stenographer and have fascinated historians ever since.

The building is no longer standing.

6. Joe’s Elbow Room Restaurant

793 Palisade Avenue, Cliffside Park, New Jersey — October 4th 1951

On the morning of 4 October 1951, Willie Moretti drove to Joe’s Elbow Room Restaurant. Upon entering, he shook hands with one mobster and was greeted by three more inside, sitting down at a table. He only made it to the menu before being gunned down at 11:25am.

They killed him with a degree of respect — the hit was seen as an act of mercy rather than pure business, carried out because Moretti’s mental health was declining and mob leadership feared he would say things he shouldn’t in his confused state. He was talking too much and had become a liability.

The restaurant is now an upscale Italian restaurant called Villa Amalfi.

7. Colosimo’s Restaurant

2126–2128 South Wabash, Chicago — May 11th 1920

Big Jim Colosimo was a major player in the Mustache Pete era of Chicago crime before Prohibition. He opened Colosimo’s Restaurant in 1910 and it quickly became a popular destination for prominent Chicagoans and visiting celebrities. It was also where he came to his fateful end — a bullet in the back of the head.

On the afternoon of 11 May 1920, Big Jim returned to the restaurant expecting a delivery. Instead, one of Johnny Torrio’s men ambushed him in the lobby, making way for a new era of leadership within the Chicago Outfit — one that would eventually produce Al Capone. Even after the assassination, the cafe continued operating under the same name for another 35 to 40 years. Today, the area is a car park.

8. Neopolitan Noodle Restaurant

East 79th Street, Manhattan — August 11th 1972

This case stands as one of the most tragic cases of mistaken identity in mob history. Two innocent meat wholesalers — Sheldon Epstein and Max Tekelch — were fatally shot in front of their wives and friends at the Neopolitan Noodle Restaurant.

The seats they occupied had moments earlier been vacated by four Colombo crime family gangsters who were all targets of loyalists to Crazy Joe Gallo, who had been fatally shot months earlier at Umberto’s Clam House. The hitman entered the restaurant, took a seat at the bar, ordered a scotch and water, and coolly surveyed the room for five minutes. When those minutes were up, he stood, pulled out a .38 calibre revolver and opened fire — on the wrong men.

The restaurant closed and the site is now an Albanian mission.

9. Rao’s Restaurant

455 E 114th St, East Harlem — December 29th 2003

The doors of this legendary eatery opened in 1896. Dinner reservations are notoriously impossible to obtain — regular tables are effectively owned by the same families and individuals year after year, and outsiders rarely get in.

On 29 December 2003, the place was full to capacity. Bartender Nicky the Vast was pouring the drinks, and Broadway actress and singer Rena Strober was performing. Albert Circelli, a Lucchese family soldier, began rudely heckling Strober — shouting to get her off the stage. Louis Barone, another wiseguy, shushed him. Circelli responded with a graphic threat. Enraged, Barone pulled out a revolver he had concealed in his jacket and fired once into Circelli’s back, killing him.

Barone pleaded to reduced charges and accepted a 15-year prison sentence. Rao’s is still open, still full to the brim, and still just as difficult to book.

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