During the 1970s, Cerrella was a soldier in the Genovese family operating in Broward County, Florida. Cerrella worked with soldier Vincent Romano in South Florida before becoming made man in the Lucchese crime family. In 2011, the FBI discovered a list of contacts that included Cerrella, Vincent Basciano and others in Bonanno family soldier Mike Virtuoso's butcher shop on Graham Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.