Growing up in the East Harlem section of Manhattan during the 1950s, DiNapoli was originally associated with the Lucchese crime family. He later switched to the Genovese crime family and became an associate of soldier Vincent "Fish" Cafaro, front boss Anthony Salerno's top lieutenant. DiNapoli's older brother Joseph DiNapoli is allegedly a capo in the Lucchese crime family and his younger brother Louis DiNapoli allegedly is a soldier in DiNapoli's crew.