Sammy The Bull

By Ruth Kanton

In 1970, Shorty Spero approached Sammy Gravano with a job. This time, the family needed him to kill someone for them. Sammy readily agreed, and he was told that his target was his fellow associate and crew member, Joe Colucci. If Shorty expected any reaction from Sammy, he got none. Instead, he simply asked, "Why?" According to Shorty, Joe was planning to kill his nephew and Sammy's friend, Tommy.

Tommy was supposedly having an affair with Camille, Joe's wife. When Joe found out about the affair, he began plotting to kill Tommy for the disrespect. However, Shorty explained, Joe was not willing to kill Shorty's nephew when Shorty was still in the picture. Instead, his plan was to kill Shorty, then kill Sammy because Sammy was likely to retaliate if Tommy got harmed in any way. Once Shorty and Sammy were taken care of, Joe would then kill Tommy. Joe believed that if the three were killed in that order, no one would ever suspect that the three murdered were connected. Unfortunately, Joe confided in Frankie, another one of his associates, and revealed his entire plan. Frankie quickly recounted Joe's plan to Shorty. For Sammy, Joe's death was no longer a homicide. Rather, it was self-defense.

Sammy, Frankie and Tommy devised a plan to lure Joe to his death. The three invited Joe to party with them, and after a long night in the club, they went into a cafeteria for a snack. The four piled into a car with Tommy in the driver's seat, Joe riding shotgun, and Sammy and Frankie in the backseat. When a Beatles song began playing on the radio, Tommy turned the volume up. Sammy seized the opportunity – he quietly drew his gun, pointed it at Joe and shot him multiple times. They dumped the body onto the street and drove home, where they cleaned the car. Sammy was 25 years old at the time. As expected, the murder cemented Sammy's position in the Colombo family, thus beginning his rise in the mafia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Canoza Publishing
• Release date: Jun 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201971236

Book preview

SAMMY THE BULL

RUTH KANTON

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SAMMY THE BULL

PAUL CASTELLANO

BUMPY JOHNSON

ALBERT ANASTASIA

CLARENCE HEATLEY

TOUGH TONY

JUAN RAUL GARZA

Salvatore Sammy the Bull Gravano

Early Life

Salvatore Gravano was born on March 12, 1945, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of three children. His parents, Giorlando Gerry Gravano and Caterina Kay Gravano, were both Sicilian immigrants. His mother was brought into the country as a young child, but his father had illegally entered the country. Gerry had been working on a freight crew when he jumped ships while in Canada and crossed into the United States. When a relative pointed out that Salvatore looked a lot like his uncle Sammy, the family opted to nickname him Sammy instead of calling him by his given name or Sal.

Sammy’s parents were determined to assimilate into the American society, and were keen on making their living legally. The Sicilian mafia was active in the neighborhood, and Gerry tried his best to keep the children sheltered. However, Sammy’s curiosity was unbridled, and he always asked his father about the well-dressed men who were often playing dice on the streets as they walked to church. Caterina worked as a seamstress in Manhattan, and after a while, managed to convince the factory owners to open a satellite shop in Bensonhurst. The owners put Gerry and Caterina in charge of the small factory. From a young age, Sammy began helping his parents in the shop. He would be put in charge of manning the phones and as he grew older, he also kept the store’s books.

While Sammy was a great addition to the factory’s workforce, his academic life was floundering. Sammy was dyslexic, but with no help or support from school officials, he was failing his classes miserably. His teachers spent their time berating or ignoring him in class, and his inability to comprehend his coursework made him an easy target for bullies. By the time he got to fourth grade, he had been held back a year and his resentment had grown into violence. Sammy was short and tiny, but this did not stop him from diving headfirst into fights whenever he felt slighted. On one occasion, two older boys had stolen Sammy’s bike. Incensed, Sammy followed them down the street and demanded that they give him his bike back. Sitting in a cafe, some made men watched as Sammy fought the boys, unflinching as he took on more than one attacker at a time. In the end, Sammy got his bike back. The made men commented that Sammy fought like a bull, which earned him the nickname Sammy the Bull.

By the time he turned 13, Sammy had joined a youth street gang – the Rampers. He was one of the gang’s youngest and smallest members, but his ferocious temperament was already well known. Sammy was living a double life by this time, a dutiful and helpful son at home while on the streets he freely mingled with violent and dangerous people. Despite his father’s attempts to keep Sammy away from the gangs, his position in the Rampers became cemented after a 1958 incident at his father’s shop which left him with a different goal to work towards. Sammy and his father were sitting in front of the garment shop when two Irishmen wielding baseball bats walked into the store. They said they were from the union, and told Gerry that the shop had to join the union. Failure to which, they stated, they would come back. 13-year-old Sammy was livid, and begged his father to do something. A calm Gerry told his son that he would talk to Zurito, a longtime friend.

Sammy, wondering why his father would reach out to the frail Zurito, asked the Rampers for a weapon. The following day after school, Sammy showed up at the shop with a gun tucked in his belt and a jacket covering the bulge. When the two Irishmen showed up at the shop just before closing time, his father let them into the store. To Sammy’s shock, the two men apologized to his father, stating that they did not know that Gerry was friends with Zurito. They left the store soon after, promising never to disturb them again. Sammy showed his father the gun, and Gerry made him promise never to enter that life, maintaining that it was not for him. Sammy nodded but said nothing.

By the time he turned 16, Sammy was getting into trouble more often at school, and his grades were not improving. He was sent to a remedial school, but he kept acting out, his violent outbursts a regular occurrence. The school chose to kick him out, and Sammy was told not to come back to the school when the new school year began. With his school years finally over, Sammy focused his attention on the Rampers. Before the 1960s, the gang was loosely organized. However, in the early 1960s, the gang had started carving their path in the sophisticated criminal ecosystem. They had connections with bondsmen, lawyers, weapon dealers, and fences. Sammy was placed in the role of earner, which for the gang mainly meant car theft. However, once in a while, Sammy and the other members would be required to carry out armed robbery in jewelry stores.

In 1961, Sammy had his first brush with law enforcement. One night, he was with friends at an outdoor restaurant finishing up his meal when a patrol car pulled up. The officer yelled at the young men to get off the street. Sammy, true to his nature, talked back at the officer. At one point, he lunged at the officer and they brawled for a few moments before the officer’s partner pulled them apart and cuffed Sammy. The lawyer hired by the gang to represent Sammy stalled trial, and ultimately Sammy pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was slapped with a fine.

Army Recruitment

One evening in 1964, 19-year-old Sammy and his crew were robbing a lumberyard when security guards showed up. Sammy was the only one who didn’t manage to escape, and he was arrested. While he was awaiting trial, Sammy was drafted into the United States Army. When he was sent to the draft office, the army recruiter told him that he was immediately going into service because of his pending criminal case. He was handed his draft papers, but he adamantly refused to sign them. When an FBI agent informed him that he had two options – serving in the Vietnam War or jail – Sammy readily signed the draft papers. On the surface, Sammy seemed like the worst fit for the army; he would have to obey orders from his superiors without question, and there were rules governing soldiers. Surprisingly, Sammy flourished in the army both professionally and fiscally.

Drawing from the lessons he learned in the gang, Sammy became a loan shark after basic training. He would loan money to other privates, and charge an interest. He noted each and every transaction in his book of debt. This business was lucrative for Sammy. Even though the recruiter had told Sammy that he would be sent to fight in the war, Sammy was posted in Fort Jackson, North Carolina. He spent most of his time in the service working as a mess hall cook. In two years, he had been promoted to corporal. After his 21st birthday, Sammy was honorably discharged. He packed up and moved back to Bensonhurst.

Ties to the Colombo Family

When Sammy got back to Bensonhurst, he immediately went back to his old gang, the Rampers. However, by this time, the gang was just a shadow of its former self. Many of the gang members had jumped ship, choosing to join the bigger and more lucrative gangs. Others had moved on from the crime world. Sammy went back to his earning role in the gang, carrying out small jobs to keep the gang afloat.

One night in 1968, Sammy was in a bar with some of his gang associates, including James Jimmy Emma. Jimmy was the wildest member of the gang, and was known for getting into violent bar fights. That night was no different, except Jimmy picked a fight with Dominick Mimi Scialo, the owner of the bar and a capo in the Colombo crime family. The next day, while Jimmy was washing his car at the corner where the Rampers congregated, a car pulled up to the curb and four men with guns emerged. Jimmy was dead moments later. Outraged by his friend’s death, Sammy vowed revenge on the Colombo family, despite the fact that the Rampers had no chance of winning the fight.

Unbeknownst to Sammy, the Colombo family had been keeping an eye on him for years because of his ferocity. Now they had an opportunity to get him on their side. Anthony Tommy Spero, Sammy’s friend, was sent by his uncle, Thomas Shorty Spero, to introduce him to Sammy. The meeting was brief and to the point. Shorty explained that while Sammy was tough, picking a fight with the Colombo family was a sure way of getting himself killed since he had no support from the other major organizations. Instead, Shorty explained, Sammy had the chance of a lifetime to make real money. Shorty was running his own crew for the Colombo family and wanted Sammy to join him. Shorty told Sammy everything he wanted to hear, and even though he would be at the bottom of the ladder in