Salvatore Lucarelli is the capo di tutti capo of the largest Mafia organization in the Western United States.
Biography[]
In 2005, Lucarelli hired Adrian Monk to find the man who had gunned down one of his crews inside a Mafia-owned barber shop (that, in reality, was the front for a money laundering operation). One of the victims was a distant relative of Lucarelli's, giving him a personal interest in the case. Though he offered to triple Monk's usual fee, Monk was initially reluctant, knowing that Lucarelli would likely declare war on any rival gang that was responsible for the massacre. Monk was pushed into accepting the job by his assistant, Sharona Fleming, and F.B.I. Agent Colmes, who wanted Monk to go undercover.
In the end, however, Monk discovered that the real killer was a mild-mannered employee of the U.S. Mint, Phil Bedard, who had hidden rare coins in the barber shop and unexpectedly had to confront a gang of Mafia hoods when he came back for them. Lucarelli seemed content to let the F.B.I. arrest Bedard. Much to the disappointment of Colmes, Monk's undercover work produced no incriminating information. (Monk: "Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather")
Non-Canon History[]
Salvatore was finally indicted in or around 2007 or 2008, in the novel Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop. When one, and then two, judges assigned to preside at his trial were murdered by a mysterious gunman, Lucarelli was the obvious suspect: after the two assassinations, other judges became terrified of taking the case, and his lawyer had a credible argument that a fair trial would have been impossible under those circumstances.
However, Lucarelli maintained that he was innocent, and hired Monk again to prove it. Monk, surprisingly, found out that Lucarelli had been framed: the wife of the second judge had killed her husband, killing the first judge to make it seem like Lucarelli's work.
It is unknown if or when Lucarelli ultimately stood trial. He was still in jail when Leland Stottlemeyer was arrested on murder charges, and Stottlemeyer found it particularly galling to be placed in a cell across from the mobster's. (Monk: "Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop")