By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.

Who said the New York Mafia lost its teeth? The Lucchese crime family, one of the city’s five La Cosa Nostra families, begs to differ. At the opening of a trial in which two of its bosses and two underlings face racketeering and murder charges, prosecutors allege that they have no problem executing a murder contract.

Alleged mob leaders Matthew Madonna (photo above, middle) and Steven Crea (photo, right) were arrested in June of 2017 along with seventeen other Lucchese family wiseguys, including Christopher Londonio and Terrence Caldwell, and charged with murder, attempted murder, assault, drug distribution, loansharking, illegal gambling, mail and wire fraud, and selling untaxed cigarettes.

Gunshot to the head

One of the murder charges the men face, relates to the gangland killing of Michael Meldish (photo above, left), at one time a feared hitman and part of New York’s Purple Gang, a group comprised of drug traffickers and murderers, many of whom later went on to join one of New York’s Mafia families. He was found shot to death in his car in November of 2013 in the Bronx. He was bleeding from both his ears, the deadly result of a gunshot to the head.

READ: Lucchese family mobster planned to escape from Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, prosecutors say

“Michael Meldish is dead because of these four men,” prosecutor Celia Cohen told the court during her opening statement on Monday. She alleges that Madonna and Crea ordered the murder and Londonio and Caldwell were sent to ‘take care’ of the contract.

READ: Hanging with hitmen and Eddie Murphy: Profile of Lucchese capo "Fat Pete" Chiodo

Why? Because Meldish told Madonna to “fuck off” when he asked about $100,000 of his money that he had loaned his former associate, Cohen claims. “Not repaying a boss is a dangerous game,” she added.

Indeed, it is.

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