<Archive Obituary> Carlo Gambino (October 15th 1976)
Bill Schenley
Photo: http://www.ganglandnews.com/gambino.JPG
FROM: The BBC (October 18th 1976) ~
The funeral of Carlo Gambino, the 'boss of the bosses'
in the Mafia, has taken place in New York.
Mr Gambino, considered the most powerful of the
leaders of the American Mafia, died in his sleep at his
home on Friday. It is thought he suffered a heart attack.
The funeral, which was ticket-only, was held at the
Church of Our Lady of Grace in a quiet, residential
area of Brooklyn.
Plain clothes police officers and FBI agents were
among the crowds outside the church. No trouble was
expected as Mafia families have a history of respecting
funerals, but the FBI had gone to find out who might
succeed Mr Gambino as head of the family.
Carlo Gambino, in a $7,000 (£4,400) bronze coffin,
was buried next to his wife Catherine who died in
1971.
The death of Mr Gambino had long been expected
following his recent spate of heart trouble.
Attempted hijack
Attempts had been made to arrest and deport him for
his involvement in the attempted hijack of an
armoured car in Sicily but he was considered too ill
to make the journey back.
He was allowed to remain in the country and died at
his home in Massapepequa, NY.
Born in Sicily in 1902, Mr Gambino moved to
America in 1921 and began moving up within the
Mafia. He became head of his Mafia family in 1957.
At the height of its power his family was considered
to be the most influential in all America. Speculation is
now over who will become leader. Anielio Dellacroce,
who once challenged Mr Gambino for the leadership
of the family, and Carmino Galente, head of another
New York family have been put forward.
Whoever takes over will control a 1,000 strong
network of staff employed to run Mr Gambino's
multimillion dollar empire of gambling, narcotics and
loan sharking.
---
<Note: Paul Castellano took over from Carlo Gambino
as head of the family. A cousin of Mr Gambino he had
previously set up construction bids, union affairs
and political ties.
It is widely believed the character of Don Vito
Corleone played by Marlon Brando in Mario Puzo's
'The Godfather' is based on Carlo Gambino.
As well as being the head of the five New York
families Carlo Gambino was also on the National
Mafia Commission which governed the affairs of
the 26 American families. He was considered to be
very influential in this role.
The families were used to refer to the way different
groups were split. The hierarchical systems each
have a 'boss', an 'underboss', 'lieutenants' and
'soldiers' who together run the family businesses.>
---
Photos:
http://diigmaa.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/carlogambino1.JPG
http://www.mugshots.com/IMAGES/P__Carlo%20Gambino.jpg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38665000/jpg/_38665663_coffin_238.jpg
David Carson
wrote:
>The families were used to refer to the way different
>groups were split. The hierarchical systems each
>have a 'boss', an 'underboss', 'lieutenants' and
>'soldiers' who together run the family businesses.>
What, no capos?
Brad Ferguson
<stra...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> At the height of its power his family was considered
> to be the most influential in all America. Speculation is
> now over who will become leader. Anielio Dellacroce,
> who once challenged Mr Gambino for the leadership
> of the family, and Carmino Galente, head of another
> New York family have been put forward.
Carmine Galante, actually. This was the guy whose cigar was still in
his mouth after he was gunned down on 12 July 1979. The picture ran on
the front page of the New York Post under the hedline GREED!:
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/59/CarmineGalante.jpg>
The "greed" refers to Galante's attempt to take over the heroin
business from the other Mafia families.
> <Note: Paul Castellano took over from Carlo Gambino
> as head of the family. A cousin of Mr Gambino he had
> previously set up construction bids, union affairs
> and political ties.
Paul Castellano was shot and killed in front of Sparks Steak House on
16 December 1985, while he was out on bail during his racketeering
trial. The hit was reportedly ordered by John Gotti, who thought
Castellano might turn rat to save himself a stiffer sentence, and also
because nobody liked Castellano anyway. Gotti himself died of throat
cancer in prison on 10 June 2002.
The Archdiocese of New York denied both Castellano and Gotti a Mass of
Christian Burial. This was seen by many as anti-Italian bias by the
largely Irish church hierarchy, which had had no trouble allowing
funeral Masses for Irish suicides, murderers and supporters of IRA
terror.
> It is widely believed the character of Don Vito
> Corleone played by Marlon Brando in Mario Puzo's
> 'The Godfather' is based on Carlo Gambino.
I never saw this for myself when I worked there in the early '70s, but
Columbus Hospital (later Cabrini Medical Care Center) in Manhattan was
a favorite of Gambino's. He would go there with "heart trouble"
whenever a court case was coming up. I heard he even had his own
dedicated suite, which was kept empty for him.