Angelo DeCarlo

Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo (September 2, 1902 – October 20, 1973) was a member of the New York City Genovese crime family who dominated loansharking operations in New Jersey during the 1960s. In March 1970, DeCarlo was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.

Presidential pardon After DeCarlo served 18 months in prison, President Richard Nixon commuted his sentence to time served (two years of a 12-year sentence), ostensibly due to his poor health. DeCarlo himself claimed to be dying of cancer (which turned out 10 months later to be true). Disregarding the usual protocol, U.S. Attorney General Richard Kleindienst approved the pardon request and sent it to White House Counsel John Dean. Dean then delivered the request directly to Nixon. It was rumored that Vice President Spiro Agnew, a personal friend of Frank Sinatra, persuaded Nixon to approve the request.

In December 1972, DeCarlo was released from prison. He died, from cancer, in Mountainside, New Jersey, on October 20, 1973. This was five days before a deadline to pay a $20,000 fine from his 1970 conviction. He was buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. The funeral was scheduled for the afternoon but was held in the morning because "the family just didn't want any more publicity."

In popular culture DeCarlo is portrayed by actor Christopher Walken in the 2014 film Jersey Boys about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The writers of Jersey Boys, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, claimed to have been called by relatives of DeCarlo insisting he be "shown in a favorable, respectful way."