Wilfred Willie Boy Johnson was gunned down outside his Brooklyn home in the Flatlands neighborhood on August 29, 1988. He was 52 and was struck by a fusillade of nineteen shots that tore into his thighs and back and then struck his head, leaving him dead near the curb before anyone could intervene. Witnesses described the scene as an execution; jack-like spikes were reportedly dropped onto the roadway afterward to prevent a quick vehicle pursuit, and his wife ran outside and found him fatally wounded.

Johnson had a public reputation as a longtime associate in John Gotti’s orbit and as an ex-boxer, gambler, and loan shark. Federal authorities later said he had been an FBI informant known as Wahoo, a claim Johnson and his attorneys disputed. Early suspicion focused on Bonanno family hitmen Thomas Tommy Karate Pitera and Vincent Kojak Giattino. Giattino was convicted in federal court for his participation in Johnson’s murder; Pitera was tried and acquitted of this killing, though his name remained connected to the case.

Does anyone have memories of the Flatlands neighborhood or details from 1988 that could shed more light on what happened that morning?