Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo

Nicholas (Little Nick) Corozzo, a powerful Gambino capo who was set to succeed John Gotti as family boss was hit with federal racketeering charges and arrested by the FBI on a sunny beach in Key Biscayne two days before Christmas in 1996. He was ordered held without bail.

The FBI says Corozzo was pushed for the position of boss by Gotti's imprisoned, younger brother Gene, and that Little Nick reluctantly agreed to accept it when Gotti's older brother Peter also backed him for the job. On Jan. 23, 1997 he was snared again, this time in a New York-based FBI sting, and it began to look like he would follow the Gotti brothers to the joint for a long stretch.

 Corozzo pleaded guilty to both indictments and was sentenced to eight years. He began his prison stretch in Fort Dix, N.J.. He was later transferred to a federal prison in McKean, Pennsylvania, finally settling down at a facility in Ashland, Kentucky. He was due to be released on June 11, 2004, but let out a day early when his release date was made a federal holiday in honor of the late President Reagan.

Three years later, after strict supervised release restrictions ended, Little Nick began meeting with family wiseguys and asserting himself in family affairs. As the holiday season approached in late 2007, Little Nick was said to be flexing his mob muscles and vying for the top spot that had eluded him a decade earlier. Corozzo's brother Joseph, who had served for a time as Gotti's bodyguard-chauffeur during the Dapper Don's reign, was the family's consigliere. Another brother, Blaise is a family soldier, and Blaise's twin, Anthony, is a family associate, according to knowledgeable Gang Land sources.

	Life's A Beach
	Little Nick Wins Big
	Little Nick Eyed In Curtis Sliwa Shooting
	Little Nick Fills Big Shoes
	Feds Gang Up On Junior And Little Nick