| |
| Roberto Toro | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Aliases | Big Bobby |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | March 12, 1898 Alcamo, Sicily |
| Died | April 19, 1948 Midtown, NYC |
| Affiliation |  Barzini
|
| Title(s) | Capo |
Roberto "Big Bobby" Toro was a Capo in the Barzini crime family of New York City, a Sicilian immigrant who came over to America when he was only five years old. In 1948, after years of service in the Barzini family, he was murdered in a brutal mob war, during the Five Families War.
Biography[]
Toro was born in Alcamo, Sicily, to goatherders from the south who moved to their hometown to farm and make a living. To escape from their debt problems, they immigrated to the United States, where Toro learned English and became a US citizen. However, his parents were sent back to Sicily after failing the citizenship test, and they were imprisoned for one year in return for tax evasion back in Sicily. Toro was brought up by his friends, the DiAmico family, and lived in Midtown, the richest neighborhood of New York City, and found a job as an usher at Broadway. In 1924, he met Emilio Barzini, and the two became friends quickly. He joined the Barzini crime family, which ran operations around Midtown and had limited interests in Hell's Kitchen and Little Italy. Toro was respected by his inferiors, who looked up to him as a brutal yet cunning boss. Toro was known to be exceptionally cruel to his victims, once murdering a barber with his own shaving tools in 1936, and was arrested briefly for a murder rap.
In 1946, with the onset of the Five Families War, Toro was put under lots of pressure when his associates fell like dominos. Toro was relocated to the Barzini Compound in 1947, but in 1948, he was given the opportunity to leave; Barzini arranged for him to be arrested and sent to Riker's Island jail complex, but Toro would be treated well there, the only place where he could be safe.
Death[]
Toro facing his murderer
In April 1948, he was scheduled for transfer to Riker's Island from the NYPD Midtown Manhattan police station, guarded by several NYPD officers. Rival mobster Al Neri of the Corleone crime family sanctioned a hit on him to break the Barzinis off from their police protection in Midtown, and family Soldier Aldo Trapani drove to the police station, where Toro was awaiting the police. Trapani charged him and put three shots into his chest with an Assassin's Pistol, killing him. No police officers were harmed in the hit, as they were bribed to stay out of the affair, and the Barzinis lost their police protection.