Carlo Gambino(1902-1976)
Born in Sicily, Carlo Gambino came from a family that had been involved
in the Mafia for centuries. Although he was thin and somewhat
frail-looking, he was also single-minded, ruthless and tough as nails
and made a name for himself as an enforcer in local Mafia circles
before he was out of his teens. In fact, he was made a full member of
the organization on his 19th birthday. Shortly afterward he left Sicily
for New York, where he already had family connections, the Castellanos.
He went to work for them in their bootlegging business. He started out
as a truck driver, worked his way up the ladder and moved over to the
family of Giuseppe Masseria, aka "Joe
the Boss", an old-time gangster who at the time was engaged in a war
with another old-timer (collectively - and derisively - known by the
younger hoods as "Mustache Petes") named
Salvatore Maranzano. Gambino became
friendly with another Masseria hood named
Lucky Luciano, whose ambitions
were to get rid of both "Mustache Petes". In 1931 Masseria was
assassinated in a restaurant while meeting with Luciano, and Luciano
hooked up with the Maranzano gang. Soon, however, Maranzano himself was
dead, having been murdered in 1931 on orders from Luciano, leaving him
the #1 boss in New York. Luciano divided up New York among five Mafia
families, and Gambino was assigned as second in command to the Brooklyn
family run by Vincent Mangano.
Although ambitious, Gambino was patient and built up his fortunes and
his influence over the years. In 1951 Mangano mysteriously vanished and
his family was taken over by
Albert Anastasia, a much feared killer,
who made Gambino his underboss, leading many observers to believe that
both Gambino and Anastasia had something to do with Mangano's
disappearance. Anastasia himself met his end in a New York City barber
shop in 1957 and, much as Anastasia took over the assassinated
Mangano's empire, Gambino took over the assassinated Anastasia's
empire.
Gambino, unlike many other mobsters, always kept a low profile, making sure to stay out of the spotlight, and lived unostentatiously in a modest row house in Brooklyn. His frail, grandfatherly appearance made it difficult to believe that at the time he was the single most powerful organized-crime figure in America - and one of the most ruthless. Although both federal and state authorities had been after him for years, his secretive and illusive nature thwarted their efforts. Finally, in 1969, he was charged with planning the armed robbery and hijacking of a truck. Legal wranglings delayed the case for several years, during which time Gambino's wife died and his health began to deteriorate. When federal authorities discovered that Gambino had never become a US citizen and, in fact, had been smuggled into the country, they instituted deportation proceedings against him. His doctors claimed that his heart problems meant that he was too weak to make the journey from the US to Italy, and his case was delayed time and time again, amid rumors that the Gambino family had paid off two U.S. senators to help delay the proceedings. In 1976 Gambino was in his Long Island summer home watching a Yankees game on TV when he had a heart attack and died.
Gambino, unlike many other mobsters, always kept a low profile, making sure to stay out of the spotlight, and lived unostentatiously in a modest row house in Brooklyn. His frail, grandfatherly appearance made it difficult to believe that at the time he was the single most powerful organized-crime figure in America - and one of the most ruthless. Although both federal and state authorities had been after him for years, his secretive and illusive nature thwarted their efforts. Finally, in 1969, he was charged with planning the armed robbery and hijacking of a truck. Legal wranglings delayed the case for several years, during which time Gambino's wife died and his health began to deteriorate. When federal authorities discovered that Gambino had never become a US citizen and, in fact, had been smuggled into the country, they instituted deportation proceedings against him. His doctors claimed that his heart problems meant that he was too weak to make the journey from the US to Italy, and his case was delayed time and time again, amid rumors that the Gambino family had paid off two U.S. senators to help delay the proceedings. In 1976 Gambino was in his Long Island summer home watching a Yankees game on TV when he had a heart attack and died.