Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A New York City Mafia captain who went from mob hitman to epic fink before disappearing into witness protection has popped up once again — in yet another strange new life. Let me tell you about it.
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The Mob Reporter here with the strange evolution of Richard Cantarella, once nicknamed Shellackhead — although apparently never to his face — one of the most important cooperating witnesses against the notorious Five Families of the New York Mafia. Once a powerful mobster, once a rat; once in witness protection, once on reality TV; and today he is president of an American Italian Club in suburban Arizona, running bingo, bocci, dancing and charity rummage sales. All without shedding any of his mobster vibes.
Cantarella was a captain in the Bonanno Family, one of the notorious Five Families of New York City. His nickname was Shellackhead, although apparently never to his face. An interesting story was recently published in the Arizona Republic newspaper and online at AZCentral.com. Reporter Joseph Duhownik sat with Cantarella and his family in the social club where he finally gets to be the boss.
I reported on Cantarella’s mobster past and star turn as government witness over the years. When he became a government cooperator in 2002, he went on to testify on the stand against two bosses of the Bonanno Family — Joe Massino, and Massino’s replacement, Vincent Basciano, known as Vinny Gorgeous. Prosecutors said the Cantarella family finked on more than 30 mobsters from all five of the NY Mafia Families and one from new Jersey, helping secure two dozen convictions.
Canttarella told the feds about the fallout mobsters after Donnie Brasco was introduced into the Bonanno Family, a man they thought was a clever gangster but was really undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone. That’s the story told in the mob movie Donnie Brasco, starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. Cantarella was a part of the real-life world the movie depicts.
Watch to hear all about his wild life and what he’s doing now.
CREDITS:
Music is “Warzone” by Anno Domini Beats, “The Moon Drops" by Nathan Moore, and “Bushwick Tarantella” by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300002; Artist: incompetech.com/;
Joseph Duhownik’s story on Cantarella is in AZCentral.com at azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2022/08/07/richard-cantarella-mafia-captain-head-arizona-italian-american-club/10186124002/;
Short clip from Donnie Brasco is by Sony Pictures (1997) from the promotional movie trailer, used to show the depiction of the real mobsters in a Hollywood film;
Clips from Unprotected are by Oxygen and are from promotional trailers;
Cantarella’s club promotion is from Sal DiCiccio at twitter.com/Sal_DiCiccio/status/1392929887107706881
Map animations created using Google Earth Studio
New York at night on bridge video by CityXcape, street sewer video by Pablo Diaz, Brooklyn Bridge from water video and NYC buildings daylight by Kurt Von, NYC inside cab video by Tim Samuel, and Scottsdale Arizona drone Video by Advancer Films, all at Pexels;
New York traffic on Brooklyn Bridge, nighttime signs videos, and Brooklyn Bridge in daylight all by Videvo
Saguaro cactus in Scottsdale photo by Ray Redstone - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=103322133
Club photos and events from the Arizona American-Italian Club at azaiclub.org
~ The Mob Reporter is a professional journalist bringing you real-life mob, police and true crime news and educational videos.
~ PLEASE SUBSCRIBE: youtube.com/user/themobreporter?sub_confirmation=1
~ Please subscribe to my other channels:
• Crime Watch: youtube.com/CrimeWatchWorld
• Crime in Italy: youtube.com/CrimeInItaly
~ To read my written journalism: nationalpost.com/author/ahumphreys
Please like, share, comment and subscribe.
Thanks for watching!
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Please watch: "Genius jewel heist wrecked by sloppy mistakes": youtu.be/KkEk0k0d_7Y
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
A New York City Mafia captain who went from mob hitman to epic fink before disappearing into witness protection has popped up once again — in yet another strange new life. Let me tell you about it.
*** TAP THE "THANKS" BUTTON OR JOIN MY PATREON: patreon.com/TheMobReporter ***
The Mob Reporter here with the strange evolution of Richard Cantarella, once nicknamed Shellackhead — although apparently never to his face — one of the most important cooperating witnesses against the notorious Five Families of the New York Mafia. Once a powerful mobster, once a rat; once in witness protection, once on reality TV; and today he is president of an American Italian Club in suburban Arizona, running bingo, bocci, dancing and charity rummage sales. All without shedding any of his mobster vibes.
Cantarella was a captain in the Bonanno Family, one of the notorious Five Families of New York City. His nickname was Shellackhead, although apparently never to his face. An interesting story was recently published in the Arizona Republic newspaper and online at AZCentral.com. Reporter Joseph Duhownik sat with Cantarella and his family in the social club where he finally gets to be the boss.
I reported on Cantarella’s mobster past and star turn as government witness over the years. When he became a government cooperator in 2002, he went on to testify on the stand against two bosses of the Bonanno Family — Joe Massino, and Massino’s replacement, Vincent Basciano, known as Vinny Gorgeous. Prosecutors said the Cantarella family finked on more than 30 mobsters from all five of the NY Mafia Families and one from new Jersey, helping secure two dozen convictions.
Canttarella told the feds about the fallout mobsters after Donnie Brasco was introduced into the Bonanno Family, a man they thought was a clever gangster but was really undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone. That’s the story told in the mob movie Donnie Brasco, starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. Cantarella was a part of the real-life world the movie depicts.
Watch to hear all about his wild life and what he’s doing now.
CREDITS:
Music is “Warzone” by Anno Domini Beats, “The Moon Drops" by Nathan Moore, and “Bushwick Tarantella” by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300002; Artist: incompetech.com/;
Joseph Duhownik’s story on Cantarella is in AZCentral.com at azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2022/08/07/richard-cantarella-mafia-captain-head-arizona-italian-american-club/10186124002/;
Short clip from Donnie Brasco is by Sony Pictures (1997) from the promotional movie trailer, used to show the depiction of the real mobsters in a Hollywood film;
Clips from Unprotected are by Oxygen and are from promotional trailers;
Cantarella’s club promotion is from Sal DiCiccio at twitter.com/Sal_DiCiccio/status/1392929887107706881
Map animations created using Google Earth Studio
New York at night on bridge video by CityXcape, street sewer video by Pablo Diaz, Brooklyn Bridge from water video and NYC buildings daylight by Kurt Von, NYC inside cab video by Tim Samuel, and Scottsdale Arizona drone Video by Advancer Films, all at Pexels;
New York traffic on Brooklyn Bridge, nighttime signs videos, and Brooklyn Bridge in daylight all by Videvo
Saguaro cactus in Scottsdale photo by Ray Redstone - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=103322133
Club photos and events from the Arizona American-Italian Club at azaiclub.org
~ The Mob Reporter is a professional journalist bringing you real-life mob, police and true crime news and educational videos.
~ PLEASE SUBSCRIBE: youtube.com/user/themobreporter?sub_confirmation=1
~ Please subscribe to my other channels:
• Crime Watch: youtube.com/CrimeWatchWorld
• Crime in Italy: youtube.com/CrimeInItaly
~ To read my written journalism: nationalpost.com/author/ahumphreys
Please like, share, comment and subscribe.
Thanks for watching!
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Please watch: "Genius jewel heist wrecked by sloppy mistakes": youtu.be/KkEk0k0d_7Y
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
