Frederick was one of three brothers born to Italian-American emigrants in Canarsie, Brooklyn. His brother Richard worked for a chop shop in Staten Island stealing cars. DiNome followed him into organized crime and became a member of the DeMeo crew led by Roy DeMeo. Albert DeMeo described Frederick in For the Sins of My Father as, "...A husky guy about five feet, nine inches, a little shorter than my father, and every inch of him was covered in grease. He seemed to exude engine grease from his pores. Freddy had dirty blond hair, a lopsided nose, and tattoos covering both arms. His teeth were stained and crooked, and his fingernails were filthy. In his biography Albert DeMeo writes that his father had, "taken [Albert] by Freddy's house to play with Freddy's children while he and Freddy talke