The Gambino Family: A History of New York's Gambino Mafia Family

By Andy Petepiece

The Gambino Family is a well-researched book on the 100-plus-year history of one of New York's infamous La Cosa Nostra organizations. It begins with an outline of the first Boss, Salvatore D'Aquila, and ends with the present leader, Domenic Cefalu.

Some of the essential details include the killing of Bosses Salvatore D'Aquila, Albert Anastasia, and Paul Castellano. Additionally, I provide a brief explanation of the formation of the Commission in 1931, as well as the Carlo Gambino–led conspiracy in the early 1960s that overthrew Joe Bonanno.

Some readers might find interesting the outline of a scam by Capo Joe Paterno, where he conspired to kill two relatives to hold on to the money they stupidly put in his trust.

There is a chapter on the Cherry Hill Gambinos, a Sicilian crew in the Gambino Family. The leader of this crew rose to be a Capo despite his extensive drug dealing. The crew's success proved that the La Cosa Nostra rule against drug dealing was a myth.

Another section deals with the little-known Baltimore crew. Joe N. Gallo, later the Family's Consigliere, used to make regular trips to Baltimore to pick up tribute from that crew's gambling operations.

Andy Petepiece has researched the Mafia for more than fifty years. During that period he worked with various organizations and individuals to provide accurate information on La Cosa Nostra.

Edmond Valin, author of chapter nineteen, is a veteran Mafia researcher with great credentials.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9780228887249

Andy Petepiece

Andy Petepiece has researched the Mafia for more than fifty years. During that time he worked with various organizations to provide accurate information on this once mysterious body.

Book preview

The

Gambino

Family

A History of New York’s Gambino Mafia Family

Andy Petepiece

Chapter Nineteen by Edmond Valin

The Gambino Family

Copyright © 2022 by Andy Petepiece

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-8723-2 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-8724-9 (eBook)

Acknowledgements

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To my darling Patti, my partner for more than 45 years.

To Digger, our best friend.

To our daughters Lauren, Leah, and Tricia.

To Edmond Valin for writing an excellent chapter on Gambino informers.

To John Dickey

Caution

I am not a great writer, and my editing skills are less than perfect. So if these things bother you, please do not buy this book. But, on the other hand, if you are looking for thousands of details on the Gambino Family, you are in the right place.

Other Books by Andy Petepiece

The Commission

The Colombo Family

The Bonanno Family

The Lucchese Family

I did a tremendous amount of research for The Complete Idiots Guide to the Mafia by Jerry Capeci.

Introduction

---

This book attempts to summarize the more than 100-year history of the Gambino Family. It is impossible to include every event during this period. Hopefully, I have captured the major points and characters.

The writings of David Critchley, Nicole Gentile, and Joe Bonanno provided much information from the early years. Other insights came from government agencies, court documents, a few informers, and newspaper accounts.

More detail began to emerge after the famous 1957 debacle when New York State Troopers and Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco came upon a National Meeting of La Cosa Nostra in Apalachin, New York. The endless hearings and inquiries produced much information on the Gambino Family and others. As the decades passed, the floodgates opened on the once-secret society. Informers, the Freedom of Information Act, electronic surveillance, and new laws were the main reasons for this change.

Unfortunately, there are many pitfalls with material on La Cosa Nostra. FBI files sometimes contain errors due to lies or exaggerations by informers. Also, there have been instances when agents deliberately entered falsehoods to deceive various people. Even electronic surveillance transcripts may contain untruths. Not surprisingly, the bad guys often lie to each other.

Constant material comparison is imperative if you hope to get near the truth. Unfortunately, I have made many errors over my career. For example, I believed Anthony Fat Tony was the Genovese Boss when he wasn’t. The newspapers said he was the Boss, as did the FBI and many hoods. Rudy Giuliano’s boys listed him as the Genovese Boss in their famous Commission Case from the mid-1980s. We were all wrong.

So, this book is the result of more than fifty years of researching La Cosa Nostra. I have tried to avoid errors, but some will jump out and bite me. It might be a simple typo, a lack of knowledge, or a misinterpretation of fact. My apologies in advance for these, but hopefully, you will enjoy the endless list of details.

Notes

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NOTE ONE:

The proper name of the American Mafia is Cosa Nostra. I use La Cosa Nostra since that is the practice of the FBI.

NOTE TWO:

I will use the names of the five New York Mafia Families that came into public use in the 1960s to indicate their histories. This decision is not technically correct, but hopefully, it will make following the accounts easier.

Table of Contents

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Acknowledgements

Introduction

Notes

Chapter One: Boss Salvatore D’Aquila

Chapter Two: Boss Manfredi Al Mineo

Chapter Three: Boss Frank Scalice

Chapter Four: Boss Vincent Mangano

Chapter Five: Boss Albert Anastasia

Chapter Six: Boss Carlo Gambino

Chapter Seven: Boss Paul Castellano

Chapter Eight: Boss John Gotti

Chapter Nine: Acting Boss John Gotti Jr. and Boss Peter Gotti

Chapter Ten: Boss Domenic Cefalu

Chapter Eleven: Baltimore Timeline

Chapter Twelve: Consigliere Joseph Riccobono

Chapter Thirteen: All in the Family: Capo Joe Paterno, Capo Carmine Lombardozzi and Underboss Joe Armone

Chapter Fourteen: Acting Underboss Anthony Megale and Capo Pasquale Conte

Chapter Fifteen: Acting Boss Anthony Squitieri

Chapter Sixteen: Capo Robert Bisaccia

Chapter Seventeen: Cherry Hill Gambinos

Chapter Eighteen: Underboss Frank Cali

Chapter Nineteen: Gambino Informers

Appendix A: The Frank Scalice Letters

Appendix B: The History of the Gambino Family Administration

Appendix C: New Jersey Gambino Members

Chapter One

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Boss Salvatore D’Aquila

Salvatore D’Aquila reigned as Boss of Bosses of La Cosa Nostra from 1910 to 1928. In the early years, few dared to challenge him but as Genovese Boss Joe Masseria grew in strength in the 1920’s D’Aquila’s position grew tenuous. What follows is a summary of the main points in D’Aquila’s life.

DOB

November 9, 1877

Palermo, Italy

DOD

October 10, 1928

New York

Wife

Marianna Maracotta

Five Children

Descriptions

Dangerous man

Arrogant

Ambitious

Feared

Efficient

Nicolo Gentile

Residences:

168 Degraw St. Brooklyn

Circa 1926

Bath Beach, Brooklyn

Circa

?-1926

2292 Southern Blvd Bronx

Circa

1926-1928

February 19, 1910

Judge Ray sentenced Boss of Bosses Giuseppe Morello to two terms of 15 and 10 years for a counterfeiting racket. The judge also laid heavy sentences on some Morello Associates. For the next year or so, Morello tried to run his Family from behind bars in Atlanta. It was not very successful, according to an informant. Once Morello lost his appeal in 1911, he turned the reigns over to Thomas and Fortunato Lomonte.

GROWTH OF THE D’AQUILA FAMILY

This Morello incarceration led to the decline of the huge Morello Family. Some defectors went to the growing gang of Salvatore D’Aquila, who benefited from the Morellos setbacks combined with his growth. The General Assembly of La Cosa Nostra recognized his strength by appointing D’Aquila as the Boss of Bosses to replace Morello.

November 12, 1912

D’Aquila married Marianna Maracotte in Manhattan.

November 4, 1913

Shooters killed Joseph Fontana. A source told the Secret Service that Fontana was a member of the D’Aquila Family. Others said he was initially a Morello Soldier. The source said that the Mineo and Harlem groups were responsible. Mineo was Al Mineo, the Boss of his own Family, with Steve Ferrigno as Underboss.

November 15, 1913

According to Secret Service informant Clemente, a Lomonti (Morello) gang member, the Al Mineo group killed former Morello member Joe Fanaro. The latter had joined up with D’Aquila.

DOWNFALL OF THE LOMONTIS

Giuseppe Morello appointed the Lomonti brothers as his successors from his Atlanta prison cell. They inducted new members who were not from Corleone. This move loosened the cohesiveness of the Family. Then they formed a new alliance, but their new ally had enemies of his own.

The Terranova wing of the Family was not pleased with this situation. Their displeasure increased when the Lomontis did not seek revenge for the 1912 murder of Morello’s son. The split soon became impossible to bridge.

To fortify themselves against all comers, the Lomontis allied with a powerful Neapolitan gangster named Giousue Gallucci. He was not a member of La Cosa Nostra but belonged to a Camorra clan. This move helped neither the Lomontis nor Gallucci. Attacks from their enemies devastated the new alliance as listed below:

May 1914

Assassins gunned down Fortunato Lomonti.

May 17, 1915

Shooters killed Giousue Gallucci and his son.

October 13, 1915

A hitman killed Thomas Lomonti.

December 9, 1915

This date is what Salvatore D’Aquila gave for his emigration to the US aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam. However, he may have visited the US earlier.

1918

D’Aquila filled out his WW1 draft form. His provided address was 228 York Street in Brooklyn, and D’Aquila stated he owned a business at 341 Washington Street, NY. Interestingly D’Aquila correctly gave his citizenship as Italian but fudged his age, making him four years older.

December 30, 1918

D’Aquila filled out his Declaration of Intention form. This action is a step on the way to naturalization.

THE RETURN OF GIUSEPPE MORELLO

The Morellos struggled under the leadership of the Terranova brothers. Finally, parole and political decisions released the original leaders from their long prison sentences. Ignaz Lupo Saitta gained his freedom on March 18, 1920, with Giuseppe Morello following on June 30, 1920. Their family and friends welcomed the pair home with a big party and lots of celebration, but their newfound freedom did not escape the notice of Boss of Bosses Salvatore D’Aquila.

Summer 1921

As Morello attempted to reestablish himself in Harlem, he allied with Umberto Valenti, a powerful hood who once worked with D’Aquila. It is uncertain, but it may have been this new alliance that provoked D’Aquila into drastic measures. He called a General Assembly of La Cosa Nostra and condemned Morello, Lupo, and Valenti with lesser lights. At the time, D’Aquila was very powerful and greatly feared, so it wasn’t a big surprise that the other Bosses followed his wishes.

The eleven or twelve men fled to Italy, where Umberto Valenti sought out Nicolo Gentile. They discussed the dilemma of the condemned and decided it was best to attempt to form a commission of three Bosses to get the General Assembly to revisit their death sentences. Despite the various attempts by Gentile, this plan did not work, but the men returned to the United States regardless. There must have been an accommodation of some kind with D’Aquila.

1921

When Gentile returned from Italy, D’Aquila attempted to force him into his organization, but Gentile quickly received permission to join Cola Shiro’s Family (The Bonanno Family). His Boss from Italy sent the proper transfer telegram to Schiro, and the formalities were complete. Shiro remained independent.

1921

Nicolo Gentile’s book reveals that Vincenzo Lo Cicero was a D’Aquila Capo.

THE RISE OF JOSEPH MASSERIA

1922

Seeking an alliance against D’Aquila, Giuseppe Morello agreed to merge his forces with the rising power Joe Masseria. Not surprisingly, the latter’s group had snowballed with the onset of Prohibition. So Morello decided to become Masseria’s Underboss.

April 14, 1922

Al Mineo, the Boss of his own Family, returned from an overseas trip.

August 1922

D’Aquila agreed to forgive all Umberto Valenti’s transgressions in a surprise move as long as he murdered Joe Masseria. Unfortunately for Valenti, his attempts failed, but Masseria’s retaliation didn’t. Shooters killed Valenti on August 11, 1922. According to Nicolo Gentile, D’Aquila forbade his men from attending the funeral. A reasonable guess would be that D’Aquila was attempting to distance himself from the murder attempts on Masseria. Unfortunately, if this theory is correct, it didn’t work.

1924

An internal dispute erupted in the Pueblo, Colorado Family forcing three members to flee to Kansas City, seeking protection from that Family. At the time, Nicolo Gentile was part of the Kansas City administration, and for some reason, he decided to protect the three men.

Boss of Bosses Salvatore D’Aquila called a General Assembly to settle this dispute between the two Families. But, to D’Aquila’s great fury, Gentile publicly defended his three charges. Despite warnings from D’Aquila’s Underboss, Giuseppe Traina, Gentile continued his defense at a later meeting. Eventually, the General Assembly spared the three soldiers’ lives but banned them from Kansas City and Pueblo. Gentile had won, but D’Aquila was more of an enemy than before.

April l9, 1926

D’Aquila filled out his Petition for Naturalization form. He gave his address as 168 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, and stated he had emigrated to the US on December 9, 1915, aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam.

October 13, 1927

Cleveland power Sal Todaro arranged the murder of Boss Joe Lonardo and his brother. This event was significant for D’Aquila, for according to Nicolo Gentile, Lonardo worshipped the ground that D’Aquila walked on.

October 10, 1928

Two gunmen killed Boss Salvatore D’Aquila as he stood beside his vehicle parked at the corner of 13th St and Ave A in Manhattan. D’Aquila had just brought his family in from the Bronx for an appointment with Dr. Cascio. He left them in the office and went to his vehicle, where the gunman finished him off. The Boss of Bosses was dead.

The murder story in the New York Daily News described D’Aquila as a wealthy butter and egg importer. However, the paper made no mention of his presumed large bootlegging operation.

The New York Times described the two-story brick D’Aquila home at 2292 Southern Blvd in the Bronx as elaborately furnished. The story said the police talked to one of D’Aquila’s daughters, who explained her dad was