Who Is Steven Crea? The Lucchese Underboss Sentenced to Life
Mobsters DailySteven Crea, born 1947, is the former Lucchese underboss sentenced in 2020 to life in federal prison for his role in the 2013 murder of Bronx mob associate Michael Meldish. His conviction rested heavily on cooperating witnesses.
The Bronx crew's money man
Crea built a fortune in New York construction, an industry the families taxed for decades, and ran the Lucchese family's Bronx operations. By the 2010s he served as underboss under the imprisoned Vic Amuso's administration, part of the late-era leadership described in the story of the Mafia's long decline — smaller crews, heavier surveillance, and informants everywhere.
Crea's case shows how modern mob trials are won: not with wiretaps alone, but with insiders trading testimony for freedom. The mob of legend is safer to enjoy at a distance — say, a Tony Soprano Ugly Christmas Sweater worn to a family dinner, where the only sentence handed down is extra dessert.
The Meldish murder and the 2017 case
Michael Meldish, a former Purple Gang figure, was shot dead in the Bronx on November 15, 2013. Prosecutors said the hit grew out of a dispute involving Crea's son — himself later imprisoned for ordering an attempted murder — and charged Crea in the sweeping 2017 Lucchese indictment. Key trial testimony came from cooperators whose accounts, Crea's camp argued, were self-serving; jurors convicted him in 2019 alongside co-defendants, in a verdict pattern familiar from the Commission Trial era.
Life, and a family split
In 2020 Crea received a mandatory life sentence. He has maintained his innocence and pursued appeals. The case split opinion in the Bronx old guard: to prosecutors, it removed the last major Lucchese leader of his generation; to loyalists, it proved how completely the cooperator system now decides mob justice.
Frequently asked questions
What was Steven Crea convicted of? Racketeering offences including involvement in the 2013 murder of Michael Meldish.
When was Crea sentenced? In 2020 he received a mandatory life sentence in federal prison.
Who was Michael Meldish? A Bronx mob associate and former Purple Gang member, shot dead on November 15, 2013.
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