Thomas "Tommy" Bilotti (March 23, 1940 – December 16, 1985) was an American mobster who served as underboss of the Gambino crime family in New York City for two weeks. It was this promotion that helped trigger the 1985 assassination of Gambino boss Paul Castellano; Bilotti would end up killed as well as part of the assassination.
Criminal career
The son of Italian immigrants Lillian (née Rosso) and Anthony Bilotti, he was born on the Staten Island borough of New York City. As a young man, Bilotti became an associate in the crew of John "Johnny D" D'Alessio, a caporegime in the Gambino crime family who controlled illegal gambling and other rackets on Staten Island. He later became a criminal associate of John's brothers Alexander "Pope" D'Alessio and Michael "Mikey D" D'Alessio. Bilotti also spent time as the chauffeur and bodyguard of Alexander "The Ox" DeBrizzi, an uncle of the D'Alessio brothers who controlled the Staten Island waterfront for the Gambino crime family. He became an integral member of the D'Alessio crew and was involved in labor racketeering, extortion and loansharking. In 1969, Bilotti was arrested on Staten Island on a felony charge of possessing stolen property. He gained a reputation for violence. In one incident, Bilotti assaulted Colombo crime family associate Robert Pate. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents Joseph O’Brien and Andris Kurins described Bilotti in the book Boss of Bosses: The Fall of the Godfather: The FBI and Paul Castellano as: "He was basically a pit bull with shoes on. If he had a business ability beyond choreographing a shakedown or calculating the interest owed on shylock loans, it didn't show. In a milieu not known for its conversational finesse, Bilotti distinguished himself by spluttering inarticulateness... He was short – five feet seven. He was stubby – a rock-solid two-twenty. He wore a bad toupée. He had no tact, no charm, no sense of humor. He had a big mouth, and his piggish eyes were too close together. To the concept of self-control he was a stranger". Bilotti was a reputed hitman for the D'Alessio crew, and was allegedly involved in at least eleven murders.
Bilotti was a resident of 33 Kensington Avenue on Staten Island in April 1970, when he and an accomplice, Thomas Papanier, were observed discarding firearms and arrested following a shooting in Jamesburg, New Jersey. Bilotti and Papanier were apprehended as they ran from the scene of the shooting, in which African-American teenager Emory Parks suffered superficial injuries when he was struck in the back of the head by birdshot pellets. The quick arrest of the pair occurred as the Jamesburg area was in the midst of significant racial tension after riots at the local high school, and police from Spotswood and Monroe Township were on alert. Although police suspected that the duo were responsible for Parks' injuries, Bilotti and Papanier were initially charged with carrying a concealed weapon, carrying a pistol without a permit and failing to secure a permit to purchase a pistol. A Middlesex County grand jury ultimately indicted the men only for illegal possession of concealed weapons.
In 1971, John D'Alessio allegedly recruited Thomas Bilotti and his brother Joseph to murder Thomas "Tommy Edwards" Ernst, the common-law husband of D'Alessio's daughter Theresa. Ernst, who was in debt to two Staten Island mobsters, survived an initial attempt on his life at a Grasmere diner on August 31, 1971. He then agreed to meet with D'Alessio at the Wild Acres bar in Dingmans Ferry, near D'Alessio's summer home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, on September 2, 1971. After leaving the D'Alessio country mansion on his way to the meeting, Ernst's Cadillac was overtaken by three men in a car who opened fire at him. However, this murder attempt also failed when Theresa D'Alessio, who was not supposed to be present, returned fire with a semi-automatic rifle. Ernst reportedly identified the two shooters to the Pennsylvania State Police before withrawing the identification. Ernst was ultimately killed on April 6, 1972 when he was ambushed and shot twice by an unidentified gunman on the porch of John D'Alessio's home at 151 Jumel Street in Great Kills, where he had been making a visit to Theresa D'Alessio.