Louis Pacella, known as "Louis Domes", was born and raised in New York in 1921 to Anthony and Marie Pacella. Pacella owned a restaurant in New York and at some point became a member of the Genovese crime family. He was allegedly engaged in large scale distribution of heroin. Up until the 1950s his only arrest was for grand larceny of an automobile. Pacella was once identified as a soldier in the crew of Genovese family capo Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola.