Steven Crea

Early life

Steven Lorenzo Crea was born on July 18, 1947. Crea earned his nickname "Wonderboy" after the fictional Quality Comics superhero.

Rise to power

Crea was inducted into the Lucchese crime family sometime in the 1980s, under the reign of boss Anthony Corallo. By 1990, family boss Victor Amuso appointed Crea capo, taking over Samuel "Sammy Bones" Castaldi's crew in the Bronx. Crea specialized in labor rackets, and gained power over Carpenter's Local 608, using it to extort New York City contractors. Crea also held a no-show job at Inner City Drywall, one of the city's largest drywall contractors and was involved with Local 282 of the Cement and Concrete Workers Union.

In 1993, with Amuso and Anthony Casso's support, Crea became underboss of the Lucchese family. Using his new clout, Crea shifted the family's power center away from the Brooklyn crews and back to the Manhattan and Bronx crews which had historically controlled the family for decades. In the early 1990s, several Amuso/Casso loyalists, including George Zappola and Frank "Spaghetti Man" Gioia, Jr. hatched a plot to kill Crea, and take over the family. They planned to lure Crea to a sitdown and then murder him. However, the plot fell through after Zapolla, Gioia, and the rest of Amuso/Casso regime were indicted and imprisoned.

Construction boss

From 1997 through 1999, Crea served as the head of the "Lucchese Construction Group", which also included Lucchese capos Dominic Truscello, head of the Prince Street Crew, and Joseph Tangorra, head of a Brooklyn crew. The Construction Group brokered the bribes and "mob tax" payments to be received from contractors, and settled disputes over who would dominate a particular construction site. Also, the mobsters were placed on the company payroll so they could report legitimate taxable income to the U.S Internal Revenue Service (IRS). During its existence, the Construction Group controlled over $40 million in construction contracts, increasing overall construction costs by 5%.

In 1998, after acting Lucchese boss Joseph DeFede was indicted on labor racketeering and extortion charges, Crea became the family's new acting boss.

In December 1999, Crea and Joseph Datello talked about bribery and extortion with Sean Richard, the son-in-law of John Riggi, the boss of the DeCavalcante crime family. It was later revealed that Richard was wearing a hidden recording device.

In 1999, it was revealed that Crea had formed an alliance with members of the Gambino crime family in extorting local officials of New York City's carpenters, laborers and bricklayers unions.

Convicted on corruption charges

On September 6, 2000, Crea and other members of the Lucchese Construction Group were indicted in New York on state enterprise corruption, labor racketeering, extortion, and bid-rigging charges. The District Attorney charged that these schemes had systematically siphoned off millions of dollars from both public and private construction projects. Specifically, Crea used mob associates to extort building contractors who wished to receive rights to no-bid jobs or who wanted to reduce the number of union members on their payrolls. Crea's attorney was able to negotiate a favorable plea agreement which called for Crea to plead guilty to enterprise corruption and restraint of trade charges, and in January 2004 he received a 34-month prison sentence. Crea also pleaded guilty to similar federal charges and served both sentences concurrently.

Acting boss

On August 24, 2006, Crea was released from prison with parole restrictions that prohibited him from associating with other mobsters or union officials. On November 17, 2009, Crea's parole restrictions expired. Since his release it was speculated that he would take over the Lucchese crime family when his parole was up. In March 2010, the FBI observed at a Bronx social club Crea meeting with capo John Castelle.

In February 2012, author Jerry Capeci reported that Crea was named the new boss of the Lucchese crime family. In July 2014, author Capeci reported that Vic Amuso remains the official boss with Crea serving as acting boss despite his previous post.

On May 31, 2017 Crea and 18 other Lucchese crime family members were arrested by the FBI on charges ranging from murder to the illegal sale of cigarettes. Crea was alleged to have ordered two murder contracts on an informant and a Bonanno crime family associate. The FBI also alleged that he funneled or skimmed money from a New York City hospital, it is speculated that he made around $5 million.