Aniello Prisco

Aniel­lo Prisco, 37, nick­named ‘Zopo the Gimp’ due to a dis­abil­i­ty, was much feared gang­ster in Harlem.

He arrived from Italy in 1905 and lived at 2133 1^st Avenue. He was tried for mur­der on var­i­ous occa­sions, includ­ing the death of Pasquarel­la Spinel­li, but was always aquit­ted due to lack of evidence.

On Decem­ber 15^th, 1912, Prisco was shot and killed. A meet­ing had been arranged between Gio­sue Gal­luc­ci and Prisco at a bar­ber shop belong­ing to the Del Gau­dio broth­ers on E104th St. How­ev­er when the meet­ing drew close, Gal­luc­ci feigned ill­ness and sent one of his men, Capa­lon­go, with a mes­sage that Prisco would have to trav­el to see Gal­luc­ci at his bak­ery on E109th.

Prisco agreed and trav­elled to E109th, he was killed by two bul­lets to the head from Gallucci’s nephew John Rus­so­mano. Gal­luc­ci told the police that Prisco had been shot in self defence, and that Prisco had been try­ing to black­mail him at the time of the killing. John Rus­so­mano was later released free of charge.