In the early 1970s, Vitabile was a soldier in the crew of Giovanni Riggi. In 1976, family boss Sam DeCavalcante retired to Florida and Riggi succeeded him as boss. Riggi then designated Vitabile as his consigliere and Girolamo Palermo as underboss. The DeCavalcante family would be under this steady leadership for the next fifteen years. However, the late 1980s brought law enforcement investigations that would shake up the family throughout the 1990s.