Tali's Restaurant: Sammy the Bull Gravano's headquarters

Mob Hangout in Brooklyn, New York

Tali's Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge was located at 6205 18th Avenue in Brooklyn, New York.

During the 1970s and 1980s, it served as the main headquarters of Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, the Gambino capo who later agreed to testify against his boss, John Gotti.

These days, the unit belongs to a Hong Kong-inspired fast food restaurant called Like Cafe.

Tali's was run by a mob associate named Michael "Mickey" DeBatt, who had inherited the business from his father.

DeBatt grew up in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn with crime figures such as Gravano and Frank DeCicco. He was also close friends with a Gambino associate named Nicholas Mormando.

DeBatt and Mormando often carried out work on behalf of the crime family together. In 1982, the pair took part in the murder of cocaine trafficker Frank Fiala after he repeatedly badmouthed Gravano behind his back.

Although Gravano congratulated them for their role in the killing, the boss of the family, Paul Castellano, was furious about Fiala's death, as it had not been officially sanctioned.

However, Castellano eventually calmed down after Gravano explained that he had kept him in the dark to protect him from any potential fallout if the hit failed.

In the mid-1980s, both Mormando and DeBatt became addicted to crack cocaine, a relatively new drug that was sweeping across major cities in the United States.

After becoming hooked on the drug, the pair started acting paranoid, bold, and irrational. DeBatt also became estranged from his wife and daughter.

Mormando's role in Fiala's murder severely damaged his prospects of being inducted into the Gambino family as a made man. Feeling ostracized, he began assembling his own crew of drug dealers and armed robbers.

This worried Gravano. Not only did Mormando know too much, but this new criminal enterprise would be operating on his territory. There were also concerns that Mormando was preparing to challenge Gravano.

Consequently, Gravano had Mormando killed.

DeBatt was so consumed with his own addiction at the time that it is unknown whether his friend's death had any impact on him. By 1987, he had become such a paranoid mess that he seldom left his apartment at 1774 58th Street.

Although Gravano considered DeBatt to be a friend, he soon realized that his worsening addiction made him a liability. In his own words, "He was too far gone."

On the night of November 2nd, 1987, DeBatt and a group of Gambino mobsters left a wedding and drove to Tali's Restaurant on 18th Avenue. Once they were inside, one of the men pulled out a handgun and shot him several times.

Before leaving, the men emptied the cash register and stole DeBatt's jewelry to make it look like a robbery gone wrong.

The murder remained unsolved until 1991, when Gravano agreed to turn state witness. In court, he confessed to the murders of 19 men, including DeBatt and Mormando.

Tali's Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge

The address and the GPS coordinates for this location are as follows:

Address

6205 18th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, NY 11204, USA

Map

To view directions on how to get there, you can use the Google Maps shortcut below:

Google Maps

GPS coordinates

The latitude and longitude coordinates for the restaurant are:

40.620637, -73.988491

Directions

It is near the corner of 18th Avenue and 62nd Street.

Details about the general area

The bar was situated in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Photos

Photos of the restaurant and other related images.

Tali's Restaurant

Image source: Google Maps

This is a "then and now" image of Tali's Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge. The Google Street View image at the bottom was captured in June 2022.

DeBatt's sister sold the business shortly after his murder. These days, the unit is home to a Hong Kong-style fast-food restaurant called Like Cafe.

Tali's was described as a small, dark establishment with tiny tables. Its patrons were mostly mob figures and their associates. Like many mafia hangouts, it was not the type of place that appealed to regular customers. Although it advertised itself as a restaurant, anyone who asked for food was "looked at funny."

DeBatt wasn't the only mobster who was murdered at Tali's. In 1985, a Colombo associate named Anthony Frezza shot and killed Joseph "Stymie" D'Angelo at the bar. Frezza was later murdered in retaliation.

The bullet holes from the DeBatt and D'Angelo murders were still visible in the brick wall until the late 2000s.

In 2002, The New York Post reported that the restaurant was haunted, as staff members claimed that they heard voices and saw ghostly figures sitting at tables.

Michael DeBatt

Michael "Mickey" DeBatt inherited Tali's Restaurant from his father, Mackie, an Italian emigrant who had links to the local mafia.

Mickey was a large, 6'1" man who weighed 300 pounds. During the 1960s, he was awarded a football scholarship at Wake Forest University in North Carolina due to his physical stature and athletic abilities. However, he dropped out of college and moved back to Bensonhurst in Brooklyn in the early 1970s.

After returning to Bensonhurst, he got married and had a daughter. He also started hanging around with Gravano and Mormando.

DeBatt's father encouraged him to become involved with Gravano, as he believed that the young, up-and-coming mobster was "going to be big someday."

When his father passed away in 1981, Mickey took ownership of Tali's and used it as a source of legitimate income. He also continued working for Gravano's crew.

DeBatt went off the rails during the mid-1980s after he became addicted to crack cocaine. As a result, Tali's suffered financially, and his marriage fell apart.

By 1987, his behavior had become so erratic that Gravano decided that he needed to act.

From his perspective, DeBatt was a liability, as he was a paranoid drug addict who knew sensitive information about the Gambino family's business dealings. This included murders that Gravano had personally ordered.

If he did get himself into trouble with the law, there was no telling what he'd say.

Murder

DeBatt attended a mafia wedding on the evening of November 2nd, 1987. Later that night, a group of mob associates accompanied him back to Tali's Restaurant.

While they were inside, a Gambino soldier named Thomas "Huck" Carbonaro pulled out a handgun and opened fire on him.

DeBatt was shot in the face, neck, and head.

Following the killing, the men wiped the cash register, emptied his pockets, and took all of his jewelry.

The 36-year-old was found slumped at the end of the bar at 8 a.m. the following morning. He was still wearing the black slacks and white shirt that he had worn to the wedding. His suit jacket was found hanging in the kitchen.

Although the crime scene was staged to look like a robbery gone wrong, investigators didn't fall for it. The following day, the police stated their belief that it was a mob-related hit.

1774 58th Street

DeBatt spent the last few months of his life holed up in his apartment at 1774 58th Street. Due to his increasingly paranoid state, he would often pull the blinds down and sit behind his window with a rifle, waiting for "them" to come.

Coordinates: 40.623224, -73.986448

Google Maps

Nicholas Mormando

DeBatt was close friends with a Gambino associate named Nicholas "Nicky Cowboy" Mormando.

Mormando was shot dead in January 1986.

While explaining his reasons for ordering the hit, Gravano said, "He became like a renegade. He went berserk. He didn't want to be in our crew anymore. He was going to start his own little gang."

Gravano believed that it was Mormando who introduced DeBatt to crack cocaine.