Michael de Batt - Biography - The Slaying of Frank Fiala

The Slaying of Frank Fiala

Frank Fiala was a drug trafficker and a powerful and wealthy Gambino crime family associate. He is not to be mistaken as a relative of Gambino crime family capo James Failla. He wanted to rent out The Plaza Suite to throw himself a birthday party. Fiala started to act very strange and unstable. He took DeBatt and other Plaza Suite employees on rides on his private Lear jet. He was in the nightclub all the time, consuming cocaine in large quantities and handing out bags of cocaine to patrons of the club.

At one point in time, DeBatt confronted Fiala who at the time was armed with an Uzi submachine gun and told him calmly and politely that there were no firearms allowed inside the nightclub. Later to keep a close observation of Fiala, Gravano told DeBatt to keep a close eye on Fiala. He told got close to Fiala and told him that he wanted to continue working as a bouncer after Fiala purchased the Plaza Suite, and told him Gravano always underpaid him. Fiala later told DeBatt in confidence, "Fuck this Sammy. Fuck this punk. When I take over, I'm doing this, that." After Fiala waved an Uzi at Gravano, Sammy was so enraged that he wanted him murdered immediately on June 27, 1982. He instructed Edward Garafola to round up Joseph D'Angelo, Liborio (Louie) Milito, Joseph Paruta, Thomas (Huck) Carbonaro, Nicholas Mormando and himself and rendezvous at D'Angelo's bar, Doc's. Sammy stationed his fellow associates in locations outside The Plaza Suite ready to ambush Fiala. To not arouse suspicion from Fiala or anyone in his group of partiers, DeBatt stayed positioned at the front door of the club maintaining the ruse of being a bouncer. At a prearranged signal from DeBatt, Joseph D'Angelo and Louis Milito leaped out from where they sat in a parked car at the corner around from the club on 86th Street and shoot him. As Louis and Joseph D'Angelo heard Sammy Gravano call out his name, they ran out of the alley shooting. After the shooting, pandemonium broke out on the street. Some people were trying to get off the street and back into the disco in fear of being shot. DeBatt stood by the door and acted like he was one of the panicking party goers yelling, "Get down! Get down! Somebody's shooting". He held the door shut so nobody could get in or out of the Plaza Suite.

When interviewed by homicide detectives DeBatt told them that he did not know who owned the Plaza Suite and had never seen or met the owners in person. Gravano congratulated DeBatt, his friend Nicholas Mormando and the others on a "beautiful piece of work." Since this was not a sanctioned murder by their boss Paul Castellano, it could not go down that Mormando could be eligible to become a "made man" in the Gambino crime family for his involvement. He was never indicted or convicted for being accessory to the murder of Frank Fiala. After the murder of Fiala, Castellano was angry. He had DeBatt, Mormando and the others stay up at his New Jersey farm to lie low. After hearing the news that Castellano might order their executions over the unsanctioned murder, when given the chance by Sammy to leave, DeBatt and the others all said, "Sammy, we'll load up. We're ready." This shows that Michael displayed extreme devotion in following Gravano even when his own life was threatened.

The murder of Fiala was never solved until Sammy Gravano became a stool pigeon and testified in court of the murder during the trial of John Gotti.