The Gambino CrimeFamily
StoryThe Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or La Cosa Nostra). The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963 when the structure of organized crime first gained public attention. The group's operations extend from New York and the eastern seaboard to California. Its illicit activities include labor and construction racketeering, gambling, loansharking, extortion, money laundering, prostitution, dumping violations, construction, building and cement violations, fraud and wire fraud, hijacking, pier thefts, and fencing.
The rise of what for a time was the most powerful crime family in America began in 1957, the day Albert Anastasia was assassinated while sitting in a barber chair at the Park-Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan. Experts believe Carlo Gambino helped orchestrate the hit to take over the family. Gambino partnered with Meyer Lansky to control gambling interests in Cuba. The family’s fortunes grew through 1976, when Gambino appointed his brother-in-law, Paul Castellano, as boss. Castellano infuriated upstart capo John Gotti, who orchestrated Castellano's murder in 1985. Gotti's downfall came in 1992, when his underboss Sammy Gravano decided to cooperate with the FBI. Gravano's cooperation brought down Gotti, along with most of the top members of the Gambino family. The leader of the family is Mr Razor now.
D'Aquila gang
The origins of the Gambino crime family can be traced back to the D'Aguila gang of Manhattan. Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila was an influential emigrant from Palermo, Sicily who joined the Morello gang of East Harlem. Founded in the 1890's, the Morellos were the first Sicilian (or Italian) criminal gang in New York. As other gangs formed in New York, they acknowledged Giuseppe Morello as their boss of bosses. In 1906, D'Aquila's name first appeared on police records for running a confidence scam.
In 1910, Giuseppe Morello and his second-in-command, Ignazio Saietta, were sentenced to 30 years in prison for counterfeiting. With the Morello family weakened, D'Aquila used the opportunity to break away from them and form his own gang in East Harlem. D'Aquila quickly used his ties to other Mafia leaders in the United States to create a network of influence and connections and was soon a powerful force in New York.
New York gangs
By 1910, more Italian gangs had formed in New York City. In Brooklyn, Nicola "Cola" Schiro established a gang of Sicilians from Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily. A second Sicilian gang was formed by Alfred Mineo in Brooklyn. Finally, there were two allied Neopolitan Camorra gangs, one on Coney Island and one on Navy Street, in Brooklyn that were run by Pellegrino Morano and Alessandro Vollero.
In 1917, D'Aquila successfully absorbed the two Camorra gangs. A year earlier, the Camorra had assassinated Nicholas Morello, head of the Morello gang. In response, D'Aquila allied with the Morellos to fight the Camorra. In 1917, both Morano and Vollero were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. With their leadership gone, the two Camorra gangs disappeared and D'Aquila took many of their rackets in Brooklyn. Soon after, Aquila also brought in the Mineo gang, making Mineo his first lieutenant. A'Aquila now controlled the largest and most influential Italian gang in New York City.
Prohibition
In 1920, the United States outlawed the production and sale of alcoholic beverages (Prohibition), creating an extremely lucrative illegal racket for the New York gangs. At this time two more Mafia gangs emerged in New York City. The first gang was a break-away faction from the Morello crime family based in the Bronx and was led by Gaetano Reina, who was formerly aligned with boss Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova. The second gang formed in the late 1920s in Brooklyn and was led by Joe Profaci.
By 1920, D'Aquila's only significant rival Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. Masseria had taken over the Morello family interests, and began to amass power and influence to rival D'Aquila by the mid 1920s. By the late 1920s, D'Aquila and Masseria were headed for a showdown.
On October 10, 1928 Masseria gunmen assassinated D'Aquila outside his home.. D'Aquila's second-in-command, Alfred Mineo, and his top lieutenant, Steve Ferrigno, now commanded the largest and most influential Sicilian gang in New York City. On November 5, 1930, outside Ferrigno's home in the Bronx, both men were assassinated by Masseria gunmen. Masseria now controlled the Mineo gang.
Castellammarese War
In 1931. the Castellammarese War started between Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, the new leader of Cola Schiro's Castellammarese gang. In April 1931, Masseria was murdered in a restaurant by several of his gang members who had defected to Maranzano. Maranzano declared himself the boss of all bosses and reorganized all the New York gangs into five crime families. Maranzano appointed Frank Scalise as head of the old D'Aquila/Mineo gang, now designated as one of New York's new five families
In September 1931, Maranzano was himself assassinated in his office by a squad of contract killers. The main beneficiary (and organizer of both hits) was Charlie "Lucky" Luciano. Luciano kept Maranzano's five families and added a Commission to mediate disputes and prevent more gang warfare.
Also in 1931, Luciano replaced Scalise with Vincent Mangano as head of the D'Aquila/Mineo gang, now the Mangano crime family. Mangano also received a seat on the new Commission. The modern era of the Cosa Nostra had begun.
Mangano era
Vincent Mangano now became the first boss of what 26 years later would be called the Gambino family. Vincent's brother Philip Mangano also became a family leader. Vincent Mangano still believed in the Old World mob traditions of "honor," "tradition," "respect" and "dignity." However, he was somewhat more forward-looking than either Masseria and Maranzano. To compensate for loss of massive revenues with the end of Prohibition in 1933, Vincent Mangano moved his family into extortion, union racketeering, and illegal gambling operations including horse betting, running numbers and lotteries.
Vincent Mangano also established the City Democratic Club, ostensibly to promote American values. In reality, the Club was as a cover for Murder, Inc., the notorious band of mainly Jewish hitmen who performed contract murders for the Cosa Nostra nationwide. The operating head of the Murder Inc. was Mangano family underboss Albert Anastasia, known as the "Lord High Executioner".
Vincent Mangano also had close ties with Emil Camarda, a vice-president of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). Through the Association, Mangano and the family completely controlled the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfronts. From 1932 onward, the president of ILA Local 1814 was Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio, Albert Anastasia's younger brother (Anthony kept the original spelling of their last name). Anastasio was one of the family's biggest earners, steering millions of dollars in kickbacks and payoffs into to the Mangano coffers. Anastasio made no secret of his ties to the mob; he only had to say "my brother Albert" to get his point across.
Around this time, Carlo Gambino was promoted within the Mangano family, along with another future boss, Gambino's cousin Paul Castellano.
Anastasia and the Mangano brothers were usually in conflict, even though they worked together for 20 years. On numerous occasions, Anastasia and Vincent Mangano came close to physical conflict. Vincent Mangano fekt uncomfortable with Anastasia's close ties to Luciano and other top mobsters outside his family. Mangano was also jealous of Anastasio's strong power base in Murder Inc. and the waterfront unions. In April 1951, Philip Mangano was discovered murdered, while his brother disappeared without a trace. No one was ever charged in the Mangano brothers' deaths. However, it it is generally believed that Anastasia murdered both of them.
Anastasia regime
Called to face the Commission, Anastasia refused to accept guilt for the Mangano murders. However, Anastasia did claim that Vincent Mangano had been planning to kill him. Anastasia already running the family in Vincent Mangano's "absence," and the Commission members were intimidated by Anastasia. With the support of Frank Costello, boss of the Luciano crime family, the Commission named Anastasia boss of what was now the Anastasia crime family. Carlo Gambino, a wily character with designs on the leadership himself, maneuvered himself into position as underboss.
The former boss of Murder Inc., Anastasia was a vicious murderer who inspired fear throughout the New York families. With Costello as an ally, Anastasia came to control the Commission. Costello's bitter rival was Vito Genovese, a former underboss for Luciano. Since 1946, Genovese had been scheming to removed Costello from power, but was not powerful enough to face Anastasia.
Plot against Anastasia
Anastasia's own brutal actions soon created a favorable climate in New York for his removal. In 1952, Anastasia ordered the murder of a Brooklyn man Arnold Schuster who had aided in the capture of bank robber Willie Sutton. Anastasia did not like the fact that Schuster had helped the police. The New York families were outraged by these gratuitous killing that raised a large amount of public furor. Anastasia also alienated one of Luciano's powerful associates, Meyer Lansky by opening casinos in Cuba to compete with Lansky's. Genovese and Lansky soon recruited Carlo Gambino to the conspiracy by offering him the chance to replace Anastasia.
In May 1957, Costello escaped a Genovese-organized murder attempt with a minor injury and decided to resign as boss. However, Genovese and Gambino soon learned that Costello was conspiring with Anastasia to regain power. They decided to kill Anastasia.
On October 25, 1957, several masked gunmen murdered Anastasia while he was sitting in the barber shop at the Park Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan. As Anastasia sat in the barber's chair, the three assailants rushed in, shoved the barber out of the way, and started shooting. The wounded Anastasia allegedly lunged at his killers, but only hit their reflections in the wall mirror. Anastasia died at the scene. Many historians believe that Gambino ordered caporegime Joseph Biondo to kill Anastasia and Biondo gave the contract to a squad of Gambino drug dealer led by Stephen Armone.
Gambino era
With Anastasia's death, Carlo Gambino became boss of what was now called the Gambino crime family. Biondo became underboss, supposedly as a reward for the Anastasia killing. However, upset by Biondo's misbehavior, Gambino replaced him with Aniello Dellacroce in 1965.
By all accounts, Genovese was angling to become Boss of all Bosses, and believed that Gambino would support him. Gambino, however, had his own mind. He secretly joined forces with Luciano and Costello to get Genovese out of the way as well. Gambino helped trick Genovese into a lucrative drug deal, then paid a small-time Puerto Rican dealer to testify against him. In April 1959, Genovese was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, where he died in 1969.
Gambino quickly built the family into the most powerful crime family in the United States. He was helped by Meyer Lansky's offshore gaming houses in Cuba and the Bahamas, a lucrative business for the Cosa Nostra.
Control of other crime families
In 1962, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, the head of the Bonanno crime family and Joseph Magliocco, the new boss of the Profaci crime family, conspired to kill Gambino and his allies on the Commission. However, the man entrusted with the job, Joseph Colombo, instead revealed the plot to Gambino. Led by Gambino, the Commission forced Magliocco to resign while Bonanno fled New York. Gambino was now become the most powerful leader of the "Five Families".
In 1971, Gambino allegedly use his power to organize the shooting of Joseph Colombo, now head of the Colombo crime family. Gambino and his allies were unhappy about Colombo's high public profile. On June 28, 1971; Jerome Johnson shot Colombo at a Manhattan rally. Johnson was tentatively linked to the Gambino family, but no one else was charged in the shooting.Colombo survived the shooting, but remained paralyzed until his death in 1978.
Gambino's influence also stretched into behind-the-scenes control of the Lucchese crime family, led by Carmine "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti.
In 1972, Gambino allegedly picked Frank "Funzi" Tieri to be front boss of the Genovese crime family. Gambino had allegedly ordered the murder of Tieri's predecessor, Thomas Eboli, after Eboli failed to repay a $3 million loan to Gambino. It is also more likely believed Eboli was killed by own crime family for his erratic ways.
Under Gambino, the family gained particularly strong influence in the construction industry. It acquired behind-the-scenes control of Teamsters Local 282, which controlled access to most building materials in the New York area and could literally bring most construction jobs in New York City to a halt.
On October 15, 1976, Gambino died of a heart attack. Following Gambino's wishes, control of the family passed to Paul Castellano, whose sister was married to Gambino. Castellano kept longtime underboss Aniello Dellacroce in his position. Many Dellacroce allies were bitterly disappointed by Castellano's ascension, but Dellacrocce insisted that they obey Gambino's instructions.
Castellano regime
Paul Castellano
When Castellano became boss, he negotiated a division of responsibilities between himself and Dellacroce. Castellano took control of the so-called "white collar" crimes that included stock embezzlement and other big money rackets. Dellacroce retained control of the traditional Cosa Nostra activities. To maintain control over the Dellacroce faction, Castellano relied on the crew run by Anthony "Nino" Gaggi and Roy DeMeo. The DeMeo crew allegedly committed from 74 to 200 murders during the late 1970s and mid 1980s.
During his regime, Castellano vastly expanded the family's influence in the construction industry. His new alliance with the Irish-American Westside Gang made millions of dollars for the family in construction rackets. For all intents and purposes, the Gambinos held veto power over all construction projects worth over $2 million in New York City. The DeMeo gang also ran a very lucrative car theft ring. Castellano relied on a four-man ruling panel to supervise family operations. This panel consisted of powerful Garment District leader Thomas Gambino, bodyguard and later underboss Thomas Bilotti, and powerful Queens faction-leaders Daniel Marino and James Failla.
Gambino family case
In response to the Gambino rise, federal prosecutors targeted the family leadership. On March 31, 1984 a federal grand jury indicted Castellano and 20 other Gambino members and associates with charges of drug trafficking, murder, theft, and prostitution. This group included John Gotti's brother, Gene, and his best friend, Angelo Ruggiero. In early 1985, Castellano was indicted along with other Cosa Nostra leaders in the Mafia Commission case. Facing the possibility of time in prison, Castellano announced that Thomas Gambino would become acting boss in Castellano's absence, with Bilotti as acting underboss to replace the ailing Dellacrocce.
Although the Gambino family was making more money, the internal strife continued to grow. The Dellacroce faction considered Castellano a businessman, not a mob boss. They grew infuriated when Castellano increased their tribute requirements while building himself a grand mansion in Staten Island. Castellano became increasing detached from family members, conducting all family business at his mansion. Castellano's announcement about Gambino and Bilotti further enraged the Dellacroce partisans.
Conflict with Gotti
Castellano's most vocal critic was capo John Gotti, a Dellacrocce protegee. Gotti was ambitious and wanted to be boss himself. He was also angry that Castellano allowed the DeMeo crew to deal in narcotics while forbidding him from doing it. Gotti and his men conducted their drug trade in secret. The 1983 Ruggiero indictment came from phone conversations that Federal agents had recorded on Gotti's phone. The taped conversations included Ruggiero discussing drug deals and expressing his contempt for Castellano. By law, the defendants were allowed transcripts of these wiretap conversations to aid their defense. Castellano immediately demanded copies for himself. Dellacroce kept the transcripts from Castellano - the drug dealing and disrespectful language on the transcripts would have given Castellano cause to kill both Ruggiero and John Gotti. In turn, Dellacrocce prevented Gotti from deposing Castellano, citing his promise to Carlo Gambino.
On December 2, 1985, Dellacroce died of cancer. With Dellacrocce gone, Ruggiero could no longer keep the incriminating transcripts away from Castellano. Gotti quickly realized that now was the best time to murder Castellano and seize power.
On December 16, 1985, Bilotti and Castellano arrived at the Sparks Steak House in Manhattan for a dinner meeting with capo Frank DeCicco. As the two men were exiting their car, four unidentified men shot them to death..
Gotti regime
John Gotti
Right after the Castellano murder, John Gotti proclaimed himself the new boss of the Gambino crime family. Gotti appointed DeCicco as underboss and promoted Ruggiero to caporegime. At that time, future underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano was allegedly elevated to caporegime.
Known as the "Dapper Don," Gotti was well known for his hand-tailored suits and silk ties. Unlike his colleagues, Gotti made little effort to hide his mob connections and was very willing to provide interesting sound bites to the media. Gotti's home in Howard Beach, Queens, was frequently seen on television. Gotti liked to hold meetings with family members while walking in public places so that law enforcement agents could not record the conversations. One of Gotti's neighbors in Howard Beach was his dear friend Joseph "Big Joe" Massino, underboss of the Bonanno crime family. On March 18, 1980, Gotti's neighbor John Favara accidentally killed Gotti's 12-year-old son Frank in a traffic crash. Soon after the boy's death, Favara was kidnapped and murdered.
Gotti assassination attempt
Mob leaders from the other families were enraged at the Castellano murder and disapproved of Gotti's high-profile style. Gotti's strongest enemy was Genovese crime family boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, a former Castellano ally. Ironically, Gigante had participated in the last unsanctioned hit on a Cosa Nostra boss, that of Frank Costello in 1957. Gigante allegedly conspired with Lucchese crime family leaders Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, to put out a contract on Gotti's life. On April 13, 1986, a car bomb meant for Gotti instead killed DeCicco. DeCicco's replacement, Joseph Armone, would be convicted of racketeering in 1987 alongside the family's consigliere Joseph N. Gallo.
Gotti conviction
Eventually, Gotti's brash demeanor and belief that he was untouchable (he was acquitted on charges three times, earning the nickname the "Teflon Don") proved his undoing. The FBI had managed to bug an apartment above the Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy, where an elderly widow let mobsters hold top-level meetings. Gotti was heard planning criminal activities and complaining about his underlings. In particular, he complained about Gravano, portraying him as a "mad dog" killer. Gravano responded by turning state's evidence and testifying against Gotti.
On April 2, 1992, largely on the strength of Gravano's testimony, Gotti and consigliere Frank "Frankie Loc" LoCascio were convicted and received a sentence of life without parole.
The family since Gotti
Gotti continued to rule the family from prison, while day-to-day operation of the family shifted to capos John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico and Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo. The latter was due to take over as acting boss but was himself sentenced to eight years in prison on racketeering charges. Gotti's son, John "Junior" Gotti, took over as head of the family, but in 1999 he too plead guilty to racketeering and was sentenced to 77 months in jail.
When Gotti Sr died in prison in 2002, his brother Peter took over as boss, allegedly alongside D'Amico, but the family's fortunes have dwindled to a remarkable extent given their power a few short decades ago, when they were considered the most powerful criminal organization on earth. Peter Gotti was imprisoned as well in 2003, as the leadership allegedly went to the current administration members, Nicholas Corozzo, Jackie D'Amico and Joseph Corozzo.
As former rivals of John Gotti took completely over the Gambino family, mostly because the rest of Gotti's loyalists were either jailed or under indictments, and because Gotti, Sr died in prison in 2002, then-current head of white collar crimes and caporegime, Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo turned state's evidence, due to increased law enforcement and credible evidence to be presented in his racketeering trial, and chose to testify against mobsters from all of the Five Families. One of the last Gotti supporters, DiLeonardo testified against, among others, Peter Gotti and Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone from 2003 to 2005, and disappeared into the Witness Protection Program. At the same time, Sammy Gravano, Gotti's former Underboss, had evaded the program in 1995 and was arrested and jailed for operating an Ecstasy-ring that stretched from Arizona to New York City in 2003. During that same year, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison, ironically due to informants amongst his associates.
In 2005, Nicholas Corozzo and his longtime underling Leonard "Lenny" DiMaria were released from prison after serving ten years for racketeering and loansharking charges in New York and Florida. That same year, US law enforcement recognized Corozzo as the Boss of the Gambino crime family, with his brother Joseph Corozzo as the family Consigliere, Arnold "Zeke" Squitieri as the acting Underboss and Jackie D'Amico as a highly regarded member with the Corozzo brothers.
Jack Falcone
In 2002, then FBI agent Joaquin Garcia infiltrated the Gambino crime family under the alias of Jack Falcone. Gambino capo Greg DePalma was so impressed by Falcone that he offered to make him a family soldier. In 2005, the FBI terminated Garcia's assignment out of fear that the Gambinos might discover his true identity. However, evidence gathered by Garcia allowed the government to convict DePalma and several other Gambino leaders on racketeering charges. DePalma was sentenced to twelve years in federal prison.
Operation Old Bridge
Main article: Operation Old Bridge
On Thursday, February 7, 2008, an indictment was issued, leading to the arrest of 54 people affiliated with the Gambino family in New York City, its suburbs, New Jersey and Long Island. This was the culmination of a four-year FBI investigation known as Operation Old Bridge. A federal grand jury later that day accused 62 people of having ties to the Gambino crime family, and offenses such as murders, conspiracy, drug trafficking, robberies, extortion and other crimes were included in the indictment. By the end of the week, more than 80 people were indicted in the Eastern District of New York. The case is now referred to as United States of America v. Agate et al. It was assigned to Judge Nicholas Garaufis. The FBI used informant Joseph Vollero, the owner of a truck company on Staten Island, who secretly recorded conversations between himsel and members of the Gambino family over the previous three years.
Among the arrested were the current Gambino crime family leaders John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico, Joseph "Jo Jo" Corozzo and Domenico "Italian Dom" Cefalu, including Gambino family caporegime Leonard "Lenny" DiMaria, Francesco "Frank" Cali, Thomas "Tommy Sneakers" Cacciopoli. However, recognized captain and co-acting boss Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo, one of the main leaders indicted in the case, fled his home on Long Island, acting on prior knowledge, and was considered a fugitive by US law enforcement, until his arrest before turning himself in on May 29, 2008, after almost four months on the run.
The federal operation broke up a growing alliance between the Gambinos and the Sicilian Mafia, which wanted to get further into the drug trade. One of those arrested in the raids in the US was Frank Cali, a captain in the Gambino family. He is allegedly the "ambassador" in the US for the Inzerillo crime family.
Current position and leadership
From 2005 to 2008, federal authorities successfully prosecuted the Gambino administration, several capos, and many soldiers and associates. Since both federal and New York State authorities rounded up the entire Gambino family hierarchy in early 2008, a three-man panel of street bosses Daniel "Danny" Marino, John Gambino and Bartolomeo Vernace was running the Gambino family while the administration members were in prison. Marino, Vernace, Gambino, Cefalu, D'Amico, Nicholas Corozzo, and Arnold Squitieri have all been listed as leaders in the family. In July 2011, it was reported that Domenico Cefalu has been promoted to official boss of the crime family, putting an end to the Gotti regime.
Today the Gambino family still controls the piers in Brooklyn and Staten Island through infiltrated labor unions. A pair of indictments in 2009 and 2010, respectively, show that the family is still very active in New York City. During 2009 year, the Gambino family saw many important members released from prison. In 2009, former National Basketball Association (NBA) referee Tim Donaghy accused Gambino associate James Battista of using Donaghy's knowledge of NBA games to pick winners in illegal sports gambling.
Operation Pure Luck
On November 18, 2009, the NYPD arrested 22 members and associates of the Lucchese and Gambino crime families as part of "Operation Pure Luck". The raid was a result of cases involving loan sharking and sports gambling on Staten Island. There were also charges of bribing New York City court officers and Sanitation Department officials.
On April 20, 2010, Gambino capo Daniel Marino and thirteen other members/associates were arrested and indicted for numerous criminal activities. In addition to the racketeering charges, the fourteen defendants were charged with murder, sex trafficking, sex trafficking of a minor, jury tampering, extortion, assault, wire fraud, narcotics trafficking, loan-sharking and gambling. All the defendants pleaded guilty to lesser charges. , along with most of the top members of the Gambino family. The leader of the family is Mr Razor now
Family HQ
Located in Calton Heights, San Fierro
Family TreeBossJack_Gambino
UnderbossN/A
ConsigliereN/A
CaporegimeN/A
SoldiersBob_Gambino
Nik_Gambino
Simon_Gambino
Jei_Gambino
TrialMembersN/A
Family Rules1.Respect All Argonath RPG Rules
2.Respect Family And Family Members
3.You Can't Join any other gangs, clans , mafia's or any other group
4.You Should folow the orders from the High Rank
5.No Scamming
6.Respect all Families/Groups/Clans
7.If any one got three warrning means he out of the Family 
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