Edward Grillo - Murder

Murder

By 1978, Grillo was in deep trouble with the Gambino family. Suffering from gambling and cocaine addictions, he found himself heavily in debt to DeMeo. To avoid missing his payments to DeMeo, he was constantly borrowing from other loansharks. The drugs and financial stress was apparently making Grillo act erratically. This behavior convinced DeMeo and his superior, Anthony Gaggi, that Grillo was weak and would fold under police pressure if arrested. Montiglio attempted to help Grillo, risking his own life to do it. On one occasion, Montiglio ripped up $50,000 worth of debt markers that Danny had acquired during a night of gambling at Gambino party. DeMeo confronted Montiglio about Danny's behavior, and made statements that implied Grillo did not have much time left.

On November 15, 1978 Montiglio visited the DeMeo crew's primary hangout, the Gemini Lounge in Brooklyn. Seeing crew members Chris Rosenberg, Joseph Testa and Anthony Senter outside the entrance, Montiglio asked if they had seen Grillo. Rosenberg allegedly smiled and replied, "No one will see Danny no more." Montiglio then approached DeMeo inside the Lounge, who confirmed Rosenberg's statement, claiming that "...if anybody wants to talk to (Danny) they'll have to talk to him at the Fountain Avenue dump."

Many of the DeMeo crew's victims had been dismembered and deposited at this dump. DeMeo went on to say that the crew had parked Grillo's car in the middle of the Manhattan Bridge and left the driver side door open to make it look like a suicide. During a later meeting with the Westies, DeMeo learned from Coonan that Grillo had tried to use Coonan as a front to borrow even more money from DeMeo. According to Coonan's second-in-command Mickey Featherstone, DeMeo allegedly remarked, "I wish you would've told me earlier, I would've cut him into littler pieces."

Grillo's wife later testified that on November 14, 1978, the day her husband disappeared, Grillo had received a call at home from DeMeo requesting he come to a meeting at the Gemini Lounge. Before leaving, Grillo took special care to tell his wife and children goodbye. After he was gone, his wife discovered that he had left his wallet and other personal possessions behind. A loyal crew member to the end, Grillo voluntarily went to a meeting that he may have known would be his last.