Anthony Capo was born on July 10, 1959, and grew up in South Beach, Staten Island, New York. In the early 1980s, he became affiliated with the DeCavalcante crime family, which operated primarily out of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and held deep ties with New York’s Five Families. At the time, the DeCavalcante family was led by Giovanni “John the Eagle” Riggi.

Capo’s early criminal work involved extortion, illegal gambling, and loansharking. He developed a reputation for being both reliable and violent. Law enforcement officially recognized him as a soldier in the DeCavalcante family by the late 1980s. Though married with three children, Capo’s home life didn’t curb his immersion in mob activity.

In an ironic detour from crime, Capo once enrolled in a course to become a certified asbestos abatement worker. However, he later admitted in court that he let someone else take the exam for him and famously remarked:

“I wouldn’t know asbestos if I was sitting on it.”

He later ran a DeCavalcante crew based in New York City and worked closely with Gambino family associate Joseph Watts in a $12 million loansharking operation between 1986 and 1994.

Despite his increasingly violent role, Capo remained a trusted and useful asset to both the DeCavalcante and Gambino families. But his loyalty would eventually be tested by leadership disputes, internal paranoia, and mounting legal pressure.

Anthony Capo’s violent rise in the DeCavalcante crime family began with one of the most politically motivated mafia killings in modern history: the murder of Fred Weiss.

On September 11, 1989, Fred Weiss—a Staten Island developer and former newspaper editor—was under federal investigation for illegal medical waste dumping. Gambino boss John Gotti, fearing Weiss might flip and cooperate with prosecutors, allegedly arranged for his killing. The DeCavalcante family took the job as a favor. Capo acted as getaway driver, while Vincent “Vinny Ocean” Palermo and James Gallo pulled the trigger, shooting Weiss in the face as he entered his car.

Capo’s second confirmed murder was far more personal. In January 1992, Capo shot and killed John D’Amato, then acting boss of the DeCavalcante family. D’Amato had been accused of frequenting Manhattan sex clubs and engaging in bisexual behavior. According to Capo’s later testimony, such actions were seen as incompatible with the mafia’s image of traditional masculinity. The murder was ordered by underboss Giacomo Amari, consigliere Stefano Vitabile, and Capo’s close associate Vincent Palermo.

Capo, Gallo, and Palermo entered D’Amato’s car under the pretense of going to lunch. Sitting behind D’Amato, Capo shot him four times. The body was taken to a safe house and was never recovered.

In the mid-1990s, Capo also became known for an incident at a Staten Island bar, where he stabbed a Gambino associate named Remy in the eye and face after an argument. Capo later told prosecutors he believed Remy had a weapon and labeled him “a violent individual.”

Another dramatic moment in Capo’s criminal history came when he joined a failed murder plot against Charles Majuri, one of the family’s panel members. When Majuri tried to have Vincent Palermo killed, Capo, Gallo, and Joseph Masella went to Majuri’s house to ambush him. Majuri never arrived, and the plot was abandoned.

In December 1999, Capo was indicted alongside other DeCavalcante leaders for racketeering, murder, loansharking, and labor corruption. Facing the likelihood of a life sentence, he made a dramatic decision to cooperate with authorities. Capo provided testimony against multiple mob families, including the Colombo and Genovese organizations. He even exposed a stenographer leak in the U.S. Attorney’s office that had compromised multiple investigations.

Capo’s cooperation spared him from prison, but his new life remained under strict federal protection. He died of a heart attack on January 23, 2012, at the age of 52, while still under the Witness Protection Program.