Corralling Sammy 'The Bull'

"Jimmy Moran" was supposedly in the excavation business, running two modest companies--Marathon Development and Creative Pools--out of a small stucco building in east Phoenix, across the street from a junkyard. His name doesn't appear in company records, but his wife and son are listed among the officers. He lived alone with a dog, moving every year or two from one nondescript apartment to another. (Gravano and his wife have long maintained separate residences.) Most recently, he had a place in a drab two-story complex on Tempe's University Avenue.

Yet Gravano and his family seemed to have plenty of flash cash on hand. In 1997 his wife bought a ritzy stucco house among Tempe's wealthy "horse properties," complete with a pony corralled in the backyard. Gravano was a frequent visitor, showing up in a fancy green Lexus. His wife and kids also drove luxury cars. "He seemed to own half a Lexus dealership," says a neighbor.

Police and prosecutors say Gravano didn't earn that money digging pools. Federal and state law-enforcement officials tracking the drug trade began to suspect that Gravano and his family were involved in drug trafficking last August, when agents from the U.S. Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency got a tip about a shipment of ecstasy coming into the United States. They tracked the package to 23-year-old Michael Papa, a founder of the Devil Dogs, some of whose members were believed to be involved in drug dealing. Papa was also an old pal of Gravano's son, Gerard. Working their way up the chain, investigators discovered Gravano's alleged involvement.

Federal and state agents set up 24-hour surveillance on Gravano and his associates, tracking overseas drug shipments to a Mail Boxes Etc. in Phoenix. The Feds say Gravano and Co. made classic mistakes. Though Gravano's business wasn't particularly successful (the DEA claims he dug only two pools), the company made regular cash deposits in the bank. The family spent lavishly at restaurants and nightclubs, and paid cash for their fancy cars. When the police raided the homes and businesses of the alleged traffickers, they found a total of 23 guns, $230,000 in cash and 23,000 ecstasy pills. "This was a textbook case on how not to run a narcotics network," says DEA spokesman Jim Molesa.

According to DEA officials, Gerard introduced his father to the drug trade, telling him about Papa's alleged narcotics business. Gravano, the Feds say, cut himself in, agreeing to manage the money and mentor Papa in the tricks of the underground trade. Gravano "saw the opportunity for a small investment making a lot of money," Molesa says. The Feds say the group used Gravano's notoriety as a ruthless mob hit man to frighten off competitors. For a brief moment, it seemed, Sammy the Bull was back. Now, if convicted, he faces a lengthy prison stretch. Compared with that, the boring, anonymous life of Jimmy Moran, Phoenix pool digger, might not seem half bad.

DONATELLA LORCH

© 2000