She Was 19 and Dating a Car Thief — DeMeo Had Them Both Killed

Cherie Golden was only 19 years old. She was not a Mafia member, a criminal boss or a government informant. Her fatal connection to New York’s underworld was her relationship with John Quinn—a successful car thief suspected of betraying Roy DeMeo’s crew. Quinn had become involved in the stolen-car business surrounding DeMeo’s growing criminal empire. But after he testified before a grand jury, DeMeo reportedly became convinced that Quinn might cooperate with law enforcement. Inside the DeMeo crew, suspicion alone could become a death sentence. On July 20, 1977, Quinn was shot in the back of the head and abandoned beside a road on Staten Island. But DeMeo’s men did not stop with him. They also targeted Cherie, apparently fearing that police could pressure her into revealing what she knew. She was shot three times in the head. Her body was discovered days later inside an abandoned car in Brooklyn. There was no established evidence that Cherie had betrayed the crew or participated in Quinn’s suspected cooperation. Her relationship with a marked man was enough to place her in the path of one of the most ruthless murder crews in Mafia history. Why did Roy DeMeo consider a 19-year-old woman too dangerous to leave alive? What had Quinn revealed before the grand jury? And why were their bodies deliberately abandoned where authorities would find them? This is the disturbing story of John Quinn and Cherie Golden—the car thief suspected of talking and the teenage girlfriend Roy DeMeo’s crew refused to spare. Where are you watching from? Subscribe to STREET FILES for more forgotten Mafia victims, deadly betrayals and true stories from America’s underworld. #RoyDeMeo #CherieGolden #JohnQuinn #DeMeoCrew #GambinoFamily #MafiaHistory #StreetFiles