By Andy

BECOMING boss of the Gambino Crime Family is a mixed blessing. If, like Carlo Gambino, you last long enough, there are untold riches to be had. On the other hand, as Paul Castellano and John Gotti discovered, there is an excellent chance you will end up murdered or in jail. With the fates of Castellano and Gotti so fresh in the minds of Gambino family mobsters, it will not be surprising if less and less of them push for the leadership of the family in the future. With that thought in mind, here is a brief look at the first hundred years of the Gambino Crime Family.

Our first real knowledge of this group does not begin until the late 1920's when Al Mineo was the boss. At this time Joe Masseria was the dominant figure in La Cosa Nostra and Mineo was closely allied to him. This partnership would end unhappily for Mineo during the early stages of the Castellammarese War of 1930.

The Castellammarese War was the biggest of a seemingly never ending series of conflicts between families in the New York area. This particular upheaval has become famous because it involved all five families in New York and others, especially Chicago and Detroit. Eventually, it lead to the formation of the Commission which dominated La Cosa Nostra on the east coast for the next sixty years.

The main combatants in the war were Masseria (Genovese Family) and Sal Maranzano (Bonanno Family). In order to undercut Masseria, Maranzano decided that Mineo had to go. He had become Masseria's chief strategist after the death of Masseria's underboss a short time before. Mineo was gunned down in an ambush in November of 1930. Also killed was his underboss Steve Ferrigno.

Chief beneficiary of this hit was an early defector to the Maranzano forces - capo Frank Scalise. He was elected boss by the family which was more an indication of a desire to not anger Maranzano than faith in Scalise's leadership. It was to be a very short time at the top for Scalise, however. When Maranzano was killed just months after his victory, suddenly, Scalise became a liability to his family. He was seen to be too close to Maranzano and the family did not want to incur the wrath of Lucky Luciano, (right) who had engineered Maranzano's death. Scalise stepped down and Vince Mangano was elected in his place. He too had been a defector to Maranzano but was seen to be a more neutral choice than Scalise.

Mangano, as boss his New York Crime Family, became one of the seven original members of the Commission. According to Joe Bonanno, Mangano served as chair of the group, most likely in recognition of the status of his powerful family, which was the largest of all. Mangano's selection of Albert Anastasia as his underboss was probably not only an acknowledgement of Anastasia's power but more importantly his friendship with Lucky Luciano. In hindsight it was a choice that Mangano probably wished he didn't have to make.

An indication of the differences in personality of the two men can be seen in the mid thirties when the mob was discussing the looming threat possed by Thomas Dewey, the famous rackets buster. Anastasia's solution to the problem was to kill Dewey! This would have been a shocking change to the modus operandi of La Cosa Nostra. Mangano, as boss, quickly vetoed the idea which no doubt embarrassed the volatile Anastasia.

By 1951 the animosity between the two came to a head. Anastasia emerged the winner with the disappearance of Mangano and the discovery of the body of his brother Philip. Anastasia's alliance with Frank Costello, (right) who headed the Genovese Family, was the key factor in his victory.

Anastasia (left) took over the top position with a justified reputation of ferocious killer. However, we now know that this reputation was greatly exaggerated due to the myth of Murder Incorporated. Serious historical research has established that there was no such thing as Murder Incorporated with hired killers sitting around waiting for killing assignments. Unfortunately, the legend lives on, distorting a real understanding of Cosa Nostra history.

Six years after his successful coup, Anastasia's connection to Costello came back to haunt him. Vito Genovese had been conspiring with Anastasia underboss, Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese. The first objectives were to overthrow Costello and replace Anastasia with Gambino. Within a few months both goals were achieved. After being shot and wounded by up-and-coming gangster Vincent Gigante (right) on May 2, 1957, Costello stepped down and left Anastasia without his trusted ally. In June, Anastasia underboss, Frank Scalise, the same person who briefly had been boss of this family in 1931, was gunned down in a scene that was recreated in The Godfather. On October 25, 1957, Anastasia was murdered in a hotel barbershop, completing the initial part of the Genovese\Gambino\Lucchese plot.

In order to solidify what they had accomplished, the three leaders successfully lobbied other influential bosses to hold a National Meeting of La Cosa Nostra. Speculation has it that they wanted to get formal recognition of Gambino and Genovese from the other family leaders. This would "legitimize" what had been accomplished in fact. This meeting was the infamous Apalachin fiasco of November 14, 1957. Beginning in 1931, National Meetings of the bosses of La Cosa Nostra, were held every five years with the main agenda being to confirm members of the Commission for the next five year term. In 1956, a regularly scheduled gathering had been held at the estate of Joe Barbara, boss of the northeastern Pennsylvania crime family (now called the

Bufalino Family). Shortly after that assembly had ended, Bonanno underboss Carmine Galante was arrested for misrepresenting his identity after being stopped for speeding. Galante brought enormous political pressure to bear in order to obtain his release on a relatively minor charge. Detective Sergeant Edgar Crosswell became curious as to why Galante was in the vicinity and began checking various hotels to see where Galante had stayed. It was then that Crosswell discovered that a large number of men with criminal records had recently been in the area. The next year Crosswell was on the alert when known criminals began to gather at Barbara's place. Panicked at the sight of State Troopers copying down licence plates, most of those in attendance fled. Fifty eight were arrested including Gambino and Genovese. Whether or not the two had been formally recognized became academic after the fiasco. Both continued to act as bosses and were not seriously challenged.

After three years of lying low to avoid more publicity, the plotters began their ultimate successful undermining of both Joe Bonanno (right) and Joe Profaci. (left) These two veteran leaders were not blind to the machinations against them but were seriously hampered by the long illness and then death of Profaci. Joe Magliocco, the new Profaci (Colombo) boss was unable to unite the family under his leadership. In desperation the two plotted the deaths of Lucchese and Gambino but were discovered. Ultimately Magliocco died and Bonanno lost his position of power and was no longer a factor in Cosa Nostra. Lucchese succumbed to cancer in 1967, leaving Gambino on top.

For the next eight years Gambino was as near to being "Boss of Bosses" as was possible. Not only did he control his own family but leaders beholding to him sat on the thrones of the other 4 New York Cosa Nostra organizations. There were blips such as when Joe Colombo (left) began asserting his independence with his Italian-American Civil Rights League. Fortunately for Gambino, a lone gunman assassinated Colombo, preventing a serious disagreement from turning into a mob war. Since the killer was executed at the scene, his motives and associations were never determined.

By 1976 Gambino was seriously fading and made it known that he preferred that Paul Castellano be his replacement. It was an astute move in that no one would dare openly oppose his wishes while he was still alive. His underboss and potential replacement, Aniello Dellacroce, acquiesced. On October 15, 1976 Gambino (right) became the only formal leader of the family to die of natural causes while a free man.

Gambino's brother-in-law, Paul Castellano (left) ruled the family for the next nine years. Economically, for the hierarchy of the organization it was boom times with both the blue and white collar rackets flourishing. Castellano's power grew. He appeared invulnerable, but it was an illusion. A number of factors would ultimately lead to Castellano lying in his own blood outside Sparks Steak House in December of 1985 . Years earlier, he had withdrawn from the streets and conducted his family business from his huge house on Staten Island. This only heightened the sense of detachment usually felt by troops toward their leader. The crews which reported to underboss Aniello Dellacroce, began to feel they were a separate entity which in fact they nearly were. The government's attack on LCN, tied up not only Castellano, but the bosses of the other families. This created a power vacuum which was exploited by a ruthless capo named John Gotti.

As has been well documented, Gotti (left) began to feel that he and his close associates were in some jeopardy due to the revelations on government tapes which exposed their drug dealing. With mentor and protector Dellacroce not expected to live long, Gotti was soon to be at the mercy of Castellano who did not like him. Faced with the possibility of his own demise, Gotti initiated a daring plan to overthrow his boss. With the death of Dellacroce, (right) the planning accelerated. No one, outside that life, would have given him a remote chance of succeeding had they known of his plot.

Gotti brought other family powers into his scheme and in addition obtained unofficial approval from three of the other four families. The reasons the others joined Gotti are varied but it is safe to say they were all looking ahead and were gambling that Castellano was probably finished due to the legal cases against him. If they didn't join up with Gotti now, they would be left by the wayside if he succeeded. No doubt, Gotti's charisma and fearlessness played a large role as well. In any case, the net result was Castellano was dead and Gotti was shortly thereafter elected boss.

Gotti instantly became a media darling, and he loved it. With his manner and dress, he played the part perfectly and was quickly dubbed the Dapper Don by the New York media. His successes in three prosecutions only heightened the mystique and led to a new moniker, the Teflon Don. Behind the scenes, he was ruthlessly cementing his position by establishing a fearsome reputation. Anyone showing even the slightest disapproval was in great danger. Surrounded by sycophants such as Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano and Frank Locascio, Gotti had no wise consigliere to reign in his giant ego and urge a disciplined use of violence rather than its wholesale implementation. In addition, he was constantly battling the justice system and under fire from the Genovese crew lead by Vincent Gigante. It is little wonder Gotti was not thinking straight and let himself be taped discussing murders and his rackets. When the feds finally convicted him in 1992 and he began a life sentence, an incredible era came to a close. He died in a federal prison hospital of cancer in 2002.

Gotti's son, John A. (Junior) Gotti, (left) his brother Peter, and capos Nicholas (Little Nick) Corozzo and John (Jackie Nose) D'Amico, ran the family while Gotti appealed his conviction. By late 1996, with most of his appeals lost, the Mafia Commission pressured Gotti to step down and be replaced by someone with a surname other than Gotti when his final appeal was resolved. FBI reports indicate that Corozzo was picked, but before he could be officially selected, he was caught up in two racketeering indictments, one in Brooklyn and a second in Ft. Lauderdale, and imprisoned until June 2004.

When the onetime Dapper Don passed away, his older brother Peter, a former sanitation worker took over as the family's official boss. By time that happened however, Peter (right) was already destined to meet the same fate as his brother. A week before his brother died, Peter was hit with waterfront labor racketeering charges, jailed as a danger to the community. He has been there ever since. He was found guilty of those charges, and later of separate murder charges, and sentenced to life.

In late 2007, Corozzo's brother Joseph, who had served as the Dapper Don's bodyguard-chauffeur for a time, was the family's consigliere. Little Nick Corozzo was feeling his oats and said to be vying for the top spot. And an old Gotti ally, Jackie Nose D'Amico was the family's acting boss.

Meanwhile, Junior Gotti, who served as acting boss until he was indicted on racketeering charges in 1998, copped a plea deal, and was released in 2004, only to be hit with racketeering charges stemming from the 1992 kidnap shooting of Guardian Angels founder and controversial radio talk show host, Curtis Sliwa. After three trials ended in hung juries, the charges were dropped and in late 2007, the onetime Junior Don, who claimed to have quit the mob while doing a 77-month prison stretch, was said to he looking to relocate away from the New York area.