Gambino Crime Family
Although it is difficult to put a dollar value on criminal interests, the Gambino crime family is certainly the richest and most powerful criminal organization in the United States today. Worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the family has a criminal workforce of at least 800 men, and its empire ranges from every borough of New York City to the green felt of Atlantic City and Las Vegas, to the heroin plants of Sicily and Asia, to stolen car outlets in Kuwait. Small wonder it has been labeled by one newspaper as Gambino, Inc. In his reign from 1957 to 1976 Carlo Gambino took a second-string crime family and built it into the Mafia's jewel in the crown, far more wealthy than even the family originally ruled by Lucky Luciano, far more powerful than the Capone-descended Chicago Outfit.
The original family dates to the pre-national syndicate days of Alfred Mineo and Steve Ferrigno in the 1920s when Joe the Boss Masseria controlled the Mafia. They were murdered in 1930 in a bloody ambush carried out by Joe Profaci, Nick Capuzzi, Joe Valachi and a gunman known now only as Buster from Chicago. Taking over were Vince and Phil Mangano, who became part of the modern American Mafia as constituted by Luciano. They ran an outfit limited largely to rackets in Brooklyn, the waterfront and gambling - horse betting, the numbers, the Italian lottery. The Manganos lasted until 1951 when Phil Mangano, the less important brother, was murdered by orders of underling Albert Anastasia, already infamous as the chief executioner of Murder, Inc. Vince disappeared at the same time and Anastasia simply took over. No one dared object.
Anastasia, unofficially aided and advised by Frank Costello (who belonged to another family), expanded the organization greatly into new rackets, especially gambling, loan-sharking, and narcotics trafficking, through the piers the mob controlled. Anastasia could only go so far, being a mad hatter who was distracted into meaningless and dangerous activities. (He's order a citizen knocked off who recognized back robber Willie Sutton, a criminal with no ties to the mob, simply because he hated "stoolies.")
Anastasia was also caught up in the intrigue between his friend Costello and Vito Genovese for control of the largest family, Lucky Luciano's own organization. In 1957, Genovese deposed Costello and succeeded in having Anastasia killed with the connivance of Anastasia's aide, Carlo Gambino. Once Gambino achieved his foal of control of the Anastasia crime family, he had no further need for Genovese, a mobster with delusions of becoming the new boss of bosses. In machinations involving the deposed Costello, the deported Luciano and Meyer Lansky, and probably others, Gambino arranged to have Genovese set up and delivered into the hands of the federal narcotics people on a framed case.
Over the succeeding years, Gambino extended the power and influence of his crime family. The relatively small Mangano operation became the biggest in New York and the nation. Gambino, with the departure of Costello from the active scene, became Meyer Lansky's most important partner in national syndicate enterprises and became recognized, as Luciano was in the 1930s, as the de facto boss of bosses. Gambino foiled the plots of Joe Bonanno to assassinate him and other crime leaders and so to become the most powerful don in the United States.
In the 1970s, ill health forced Gambino's gradual withdrawal from the public eye, although he remained the cunning kingpin right up to his death in 1976. Before he died, Gambino settled on his succession. Logically it should have been his underboss, Aniello Dellacroce, a tough killer who could prevent incursions into the family's rights. (Indeed, Dellacroce proved to be a key man in the assassination of Carmine Galante in 1979 when the latter moved to take over the New York families.) However, Gambino believed strongly in family ties and tapped Paul Castellano, his brother-in-law, as his successor.
Some dons would have so decreed and left their decision to the fates. Galante realized that if Dellacroce went to war, he would destroy Castellano. The cunning Gambino realized too the murdering of Dellacroce would solve nothing. Another would replace him and the less-than-imposing Castellano would still be in the same boat. Gambino had to make Dellacroce Castellano's life insurance policy. He accomplished that by offering Dellacroce essential control of all the family's lucrative Manhattan activities, a sort of crime family within a crime family arrangement the Dellacroce could not refuse.
To further his plans, Gambino counted on the support of Frank "Funzi" Tieri, who he had installed as the head of the old Genovese family after he arranged to have boss Tommy Eboli "clipped." Tieri was Dellacroce's match and could be counted onto remain loyal to Gambino after death and to be supportive of Castellano. He was, but his natural abilities inevitably overshadowed Castellano's; without even trying, Tieri emerged as New York's most powerful don.
In a sense, then, Paul Castellano presided over a decline of the Gambinos, but in 1981 Tieri died. Weaker leadership, or perhaps a divided one, in the Genovese family righted the Gambino fortunes, and under Castellano and Dellacroce primacy was restored. Dellacroce, suffering from cancer, made no move to depose Castellano, even though a Young Turk element, epitomized by a violent named John Gotti (who modeled himself after his idol, the murderous Albert Anastasia), grew constantly more dissatisfied with Costello's rule. However the Young Turks, out of a combination of fear and genuine affection for the old boss, dared not strike as long as Dellacroce lived. Dellacroce, like the Turks, felt that the family should get into the lucrative fields of armored car robberies, hijackings and expanded narcotics activities, while Castellano laid great stock in loan-sharking, union construction shakedowns and such relatively easy crimes as car theft. With those activities fully manned, Castellano tried to starve the Young Turks.
On December 2, 1985, Dellacroce died. Paul Castellano lasted just two weeks, being assassinated along with an aide obviously being groomed as a counter to John Gotti. Within days of Castellano's assassination, it was obvious to law enforcement people that John Gotti had officially become the new boss of the richest and most powerful crime family in America. Since the death of John Gotti, rumor has it that his son is now running the Gambino Family.
Carlo Gambino
Crime Family Leader
After Lucky Luciano left the American crime scene - first by his imprisonment and later by his deportation to Italy - only one mob leader exhibited the cunning and brains to become what may be described as the de facto "boss of bosses" in the Mafia. That man was not Vito Genovese, Joe Bonanno or Carmine Galante - all of whom undoubtedly pictured themselves as worthy of such a role. Rather it was the retiring Carlo Gambino.
Gambino was a study in contrasts. Short and bulb-nosed, he was considered a coward by many in the underworld. Joe Bonanno called him "a squirrel of a man, a servile and cringing individual. When Anastasia was alive, Albert used to use him as his gopher, to go on errands for him. I once saw Albert get so angry at Carlo for bungling a simple assignment that Albert raised his hand and almost slapped him . . . . Another man would not have tolerated such public humiliation. Carlo responded with a fawning grin."
Gambino was a man who preferred being misunderstood. He enjoyed playing the humble corner-fruit-market shopper on expeditions to the old neighborhood (from fashionable Long Island retreat), much as Mario Puzo's Godfather who was modeled after Gambino. He always appeared ready to turn the other cheek. "Gambino was like the hog snake, which rolls over and plays dead until trouble passes," said Albert Seedman, chief of detectives of the New York Police Department. But within the closed circles of the mob, Gambino was the firm traditionalist, demanding every sign of respect due a godfather. He even exercised the secret fine points of honor among mafiosi. When Gambino shook hands with a person, he turned his palm under the other's, indicating he was merely going through a formality. If however he accepted the man, he would shake hands by putting his own palm on top.
Gambino had been an ever-ambitious youthful associate of Luciano and Meyer Lansky, the twin architects of organized crime in America. He rose through the ranks to become underboss to the brutal Albert Anastasia in the 1950s, aiding him in deposing their crime family's first boss, Vince Mangano, whose body was never found.
When in the late 1950s Vito Genovese made his move for the prime position in the Mafia, he approached Carlo Gambino about deposing Anastasia. Then he, Gambino, would inherit Anastasia's family - and obviously, in Genovese's mind at least, become the latter's vassal. Gambino had no intention of letting that happen, and while he agreed and handled much of the arrangements for Anastasia's assassination, he immediately began plotting Genovese's end as well.
Anastasia was murdered in a New York barbershop in 1957 shortly after an assassination attempt on Frank Costello was botched. This was to place Genovese in a dominant position, but one that Gambino was determined would be short-lived.
Despite his double-dealing about Anastasia, Gambino quickly made peace with Costello and the exiled Luciano, both of whom had been close to Anastasia. Together with Meyer Lansky, the four of them plotted to remove Genovese from the scene by having the federal government take care of him. Genovese, within just a few months of reaching the pinnacle, was set up in a narcotics case (actually a second one, since federal agents bungled a first frame arranged by Gambino and allowed Genovese to get away) and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He died there, and Carlo Gambino inherited the position as the strongest family leader in New York. Now, Carlo Gambino decided to stay with his men in Argonath States. With his cash, he got a very big HQ and good businesses away from the cops. Every person who goes to their HQ will be tortured till death.
The Gambino Family HQ
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The Family Tree
Boss
-Carlo Gambino
UnderBoss
-
Consigliere
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Capo
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Soldiers
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Associates
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Rank Descriptions
Boss-The leader of each family is known as the boss, or don. All major decisions are made by the boss, and money made by the family ultimately flows to him. The boss's authority is needed to resolve disputes and keep everyone in line.
Underboss-The underboss is the second in command, although the amount of power he wields can vary.
Consigliere-The Adviser or Lawyer of the family.
Capo-A capo acts like a lieutenant, leading his own section of the family. He has specific activities that he operates.
Soldiers-The "dirty work" is done by the soldiers. A soldier is the lowest rank among made men. They're part of the family, but they hold little power and make relatively little money.
Associates-In addition to soldiers, the Mafia will use associates. Associates are not actual members of the Mafia, but they work with Mafia soldiers and capos on various criminal enterprises. An associate is simply someone who works with the mob, including anyone from a burglar or drug dealer to a lawyer, investment banker, police officer or politician.
Family Rules:
1.) Be loyal, honest, brave, and strong.
2.) Follow what your boss tells you.
3.) Help your allies. Do not fight with them.
4.) Do not attack other people unless the boss says so.
5.) Do not betray us.
6.) Be active.
7.) Follow all Argonath RPG rules.
Application Form:
1.) [b]IG name:[/b]
2.) [b]IRL age:[/b]
3.) [b]How long playing:[/b]
4.) [b]What are your assets?:[/b]
5.) [b]What are your skills?:[/b]
6.) [b]Do you have passport and license?:[/b]
7.) [b]Why do you want to join Gambino family?:[/b]
8.) [b]If you got accepted, what would be your name?:[/b]