In the summer of 1982, the streets of Brooklyn were the backdrop for a brutal act of retribution rooted in the city's criminal underworld. On the Fourth of July, the bodies of two men, 64-year-old Anthony Romano and 36-year-old John Romano, were discovered in a desolate, vacant lot in the East New York neighborhood. Both men, who were related, had been shot multiple times in the head with a. 38 caliber handgun.
Their hands were bound, a chilling testament to the calculated nature of their demise. This discovery marked the final chapter in a long-held grudge and served as a stark message within the city's mob circles.
The investigation into the double homicide would lead authorities to a name that resonated with fear and violence in Brooklyn: Roy DeMeo. A notorious and feared figure, DeMeo was the leader of a ruthless faction within the Gambino crime family, a crew that bore his name. The motive for the murders of the Romano men was believed to be an act of vengeance, a settling of a score that had lingered for four years. Law enforcement sources indicated that DeMeo suspected the Romanos of being involved in the robbery of one of his crew members, Peter LaFroscia, back in 1978. In DeMeo's world, such an act could not go unpunished, and the passage of time did nothing to diminish the need for retaliation.
The murders were not just about personal revenge; they were a demonstration of power. By killing the Romanos, Roy DeMeo was sending a clear and brutal message to his rivals and to anyone who might consider crossing his crew: they were not to be trifled with. The public and violent nature of the killings was a hallmark of DeMeo's reign of terror, designed to instill fear and maintain his bloody grip on his criminal enterprises.
Before the law could catch up with him for the Romano murders, Roy DeMeo's own violent life came to a violent end. In January of 1983, less than a year after the bodies of Anthony and John Romano were found, DeMeo himself was murdered, reportedly by his own men. While other members of the DeMeo crew would eventually face justice for a litany of other crimes, the violent end of the man believed to be the primary perpetrator in the Romano slayings meant he would never stand trial for their deaths. The story of Anthony Romano's death is a chilling glimpse into the brutal enforcement of the mafia's code of honor, where suspicion could be a death sentence and revenge was a dish served cold, even years later, on a summer holiday in Brooklyn.
