I forgot about this part of Gravano's book, but he mentions non-NYC families who reached out to the Gambino family for help settling issues while Gotti was on the street.
- Gravano met with a New Orleans mafia figure who came to NYC because he needed help with an unspecified problem. Gravano says he couldn't understand him very well through his "Creole" accent. No indication who it was. Michael DiLeonardo said he had the opportunity to be introduced to New Orleans mafia figures through George Remini in the early 2000s when they were visiting NYC, but he turned it down. Appears NYC maintained an open channel with New Orleans between the late-1980s and the early 2000s based on these accounts.
- Gravano also says the Chicago family reached out to John Gotti to receive approval for Bruce Cutler to represent the Chicago underboss, a case Cutler lost. Shows Chicago was still willing to show proper decorum / protocol toward NYC at this time.
- He says the Patriarca family also came to Gotti for help settling an unspecified dispute. I know Gotti was surveilled meeting with Patriarca figures in New England, but not sure if this was the same situation. Gravano gives the impression they came to NYC but doesn't explicitly say that.
- Philadelphia also reached out but would only do it through Gravano, which upset Gotti. DiLeonardo said Gotti later ordered his members not to recognize Philly for various reason, so Gravano's comment is worth considering with this in mind. It could suggest there were already misgivings between Gotti and Philadelphia while Gotti was on the street. Leonetti gives the impression that Scarfo and Gotti got along fine, so it may not be a black and white issue. Maybe there were elements in the Philly family that wanted to avoid Gotti.
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Gravano gives the impression these families (except Philly) reached out because of Gotti's stature, though I wonder whether some of these were existing arrangements with the Gambino family.
- Joe N. Gallo is said to have been an earlier liaison to New Orleans and it appears Gallo made the arrangements for the New Orleans figures before the La Stella meeting which the Gambino administration attended. La Stella was supposedly a meeting to iron out a dispute among New Orleans leaders. Depending on what their contact with Remini was about, these contacts and Gravano's account could be indications the Gambino family had a long-term relationship with New Orleans. New Orleans was the only family not subservient to the Commission by rule, but based on Greg Scarpa's info they still contacted NYC to inform them of their plans as a sign of respect. The Gambino family would not have officially represented New Orleans, but these examples could show a defacto arrangement along those lines. You have to consider, too, that the New Orleans and Gambino families are two of the oldest US families and they were both early US powers. They may have had a relationship going back to the mid-late 1800s.
- As much as I'd love to light the board on fire by suggesting that Chicago was subservient to the Gambino family, the Chicago example is obviously a one-off situation and a simple sign of respect given they wanted to use the Gambino boss's lawyer. Cutler was arguably a family associate, too, not the average lawyer. No reason to believe Chicago sought the Gambino family's counsel in mafia matters on any consistent basis.
- Not sure what the long-term Patriarca relationship is to the Gambino family. Gambino member informant Nick Stefanelli was able to meet with and tape the Patriarca acting boss in recent times. Ray Patriarca maintained contact with Carlo Gambino, but he was close to many bosses, including Vito Genovese and Joe Colombo. No idea if there is a historic Patriarca/Gambino relationship... anyone know other examples involving these two families?
- Relationship to Gotti aside, Philadelphia maintained a consistent relationship with the Gambino family between 1920 and 2010. With the exception of Scarfo's relationship to the Genovese family in the early 1980s, the Gambino family has helped manage the Philadelphia family's political interests for at least ninety years.
Philadelphia def shows a long-term formal mafia connection to the Gambinos, but some of these could just be a sign that the national network was being readily used by various families. It's of course in their interest to maintain these ties when possible.
Gravano on meetings with other families
Moderator: Capos
Re: Gravano on meetings with other families
NEW ORLEANS -- In 1990, a year before the Legislature legalized video poker machines, four men met in New York to plan their bets.
Two members of the Gambino crime family, boss John Gotti and his righthand man, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, chatted with two members of the once-powerful Marcello family from New Orleans -- boss Anthony S. "Mr. A." Carolla and associate Sebastian "Buster" Salvatore.
Their purpose: Bring the Gambino family into Louisiana to help the Marcello family cut out a lucrative swath of what they were convinced was the future -- casinos and video poker machines, even though it would be another year before the games would be legal.
Federal prosecutors didn't find out about the meeting until nearly five years later when they debriefed Gravano.
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2003/sep/2 ... -gambling/
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Re: Gravano on meetings with other families
Thanks for filling in that detail. Since it's in Gravano's book I figured it wasn't news, but thought it was interesting given what we heard from DiLeonardo about Remini. So in 1990 and early 2000s New Orleans was visiting Gambino figures in NYC.
Re: Gravano on meetings with other families
Here are details about the meeting between Gotti/Gravano and the Patriarca family members
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/sammy ... gs?page=58
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/sammy ... gs?page=58
Re: Gravano on meetings with other families
Stumbled across this by accident and since it's Gravano related, I'll just post it here. Not sure why they have Benny Eggs as a "boss" and no Chin.
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Re: Gravano on meetings with other families
Good find. A minor correction on Virgil Alessi. He was a DeCavalcante Soldier.
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Re: Gravano on meetings with other families
Thanks. That's right, it was related to Patriarca Jr.'s issues.MightyDR wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 3:43 pm Here are details about the meeting between Gotti/Gravano and the Patriarca family members
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/sammy ... gs?page=58
I wonder if Russo reached out to Genovese figures as well given it was a Genovese wedding.
Re: Gravano on meetings with other families
The "underboss" in question who borrowed Bruce Cutler after John Gotti used him was Solly DeLaurentis, who was made only six months earlier.
