Ex-Food Network Star David Ruggerio Reveals Secret Life As A Mafia Made Man

deadline.com:

Former Food Network host and celebrity chef David Ruggerio has come out with a startling revelation – he had a secret life as a made man in the mafia, participating in several murders, drug dealing, extortion, fraud and other crimes.In an interview with Vanity Fair, Ruggerio candidly talked about his life in the mob, even as he rose in the ranks of New York’s culinary world.

He was running such posh Manhattan restaurants as La Caravelle, Maxim’s, and Le Chantilly, and had his own Food Network show, “Ruggerio to Go.” He also appeared on PBS and has several books, both cookbooks and fiction.Ruggerio’s life of crime began when he was just 11-years-old.

His Sicilian father, Saverio Erasmo Gambino, was a cousin of Carlo Gambino, the infamous “boss of all bosses” and the leader of the Five Families who dominated the rackets in New York in the 1960s and 1970s.His father took him to Sicily in 1977 where he was made by Santo Inzerillo, the brother of Palermo boss Totuccio Inzerillo, Ruggerio said.

He was inducted under his birth name, Sabatino Antonino Gambino.He became part of a crew run by Carmine Lombardozzi, who was known as the ‘King of Wall Street’ for his stock pump and dump schemes.