Tramunti was born October 1, 1910, in Manhattan and raised in a tenement on 107th Street in Harlem. He eventually ran the "Harlem Game", one of the major floating craps games in New York. Tramunti was a beefy man who stood, had a triple chin, and bore a remarkable resemblance to comedianJonathan Winters. Tramunti's headquarters was The Stage Delicatessen in Manhattan. Tramunti lived in Whitestone, Queens and had a wife and two children. One of Tramunti's sons, Louis, died at age 14. In 1922, the 12-year-old Tramunti was sent to a Catholic reform school due to truancy from school. On December 9, 1930, Tramunti was arrested on charges of robbing a rent collector. However, on December 26, a judge dismissed the charges due to lack of evidence. In July 1931, Tramunti was convicted of felonious assault and was sentenced to six to fifteen years at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York. He was paroled in 1937, then returned to prison for a violation.
In 1967, with the death of Lucchese boss Tommy Lucchese, Tramunti became the official boss of the Lucchese family. Carlo Gambino, the head of the Gambino crime family, allegedly used his influence to make Tramunti the Lucchese boss. Other sources said that Tramunti was a compromise candidate who was acceptable to the different family factions. A common version is that the Mafia Commission designated Tramunti as temporary boss until Lucchese's preferred successor, Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, was released from prison On November 19, 1970, Tramunti was indicted in Florida on 14 counts of stock fraud and other charges. The government charged that Tramunti and other mobsters forcibly seized control of a Miami investment firm. On December 23, 1971, Tramunti was acquitted of all charges in the stock swindle case. On November 29, 1972, Tramunti was indicted on criminal contempt charges for lying to a grand jury about calls he made to capo Paul Vario. Tramunti was convicted and sentenced on August 6, 1973, to three years in state prison.
On October 4, 1973, as a result of "Operation Shamrock", Tramunti and 43 other mobsters were indicted on narcotics trafficking charges. Ultimately, Tramunti was convicted in the famous French Connection case for financing a huge heroin smuggling operation. A former steward at an espresso cafe testified to hearing drug dealer Louis Inglese discuss a deal with Tramunti and seeing Tramunti nod his head in approval. Some observers felt the case was a miscarriage of justice, including crime reporters Jack Newfield and Murray Kempton. Tramunti always denied the charges, stating "I may be a mobster and may have done bad things but I am not a drug dealer". On May 7, 1974, Tramunti was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, the judge stating that he was "dangerous." Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo succeeded Tramunti as head of the Lucchese family.
Tramunti may have been the inspiration for the Mafia character Dominic Cattano, played by the Sicilian-American actor Armand Assante, in the 2007 motion picture American Gangster.
