The Hole: The mafia's graveyard

This is the location where the Gambino crime family buried the remains of at least three men.

It is situated in The Hole, a small, low-lying neighborhood that straddles the border between Brooklyn and Queens in New York City.

The desolate, five-block area consists of RV trailers, dilapidated buildings, rusted fences, vacant lots, and flooded streets that are littered with abandoned trailers and cars.

The mob took advantage of its isolation to bury bodies and discard hijacked trucks.

The former Gambino dumping ground sits on the eastern side of Ruby Street, between Blake Avenue and Dumont Avenue.

Six men were reportedly buried in the area during the 1970s and 1980s. However, only three of their bodies have been found.

The infamous "three capos murders" took place on May 5th, 1981, when Bonanno capo Joseph Massino lured three of his rivals to the 20/20 Night Club in Brooklyn under the pretense of a peace meeting.

Massino's men assassinated Bonanno capos Alphonse "Al" Indelicato, Dominick Trinchera, and Philip Giaccone shortly after they entered the nightclub.

The Gambino crime family owned the site. It fell under the authority of capo John Gotti, who ran the Bergin Hunt and Fish crew in Ozone Park.

Gotti ordered his associates to bury the three Bonanno capos as a personal favor to Massino, whom he had grown up with.

After wrapping the bodies in painters' drop cloth, Massino's crew transported them to Howard Beach in Queens, where they handed them over to Gambino associates Gene Gotti, Angelo Ruggiero, and John Carneglia.

Gotti's crew then buried Indelicato, Trinchera, and Giaccone in a marshy, vacant lot in The Hole.

On May 28th, 1981, a group of children noticed Indelicato's tattooed arm sticking out of the mud while they were playing in the area. The other two capos remained undiscovered for more than two decades, much to the mob's surprise.

The bones of Trinchera and Giaccone weren't unearthed until October 2004, when the FBI and the NYPD launched a fresh dig at the site. This dig came after the authorities received intelligence that the two men had been buried in the same lot as Indelicato.

The Hole is also suspected to be the resting place of Lucchese mobsters Thomas DeSimone and Joseph Spione, as well as John Favara, a furniture store manager who accidentally struck and killed Gotti's 12-year-old son with his car.

The remains of these three men have never been found.

Photos

Photos of the site and other related images.

Burial site

Image source: Google Maps

The Gambino burial site was situated off Ruby Street.

2023

The lot has since been paved over.

Ruby Street

The Gambino family also used The Hole to dump stolen merchandise. On October 1st, 1981, a cargo truck containing rat poison and muscle relaxants was found parked on Ruby Street.

It was one of two trucks that had been taken from a pharmaceutical company in Garden City on Long Island. While speaking to Newsday, one police officer theorized that the hijackers took what they were looking for and dumped the rest in this neighborhood.

The discovery was made roughly five months after a group of children found Sonny Red's remains protruding from the mud in an adjoining lot.

Trinchera and Giaccone were found in 2004

A combined task force of FBI agents and NYPD investigators spent three weeks searching the lot in October 2004.

The new search was launched shortly after Bonanno boss Joseph Massino agreed to cooperate with the authorities in an effort to avoid the death penalty. It was on Massino's advice that they decided to dig up the site off Ruby Street.

Pumps were set up to remove excess water from the area.

Two large backhoes were used to break up the concrete and heavy mud. The team then searched through the piles of soil using rakes and shovels.

Soil sifters were also used to look for smaller pieces of evidence.

During the dig, the team found dozens of bones, Giaccone's watch, glasses, Tinchera's credit card, and shoes, among other personal effects.

Although rumors spread that investigators had found more than two bodies, these turned out to be false. In December 2004, the FBI confirmed that the skeletal remains belonged to Giaccone and Tinchera.

Gotti's crew

According to court testimony, it was Gene Gotti, Angelo Ruggiero, and John Carneglia who buried the three capos.

Howard Beach

When Bonanno mobster Salvatore Vitale became an informant in 2003, he told the authorities that the bodies were transported by van to Howard Beach in Queens.

Vitale and future Bonanno boss Joseph Massino followed behind in a car.

The remains were turned over to Gotti's crew near the corner of Cross Bay Boulevard and 164th Avenue.