By MICHELE McPHEE
New York Daily News Staff Writer

Two years ago, an FBI agent taped a voice recorder to the chest of William Cutolo Jr., the only son of a reputed Colombo family capo who had vanished weeks earlier.

Reputed capo William Cutolo Sr. with his grandson Billy "So, Gary, what are we going to call this operation?" Cutolo asked Special Agent Gary Pontecorvo in the first few seconds of the taping.

"How about Operation Payback?" Cutolo deadpanned. "Because I'm going to get every one of them."

Cutolo has since fulfilled that vow, extracting revenge on the crime family he believes killed his father — William (Wild Bill) Cutolo Sr. — by helping the government snare more than a dozen Colombo gangsters on racketeering charges.

The elder Cutolo, a municipal employees union official who lived on Staten Island, was last seen at Shore Road and 92nd St. in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on May 26, 1999, 11 days shy of his 50th birthday.

He had asked his mechanic for a ride to that corner after dropping off his Lincoln Navigator for repairs.

Cutolo's relatives held a private wake and erected a monument in his name at a Staten Island cemetery shortly after he disappeared.

Three weeks later, his son agreed to cooperate with investigators, law enforcement sources said.

"He was devastated. He was very close to his father," said one law enforcement source. "He wanted to find out what happened to his father, so he came in."

The younger Cutolo, 30, taped more than 100 hours of conversations with reputed mobsters. After turning on the recorder, he often whispered to himself, "This is for you, Dad."

He gave the government voluminous records his father kept on 115 made members of the Colombo family, including loansharking logs and a list of cash payments to lawyers, sources said.

William Cutolo Sr., (l.) on the line in Staten Island in 1996 In January, his cooperation resulted in the arrest of 11 Colombo family mobsters — including reputed acting boss Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico — on racketeering charges.

In April, five more Colombo family associates were added to the case in an indictment that charges the defendants with assaults, loansharking, extortion, money laundering, gambling and securities fraud.

Persico, 46, took control of Cutolo's crew after the disappearance, investigators said. A computer disk with records of Cutolo's mob operations was found in the stove at Persico's Park Slope, Brooklyn, apartment, prosecutors said.

Persico himself is not heard on any of the Cutolo tapes, said his attorney, Barry Levin.

"All of these crimes and all of the discussions on the tapes emanate from Billy Jr. and others," Levin said. "Alphonse Persico is not on those tapes."

But during his 17 months working undercover, Cutolo relentlessly asked what role Persico played in Wild Bill's death — a question no one could answer.

He frequented south Brooklyn Mafia haunts such as his father's old hangout, the Friendly Bocce Club on 11th Ave. in Dyker Heights, and met with wiseguys on streetcorners.

"I know you loved my father," he told one of Wild Bill's alleged crew members, Dominick (Big Dom) Dionisio, during one meeting.

"You know the only guy that knows [what happened] is the kid [Persico],'" Dionisio, 31, is recorded saying on another tape.

Cutolo also tried to sow dissent among the reputed wiseguys.

"The tapes have him saying, 'Don't trust this one; this one is an idiot,' but then to their faces Billy is their best friend," said one source close to the case. "He tries to get them to turn on each other."

On some tapes, Cutolo is heard muttering obscenities to himself about the men he had just met. "They all think I like them," he said on one tape.

In at least one incident, according to court documents, the younger Cutolo's wiseguy persona took on an intimidating edge. He was arrested in June after threatening to "baseball bat" a broker over a $15,000 loss in the stock market.

During a meeting with the broker's manager, Cutolo "implied he had connections to organized crime," the court papers said. The case was later dismissed.

Now, Cutolo is expected to be the star witness in the Brooklyn Federal Court trial of Persico and his co-defendants, scheduled for December.

He is in the federal witness protection program with his wife, son and mother, according to court records.

His father's body has never been found.

Last Saturday, the second anniversary of Wild Bill's disappearance, his wife and son placed memorial notices in the Daily News.

"I'm finally finishing something I started for the first time and doing well," read the tribute from his son. "Just put your hand on my shoulder and help me deal with the real side of my life."

Original Publication Date: 6/1/01

AmericanMafia.com
div. of PLR International
P.O. Box 19146
Cleveland, OH 44119-0146
216 374-0000

Copyright © 1998 - 2001 PLR International