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Joseph Paruta, also known as "''Old Man''" and ''"Sammy Gravano's Personal Luca Brasi"'' (December 3, 1929-October 1986 Brooklyn, New York) was a mobster in the Gambino crime family and considered a "key member" of Sammy Gravano's Bensonhurst, Brooklyn crew. He is the only known mobster who asked for a mercy killing after becoming terminally ill with lung cancer. The proposition was agreed upon but Paruta died before the mercy killing was performed. ==Biography== Paruta was born in Bensonhurst on December 3, 1929 to first generation emigrants from Venice, Italy of a Luccan family from Tuscany. It is unknown if he is a descendant of the 15th-century Venetian historian and statesman Paolo Paruta, although they share the same last name. He was the youngest of four children who grew up in poverty. Paruta was originally an associate who served in the crew of Gambino crime family capo Salvatore Aurello. He served in the Gambino crime family under the tutelage of Carlo Gambino and later Paul Castellano. Sammy Gravano later said, "Everybody called Joe the "Old Man". He was only about fifteen years older than me (Gravano was born on March 12, 1945) but he already had white hair and looked kind of decrepit. He was tough and loyal. Old Man Paruta would kill for me as quick as he would get me a cup of coffee. Over the years, there was nothing I couldn't ask of him." His capo Sammy Gravano would later say that "he was like my own personal Luca Brasi," in reference to the contract killer character from ''The Godfather.'' It is unknown if Gravano ever referred to Paruta by his ironic nickname or not. In reference to ''The Godfather,'' Vito Corleone describes the Luca Brasi character (portrayed by Lenny Montana) as a "man who goes around life with a sign that says 'kill me' painted on, this makes everyone want to kill him, but yet no one can. Eventually this man finds someone who doesn't want to kill him and fears that this man is the only one who can kill him". He was considered an "uncle" to Joseph D'Angelo Jr., the son of D'Angelo Sr., future Gambino crime family mob associate and informant. Following puberty he started noticeably suffering from premature aging which made appear several decades older. He was a short man in stature with thin arms and legs with a thick torso. By middle age he started to lose his telltale white hair as the Werner's syndrome worsened. He had a hoarse voice and his skin started to thicken and suffer from cataracts. He suffered from smoker's cough that was brought on by his years of smoking cigarettes. He was married to an Italian-American woman named Dorothea, who he nicknamed "Dottie" and had several children. He was a family man who would regularly take his family out to dinner at Tali's restaurant every week and have a large dinner. He was a close childhood friend of mob associate Vincent Rizzuto Sr. (also known as "Vinnie Oil") born January 9, 1936 from Rockville Centre, New York, of no relation to Vito Rizzuto and Joseph D'Angelo Sr. Vito also served under Salvatore Aurello before becoming a member of Sammy Gravano's crew. Sammy later said, "Old Man Paruta and Vinnie were always together. They were partners in bookmaking and shylock operations. The difference was that Vinnie knew how to make his money grow. Paruta? He gambled away every dime he ever earned on the ponies (horse races)". This suggests that Paruta suffered from ludomania and was a pathological gambler. It is also suspected that he suffered from impulse control disorders such as antisocial personality disorder. Gravano would later say, "There wasn't a day he wasn't at the racetrack, whatever track was open, rooting for some nag that don't come in. But I couldn't have two better guys beside me." Frank DeCicco later told Gravano an amusing anecdote about a robbery that Paruta, himself and several other criminal associates had arranged to pull off. He stated, :It seems in his early days, Frank (DeCicco) was going on a robbery with some guys. And for this particular score, they needed a lockpicker. Someone told Frank that Paruta was just the person they were looking for. Frank was surprised. He said to Paruta, "Why haven't I heard this before about you?" Old Man Paruta just smiled in response and said there wasn't a better lock guy around than him. So they're in the place and Frankie nods at Paruta, who steps forward and what he does is, he kicks in the door. "See, what did I tell you?" Paruta said. Frank was stunned. He couldn't stop laughing. And if that ain't enough, Paruta holds out for his end of the loot. His reasoning is that they never would have got inside the place without his talents. So you know a guy like that is all right. He had a mild mannered nature and never demonstrated anger towards his fellow associates. After the murder of Frank Fiala by Sammy Gravano, Edward Garofalo, Thomas Carbonaro, Michael DeBatt and Nicholas Mormando, they assembled at his saloon, Doc's. Sammy Gravano said about Paruta, :I loved the old man, Joe Paruta. My feeling for him went way beyond any oath of Cosa Nostra. He was the only one during all the plotting for the Castellano hit-all the what if this, what if that--that I confided in, was able to walk with, talk with, relax with. In one second, he agreed to take down Paul and Tommy in that diner like I asked him to before we changed the plan. He never asked me any questions if I wanted him to do something. He would take any risk. After Stymie (Joseph D'Angelo) got shot, he practically never left my side. I think about him a lot, and I never know whether to laugh or cry.... To me, Joe never seemed to change. He always looked the same, old and decrepit, always chain-smoking.... The old man had his little gambling and shylock operations and he had a piece of Tali's. He was satisfied. He never asked for anything more. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Joseph Paruta」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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