Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano
The Turncoat Underboss

"I was the underboss of the Gambino Organized Crime Family," said Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano when he took the witness stand at the murder and racketeering trial of John Gotti and became the first Mafia underboss to testify against his boss. "John was the boss; I was the underboss. John barked and I bit." For pointing a deadly finger at Gotti and scores of other mobsters from the witness stand, Gravano earned his freedom in 1995 after serving less than five years in prison.

His last testimony came at the racketeering and murder trial of Genovese family crime boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante. (See below.) Gravano said he spoke nothing but the truth on the witness stand, but the pint-sized gangster talked a much different game back in 1987 when he was Gotti's consigliere. He admits taking part in 19 gangland style slayings, including the murder of his brother-in-law. "Sometimes I was the shooter," Gravano testified. "Sometimes I was a backup shooter; sometimes I set the guy up; sometimes I just talked about it. When you go out on a piece of work it doesn't matter what position you're in." The only time Gravano "was the shooter" was on Feb. 28, 1970, when 5-foot-5 Sammy Bull made his bones in a Mafia love story.

Freed in March 1995, Gravano seemed to be doing quite well for himself, especially in April 1997, when he appeared on ABC TV with Diane Sawyer on two consecutive nights to promote a book about his life that was written by Peter Maas.

The bubble burst however on Feb. 24, 2000, when Gravano, his wife, son, daughter, and son-in-law were arrested on drug charges by Arizona authorities. Ten months later, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Sammy Bull and son Gerard with buying thousands of Ecstasy tablets in Brooklyn for distribution in Arizona.  

On May 25, 2001, two weeks before his federal drug trafficking trial was set to begin, Gravano and the Baby Bull pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges. In July 2002, Gerard was sentenced to nine years. On September 6, 2002, Sammy was given 20 years. Their prison terms were concurrent -- served at the same time -- as similar sentences they received for their state crimes in Arizona.

Five months later, in February 2003, Gravano was charged with the 1980 murder of a corrupt New York City detective who was shot to death in Saddle River, New Jersey as he drove home based on the say so of Richard Kuklinski, a convicted serial killer who had first spun his very tall tale on an HBO special. Sammy Bull faced trial in 2006, but was spared when Kuklinski, who had been serving life sentences for several murders, died in a New Jersey state prison.

	On ABC TV with Diane Sawyer		Sammy Bull's Grand Jury primer
	A Day to See and Be Seen		Sammy Wants Home Court Advantage
	Hearts, Flowers and Bullets - A Mafia Love Story		Bull Market With Book and TV deal
	Sammy Bull Home on the Range		Chin's World: The Endless Soap Opera
	The Bull Is Gored		Bull's Brother-In-Law Nabbed
	Feds Retire Sammy Bull		Bull's Former Buddies Go To Jail
	Sammy Plays the Jerk In Brooklyn Federal Court		Sammy Plays the Jerk In Arizona
	Sammy Bull's Successor, Big Lou Vallario, Nabbed In 1989 Murder		The Bull & Brother-In-Law Blues
	Bad TV, But It Flies In New Jersey		The Iceman Throws The Bull