Robert Francis Perrino, also known as "Bobby Perrino" (February 9, 1938 in Fordham, Bronx – May 4, 1992 in Port Richmond, Staten Island) was the superintendent of deliveries at the New York Post from the 1970s until 1992, when he was murdered. He was a Bonanno crime family associate of Italian-American descent. Perrino was the leader of "The Post Circulation Crew" (as referred to by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau in court) which allegedly existed to control the circulation department of (the now defunct) New York Post printing press and distribution center (located at 210 South Street) by means of extortion, coercion, the falsification of business records, larceny and bribery. The crew also became involved in loan sharking, drug trafficking and the selling of stolen firearms.
Biography
Robert Perrino was the son-in-law of Bonanno crime family underboss and former consigliere Nicholas Marangello. He was born to American born parents of Italian immigrants from Gallo Matese, Italy, and not to be mistaken as a relative of Anthony Peraino. Perrino was a former New York Police Department (NYPD) law enforcement officer policing the Little Italy, Manhattan neighborhood during an unremarkable twenty-year career. His retirement from the NYPD and introduction to his subsequent career in organized crime remains a mystery to authorities. Perrino lived in Knickerbocker Village, where his father-in-law Nicholas Marangello and other members of the Bonanno crime family resided. He maintained daily contact and worked alongside other crime family members at the New York Post, a mere three blocks away from his home. Perrino was hired in the late 1960s as the Superintendent of Deliveries for the New York Post to replace Bonanno crime family mobster Anthony Michele. Later, he moved from Knickerbocker Village to a waterfront mansion on Huntington Bay in Huntington, New York with his wife and children.
After his disappearance, police discovered in his Huntington home a stunning arsenal of firearms, including some with erased serial numbers, plus $105,000 in loose currency. Months following his disappearance, Perrino's picture was broadcast on the television show America's Most Wanted, but the show elicited no tips. Law enforcement officials and most Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union (NMDU) workers assumed Perrino had been murdered. He was declared legally dead in 1997.
The Post Circulation Crew
The Post Circulation Crew was formed in the early 1960s before Perrino was hired at The Post by Albert Embarrato to replace Anthony Michele, another Post Circulation Crew member who had been promoted to Director of Circulation. Perrino led a double life as a powerful and influential associate of the Bonanno crime family for twenty years, unknown to his fellow "citizen" employees and family members. During his employment, Perrino allowed the New York Post labor force to be infested with button-men, or "sidewalk soldiers", from the Bonanno crime family. The Post Circulation Crew included three "made" soldiers: Richard Cantarella, Joseph D'Amico and Albert Embarrato. They among other members of the Bonanno crime family were all employed by The Post and received wages, some of which amounted to $50,000 a year. An estimated 51 crime family members were no-show employees while others were partially or wholly present at the newspaper distribution plant including Cantarella, D'Amico and Embarrato.
For years, through the influence of Joseph Massino and Salvatore Vitale, Perrino while leading The Post Circulation Crew organized the theft of thousands of newspapers every day and sold them to non-connected independent street vendors and stores in Manhattan and Staten Island at a rate of twenty to thirty cents each; the standard newspaper price at the time was fifty cents. Although Perrino helped the Bonanno crime family orchestrate many rackets at the newspaper they demonstrated no interest in the actual content that was printed by The Post and did not control its content.