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Unpublished original 1974 color semi-glossy 5 x 3.5 photograph of Gambino crime family hitman Roy DeMeo with friends and his son, Albert, together with a group of three false identification documents reportedly prepared for DeMeo to use in fleeing the country should law enforcement close in on him. The photograph shows DeMeo smiling at center, and is accompanied by a notarized statement signed by his son, Albert A. DeMeo, who identifies his father standing between friends Richie Lucas and Harry Opperman, with Albert and Lucas’s wife also pictured. The reverse is annotated, “Roll 3, Neg #6.” According to the consignor, the unpublished family photograph was intended for use in Albert DeMeo’s memoir For the Sins of My Father.
The false identification documents, all issued under the alias “John De Carlo,” include a Social Security card; a New York State driver's license; and a New York City Department of Health birth certificate. The driver's license identifies De Carlo as residing at “341 East 77th Street, New York City, NY 10021,” with a September 1, 1940 birth date; the birth certificate likewise records De Carlo as born in New York City on September 1, 1940. These documents are also accompanied by a notarized statement signed by Albert A. DeMeo, who attests that the “phony Birth Certificate, Drivers License and social security card in the name of John Decarlo belonged to my father Gambino Hitman Roy DeMeo,” adding: “These documents were to be used by him to escape out of the country if the law caught up with him.”
In overall fine condition, with trivial edgewear to the photograph. Roy DeMeo was a Gambino crime family soldier who led the exceptionally violent crew that came to bear his name, while operating lucrative loansharking and automobile-theft enterprises. The DeMeo Crew became notorious for the large number of murders they committed and for the routine they employed to dispose of bodies, which became known as 'The Gemini Method.' The crew is believed to be responsible for up to 200 murders. By the early 1980s, mounting law-enforcement pressure placed DeMeo and his associates in increasing jeopardy; in January 1983, DeMeo was murdered on the orders of Gambino crime family boss Paul Castellano, and his body was discovered in the trunk of his car. Original personal material directly connected to DeMeo seldom appears on the market, with much of the available material limited to signed checks or later photographic prints. Combining an unpublished family photograph with DeMeo’s purported escape identity and direct provenance from his son, this is a highly desirable assemblage of personal material from one of the most notorious figures in American organized crime.
