Carlo Gambino was the boss of the Gambino family from 1957 until his death in 1976. During his tenure as leader he was regarded as the Boss of Bosses in America and is responsible for the deaths of 2 fellow Mafia bosses, Albert Anastasia and Joseph Colombo.
Early association
Carlo Gambino was a native of the town Caccamo in Palermo, Sicily, he was born to a family that belonged to the Honored Society for years.
Once Benito Mussolini chased a great deal of mafiosi out of Italy, one of the
men who benefited from the new, better-organized Mafia was Carlo Gambino.
It is believed Gambino began carrying out theft and extortion orders for the Society in his teens for Vito Cascio Ferro, a man who had a great amount of power in Palermo and had a brief history in America allongside Peter Morello and others of the Morello organisation. It is said Cascio Ferro well liked the ambitious Gambino.
Immigration
Gambino mugshot
The fascist Benito Mussolini was gaining power in Italy and Gambino, like many other mafioso, descided to flee Sicily. He entered the United States illegaly in the early 1920's on a shipping boat that carried anchovies and wine from Europe. When he arrived at the shores of Norfolk, Virginia, he met and joined his cousins, the Castellanos. The Castellanos were known bootleggers in New York and owned a truck company which came in handy during prohibition. During the prohibition era
Gambino worked as a bootlegger, driver and gunman for various mobsters. But mainly he worked for leading NY boss Joe "The Boss" Masseria. Being a member of the Masseria forces he met and befriended Charles Luciano and several others of the organization.
In 1930 the Castellammarese war broke out between Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, who led a group of Sicilian immigrants in Brooklyn. Throughout the war Gambino continued his bootlegging operations, but was not involved in any known shootings or murders. After about a year of violence Luciano found it in his power to stop the war. Therefore he and his associates, including Gambino, forged an alliance with the enemy, Salvatore Maranzano. On April 15, 1931, Joe Masseria was murdered while having lunch with Luciano. Maranzano was very pleased with the action, believing Luciano and his gangs now sided with him. In the following months the new Boss of Bosses, Salvatore Maranzano, restructured New Yorks 5 families. Gambino was placed inside Brooklyns Mangano Family as a capo. However, a short while later Maranzano was also murdered in his office by jewish killers in an orchestrated hit made by Luciano and Meyer Lansky. After Maranzano's death things seemed to cool down again and the families forged businessrelations with eachother. During that period Gambino introduced his cousin Giuseppe Castellano in the Mangano family. Later he created even a stronger bond to his cousins by having a love affair with Catherine Castellano, eventually marrying her in 1932.
Taking over the Family
In 1951 Vincent Mangano, who had been boss for over 20 years, suddenly disappeared making the vicious Albert Anastasia the new boss. It is widely believed that Anastasia ordered the murder and disposal of Mangano and his brother Phillip. Eventhough Gambino and Anastasia reputidly couldn't get along, Anastasia made Gambino his second in command in 1957. Joseph Bonanno claims this was not due the fact Gambino was a good earner or loyal guy, but because many mobsters actually saw him as a coward. Bonanno also said that he once saw Anastasia in a fury on Gambino, after he failed to do a job, and held his hand in the air as if he was going to smack Gambino in the face. Many mobsters would not tolerate this kind of behaviour, but Gambino did. Gambino however had plans of his own. During the period of Gambino's elevation his longtime associate Vito Genovese made plans of taking over the Luciano Family by murdering Frank Costello. In order to do that he would also have to dispose some of Costello's toughest and closest partners, including Albert Anastasia. Now with Gambino as Anastasia's underboss, he could have that shot. Genovese saw his chance when in 1956 Joe Adonis, a powerfull associate of Costello, was deported back to Italy. In May the next year a Genovese gunman made an attempt on Costello's life, but missed the shot, leaving Costello behind with only minor injuries. Although the hit failed, it did scare Costello.
Only 4 months later, on October 25, 1957, Anastasia was shot to death while sitting in a barbershop. Costello now feared for his life and decided to step down as boss of the Luciano Family, making Genovese his successor. Genovese, who had a large support within the family, now wanted to be recognized as the official boss of the Luciano family and also wanted to vouch for Gambino the become the next head of the Mangano family. They didn't wait long. In September 1957, a month after Anastasia's murder, a meeting was arranged in Apalachin to which a large part of the American bosses were present. They also found support with Mafia kingpin Stefano Magaddino and Thomas Lucchese and were permitted as new heads of their family. But the meeting suddenly went terribly wrong as the police infiltrated the ranch in Apalachin and arrested many bosses (but almost none were sentenced of a crime). A rumour is that Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello and Lucky Luciano tipped off the police as revenge, but this is far from certain. Whatever was the case, the Mangano crime family was now officially in charge of Carlo Gambino, who changed the name of the organization in that of his own.
Reign as boss
Gambino in 1969
Under Gambino the family grew to become one of the richest and largest in America. As boss, he ruled the family
through relatives and his son Thomas was also inducted into the family, who would become a capo in the garment industry. It is stated that like many bosses he also was against drugs, but this could be argued. A couple of Gambino crews were in fact heavily involved in drugsmuggling including his own cousins Rosario, Giuseppe and Giovanni Gambino. Some of them had contacts with Columbian druglords and others were largely involved in the "Pizza Connection". In 1948 Gambino, together with his cousin Paul Castellano, went to Sicily to discuss the mather of heroin. Joseph Biondo, who became Gambino's underboss, was then appointed as the families overseer in the drugtrade. By this he frequently visited Sicily and worked together with men such as Nicola Gentile and Gaetano Badalamenti.
Carlo Gambino was one of the most respected, powerfull and feared bosses of the 20th century. He maintaned great influence in America and also had his relatives in Sicily, for instance Salvatore Inzerillo, a Palermo boss who at one time led the Sicilian drugbusiness. In 1960 a Sicilian mobster named Angelo Barbera moved in on Gambino's territory to smuggle heroin from Mexico into the US. Gambino threatened to kill Barbera if he would stay. Barbera, who was an allie of Lucky Luciano and Joseph Bonanno, soon left. In 1959 longtime associate Vito Genovese was arrested for his involvement in the drugtrade and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, where he eventually died. Since then Gambino was regarded as America's boss of bosses.
Influence within the Colombo family
When Joe Profaci died in 1962 his brother-in-law Giuseppe Magliocco took over as leader of the Profaci Family. This however was not to the likes of Gambino and Lucchese. Both were against his elevation inside the family, which angered Magliocco to the fullest. Not willing to give up his position he forged a plot to murder both of them. The plot however was revealed by the man who was actually appointed to carry out the plans, Joseph Colombo. Magliocco was then punished for his deeds and was forced to step down. In addition Colombo was appointed as the new boss of the Profaci family by Gambino and Lucchese. Gambino also handpicked Colombo's new consigliere, Joseph Yacovelli.
Although Colombo was respected within his family, his public appearances over the years made him popular and also made the mafia subject popular. Gambino and the other commission heads had enough of all the attention and decided Colombo had to go. On June 29, 1971, Colombo was shot down during a gathering of the Italian-American Civil Rights League. The shooting left Colombo in a deep coma for several years. In the meantime Gambino appointed Yacovelli as his successor.
Illness
Gambino's health began to get worse during the late 1960's. In 1970 he was arrested for conspiracy to hijack an armored car with up to $5-million in cash belonging to the Chase Manhattan Bank. However, his bad health slowed down the progress of his conviction. In 1971 Gambino's wife lost her fight against cancer and died. In May 1972 a nephew of Gambino, named Emmanuel, was kidnapped. Wrapped in a blanket, 29y old Emmanuel was later on found dead in a New Jersey grave. The kidnappers had tried to extort Gambino for $350.000 but never saw the cash. Later on 2 men were arrested and pleaded guilty to the murder. In 1974 one of the killers almost died in prison after being poisoned.
In 1971 the government tried to deport Gambino back to his native Sicily like they had done with Lucky Luciano almost 30 years before, but Gambino suffered from a bad heart and could not travel without the risk of dying.
Carlo Gambino's funeral
When Gambino became very ill in 1976, he knew he had to appoint a successor and chose his cousin Paul Castellano to be it. He then appointed Aniello Dellacroce as the head of the blue-collar crews of the family. Gambino eventually died of a heart attack on October 15 ,1976, in his Long Island home. He was was buried in
Queens, New York. His funeral was said to have had over 1000 spectators including police chiefs, politicians and citizens. After Carlo's dead many of the Gambino members however disliked Castellano as boss and all favored Dellacroce. 'Big Paulie' Castellano knew this and therefore appointed Dellacroce as his underboss to prevent a street war between the 2 factions and to keep everybody happy. But when Dellacroce also passed away in 1985, Castellano's time was up. Sammy the Bull and John Gotti had Castellano murdered in front of the Sparks Steak House restaurant in Manhattan a couple of weeks later. This led to the rise in power by John Gotti. Gambino's son, Thomas Gambino, remained a wealthy and leading capo within the organization.
(Source: geocities.com, foia.fbi.gov, nydailynews.com, "Biography" by Agnes Nixon, "American Mafia" by Thomas Reppetto, "Gambino's body believed found" NY times January 27 1973, "Gambino Arrested and Charged With Plotting $3-Million Theft" NY times March 24 1970)
Birth: August 24, 1902 - Palermo, Sicily
