Big Apple Gangsters by Jeffrey Sussman

Author:Jeffrey Sussman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2020-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

Gambino’s drug dealing was so inconspicuous that it did not attract attention. Slowly but surely he earned the trust of all the Mob families; when Vito Genovese decided to eliminate Anastasia, whose army of soldiers had been a bulwark of protection for Costello, Genovese offered Gambino the opportunity to take over the Anastasia family. Gambino nodded his agreement, and Anastasia was murdered. An expert in the double and triple cross, Gambino now formed an alliance with Lansky, Costello, and Luciano to get rid of Genovese. They set him up to be prosecuted for drug trafficking. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and it turned out to be a life sentence. Gambino even arranged for his friend, Genovese capo Alphonse “Funzi” Tieri, to become head of the Genovese family. By doing so, Gambino had quietly asserted his undeniable power and became the de facto boss of bosses, yet he never declared that title for himself. He was not going to alienate the other bosses as had Maranzano when he arrogantly declared himself boss of bosses, rather like Napoleon crowning himself as emperor. Gambino was not only modest compared to Maranzano, but he was also beneficent to those in need, a quality lacking in Maranzano’s greedy persona. As boss, Gambino acted much like the godfather depicted in the movie of the same name. He would stroll down Mulberry Street in Little Italy, nodding and smiling at those who greeted him. He would take a seat at the Café Biondo, where he would listen to tales of woe and deal out favors and arrange for doctors’ bills to be paid, for rents to be paid, and even for parochial school tuitions to be paid. He also instructed his capos to meet with people in their neighborhoods and offer help as needed. All that goodwill generated immense gratitude in thousands of people who would be eager to sit on juries and acquit Gambino and his men of any crimes they might be accused of having committed. Gambino created the kinds of bonds that had shaped the relationships between peasants and Mafia bosses in Sicily.

Gambino was just a smart practitioner of public relations. As head of the newly named Gambino crime family, he set about making it the largest and richest of the families. The FBI estimated that it had between 800 and 1,000 made members plus thousands of associates.

As Gambino solidified his power, eliminating those who were loyal to Anastasia, he surrounded himself with trustworthy caporegimes, such as his cousin Paul Castellano, (representing the white-collar business elements in the family) and Aniello Dellacroce who represented the blue-collar guys (one of whom, John Gotti, would kill Castellano years later to become the family’s boss and assert the prominence of his blue-collar borgata over the white-collar elites). Under Gambino, the family’s control extended over the garment industry, trucking, private carting, and the International Longshoremen’s Union. Gambino also ventured into seemingly legitimate businesses, such as S.G. S. Associates, a public-relations and labor-relations company that guaranteed labor peace through bribery and extortions.

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