Episode 27: The Amityville Horror
The Amityville Horror
Ronald J. DeFeo, Jr.
Photo Credit: "Amityville" by LeGrimlin
In the early evening hours of November 13, 1974, a young bearded man burst into a local bar in Amityville, New York in a panic. He believed his parents might have been shot, and he didn’t know what to do. Several patrons at the bar followed him home in order to help. What they found would horrify the community. In the home on 112 Ocean Avenue, six bodies lay dead, all shot to death. The police were called and the investigation began. It didn’t take long for detectives to come to the conclusion that Ronald Joseph DeFeo, Jr. had killed his own family hours before bursting into the bar.
But the story wouldn’t stop there. It didn’t stop once Ronald, or Butch as he was known, was convicted. The house itself would become infamous. A month after DeFeo’s conviction, George and Kathy Lutz would move into the home only to leave 28 days later. They claimed the house was possessed. This claim led to a book and then a series of popular horror films.
In this episode, we discuss the claims by the Lutzes, the murders committed by DeFeo, and then go deep into his Italian immigrant roots where we found family ties to the Genovese crime family.
The Brigante children: John, Allison, Marc, Dawn, and “Butch”
Ronald Joseph DeFeo, Sr. (1930-1974)
Source: Find a Grave
Louise Marie Brigante DeFeo (1931-1974)
Source: Find a Grave
Dawn Theresa DeFeo (1956-1974)
Allison Louise DeFeo (1961-1974)
Source: Find a Grave
Marc Gregory DeFeo (1962-1974)
John Matthew DeFeo (1965-1974)
Ronald “Butch” DeFeo, Jr. upon his arrest
Source: The Miami Herald, 16 November 1974
Source: Newsday (Suffolk Edition), 19, March 1986
Source: Daily News, 19 November 1974
The funeral of the six DeFeo family members
Source: Daily News, 19 November 1974
Source: Daily News, 19 November 1974
Mindy Weiss was Ronald, Jr.’s girlfriend at the time of the murders.
Source: Newsday (Nassua Edition), 30 October 1975
In 1986, Geraldine DeFeo Gates and Ronald DeFeo would claim they had a secret marriage before the murders.
Source: Newsday (Nassua Edition), 19 Mar 1986
Michael Brigante, Ronald’s paternal grandfather, was a successful car salesman and dealership owner of Brigante-Karl Buick from 1965-1981.
Source: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 24 Feb 1952
Patrissy’s stayed open until 1995.
Source: Daily News, 24 July 1989
Giovanni “John” DeFeo and his wife Maria Giovanna “Jennie” Colluzzi lived at 230 Mulberry Street in 1900 with her parents, Donato Antonio Colluzzi and Maria Lucia D’Alessandro.
231 Mulberry Street in Little Italy, New York City, ca 1935.
Photo courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collection
We didn’t discuss these two in detail in the episode, but these are Antoinette “Nettie” DeFeo D’Orazio (1911-2007) and sister Marie Angelina “Jean” DeFeo Cummings (1908-2003). They were the youngest daughters of John and Jennie DeFeo, grandaunts of Ronald DeFeo, Jr, and sisters of Rocco and Peter DeFeo.
Photo taken in 1912 or 1913 in New York City
Giuseppe “Joseph” Brigante, maternal great-grandfather of DeFeo, Jr,, arrived with his father Raffaele Brigante on the S. S. Neustria in 1890. DeFeo’s paternal. In 1893, Jennie Colluzzi DeFeo, DeFeo’s paternal great-grandmother, arrived on the same ship with her parents.
Peter DeFeo, capo in the Genovese crime family, was also the granduncle of Ronald DeFeo, Jr. (pictured with a nephew from his wife’s family)
DeFeo’s “business” often led to him being in the newspapers.
Source: Daily News, 22 November 1972
DeFeo also spent time “testifying” for Congress.
Source: Newsday (Suffolk Edition), 3 December 1969
The will of Vito “Victor” Calabrese, great-great grandfather of Ronald DeFeo, Jr.
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The Flu of 1918 (Tenement Museum)
Recommended Reading
The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry
The Valachi Papers by Peter Maas
Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires by Selwyn Raab
The Mafia: A Cultural History by Roberto M. Dainotto
The Deadly Don: Vito Genovese, Mafia Boss by Anthony M. DeStefano
SOURCES
Ronald DeFeo, Jr on Biography
112 Ocean Avenue: Creepy Facts
Amityville FAQ
Influenza Encyclopedia: NYC
Immigration, Ethnicity, and the Pandemic (2010), Dr. Alan M. Kraut
Patrissy’s
When Little Italy Was Big
Manhattan Mafia Guide: Hits, Homes, and Headquarters by Eric Ferrara
Wikipedia
We use a multitude of resources when researching a family tree up to an including census records from 1800-1940, marriage records in various states, draft registration cards, newspaper articles, and more. If you would like more specific details on where information was obtained, please email us and we’ll respond in a timely manner.