Vincent 'Vinny Ocean' Palermo - The real Tony Soprano

Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo

Vincent 'Vinny Ocean' Palermo, 80, was a de facto boss of the New Jersey DeCavalcante crime family. Fictional mob boss Tony Soprano is based on Palermo. In the early 60s, Vincent Palermo married the niece of boss Sam DeCavalcante, who invited him to his social club.

Palermo operated Wiggles, a strip club in Forest Hills, Queens.

On Sept 11, 1989, Palermo, Anthony Capo, and James Gallo murdered Fred Weiss on orders from boss Giovanni 'John the Eagle' Riggi.

Palermo worked at the fish markets.

Weiss was associated with mobsters from the DeCavalcantes and the Gambinos. Weiss and his partners bought land in Staten Island and illegally dumped medical waste. Cops uncovered the scheme, and the two mob families worried. John Gotti requested the DeCavalcantes murder Weiss.

Simone DeCavalcante - Sam the Plumber

Boss Giovanni Riggi during the murder trial of Weiss. Palermo was 'made' and shortly after was appointed caporegime. Riggi was sent to prison in 1989, and he appointed John 'Johnny Boy' D'Amato as his acting boss. D'Amato's girlfriend said he was gay. Riggi ordered Palermo and Anthony Capo to kill D'Amato to avoid embarrassment to the DeCavalcantes. John "Johnny Boy" D'Amato disappeared in early 1992. His body was never found.

John "Johnny Boy" D'Amato.

'Vito Spatafore' - Sopranos

In 1995, the acting boss of the DeCavalcante family, Giacomo Amari, was diagnosed with stomach cancer. A 'ruling panel' was created, consisting of three men, Vincent Palermo, Charles 'Big Ears' Majuri, and Girolamo 'Jimmy' Palermo. (no relation) After a failed power play by Majuri, Vinny Palermo was the de facto boss of the family, paralleling Tony Soprano. In 1998, the FBI recruited Ralph Guarino as an informant who devastated the DeCavalcante family. The FBI gave him rigged cell phones to distribute to other mafioso. Guarino was promoted to made man.

In 1999 the FBI busted the DeCavalcantes and Palermo became a government witness. Palermo confessed to killing Weiss and mobster Louis LaRasso and to planning the murders of John D'Amato, Joseph Masella, Charles Majuri, Frank D'Amato, and Tom Salvata. He also implicated other DeCavalcante family members. On September 14, 2009, the New York Daily News exposed Vinny Ocean's new life in witness protection as a strip club operator in Houston, Texas. The 'Penthouse Club' and 'All-Star Men's Club' were hotbeds of prostitution and drugs. He also owned a Mexican restaurant and a car wash - all next to one another in Houston.

On March 4, 2013, Palermo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Under Chapter 11, a person's assets and debts are not liquidated, but the filer is given court protection from creditors. Palermo put his $2.45m home up for sale in September 2015.