The Notorious History of the Leadership in the Gambino Crime Family

The Gambino Crime Family was established in the early 1900s. The first boss of the family was Salvatore D’Aquila. D’Aquila was born in Sicily, and prior to leaving Italy he had become well versed in organized crime. He made his way over the Pacific and established himself among other Sicilians in New York City. D’Aquila soon acquainted himself with Giuseppe “the Clutch Hand" Morello. Morello ran a tough crew out of the Bronx.

Salvator D'Aquila

D’Aquila soon moved to Brooklyn as a Lieutenant for Morello. Around 1910 Morello and his Capo were arrested, convicted and sent to prison. D’Aquila soon started his own family East of Harlem and the Bronx. D’Aquila wanted the underworld to unite and make money. He made a move to unite all the families in the NYC area. D’Aquila started a war and began eliminating low level gangsters. Soon he had control of several ports. This was important because this was occurring during prohibition and the docks were used to illegally import alcohol. The control of the docks brought D’Aquila a lot of wealth, soon other mobsters from different factions started to join D’Aquila’s family. In 1920 Morello was released from prison and he soon found his family very weak and struggling to stay afloat. D’Aquilla had made many acquaintances over the years. He had mutual arrangements with the Cleveland mob boss Joseph Lonardo and Brooklyn leaders Frankie Yale, and Cola Shiro (later his family became the Bonanno). D’Aquilla used one of his most trusted men Umberto Valenti to try to execute Morello. Valenti tried multiple times but failed he was soon gunned down by Salvatore Luciana AKA Lucky Luciano. After Valenti was gunned down D’Aquila soon lost influence among his families and mobsters started to defect. By 1928 D’Aquila was still powerful but most of his allies had been gunned down. D’Aquila had a second in command by the name of Al Mineo. On October 28, 1928 D’Aquila went to a doctor’s appointment. A few men gunned him down with two shots in the chest. Mineo was soon given control of the family.

Al Mineo

Mineo took over D’Aquila’s family who by the time of his murder had become a crew.  Mineo was born in Palermo, Italy in 1880. As a young man he turned to a life of crime and eventually made his way over to Brooklyn New York.  Mineo was the second in command to Morello in 1930. Mineo was given no choice but to become allies with Joe Masseria. Masseria wanted D’Aquila out the way and soon he was assassinated.  During the Castallammarese War. Mineo was given the title of War Chief for Masseria family. Mineo's task was to eliminate Joe Maranzano, to establish the dominance of the Masseriafamily. Masseria had assigned hitmen to take out Maranzano.  The hitmen took up positions in an apartment near Maranzano's home. The hitmen were looking for Masseria but an apportunity arose, they saw Mineo walking out of the apartment. The hitmen took advantage of an opportunity because they could not find Masseria. On November of 1930, Mineo was gunned down by a squad of hitmen in the courtyard of an apartment house in the Bronx.

Frank Scalice

Frank Scalice took over as boss of the Mineo family from the late 30's to 31.  Scalice was a supporter of Salvatore Maranzano, and he aligned his family with the Maranzano syndicate.  In April of 1931 the boss of the Morello gang Joe Masseria was assassinated, this brought an end to the Castallammarese War.  Salvatore Maranzano and a few other bosses in New York City met to reorganize the mafia and work out a plan for peace. The result of these meetings created the commission, and this would govern how organized crime would operate around the United States.  Scalice was given a seat on the commission as the head of the Mineo family. Scalice was had a hand in establishing the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Scalise had helped Bugsy Siegel open the casino. After Maranzano was murdered Scalice was forced to step down but he remained with the family until his assassination on June 17, 1957.  Lucky Luciano and the commission forced Scalice to step down from boss of the family.

Vincent Mangano

Mangano was given control of the Mineo Family after Scalise. Mangano was an old school boss and he kept the old way of being a boss.  This created a problem with other criminal syndicate leaders and his own underboss Albert Anastasia.  Mangano had made his fortunes in the early 20s by controlling the docks in Brooklyn. Many of the activities conducted on the docks ranged from extortion to racketeering, and illegal gambling operations.  Mangano was also responsible for establishing Murder Inc, who was ran by Albert Anastasia. Over time Mangano began to resent his underboss Anastasia because other mob bosses began to use the services of Murder, Inc without Mangano’s consent.  Over time Anastasia preferred to keep the company of the younger Mob Bosses Lucky Luciano and Frank Costello. 20 years later, April 19, 1951, Murder Inc may have been responsible for the disappearance of Mangano.

Albert Anastasia

Albert “the Lord Executioner” Anastasia was given control of the Mangano family.  Anastasia underboss was Frank Scalise. Anastasia ordered his murder because he felt that Scalice could not be trusted.  Anastasia became a powerful member of organized crime in the early 20s because he controlled the labor unions on the docks.  Anastasia was a close ally of Frank Costello who was the boss of the Luciano family. Vito Genovese, underboss of the Luciano family attempted a hit on Costello.  The hit was unsuccessful, and this created a war between the Genovese and Anastasia. Vito Genovese developed a relationship with underboss Carlo Gambino over several years.  Unbeknownst to Anastasia, Carlo Gambino his underboss had sided with Genovese. On October 25, 1957 Anastasia was murdered while he was receiving a haircut in a barber shop at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City.  Anastasia had a bodyguard who took a walk just before the hit team arrived. When Anastasia was shot he got up and lunged at the men. Anastasia lunged at the image of the men reflecting from the mirror in an apparent confusion.  It is believed that the hit team that killed Anastasia consisted of Crazy Joe Gallo from the Profaci family, and Carmine “The Snake” Persico current boss of the Colombo Crime family.

Anastasia Crime Scene

Carlo Gambino

Carlo Gambino became the boss of the Mangano family, it was renamed the Gambino family.  Gambino would rule from 1957 until his death in 1976. Gambino went on to become the boss of bosses in the commission and would go on to order the murder of Joseph Colombo, boss of the Colombo family.  Gambino was given the nickname boss of bosses by the FBI. In 1956 a meeting was held in Apalachin New York. Gambino arrived in a Lincoln chauffeured by Paul Castellano, a Caporegime in the syndicate. At this meeting Gambino named Joseph “Joe the Blond” Biondo his underboss.  The meeting was a disaster because local law enforcement kept seeing fancy cars driving into the area, with license plates from around the country. It is believed that around 100 mobsters had attended this meeting. Police set up roadblocks and raided the house. More than 60 mobsters were either detained or charged.

Appalachin New York

Biondo had been stashing money from Gambino and he was soon demoted to soldier.  Delllacroce a loyal supporter of Anastasia and old school mobster was soon elevated from his position of caporegime by Gambino.  Gambino named Anniello Dellacroce as long time Captain in the family as his underboss. Upon his death on October 15, 1976 he named his brother in law Paul Castellano.  Many of the Soldiers that were Dellacroce allies were not happy. The feeling was that Castellano was not from the streets therefore he did not deserve to be boss. It has been reported that Carlo Gambino would go on to make over 500,000,000.00 million dollars per year for the family.  Gambino would rule for the better part of two decades.

Paul Castellano

Paul Castellano took over the family and named Dellacroce his underboss. While in this position Dellacroce maintained peace in the family. Castellano lived in a mansion and rarely left, he preferred not to be in the streets. This angered many of the soldiers to include John Gotti, a Dellacroce loyalists. Castellano soon had his home bugged by the FBI and he was recorded speaking of many illegal endeavors. Castellano was soon charged, and he was charged under the RICO statute. RICO included crimes committed by his soldiers. Castellano was made aware that Gotti’s crew was running drugs. Ruggiero was a soldier in Gotti’s crew and he often conducted business over the phone which was bugged by the FBI. Gotti ran a crew out of Queens that included Angelo Ruggiero. Dellacroce died from cancer on December 2, 1985. Castellano had been demanding the Ruggiero tapes but Gotti’s crew was not complying. After Dellacroce died the wheels were set in motion to hit Castellano. Gotti’s crew became aware that Castellano was going to break up his crew. On December 16, 1985 Castellano was assassinated in front of Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan.

Paul Castellano Crime Scene

John Gotti

John Gotti took over the Gambino family in 1986. Gotti came into the family under Carmine Fatico out of the Bergen hunt and Fish Club in Queens. Fatico was in prison and Gotti was given the day to day operations of the crew. Goti made his bones by doing a committing a hit for the boss Carlo Gambino. Gotti copped a plea in this case and got the charges reduced to manslaughter. He served two years in prison and was eventually inducted in the Gambino family. Gotti earned the nickname of “Teflon Don” because he beat the government 3 times in the 80s on charges. It was later discovered that the juries had been tainted. He ruled the family until 1992 when he was arrested along with his underboss Sammy Gravano who would eventually turn against him. June 23, 1992 Gotti was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. On December 14, 1992, Gotti surrendered to authorities to begin his sentence. Gotti named his son John “Junior” Gotti as his successor. Gotti passed away in prison on June 10, 2002.

John Gotti Jr.

Junior ran the Gambino family from 1992 until his imprisonment in 1999. Gotti Jr. Was inducted into the family in 1998 and by 1990 he was a capo. Junior adopted more secretive ways of conducting business because of how his dad was taken down by the FBI. It is believed that his capos didn’t have any confidence in his ability to lead the family. It was so bad that the Genovese family refused to do business with the Gambino family. In 1998 Junior was arrested and charged under the RICO act.

Peter Gotti

Peter Gotti took over the Gambino family in 1999 and would rule the family until 2011.   Peter Gotti became a made member of the Gambino Crime Family Syndicate because his brother John Gotti was the boss.  When john Gotti was serving his sentence, Peter was often the go between. John would issue orders from prison and Peter would make sure that they were executed.  Peter Gotti did not have a key role in the family, it was only elevated after his brother John Gotti was convicted. In 2002 he was indicted on racketeering charges.  In 2003 Gotti was convicted of money laundering around Brooklyn and Staten Island doks, and for the attempted extortion of actor Steven Seagal. Gotti was given a sentence of 9 years.  On December 22, 2004 Gotti was convicted of extortion and a plot to murder Sammy Gravano. On July 27, 2005, Gotti received a sentenced of 25 years.

Domemico Cefalu

Cefalu Cefalu came into the United States in the late 60s because of the heroin trade from Italy into the US.  Cefalu took over the Gambino family in 2011 after he was nominated by the other Capos. Cefalu was proposed for membership into the family by Pasquale Conte a capo in the Gambino crime family.  Cefalu was inducted into the Gambino family by the Dapper Don John Gotti in the early 90s. Cefalu hails from Palermo, Sicily. Cefalu then became a soldier for Conte’s crew. Conte eventually took a plea deal in an old murder case, and this opened the door for Cefalu to take over the crew and become the new capo. In 2005 he was appointed underboss by street boss Jackie D’Amico.  Cefalu appointed Francesco Paolo Augusto Cali aka Frank Cali his underboss. After Cefalu took over the Gambino family, it is believed that the Sicilian faction took over. Cali became a made member of the Gambino Crime Syndicate in the late 80s when John Gotti was the boss. Cali married into a powerful mob family in Italy. Cali was given the unofficial title of ambassador to the Sicilian mafia, because of his ethnic roots.  

Frank Cali-Current Boss

It was reported on Gangland news that in August of 2015, Cali was made boss of the Gambino family because Cefalu was starting to get to old for the life.  
For over 100 years after the Gambino family was established it is still alive and very strong. The world of organized crime prefers to fly under the radar. I believe that the family was brought down by the carelessness of John Gotti. Gotti loved the limelight, loved the attention.  The RICO act was established to punch the syndicate in the gut.  Carelessness by Mafiosi and this law has locked away many mobsters for good. At the end It did not matter what public supported him he was brought down by his mouth and the law and eventually died in prison.