Frank Lino

The marriage of his mobster father Robert A. Lino, Sr. and his mother was arranged by Genovese crime family patriarch and founder Vito Genovese during the 1930s.

Frank attended Brooklyn's Lafayette High School but dropped out in tenth grade.

Frank "Curly" Lino (October 30, 1938 – August 2, 2023) was an American former caporegime in the Bonanno crime family who later became an informant.

Lino was born in a house on West Eight Street in Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York City.

It was his 40th birthday.

As he grew older Lino became more and more obese.

He gained a tremendous amount of weight and began to suffer from high blood pressure.

After dropping out of high school in the 1950s he joined a violent street gang called the "Avenue U Boys".

As a member of the "Avenue U Boys" Lino was involved in robberies.

Lino first became associated with the La Cosa Nostra at the age of seventeen, and operated the local floating card games controlled by a Genovese crime family made soldier.

He was a close business associate of Rosario Gangi.

His cousin Edward Lino and brother Robert A. Lino, Jr. are both capos in the Gambino crime family.

He is the father of successful New York City Wall Street stockbroker Michael, and father of Joseph, who became a made member of the Bonanno family.

He is cousin-in-law to Grace Ann Scala-Lino, the sister of Gambino crime family capo Salvatore Scala and father of Colombo crime family mob associate Robert X. Grace Ann Lino was a customer of drug dealer Michael (Mikey Bear) Aiello.

Frank was enraged over Aiello selling drugs to her and arranged for his murder, which he was supposed to witness, but the murder attempt was botched.

During his 40-year career in organized crime he was under the Genovese family in 1956, switched to the Colombo crime family in 1962 and switched to the Gambino family in 1969 before in 1977 his friend Frank Coppa helped him join the Bonanno crime family.

The robbery was unsuccessful and resulted in the death of two police officers, 56-year-old Detective Luke Joseph Fallon (who was an 26-year-veteran with the NYPD) and 29-year-old Detective John Patrick "Big" Finnegan (who was a seven-year-veteran with the NYPD) from the 70th Detective Squad.

He is the father of two sons, one Joseph Lino born c. 1961 who became a made member of the Bonanno family and Michael Lino.

He is a son-in-law to Genovese crime family mob associates Francis Consalvo and Carmine Consalvo and distant uncle to Louis Consalvo.

He is a first cousin of Bonanno family capo Robert Lino, Sr. and a paternal uncle of Bonanno crime family capo Robert A. Lino, Jr. He is The Godfather to Michael Lino and Frank Coppa, Jr., the sons of former Bonanno family capo and childhood friend Frank Coppa.

He is a cousin-in-law to Gambino crime family capo Salvatore Scala.

He is a close friend of the New York Mets pitcher John Franco and an avid baseball fan.

Lino was a no-show school bus driver for the Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union and employed by a mob-owned bus company Atlantic Express Transportation Corporation that was awarded contracts from the New York City Department of Education, located at 7 North Street in Port Richmond, Staten Island which is still in operation.

Lino and four other people including Jerry Rosenberg took part in the robbery of Borough Park Tobacco Company in Brooklyn on May 18, 1962.

He became a made man of the Bonanno crime family on October 30, 1977, on Elizabeth Street in Little Italy, Manhattan at his capo Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato's apartment.

After undercover FBI agent Donnie Brasco had his assignment ended in July 1981, Dominick Napolitano, who was one of the men responsible for bringing him into the family, on August 17, 1981, Lino and Stefano Canone drove Napolitano to the house of Ronald Filocomo, a Bonanno family associate, for a meeting.

Napolitano was greeted by Frank Coppa, then thrown down the stairs to the house's basement by Lino and shot to death.

Napolitano's body was discovered the following year.

Lino had done everything from selling illegal pornography to running pump and dump schemes on Wall Street.

Over the years he had been a loanshark, bookmaker, drug trafficker and contract killer for which he took part in the gangland slayings of six men including his cousin's drug dealer Michael "The Bear" Aiello and the notorious murders of Bonanno captains Alphonse Indelicato, Dominick Trinchera and Philip Giaccone.

On May 5, 1981, Massino loyalists shot and killed Giaccone, Trinchera, and Indelicato in a Brooklyn Night club.

On the pretext of working out a peace agreement, Massino had invited them to meet with him at the 20/20 Night Club in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

However, Massino's real plan was to assassinate the capos.

The ambush was set in the club store room, with Salvatore Vitale and three other gunmen wearing ski masks hiding in a closet.

One of the gunmen was mobster Vito Rizzuto, who came from Montreal, Quebec, Canada with another Canadian mobster to help Massino.

Massino told the men to avoid shooting so that bullets wouldn't spray around the room.

Massino also brought drop cloths and ropes for disposing of the bodies afterwards.

When the capos arrived at the 20/20, Massino and Bonanno mobster Gerlando Sciascia and Lino escorted them to the store room.

His father died in 1989, according to what Michael DiLeonardo said during testimony against John A. Gotti.

Almost every male member of his family was involved in La Cosa Nostra.