Gambino 1870-2014

[chin_gigante]

That's interesting about Arcuri as consigliere. Backs up what Massino said in his testimony

[Angelo Santino]

That's interesting about Arcuri as consigliere. Backs up what Massino said in his testimony

Acting Consig.

He further claims that P.Gotti became Acting Boss in 98 but it was in '99 PG goes to meet his brother and gets permission to put together an administration which included M. DiLeonardo as Consig, who declined. In August of that year he learned the new admin consisted of P.Gotti (Acting), Arnold Squitieri, Underboss and JoJo Corozzo, Consig.

So 94-98 is where I still have some confusion.

[chin_gigante]

That's some great information. This is a timeline I've come up with for the administration from 2008 to present:

• John D'Amico (acting boss), Domenico Cefalu (acting underboss) and Joseph Corozzo (consigliere) were arrested and held without bail February 2008

• D'Amico, Cefalu and Corozzo plead guilty May 2008

• Daniel Marino was arrested and held without bail April 2010

• Marino was identified in a detention memo as ‘a Boss’ of the Gambino family and Gang Land reported that Marino was serving on a three-captain panel running the family

• Nicholas Stefanelli recorded a conversation with Joseph Licata and Louis Fazzini May 2010 and discussed the Gambino family administration

• Licata noted that Peter Gotti had a beef with the ‘triumvirate’ and that Squitieri was ‘done’ (possibly meaning he was no longer underboss)

• Stefanelli noted that Joseph Corozzo was still the consigliere but was ‘officially’ under administration member John Gambino

• Marino, while incarcerated, was still considered a member of the triumvirate by the FBI October 2010

• Gang Land reported that Marino was serving on the panel with John Gambino and Bartolomeo Vernace

• Vernace was arrested and held without bail January 2011

• Corozzo was indicted along with Vernace and listed as the consigliere in the indictment

• Gang Land reported that Vernace, not Corozzo, was considered consigliere July 2011 (when Vernace died, Gang Land also reported that he was consigliere by the time of his January 2011 indictment)

• Cefalu was elevated to acting boss after the January arrests

• One source told Gang Land that Cefalu’s promotion had been in the works for a while but was sped up by Vernace’s arrest (Cefalu was still under supervised release at the time)

• Cefalu was chosen because he was the only 2008 administration member to have finished his prison sentence

• When Gang Land reported of Cefalu’s promotion (July 2011), John Gambino was described as a ‘well-respected member of the family’s Sicilian faction’ who had previously been on a panel with Vernace and Marino

• Cefalu promoted Cali to underboss shortly after Cali got off supervised release in April 2012

• Joseph Giordano was arrested September 2012 and identified as sitting on the ruling panel in 2009

• Vernace was convicted of the murder charge in April 2013 and sentenced to life

• Gang Land reported in August 2013 that Cefalu and Cali were using Gambino, Anthony Gurino and Joseph Juliano as a ‘revolving panel’ of street bosses to insulate themselves from other captains and soldiers

• Joseph Giordano died in prison October 2013

• Gang Land reported that Cali had replaced Cefalu as boss August 2015

• Gang Land corrected the above information the next week, stating that Cefalu and Cali remained acting boss and underboss, respectively

• Vernace’s appeal was rejected February 2016

• Vernace died in prison March 2017

• John Gambino died November 2017

• Frank Cali was killed by Anthony Comello March 2019

• In April 2019, Gang Land reported that Michael Paradiso had been promoted to consigliere in the aftermath of Cali’s death

• Gang Land reported that Cefalu, Paradiso and Lorenzo Mannino were serving as the family’s administration (the FBI identified Cefalu as the acting boss and Mannino a ‘powerful capo’, but some sources believed Mannino was the ‘real leader’ regardless of his rank)

• Gotti filed a motion for compassionate release July 2019, in which he denounced his criminal lifestyle (Michael DiLeonardo speculated that Gotti would be formally deposed and shelved because of this)

• Anthony Gurino died August 2019

• Reporting on Gurino’s death, Gang Land wrote, ‘In 2012 and 2013, Gurino served on a panel of capos that effectively served as a “street boss”’ (this could indicate the panel was only in place from 2012 to 2013)

[Angelo Santino]

I'm going to have to ask him about "rotating ruling panels." I don't understand how they work. When the FBI build's their cases its not a game of hot potato where a guy gets off because he's not currently sitting on a panel. And if it keeps changing, the word is going to have to get sent down on who to see, which further leads to the potential of that info spilling out. Those are my thoughts but its not my organization, I'll have to ask him how they worked.

Unless we have a full clear-cut layout of this rotating panel of captains post-1999 after P.Gotti was granted the rights to "put together an administration" I'm not going to include them. I'll keep it to B, U, C.

I am however, considering finishing this as an Admin and then expanding it to include capo/crew successions. Pogo's got them laid out. We'll see. (Why do I make things so hard on myself?")

[Angelo Santino]

Sidenote but in the film The Wannabe, there was a character who I think was based off of Dominick Cefalu or inspired by him. The film is a fictionalized version of the mob social club rubbing duel. With the exception of Gotti (played by Tony Sopranos dad/the guy that chased Al in the train station in Carlito's way, Joe Siravo?)I posted about it in the Film Section as a movie I really enjoyed. Anyways, this character, played by the Palermitan Vincenzo Amato, oversees the club Gotti used to hang out in and plays a very subdued part, speaking Sicilian and wishing he was in Cefalu. Amato's a Sicilian actor but I've never seen him play in any mob roles. He did an amazing job, very subtle, casual, non-Sopranoesque. He was only in it for 5 minutes but his performance stood out. I rarely recommend mafia films, but The Wannabe and Men Of Respect are two I would. They're both fiction but within the realm of truth. "True Stories" are never really true so fiction allows me to relax and not scream "Joe Piney wasn't Consigliere in 1979!" every time Gotti with Assante comes on.

Anyway, Gambino Sicilian from Cefalu who oversees John's old club? This film was released in 2015 and Dom Cefalu began making it in the news in 2012. If the surname was Palermo and the film script said Palermo I'd say coincidence. But Cefalu? I'd say it was just a nod.

[Pogo The Clown]

I found a few other Gang Lands from the late 1990s and early 2000s that describe the committee as consisting of three captains. I'm not sure how accurate that is however considering how many individuals we know were on it at different times.

It is accurate. Here is a LE chart from the late 1990s that list the committee as Arcuri, Grammautta and D'Amico. Later in 1998 D'Amico went to prison which would have to have been when Arcuri and Grammautta got the acting positions.


https://lcnbios.blogspot.com/search/label/gambino


Also in Squitieri's 2005 indictment it mentions him being promoted to UnderBoss in March 1999.


Pogo

[chin_gigante]

Going back to the 1980s what do we have on Gravano's promotion to consigliere. If I'm remembering correctly it was after Gotti got out of prison in 1987 and Gallo wanted to step down. Looking at the Scarpa files in May 1987 he reported that Gravano had recently become the consigliere, yet in January 1988 he reported that Gravano had recently been made the official consigliere. Was Gravano acting consigliere at any point?

[Angelo Santino]

Going back to the 1980s what do we have on Gravano's promotion to consigliere. If I'm remembering correctly it was after Gotti got out of prison in 1987 and Gallo wanted to step down. Looking at the Scarpa files in May 1987 he reported that Gravano had recently become the consigliere, yet in January 1988 he reported that Gravano had recently been made the official consigliere. Was Gravano acting consigliere at any point?

I have Acting Consig 1986-1987 and then official 1987-1990.

[chin_gigante]

If I'm wrong on this do correct me but I haven't seen anything to suggest that Gravano was consigliere, acting or otherwise, before 1987. He testified that he was a member of the administration from 1986 on but that includes when he was on the panel with Armone and Ruggiero from May 1986 until April 1987. Gravano also testified that during this period he was known as a captain and (especially after Ruggiero was locked up in June and Armone faced his own legal problems) 'acting street boss' (in a de facto/ unofficial sense). The Scarpa files got me thinking and I checked my copy of Gotti: The Rise and Fall. In it, Gravano is described as only having been recently promoted to consigliere at the time that Gotti was warned by the FBI in September 1987 of the Genovese plot to kill him. It When Armone and Gallo were convicted in December 1987 one of the prosecutors said that Gallo had been replaced as consigliere within the past six months. In a New York Times article from March 1992, Gravano is described as testifying that he was promoted to consigliere in 1987, with no mention of an acting position before this.

[Angelo Santino]

If I'm wrong on this do correct me but I haven't seen anything to suggest that Gravano was consigliere, acting or otherwise, before 1987. He testified that he was a member of the administration from 1986 on but that includes when he was on the panel with Armone and Ruggiero from May 1986 until April 1987. Gravano also testified that during this period he was known as a captain and (especially after Ruggiero was locked up in June and Armone faced his own legal problems) 'acting street boss' (in a de facto/ unofficial sense). The Scarpa files got me thinking and I checked my copy of Gotti: The Rise and Fall. In it, Gravano is described as only having been recently promoted to consigliere at the time that Gotti was warned by the FBI in September 1987 of the Genovese plot to kill him. It When Armone and Gallo were convicted in December 1987 one of the prosecutors said that Gallo had been replaced as consigliere within the past six months. In a New York Times article from March 1992, Gravano is described as testifying that he was promoted to consigliere in 1987, with no mention of an acting position before this.

I just checked Underboss and you're right. His narration specifically states that a few weeks after Gotti was taken into custody for the Giacalone case he appointed Gravano, Ruggiero and Armone and specifically states they were all captains at the time. Later on he states he was made acting consigliere within a few months of John's not guilty verdict.

I can't find the date Gotti was taken into custody but would have been sometime in April-Aug of 1986.

Gotti was acquitted March 13, so "within the next few months" would have been March-May of 1987 when Gravano become consig.

Thank you for pointing that out, I would have missed it. If you see any other discrepancies do tell.

[chin_gigante]

Found some stuff from an old Gang Land that might give us some hints on Ciccone's time on the committee from 1994:

1. The federal government hit Ciccone with civil RICO charges in 1990
2. Ciccone settled the case in December 1991 by agreeing to resign from his position in the longshoremen's union and cease contact with mobsters
3. In July 1994, Ciccone was ordered to cease all contact with six mob figures (including Louis Vallario and Jerome Brancato)
4. In July 1997, Ciccone was found guilty of criminal contempt for associating with mobsters from 1992 to 1994 (including Nick Corozzo)

[Angelo Santino]

Someone asked me if there was proof of lineage between Taranto (1890's-1896) and Lupo (1901-1912). There's gaps but there's a lineage. I'm fairly certain the Gambinos were up and running by 1870 at the latest. We don't have any idea who was boss in the 1880's or final years of the 19th century but the same can be said for many other cities. There's missing information for certain eras but no one suggests that New Orleans lasted from 1850 to say 1940 and then died out and in 1950 a completely new organization developed.

I'm the first to acknowledge guilt-by-association isn't always accurate. But there's a clear cut Palermitan network in NY that eventually became the Gambinos. Candelario Bettini (Messinese) was linked to Gaetano Russo (NY's possible founder) in the 1870's and Nicola Taranto in the 1890's. We have no idea who was boss in the 1880's but we have internal mafia disputes going on in Brooklyn, one of these cases involved a Giuseppe Fanaro as a witness. Fanaro would later be linked with Lupo and then D'Aquila.

Russo, Fanaro, Lupo, D'Aquila were all Palermitans. Taranto is probably Palermitan like his underboss Francesco DiGregoli was. Bettini, however, was not. So this early Gambino Family, prior to the mid 1890's was likely NY's only Family. In which case the Morello's/Corleonese that arrived in NY would have transferred membership to this group before receiving permission to separate. The Bonanno's had Antonino Governale in the 1870's but we don't know if he was a member let alone a boss, the earliest confirmed members arrived between 1890 and 1905 and would have had to have been granted permission. The Sciaccatani, whenever they arrived, stayed with the Palermitans.

In Valachi's original manuscript, they referred to "the old family" currently headed by Vincent Mangano which backs that up a bit.

Also, 'territory' serves as a good visual. Note: Before 1898, Brooklyn was its own city and not yet a NY borough.

earlymap.gif

[Angelo Santino]

Found some stuff from an old Gang Land that might give us some hints on Ciccone's time on the committee from 1994:

1. The federal government hit Ciccone with civil RICO charges in 1990
2. Ciccone settled the case in December 1991 by agreeing to resign from his position in the longshoremen's union and cease contact with mobsters
3. In July 1994, Ciccone was ordered to cease all contact with six mob figures (including Louis Vallario and Jerome Brancato)
4. In July 1997, Ciccone was found guilty of criminal contempt for associating with mobsters from 1992 to 1994 (including Nick Corozzo)

DiLeonardo had him on the panel in 1994 (specifically replacing Failla). If you think there's a discrepancy I could show him this and it could "jog his memory" or he'll stand by it.

[chin_gigante]

Wouldn't necessarily even go as far as to call it a discrepancy but it might be useful to show him it for timeline purposes. Find out if Ciccone's legal issues had any impact on him replacing Failla or how long he ultimately spent on the committee. Clear up some of that 1994 to 1998 period.

On a side not it feels pretty surreal to be coming up with a Gambino chart with help from a former captain

[chin_gigante]

On Gallo's brief stint as interim boss and the election of Gotti:

gotti boss.gif

From the Scarpa files, he advised on 2 January 1986 that Gotti was 'very close to completing arrangements to take over as boss of the Gambino family'.

I noticed on the chart it said Gallo was interim boss just very briefly in 1986, but from the above it looks like he was in charge in December 1985. Furthermore, in another section from Gravano's debriefings it says, 'Immediately after the homicides, Joe N Gallo assumed the leadership role of the Gambino family.'