Matthew Madonna was a former heroin trafficker who had supplied Leroy "Nicky" Barnes, among others, with dope. Madonna met Barnes in 1959, while the two were serving time in Green Haven Correctional Facility in upstate New York. At the time, Madonna was a Lucchese crime family associate.
Madonna supplied Barnes with heroin (about 20 to 30 kilograms per month) for over five years, until Madonna was busted in 1975. As reported by Jerry Capeci on www.ganglandnews.com, Madonna once delivered 20-kilograms of pure heroin from Asia to Barnes, by dropping a car with its trunk packed with the product off in a Manhattan parking lot. A few days later, Madonna returned to pick up the car, but this time loaded with cash in the trunk. The delivery system had fooled the cops, FBI, and DEA, until Barnes began testifying. In 1975, Madonna was busted for trafficking heroin and sentenced to 30 years, and ultimately served a 20 years (a sentence that was one year shorter than the turncoat Barnes).
In 1995, Madonna was released from Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, after completing the mandatory 2/3 of his sentence. In or about 1998, Madonna was inducted into the Lucchese crime family, a reward for his silence and his return to earning money for the battered crime family. Shortly thereafter, Madonna became a captain in the family. Madonna would be sent to prison again but released in September of 2003.
After the convictions of family leaders Steven Crea, Louis Daidone, Dominic Truscello and the cooperation of former acting boss Joseph DeFede, the Luccheses established a 3-man ruling panel to handle the administration's business. Madonna, along with Aniello Migliore and Joseph DiNapoli head the panel. Many investigators believe that with the release of Crea, the panel may soon be disbanded so that Crea could take over the reigns permanently.
Birth: 1935