An imprisoned mob capo was charged yesterday with plotting the murder of a Bronx car dealer from behind bars, officials said.
Gregory DePalma, an ailing Gambino chieftain serving a six-year sentence, was caught on tape ranting about the “rat” salesman who allegedly cheated him and his family out of money.
“That fat [expletive], I’ll show him a thing or two,” DePalma said in a recorded phone conversation with an accused accomplice.
DePalma, 69, was allegedly furious at the car dealer for skimming off secret payments the dealer had been making to DePalma’s family since the former Mafia captain went to prison.
The dealer had allegedly agreed to give the DePalmas $2,500 every week, but the payments had started shrinking recently, authorities said.
To reward the would-be hit man for the rubout, DePalma allegedly offered to pay in jewelry and sell him brownstone buildings at hugely discounted prices.
DePalma set up the execution while being treated for lung cancer and heart problems at the federal prison hospital in Springfield, Mo., officials said.
But the plan fell apart when one of DePalma’s fellow prisoners discussed it with an inmate who brought the information to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The ATF then arranged for an undercover NYPD detective to offer his services as a killer-for-hire, according to a complaint filed by agent Karen Evanoski.
From a phone at the federal prison hospital in Springfield, DePalma allegedly arranged for a friend in Staten Island to go with the “contract killer” to the dealership and point out the target.
“Whatever [the hired hit man] tells you, it’s all right, he’s a good guy,” DePalma allegedly told the friend, Richard Famiglietti. “Whatever he wants to do, just do it.”
Famiglietti, 66, then met with the undercover agent, who told him he was planning to kill the car dealer, court papers charge.
Famiglietti took the agent to the sales lot and pointed out the dealer, and told him to call him when “the hit was successful,” according to the complaint.
He also allegedly warned the phony hit man to be careful because the dealer had “feds poking around him,” Agent Evanoski wrote.
The feds then shut down the sting operation and busted DePalma, Famiglietti, and a third man, Sam Cagnina, who is in prison with DePalma and allegedly helped cook up the murder plot.
DePalma’s lawyer, Robert Ellis, said he had not seen the new charges but scoffed at the idea that he would order the execution of a man who was paying his family money.
“It’s awfully hard to believe,” Ellis said. “It would be counterproductive because killing him would reduce the amount of money he’s receiving to zero.”
All three face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Famiglietti was ordered held without bail yesterday after appearing in Manhattan federal court.
Officials say DePalma and Cagnina will eventually be shipped to New York to answer the charges.