Steven Crea
Steven Crea
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Steven Crea

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Steven Crea

Steven Lorenzo "Stevie" Crea (born July 18, 1947) is an American mobster and former underboss of the Lucchese crime family of New York. In August 2020, Crea was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and racketeering.

Steven Crea grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, a neighborhood that had a strong Mafia presence. In the late 1970s, Crea worked closely with his mentor and close friend Vincent DiNapoli, a "made" member of Genovese crime family, who was in the construction "rehab" industry. By 1979, Crea and Vincent DiNapoli began working with SEBCO (South East Bronx Community Organization), an organization created by Catholic priest Louis Gigante, who was the brother of Genovese family boss Vincent Gigante. SEBCO was an organization of low-income housing in the South East Bronx that was funded by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Crea and DiNapoli's drywall companies were able to secure millions of dollars in construction projects award by SEBCO.

Sometime in the early 1980s, Crea was inducted into the Lucchese crime family, under the reign of boss Anthony Corallo.

In 1983, DiNapoli was imprisoned, and Crea took control of the construction business with SEBCO. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that Crea visited Vincent DiNapoli in prison a number of times. Crea lived in a home just across the street from DiNapoli and he became DiNapoli's daughter godfather, helping her arrange her wedding while DiNapoli was in prison. In 1985, Crea was convicted of conspiracy to plot to murder a Bronx man who Crea believed had assaulted his wife, but in 1987, his conviction was overturned.

In 1990, family boss Victor Amuso promoted Crea to caporegime (captain), taking over Samuel "Sammy Bones" Castaldi's crew in the Bronx. Crea specialized in labor racketeering, and gained control over Carpenter's Local 608, using it to extort New York City contractors. He also held a no-show job at Inner City Drywall, one of the city's largest drywall contractors and was involved with Local 282 of the Cement and Concrete Workers Union.

In 1993, imprisoned family boss Vic Amuso promoted Crea to underboss of the Lucchese family. Crea along with his Bronx allies, shifted the family's power center away from the Brooklyn faction and back to the Bronx and Upper Manhattan crews, which had historically controlled the family for decades. This angered former underboss Anthony Casso and his Brooklyn loyalists George Zappola and Frank "Spaghetti Man" Gioia, Jr. who during the early 1990s, plotted to murder Crea and retake control of the family. The Brooklyn loyalists planned to lure Crea to a sit-down (a mafia meeting) and then murder him. However, the plot fell through after Zappola, Gioia, and the rest of Casso's faction were indicted and imprisoned.

From 1997 through 1999, Crea served as the head of the "Lucchese Construction Group", which also included Lucchese caporegimes (capos) Dominic Truscello, head of the Prince Street crew, and Joseph Tangorra, head of a Brooklyn crew. The Construction Group brokered the bribes and "mob tax" payments to be received from contractors, and settled disputes over who would dominate a particular construction site. The group also, placed mobsters on company payrolls so they could report legitimate taxable income to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). During its existence, the Construction Group controlled over $40 million in construction contracts, increasing overall construction costs by 5%.

In 1998, after acting Lucchese boss Joseph DeFede was indicted on labor racketeering and extortion charges, Crea became the family's new acting boss.

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