Carlo Gambino

Carlo Gambino
Carlo Gambino
	File:Carlogambino1.jpg Carlo Gambino's picture taken in the 1930s
Born	August 24, 1902; Caccamo, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Died	October 15, 1976 (aged 74); New York City, New York, U.S.

Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino, (August 24,1902 - October 15,1976) was a Mafioso who also became boss of the Gambino crime family that still bears his name today. No one expected Gambino to seize control over The Commission of Cosa Nostra in the US, at the 1957's Apalachin convention. Gambino was known for being low-key and secretive and unlike many modern mafiosi, Gambino served relatively little time in prison, but lived to the age of 74, when he died of a heart attack, while watching the New York Yankees on television.

Early life

Gambino was a native of the town Caccamo in Palermo, Sicily, he was born to a family that belonged to the Honored Society. The Honored Society was slightly more complicated than the Black Hand of America, which was often confused with the American Mafia. The Black Hand, much like the pre-1920's Mafia, was a highly disorganized version of the real European mafia. Once Benito Mussolini chased a great deal of real mafiosi out of Italy, one of the American-Italians who benefited from the new, better-organized Mafia was Carlo Gambino. Gambino began carrying out murder orders for new Mob bosses in his teens. In 1921, at the age of 19, he became a "made man", and was inducted to La Cosa Nostra. He was later known as an "original".

Immigration

Benito Mussolini was gaining power in Italy, and Gambino entered the United States as an illegal immigrant on a shipping boat. He ate nothing but anchovies and wine during the trip, and joined his cousins, the Castellanos, in New York City. There he joined a crew later called "The Young Turks", which included mobsters like Frank Costello, Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia, Frank Scalice, Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese, Joe Adonis, Vito Genovese, Meyer Lansky, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and was headed by one of the future's most powerful Mob bosses, Charlie "Lucky" Luciano. The crew became involved in robbery, thefts, extortion, illegal gambling and narcotics, but with their new partner Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein, they went over to bootlegging during the Prohibition in the early 1920s. Gambino also brought his cousin, Paul Castellano, into the organization. Castellano would later become a high ranking mafioso next to Gambino himself.

The Castellammarese War

By 1926, Luciano was considered to be young, ambitious, and a powerful gangster on the rise. Luciano's immediate superior, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria was coming into conflict with Salvatore Maranzano, a recent arrival from Palermo, Sicily who was born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. When Maranzano arrived in New York in 1925, his access to money and manpower let him quickly set up rum running, bootlegging, extortion and gambling operations that directly competed with Masseria. On October 10, 1928, Joe Masseria eliminated his top rival for the coveted Boss of Bosses title, Brooklyn boss, Salvatore "Tata" D'Aquila. However, Masseria still had to deal with the powerful and influential Maranzano and his Castellammarese Clan. Gambino was thrown right into the line of fire.

Joe Masseria became an underworld dictator, requiring absolute loyalty and obedience from the other four New York families. In 1930, Masseria demanded a $10,000 tribute from the leader of Maranzano's crime family and got it. The Castellammarese Clan leader, Nicola "Cola" Schiro fled New York in fear, leaving Maranzano as the new leader. By 1931, a series of killings in Detroit, Chicago and New York involving Castellammarese clan members and associates caused Maranzano and his family to declare war against Joe Masseria and his allies. These allies were Luciano and his associates, Costello, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis and Gambino. Another Masseria ally was the large Mineo crime family (formerly D'Aquila), whose members included Luciano associates Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia, and Frank Scalice. The Castellammarese clan included Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno and Stefano Magaddino, the Profaci crime family, which included Joseph Profaci and Joseph Magliocco, along with former Masseria allies the Riena family, which included Gaetano "Tom" Reina, Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano and Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese.

The Castellammarese war raged on between the Masseria and Maranzano factions for almost four years. This internal war devastated the Prohibition era operations and street rackets that the five New York families controlled with the Irish and Jewish crime groups. The Castellammarese war cut into gang profits and in some cases completely destroyed the underworld rackets of crime family members. Gang members started realizing that if the war did not stop soon, the Italian crime families could be left on the fringe of New York's criminal underworld while the Jewish and Irish crime bosses became dominant. The war and the "Old World" crime bosses, Masseria and Maranzano, were counter productive to the aspirations of the Atlantic City delegates, Gambino, Luciano and their group of "Young Turks".

Gambino, Costello, Luciano, Genovese, Anastasia, Adonis, Lucchese, Lansky, and Siegel decided to end the Castellammarese War and form a National Syndicate. On April 15, 1931, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria was gunned down at Scarpato's restaurant in Coney Island by Luciano associates and gunmen, Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia, Joseph "Joey A" Adonis, Vito "Vitone" Genovese and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. Salvatore Maranzano served as Capo Di Tutti Capi, Boss of all Bosses, for six months, until September 10, 1931, when he was killed in his 9th floor Helmsley Building office in Manhattan by Anastasia, Genovese, Adonis and Siegel, pretending to be IRS-agents.

The Commission

In 1931, after the killings of mafia bosses Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, Charles "Lucky" Luciano created The Commission, which was supposed to avoid bigger conflicts and another Castellammarese Clan. Luciano became the Don of the new Luciano crime family, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno became the Don of the Bonanno crime family, Joseph Profaci beacame the Don of the Profaci crime family, Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano became the Don of the Gagliano crime family and Vincent Mangano became the Don of the Mangano crime family, with Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia as his underboss and Gambino as his caporegime. Plus, with Stefano Magaddino from Upstate, New York and Alphonse "Al" Capone to represent The Four Fathers in the west, La Cosa Nostra grew bigger, stronger and richer than ever, under Charles "Lucky" Luciano's control for over 20 years.

Gambino married his first cousin, Paul's sister, Catherine Castellano, in 1932, at age 30. They raised 3 sons and one daughter, living in a modest row house in Brooklyn. Although it was modest, it was elegant and expensive and it stood out among the other "modest" rowhouses. Gambino, at the age of 30, was now a caporegime in the Mangano crime family, where his illegal activities were murder for hire, loansharking, extortion, illegal gambling, protection money and organizing of homo-sexual clubs. Gambino knew gays couldn't express their feelings on the streets or in other clubs, so he set up gay-bars. In the end of the week, Gambino had a great profit to live off. Also, his only real evidence of vanity was his license plate on his Buick, CG1.

Vincent and Philip Mangano

Mangano was controlling his family for 20 years, but when first confronting his underboss Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia about his friendship with Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello, Anastasia stopped asking permission for every "little thing". Anastasia was, since 1946, been the head of Cosa Nostra's most notorious death squad, Murder, Inc.. (The Murder Incorporated was allegedly responsible for over 500 murders, from the 1940s to the 1950s). The Mangano brothers are suppose to have confronted Anastasia several times, in front of Gambino and the rest of the Anastasia crew. On April 19, 1951, Philip Mangano was found murdered and Vincent Mangano himself vanished that very same day and was never found. Though Anastasia never admitted to having a hand in the Mangano murders, he managed to convince the heads of the other families that Vincent Mangano had been plotting to have him killed (a claim backed up by Frank Costello, the acting boss of the Luciano crime family), and Anastasia was named new boss of the family with Gambino as his underboss. Gambino was now moved up to one of the most powerful mobsters in the business, with a crew making profit of extortion, illegal gambling, hijacking, bootlegging and murder, Gambino could place his cousin and brother-in-law, Paul Castellano, as caporegime, and report to Gambino directly.

Anastasia, Genovese and Gambino

Anastasia went on as boss during the mid 1950s. His methods were always convincing and the family made more money than ever. But, at the same time, he was questioned of being too angry. He was known for his temper and violent behavior, which earned him the name "Lord High Executioner". Anastasia's violent ways could be contained as long as Luciano and Frank Costello pulled the strings, but certain mobsters were starting to wonder if they could handle his temper.

Costello had other practical motivations for wanting Anastasia in control of the crime family. At that time, Costello was facing a serious challenge from Vito Genovese, who wanted to control Luciano's organization now that Luciano was living in Italy in exile. Until 1951, Costello relied on New Jersey crime boss Guarino "Willie" Moretti for "muscle," but Moretti was losing his mind, blurting out mafia business in public, and would soon be murdered. Costello needed new muscle, and Anastasia, with a family of gunmen behind him, would make a strong foil to Genovese's plan. Unfortunately, as boss, Anastasia became more brutal than ever. In 1952, he even ordered the murder of a young Brooklyn tailor's assistant named Arnold Schuster after watching Schuster talking on television about his role as primary witness in fugitive bank robber Willie Sutton's arrest. It is alleged that Anastasia raged to his men, "I can't stand squealers! Hit that guy!" In killing Schuster, Anastasia had violated a cardinal mafia rule against killing outsiders, which ran as Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel once quaintly put it "We only kill each other." Schuster's murder brought unnecessary public scrutiny on mafia business. Luciano and Costello were horrified, but they could not take action against Anastasia as they needed him to counter Genovese's growing ambitions and power. Something had to happen.

Gambino was approached by Genovese, trying desperately to get Gambino and the rest of the Gambino crew on his side against Anastasia, Costello and Luciano, but he needed more allies, more "muscle", but most importantly, more money. That's why Gambino took Genovese's advice and lured Anastasia to realize that they weren't making enough money on the casinos at Cuba, which belonged to Meyer "Mey the Lure" Lansky. When Anastasia confronted Lansky, he was furious, and ultimately gave his support to the Genovese-Gambino alliance. In 1956, everybody assumed Genovese was smart enough to realize that now was the time to move against Anastasia, but instead, he moved against Costello, by hiring Vincent "Chin" Gigante to assassinate him, but the attempt failed. (Possibly on purpose?). Costello then asked the Commission of permission to retire, which they accepted. Now Genovese was the head of the Luciano crime family, which he renamed the Genovese crime family.

In October, 1957, Albert Anastasia figures he's the new Boss of Bosses, but a new alliance had already been made. The Costello-Lansky-Luciano-alliance was working fast to get rid of all the "Rotten Apples" in Cosa Nostra. Their first victim was Anastasia. All they needed was somebody who he trusted. Here Gambino was convinced to give his support, by giving the order out to Joseph Profaci, who then gave it to the Gallo crew, headed by Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo, and they, allegedly, shot Anastasia on October 25, 1957, in the barbershop of the Park Sheraton Hotel (now the Park Central Hotel, on 56th Street and 7th Avenue) in New York City. (The Anastasia Murder was first resolved in 2007, 50 years later). Gambino now became the new boss of the Mangano crime family, which was renamed to the Gambino crime family.

The Apalachin and Genovese's Fall

The Apalachin Meeting was a historic summit of the American mafia held on November 14, 1957 at the home of mobster Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara in Apalachin, New York. It was attended by roughly 100 mafia crime bosses from the United States, Canada and Italy. Expensive cars with license plates from around the country aroused the curiosity of the local and state law enforcement, who raided the meeting, causing mafiosi to flee into the woods and the surrounding area of the Apalachin estate. Over 60 underworld bosses were detained and indicted due to the disastrous meeting. The direct and most significant outcome of the Apalachin meeting was that it helped to confirm the existence of a National Crime Syndicate. Gambino, Genovese, Profaci and Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, the head of the Bonanno crime family escaped with 50 other top bosses, but still, the whole operation just made it worse. It was now a race of controlling the Commission and it would show who had the power of re-organizing the mob. The Costello-Lansky-Luciano-alliance was again met face to face in Italy, where also Gambino entered as Genovese's rival. Luciano, who was 60 years old, came up with a plan which would guarantee Gambino as the head of the Commission for a long time.

In 1959, Genovese was heading to Atlanta. A huge shipment of heroin was coming there, and Genovese was personally ready to act. But when he got there, he was surprised by local police, FBI and ATF. He was convicted of selling a large quantity of heroin and was sentenced to 15 years in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, Genovese finally realized that this was all staged from beyond, but when he heard of Gambino as the new Boss of Bosses, he couldn't understand. Gambino had held a low profile, sneaked around and still managed to become the most powerful mob boss in the US. With Luciano's blessing, Gambino was now bigger, stronger and richer than ever. With Joseph "Joe the Blonde" Biondo as a solid underboss, Joseph "Staten Island Joe" Riccobono as Gambino's own consigliere, and with his top caporegimes, Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce, Paul "Big Paul" Castellano, Carmine "The Doctor" Lombardozzi, Joseph "Joe Piney" Armone and Carmine "Wagon Wheels" Fatico, the Anastasia loyalties could never make a move, and had to follow the strings of "Don Carlo" Gambino, the new head of the Gambino crime family, and now the Commission.

Don Carlo (1957-1976)

Boss of Bosses

In the early 1960s, Gambino took out the rest of the Anastasia loyalties, headed by Gambino crime family caporegime, Armand "Tommy" Rava, and expanded his rackets all over the US. New Gambino rackets were created in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Gambino also, to regain complete control of Manhattan, took over the New York Longshoremen Union, where more than 90% of all New York City's ports were controlled. It was a great time, when the money rolled in from every Gambino racket in the US, and worked it's way up to become America's most powerful crime family of them all, the Gambino crime family. Gambino also made his own family policy: "Deal and Die". This was Gambino's message to every Gambino Family member, that showed that heroin and cocaine is highly lucrative, but also way too dangerous. And the punishment for dealing drugs in Gambino style, was death. It is documented that in 1962, the Gambino crime family had about 30 crews and over 1,000 soldiers alone, making the family to a $500,000,000-a-year-enterprise, with Gambino as its boss. In 1962, his eldest son Thomas Gambino married the daughter of rival mob boss Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese, the new head of the Gagliano crime family, whom Gambino would come close to as a partner, friend and relative. More than 1,000 people, relatives, friends and "friends of ours", were present during the wedding-ceremony. It has been rumoured that Gambino personally gave Lucchese $30,000 as a "welcome-gift", that very day. And, as repayment, Lucchese cut his friend into the Airport rackets that was under Lucchese control, especially in the JFK Airport, where all unions, management and security were controlled by Lucchese himself. It was the beginning of a perfect partnership.

Profaci, the Gallos and Gambino

In February, 1962, the Gallo brothers kidnapped a number of prominent members of the family including underboss Joseph Magliocco and capo Joe Colombo. In return for their release, the brothers demanded changes in the way profits were divided between crews, and at first Profaci appeared to agree, following negotiations between the captors and Profaci's consigliere, Charles "The Sidge" Locicero, but Profaci was simply biding his time before taking revenge on the Gallos. Gallo crew member Joseph "Joe Jelly" Gioelli was murdered by Profaci's men in September, and an attempt on Larry Gallo's life was interrupted by policemen in a Brooklyn bar. The brothers set about attacking Profaci's men wherever they saw them as all-out war erupted between the two factions. Plus, Gambino and Lucchese was putting pressure on the other bosses to convince Profaci of stepping down from his title and family, but on June 6, 1962, Profaci lost his battle against cancer. He was replaced as boss of the family by Joseph Magliocco, a man very much in the Profaci mould, much to the disgust of the Gallo brothers who had no intention of ending the fight simply because Profaci was out of the way. Gambino saw this as a way of making more profit, since everybody in the Profaci crime family took sides and fought themselves to death, instead of concentrating about the income of the family. That's why Gambino and Lucchese gave their support to the Gallo crew, where Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, the longtime Don of the Bonanno crime family, gave his support to Magliocco and the Profacis.

The Gallos give up

The Gallo crew gave up later that year. With their caporegime Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo behind bars for racketeering and murder, the Gallo crew from Red Hook didn't have enough manpower to continue the war against the rest of the Profacis. Magliocco had won the Gallo war, and intended to "take care" of their Boss of Bosses, Carlo Gambino.

Conspiracy against the Commission

With the Gallos out of the way, Magliocco was able to consolidate his position and concentrate on the business of running the family's affairs. However, Joe Bonanno hatched a plot to murder the heads of the other three families, which Magliocco decided to go along with. The assassinations went to Profaci capo, Joseph "Joe" Colombo, who realized that the plot would never amount to anything, and warned Gambino about Magliocco and Bonanno's conspiracy against the Commission. Bonanno and Magliocco were called to face the judgement of the Commission. While Bonanno went into hiding, Magliocco faced up to his crimes. Understanding that he had been following Bonanno's lead, he was let off with a $50,000 fine, and forced to retire as the head of the family, being replaced by Joseph Colombo. One month later, Magliocco died of high blood pressure, but Gambino had other plans for Bonanno.

The Banana War (1962-1967)

After Magliocco's death, Bonanno had few allies left. Many members felt he was too power hungry, and one, a boss from Florida, Santo Trafficante, Jr., once said in anger, "He's planting flags all over the world!" Some members of his family also thought he spent too much time away from New York, and more in Canada and Tucson, where he had business interests. The Commission members decided that he no longer deserved leadership over his family and replaced him with a caporegime in his family, Gaspar DiGregorio. Bonanno, however, would not accept this result, breaking the family into two groups, the one led by DiGregorio, and the other headed by Bonanno and his son, Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno. Newspapers referred it as "The Banana Split."

Since Bonanno refused to give up his position, the other Commission members felt it was time for drastic action.

Gambino was the one who would give the order to have Bonanno killed, but took pity on him and decided to give Bonanno one last chance to retire while he had his life. In October of 1964, Bonanno was kidnapped by Buffalo crime family members, Peter and Antonino Magaddino. According to Bonanno, he was held captive in upstate New York by his cousin, Stefano "Steve the Undertaker" Magaddino. Supposedly Magaddino represented the Commission and Gambino, and told his cousin that he "took up too much space in the air", a Sicilian proverb for arrogance. After much talk, Bonanno was released and the Commission members believed he would finally retire and relinquish his power.

Eventually, DiGregorio promised a peace meeting on whatever territory Salvatore wanted. It was an ambush. DiGregorio's men opened fire with rifles and automatic weapons on Salvatore and his associates, who were armed only with pistols. The police estimated that over 500 shots were fired but remarkably, no one was hurt. The war went on for another two more years. The Commission originally thought they could win, but when Joseph Bonanno returned, their hopes were dashed. Bonanno sent out a message to his enemies, saying that for every Bonanno loyalist killed, he would retaliate by hitting a caporegime from the other side. The Bonanno loyalists were starting to see victory, but when Bonanno suffered a heart attack, he decided that he and his son would retire to Tucson, leaving his broken family to another capo, Paul Sciacca, who had replaced DiGregorio. Gambino stood as the victorious and most powerful mob boss in the US. Having the reputation of Gambino's "mercy", made him even more respectable in front of the Commission.

Las Vegas, Gambino and Sinatra

Gambino was seen at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas on August 2, 1967, where he is suppose to have met Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, who all are known as "The Rat Pack". They were excellent singers, and the mob, Gambino especially, lived for their music. Gambino allegedly gave each of them $10,000 after performing at the Desert Inn, while Gambino was present in the VIP-lounge. Gambino also allegedly said to Castellano: "I want a picture of me and Frankie". And that's how it went. Gambino, Castellano and other mobsters got a picture with Sinatra in the middle. Sinatra would later testify about this in court, but announced that he didn't know any Carlo Gambino, but it got to a point where he had to explain why he was attending the Havana Conference in Cuba in 1946, showing up with $2,000,000 in a silver suitcase and a picture that showed Sinatra, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia and Carlo Gambino having a drink by some pool.

Lucchese's death and burial

Lucchese led a quiet, stable life until he developed a fatal brain tumour and died at his home in Lido Beach, L.I. on July 13, 1967. His funeral at the Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York, was attended by over 1,000 mourners, including politicians, judges, policemen, racketeers, drug pushers, pimps, hitmen and his own fellow mob boss and friend, Carlo Gambino, who allegedly arranged the whole funeral. Lucchese was succeeded as boss by Carmine "Gribbs" Tramunti, whom Gambino had picked out personally.

Catherine Gambino's death and burial

In 1971, Gambino's wife Catherine died of cancer. Gambino was broken, and he started showing himself less and less in public through the early 1970s. Catherine Gambino left behind husband Carlo Gambino, three sons Thomas, Joseph and Carlo, Jr. and daughter Phyllis Gambino-Sinatra. Depression was starting to roll over Gambino while friends and family were fainting away.

Colombo-Assassination

Gambino was now using his power from beyond. He went so far as to organize the shooting of Joe Colombo, head of the Colombo crime family, on June 28, 1971. Colombo survived the shooting, but remained in a coma until his death in 1977. He was buried next to Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo, whom Gambino had Colombo kill a few months before Colombo was shot. Gambino was also the one who got Colombo buried next to Gallo since their friendship was admired by Gambino himself.

Lucky Luciano's death and burial

Gambino was also the only mob boss of the Five Families who attended the burial of the longtime friend and Boss of Bosses, Charles "Lucky" Luciano. In his later years Luciano was told not to promote or participate in a movie about his life, as it would have attracted unnecessary attention to the mob. Luciano relented until after his girlfriend died of breast cancer, and was scheduled to meet with a movie producer arriving by plane at the Naples International Airport. As fate would have it, the man who engineered the assassination of Dutch Schultz and his gang would never live to see his own name in lights. On January 26, 1962, Lucky Luciano's luck finally ran out, and he died of a heart attack at the age of 64 at Naples International Airport. He was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Queens, 1972, more than ten years after his death because of the terms of his deportation in 1946. More than 2,000 mourners attended his funeral, where Gambino gave his own speech in memory of Lucky Luciano, his friend and companion. Now, Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino was Boss of Bosses in name also.

Tommy Eboli-murder

After the imprisonment of Vito "Don Vito" Genovese in 1959, Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli was made acting boss and kept his position toward 1969, when Genovese died in jail. About that time, Eboli was the only one who could re-organize the Genovese crime family, but Eboli needed money to start his reign as boss, which is why he borrowed $4,000,000 from Gambino, the richest Don of New York City. The only problem was that Eboli's crew were arrested and sentenced to 25 to life in prison, which is something Gambino allegedly is suppose to have arranged because he wanted his friend Frank Tieri as boss. When Gambino came to be repaid, Eboli refused and said he didn't have that type of cash. Influenced by Gambino, the selection of Frank "Funzi" Tieri as boss of the Genovese crime family came through...after the murder of Tommy Eboli on July 16, 1972. No one has ever been arrested for the murder of Tommy Eboli.

Constant surveillance

In December, 1972, outside Gambino's home in Staten Island, a car began parking outside his house and neighbourhood for years. In that car, sat FBI's Mob squad, with audio-surveillance, cameras and even lip-readers, planting wires and microphones all over the house, and kept a 24-hour standby to make sure they nailed Gambino for something connected to organized crime. On the outside of the car, it was marked "Organized Crime Control Bureau".

But even though Gambino had every corner in his house recorded, he knew how to conduct business on a perfect way. According to FBI-officials, they once recorded a meeting between Gambino, Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce and Joseph "Joe the Blonde" Biondo, were Biondo is just to have said: "Frog legs” and where Gambino just nodded. According to Jerry Capeci, he would never open his mouth, but still be able to conduct business, either it was financially or physically. The recording tapes came out empty.

Emmanuel "Manny" Gambino's kidnap & murder

In early 1973, Gambino's nephew Emmanuel "Manny" Gambino was kidnapped by Thomas Genovese (a distant relative of Vito Genovese), James McBratney, "Crazy" Eddie Maloney, Warren "Chief" Schurman and Richie Chaisson. The gang believed they could get $100,000 for each kidnapping. They had previously kidnapped a Gambino crime family capo, Frank “Frankie the Wop” Manzo. For Manny Gambino, the kidnappers asked for $200,000, but Gambino claimed he could only come up with $50,000. Manny's car was located at the Newark Airport. His corpse was found to be stiff from rigor mortis before buried in a sitting position in a New Jersey dump near the Earle Naval Ammunition Depo. Robert Senter was arrested and charged with his murder. Robert was a gambler and had fallen in debt with Manny Gambino. On June 1, 1973, he pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

Gambino's revenge

But Gambino wanted payback, which is why he hired his favorite soldier, John Gotti, through Gotti's caporegime Carmine "Wagon Wheels" Fatico. Gotti met with boss Gambino, underboss Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce, consigliere Joseph "Joe Piney" Armone and Gambino's own brother-in-law and top caporegime, Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano. Gotti was given the assignment of killing James McBratney, one who played a large role in Manny Gambino's murder. Castellano also wanted a Gambino family soldier Ralph Galione, to help them out. Jim McBratney was shot three times at close range by Galione, after he'd been overpowered by Angelo Ruggiero and John Gotti, on the night of May 22, 1973, at Snoope's Bar & Grill.

File:Carlogambino2.jpg

Former Gambino crime family Boss Carlo Gambino taken sometime in the early to mid 1970s, shortly before Gambino's death.

Gotti's revenge

Gotti didn't accept that Galione had taken away his honor of doing "Don Carlo" a favor, so he had Galione murdered, without either Gambino's or Castellano's approval, which enraged Castellano. Castellano went to his brother-in-law and demanded justice, the head of John Gotti. But Gambino saw potential in Gotti, and told Castellano to spare Gotti's life. But at the same time, Gambino decided to use the opportunity to re-structure the Gambino crime family.

Gambino Family Regroups

Gambino was disappointed over both his own underboss, Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce and now his new caporegime, John "Johnny Boy" Gotti, so Gambino made a re-structure. Now, with a weak heart, there was to be two acting bosses who both reported to Gambino. Those were both Dellacroce and Gambino's own brother-in-law, Paul "Big Paul" Castellano. Castellano took over the white-collar crimes in Brooklyn like union racketeering, solid and toxic waste, recycling, construction, fraud and wire fraud, while Dellacroce would have free rein over those crews who carried out more traditional, 'hands-on' Mafia activities and the blue-collar crimes, such as murder for hire, loansharking, gambling, extortion, hijacking, pier thefts, fencing, and robbery. That's why the FBI in the mid 1970s, had no idea who the official underboss in the family was, when really it was two factions of the Gambino crime family, headed by two underbosses and one Don. The family had regrouped.

Final Decision

In his last years, Gambino was seen less and less in public, but it didn't mean that he didn't control much of his family. But the former John Gotti incident had influenced Gambino's final decision, the biggest decision of a lifetime, to choose a successor. By watching Dellacroce fighting for his longtime friend Gotti, made it clear for Gambino that Dellacroce could not run the Gambino crime family, without of being affected by Gotti. So he put the family first, Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano became the new boss of the family. This decision was Gambino's biggest failiure.

Death and burial

Gambino died of a heart attack on October 15, 1976, while watching a New York Yankee game at his summerhouse on Long Island in Massapequa. ^[1] He was buried in Saint John's Cemetery, Queens in New York City, same as Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, and more than 10 other friends of a lifetime. His funeral was said to have been attended by at least 2,000 people, including police officers, judges and politicians. Gambino left behind three sons Thomas, Joseph and Carlo, one daughter Phyllis Sinatra and a family with a crew of 1,000 soldiers, after leading the Gambino crime family for 20 years, and the The Commission for more than 15 years.

Popular culture

In the 1996 HBO film Gotti, Carlo Gambino is portrayed by Marc Lawrence as the head of the Gambino crime family toward his death in 1976.

Certain characteristics of the Vito Corleone character from Mario Puzo's The Godfather may have been modelled after Gambino. His great nephew is now the lead singer of Blessed By A Broken Heart from Canada. ^{[citation needed]}

Certain characteristics of the Michael Corleone character from Mario Puzo's The Godfather Part III, is partly modelled after Carlo Gambino, since they both gain control of the Mob in their mid-age, and keeps on controlling it towards their death, which is exactly the same year of death as Gambino and the exactly same cause of death as Gambino. ^{[citation needed]}

In the 1999 comedy movie Analyze This, the main character Paul Vitti possibly modelled after Gambino, and the Vitti crime family after the Gambino crime family. ^{[citation needed]}

In the TV-show The Sopranos, the character Carmine Lupertazzi, played by Tony Lip, is partly based on Carlo Gambino. ^{[citation needed]}

References

^ "Carlo Gambino, a Mafia Leader, Dies in His Long Island Home at 74". New York Times. October 16, 1976. Retrieved 2007-08-21. Carlo Gambino, the pre-eminent figure in organized crime in the country died early yesterday morning in his Massapequa, L.I., home of natural causes. He was 74 years old. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)