Origins of the Gambino Crime Family

The Gambino Crime Family is known universally as the “First Family” in organized crime. They are the most well known and storied of New York’s 5 Families. More books have been sold about them than the other 4 families combined. Their lineage traces all the way back to the beginning of the 20th century. 

“Lupo the Wolf”

Ignazio Lupo made his way to the United States in 1898 as a 21 year old from Palermo, Sicily. He had come to America for two reasons, to make money and to escape a murder charge back home. He had a classic nickname, “Lupo the Wolf”. Lupo owned multiple stores around Manhattan. His father Rocco would help him run his businesses

He made his real money at what was called “Black Hand” extortion in those days. This type of extortion deals in kidnapping and ransoms, as well as murder when necessary. By way of lineage, Lupo was the first boss of what would evolve into the Gambino Crime Family. Lupo was one of the first prominent Sicilian mafia members to come to America. 

 Lupo the Wolf had some powerful allies in New York. The Morello Gang which Lupo was affiliated with became the first real mafia family in the United States. Giuseppe Morello’s lineage would lead to another of the 5 Families, the Genovese Crime Family. The merger between Lupo in Little Italy and Morello’s Italian Harlem crew that Italian organized crime on the map in New York.

Lupo is suspected of up to 60 murders. He and Giuseppe organized their crews in order to make a power play in the underworld and it actually created the New York mafia as we understand it today. Their numbers made intimidation and extortion of businesses easy money and it served as a deterrent to any potential competition.

Without eyewitnesses, it was very difficult to solve random murders at the time. It was a common thing for the Morello Gang to stuff victims' bodies into barrels and then leave them on street corners. The message to the community was clear and that led to less resistance. They became the leaders when it came to organized crime in New York City. 

In 1910, the Morello Gang suffered a huge loss when both Lupo and Morello were busted for counterfeiting. Lupo was sentenced to 30 years but got out in 10. Giuseppe would get out of prison and lead his gang again but Lupo never regained his status. He was later forced to retire by Lucky Luciano, who was redefining the underworld. 

Toto D’Aquila Era

Salvatore “Toto” D’Aquila got his start under Lupo the Wolf in the New York mafia. He had only come to America 4 years before when he took over Lupo’s crew in 1910 after his counterfeiting conviction. D'Aquila, who had previously been just a captain in the Morello Gang, now found himself considered the boss of bosses in New York City. 

Toto was a longtime member of the Morello Gang but for reasons unclear, split with them in 1910. The two crews went from allies to enemies. While they fought for territory, D’Aquila kept full control over Lupo’s former stomping grounds in Little Italy. Giuseppe Morello’s half brother Nick Terranova would take over the Morellos until he was shot and killed in 1916. 

D’Aquila was able to squeeze in on a considerable amount of territory in East Harlem, which heightened tensions between the two outfits. D’Aquila had the advantage in this rivalry and his crew was growing. He had some prominent young talent in his crew, guys like Alfred Mineo and Frank Scalise. 

By this time in the 1910s, there was an explosion in mafia connected crews all over New York City. In the early 1920s, a rather unassuming young Sicilian immigrant named Carlo Gambino became a part of the D’Aquila Crime Family. Carlo would become a legendary figure in the mafia. 

But at this time he was at the bottom of the ladder quietly working his way up. Although a ruthless and cunning gangster, young Carlo was soft spoken and respectful of mob rules and traditions. Like many of the young future mafia legends at the time, he was just trying to survive the street wars that were going on during the 1920s.

The tensions between Toto’s family and the Morello’s increased greatly when Joe “The Boss” Masseria took over the Morello Gang. Masseria began pushing back on D’Aquila and reclaiming some of the territory that the Morellos had previously lost. Masseria also began moving in on the rackets in Little Italy. 

Masseria gunmen finally caught up to Toto D’Aquila and he was killed on October 10, 1928. Alfred Mineo was named boss of Toto’s family. It is common theory that Mineo may have double crossed D’Aquila and set him up to be killed. Giuseppe Morello was also back in the action, teamed up with Masseria. 

Mineo then reunited the two crews by again joining forces with Joe Masseria and the Morellos. A violent mafia war was on the horizon though, and it would alter the course of history. 

Castellammarese War Effects

At this time in 1930, Masseria was considered the boss of bosses. There was a powerful rival on the rise however, and his name was Salvatore Maranzano. Maranzano had a crew with future mafia royalty on it. Both Lucky Luciano and Joe Bonanno were in Maranzano’s ranks, and the family would later be known as the Bonanno Crime Family. 

A bloody battle broke out between the two families, which became known as the Castellammarese War. It went on for two years and bodies were turning up everywhere. It was initiated by Maranzano who sought to take over the coveted position of boss of bosses. This was during the age of prohibition, which was the biggest gift ever given to the Italian mafia.

While the Masseria/Mineo side was winning early, Maranzano kept the pressure on and began to score some major points. His men killed Giuseppe Morello on August 15, 1930. Mineo was promoted to underboss by Masseria. Unfortunately, they started losing ground fast after the death of Morello. Things were about to get much worse.

Maranzano was alerted that Masseria had been spotted multiple times visiting an apartment in the Bronx. He sent a hit team to rent an apartment across the street and watch the apartment 24/7. While waiting on Masseria, the hitmen saw Alfred Mineo arrive. They shot and killed him and his lieutenant Steve Ferrigno. 

Mineo’s brief control of the Gambino Crime Family lineage would come to a brutal ending. As for Masseria, he was now losing the war although he continued to act like he was still the boss of bosses. Some of his men realized that Masseria was no longer good for business, the most notable being Lucky Luciano. 

Luciano knew that as long as these old bosses were in charge, there would be less money and more street wars. Luciano had his young assassin Albert Anastasia take out Masseria on April 15, 1931. Lucky was not done however, he was ready to usher in an entirely new structure for the New York mafia. 

Salvatore Maranzano had appointed himself boss of bosses, and acted with an arrogance of invincibility. Luciano decided that Maranzano must also be eliminated, and he was shot dead on September 10, 1931. This would effectively end the bloody Castellammarese War. 

Joe Bonanno would take over Maranzano’s rackets, with the blessing of the new boss of bosses Lucky Luciano. Frank Scalise would take over after Alfred Mineo was murdered. Scalise would not last long in the position as he was very unpopular with Luciano, who demoted him. 

Luciano then named Vincent Mangano the new boss of what would later become the Gambinos. Lucky then created a mafia commission to mediate business between the five mafia families that controlled New York City. The leaders of those families would be the representatives on this board of directors. 

The Mangano Family

Vincent Mangano was one of the lucky mobsters who survived and even thrived after the Castellammarese War. Mangano was considered something of an old “Mustache Pete, but Luciano and the newly formed Commission members allowed him to 

Stay in power. Mangano wasn’t very popular but he was a force. 

After a series of boss changes before and after the war, Vincent Mangano would run the future Gambinos for twenty years. During the Mangano era, the family was filled with powerful gangsters and future bosses. Carlo Gambino was maturing and rising through the ranks, currently holding the position of captain.

Another future elite level mobster in the family was the young “Big” Paul Castellano. Paul and Carlo were cousins and he had come to America first. As Carlo rose in the family, so did Paul Castellano. Paul was not much of a street guy and actually prided himself on being a white collar criminal, even back in his younger days. 

The most powerful and sinister man in the family during this time was Albert Anastasia. Albert was undeniably the most dangerous man in the mafia. He ran a team of killers which the press nicknamed Murder Inc., which served as an enforcement arm for the mafia. Because of his efforts, Anastasia was given the position of underboss under Mangano. 

Although they worked together for more than 20 years, Anastasia and Mangano butted heads often. If Mangano wasn’t in his position, he’d have been killed long ago. Mangano gave Anastasia a wide base of power and stayed out of his hair for the most part. Mangano knew about Albert’s history of killing mob bosses.

The problem that caused the most tension between the two men was Albert’s relationship with the other  bosses, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Frank Costello. Mangano felt disrespected by the other bosses for dealing only with Albert. He was mad at Albert because he felt like Albert went over his head and broke the chain of command. 

The Lord High Executioner 

These periodic arguments got very tense and the two would yell and threaten each other. Mangano had thought several times of demoting or killing Albert, but never acted. Instead, cooler heads usually prevailed to. Albert was so busy with Murder Inc. that he probably didn’t have the time to be boss. He was making a fortune in the murder industry.

Murder Inc. came to a halt in the early 1940s when Abe “Kid Twist” Reles turned canary. Seven members including Anastasia’s partner Lepke Buchalter went to the electric chair. The crew had killed upwards of 1,000 people in the 1930s. Just before Reles was to testify against Albert, he mysteriously fell 6 stories to his death while under 24/7 police guard. 

Anastasia escaped Murder Inc. unscathed and laid relatively low for a few years to avoid heat from law enforcement. Mangano let Anastasia control cargo profits on the waterfront. Mangano and Anastasia controlled the longshoreman’s union and had the ability to cause a full shutdown of the docks if they weren’t paid accordingly.

Predictably, Anastasia became bored after a few years. He wanted to be a boss again, like he was over Murder Inc. Now he wanted to be the boss of his own crime family, the Anastasia Crime Family. This would never happen with Vincent Mangano around. Albert had Mangano and his brother killed in 1951, ending Mangano’s 20 year reign.

Anastasia’s decision to murder Mangano was a bold move. Albert was a powerful Commission member, but there was a very polished group of guys in the family. You had Carlo Gambino, Castellano, Neil Dellacroce, Frank Scalise and Joe “Piney” Armone. Every one of these men had a crew of killers, none of them took action, for now. 

He never admitted to the Commission that he killed Mangano. He did offer in his defense that Mangano wanted him dead, thus justifying the action had it actually happened. A rising member of the Commission named Vito Genovese was the only one to openly confront Albert’s story. 

The bosses knew exactly what happened to Mangano. For the time being, no one would dare take on Albert. Then he ordered his most notorious murder in 1952, the killing of Arnold Schuster. Schuster was a good samaritan who had turned in bank robber Willie Sutton. He was shown on t.v. and Anastasia exploded in rage watching the footage. 

The Schuster murder was very alarming to the other bosses. They worked hard to stay out of the public eye. Now Anastasia was making them front page news again with some of the worst headlines possible. The press dubbed him as “The Lord High Executioner”.

Carlo Takes Out The Lord High Executioner

Anastasia had now killed a mafia boss and an innocent civilian in a year’s time. Both were offenses that should be punishable by death. Schuster was shot in both eyes, which added to the public outrage over the incident. Anastasia and his murderous ways were becoming more trouble for the mafia than he was worth.

The only thing holding back Genovese from killing Anastasia was having the proper backup. Albert was backed up on the Commission by Frank Costello. His mentor Lucky  was long gone but he still had the support of legendary Jewish mobster Meyer Lansky. Vito Genovese was held in check for a few more years because of the lack of support.

Vito was looking to kill Costello to take over his crime family. He had to kill Anastasia to make the plan work. The tide soon turned in Vito’s favor however. Albert had gotten greedy and moved in on Lansky’s Cuban gambling rackets, a move that destroyed one of his last big alliances. Lansky began to warm up to Vito’s plan. 

Then Carlo Gambino started quietly communicating with Genovese. He knew that Albert was off the rails with murder and treachery. The future mafia boss saw backing Vito’s plan as killing two birds with one stone. He could get rid of his unpredictable boss and take his spot at the top. A plan was hatched and slowly, other mob bosses got involved. 

On May 2, 1957, Frank Costello was shot in the head but survived. The man who shot him was a young Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, who would become the family boss many years later. Costello resigned which opened the door for Vito to become boss of what would now forever be known as the Genovese Crime Family. 

Anastasia’s underboss Frank Scalise was killed on June 17th of the same year. While it looked like Anastasia was under attack from all sides, it was actually him who had Scalise killed. He felt Scalise was selling memberships into the family, thus he must die. It was a bad move, Albert had now peeled back one of his last layers of protection. 

It happened on October 25, 1957, the most infamous mob hit in history. Albert was relaxing for a shave at the barbershop inside the Park Sheraton in Manhattan. He had a towel over his face as the killers burst through the door and blasted him. It is believed that “Crazy” Joe Gallo and future Colombo boss Carmine Persico were the shooters.

Like A Lion and a Fox

With the blessing of the Commission who were relieved that Anastasia was gone, Carlo was given the blessing to take over the family. He proved to be one of the best mafia bosses in history. He prided himself on being like the “lion and the fox”. He was a ruthless killer of hundreds, but extremely intelligent and cautious in how he operated.

Under Carlo, the Gambino Crime Family became number one among New York’s five families. Gambino himself would become the boss of bosses. His cousin Paul Castellano and his partner Nino Gaggi were both promoted. Powerful Manhattan mobster and longtime family member Neil Dellacroce was named as his underboss.

A simple nod or a wink from Don Carlo meant the difference between life and death. He was an unassuming older man who looked like someone’s nice old grandfather. He was cunning and brilliant at insulating himself from infiltration. No law enforcement or mafia enemies ever got to him and he died peacefully of natural causes in 1976. 

While he made great decisions all throughout his career, Carlo made a rather surprising misstep during his last days alive. He appointed his cousin Paul Castellano to be the next boss, denying the promotion to underboss Neil Dellacroce. This move would cause massive tension and for the Gambino Crime Family to be split into two rival factions. 

A majority of the family felt that Paul was a bad choice for boss. Paul was resented as a man who rode Carlo’s coattails while never doing any real work on the streets. A captain in Neil’s crew named John Gotti was particularly upset about the snub. Dellacroce who respected mafia rules was the only one preventing a war and he died on December 2, 1985. 

Two weeks later, Paul Castellano and his new underboss Thomas Bilotti were gunned down in front of Sparks Steak House in Manhattan. Gotti took over the family and quickly destroyed it. He had a love for the limelight and loose lips. His reign would be highly publicized, more than any boss since Al Capone

Gotti’s underboss Sammy “The Bull” Gravano would turn witness against him and bury the entire hierarchy of the Gambinos. They never recovered from the defection. The Gambinos still exist today in a much smaller capacity. It is unlikely that they will ever become the powerhouse mafia family that they once were.