Editing Thomas DeSimone (section)

== Early life ==
DeSimone was born in [[New York City]], in the [[South Ozone Park]] area in the borough of Queens, on June 6, 1946. The youngest of eight children born to Robert Anthony DeSimone and Camilla Passerelli. He had four elder sisters and three elder brothers. Despite the incorrect fact that there was a belief that two of his brothers were associates of the [[Gambino crime family]];this is now known to be incorrect records clearly show he never had a  brother called Anthony who was supposed to be murdered by mobster [[Thomas Agro]] in 1979. One of his sisters Phyllis was a mistress of [[James Burke (gangster)|James Burke]] from the time she was aged 16. DeSimone was also the brother-in-law of mobster Joseph "The Barber" Spione, who was slain for refusing to help kill DeSimone in the late 1970s.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The New York Times|title=Sometimes, Mob Victims Have Plenty of Company|author=Rashbaum, William K. with contributions from Fisher, Janon|date=October 6, 2004|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DEFDC163BF935A35753C1A9629C8B63|access-date=February 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824005604/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DEFDC163BF935A35753C1A9629C8B63|archive-date=August 24, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1965, when he was aged 19, DeSimone was introduced to [[Paul Vario]], a ''[[caporegime]]'' in the [[Lucchese crime family]]. [[Henry Hill]], a Vario associate who was in his early 20s at the time, later recounted his first meeting with DeSimone, describing him as "a skinny kid who was wearing a wiseguy suit and a pencil mustache."<ref name=wiseguy>{{cite book|last1=Pileggi|first1=Nicholas|title=Wiseguy|date=1986|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=47|isbn=978-1-4516-4278-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfOEmndgHCgC&q=tommy+desimone+He+was+one+of+those+kids+who+looked+younger+than+he+was+just+because+he+was+trying+to+look+older&pg=PA47|access-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref> DeSimone worked under Vario, Burke and Hill, among others, becoming involved in truck hijackings, [[fence (criminal)|fencing]] stolen property, [[extortion]], [[fraud]] and murder. While hijacking, DeSimone would always carry his gun in a brown paper bag. "Walking down the street, he looked like he was bringing you a sandwich instead of a [[.38 caliber|.38]]", Hill said.