Joey Testa Dies In Gangster Retirement In Las Vegas
Joey Testa, the infamous mob hitman once known as one of the “Gemini Twins” for his role in the savage Roy DeMeo crew, died on February 4th, 2026, in Las Vegas. He was 71. His passing marks the quiet end to a violent life that concluded with a brief, two-year period of frail freedom after decades behind bars.
Testa, born January 24, 1955, earned his chilling nickname alongside partner Anthony Senter in the Gambino family’s most brutal enclave. The crew, operated by DeMeo, was notorious for its murder-for-hire operations and grisly body-disposal methods. Testa was directly implicated in numerous murders during the late 1970s and early 1980s, a reign of terror that ended with DeMeo’s 1983 murder and the crew’s disintegration.
Flipping to the Lucchese crime family afterward provided no long-term sanctuary. In 1987, Testa was convicted on racketeering and murder charges, sentenced to life in prison. For 37 years, he remained incarcerated, a living relic of a bygone era of organized crime. His eventual release in 2024, granted due to failing health and changed sentencing guidelines, was a final footnote.
He spent his last days not in the mean streets of New York, but in the desert retirement of Las Vegas, a city built on second chances. His death underscores the final fade of a generation of gangsters whose notoriety was forged in blood, but whose endings were marked by obscurity and the relentless passage of time. The “Gemini Twin” leaves behind no empire, only a dark legacy and the echo of a violent chapter now firmly closed.
