Gambino Family Succession Highlights

[quadtree]

What possible sostituiti could have existed during the Mangano era? This will be mostly speculatory.
(I can hear the Chicago guys now 'oh he can do it, but we can't, jk.)

Personal Sostituito - Phil Mangano?

Lower Manhattan Sciaccatani - Nick Gentile (confirmed)

Bronx - Frank Scalise?

New Jersey - Salvatore Chirico?

Brooklyn - Anastasia?

1 Given that Gentile's selection to the role included two factors, his Manhattan address (Mangano lived in Brooklyn) and his Agrigentinismo (Mangano was Palermitan). It's quite possible compaesanismo was a factor into some sostituito, area/territory for others.

2 We've seen various cases of Gambinos using actings despite being free. This would include Mangano using his brother, Gambino using Castellano, Gottis are a mess so skip them, and now there's allegedly Cefalu using Mannino.

3 I said this before but I think a case could be bade that there was a blue collar mostly mainland contingent in the Gambinos that had a nominal leader which passed from Anastasia to Rava to Dellacroce to Gotti. This might originate from the sostituito-management fashion. We don't know how far back it goes, for all we know, D'Aquila made more use of sostituiti than just Traina.

4 Sostituiti arguably are the closest thing to "area bosses" although I wouldn't classify or describe them as such, their roles had limitations.

Giuseppe SanFilippo (called a "consigliere of judgement") could play a role similar to that of Gentile, namely as a mediator and arbiter in resolving disputes. Maybe that's why it was called "consigliere of judgment".

[B.]

I've wondered the same about SanFilippo based on that report as he was from Agrigento. When Gentile left the US, did Mangano delegate someone else? Decide to mediate the Agrigentino affairs himself / through Anastasia? Was it hinged on Gentile alone, who as a former boss and consigliere, was uniquely positioned to carry out this role effectively? Dellacroce looks to have inherited his role from Rava so there may be a sort of succession to these sostituti / acting representative roles as the reasons Gentile gave for his role didn't go away just because he left -- Mangano still wouldn't want to go to E39th or deal with Agrigento paesan factionalism post-Gentile.
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For the 1957 captains...

- Joe Franco wouldn't have been part of the Anastasia faction after Anastasia was killed. According to Santantonio, Franco was close to Anastasia but betrayed him by telling Riccobono, Biondo, and Dongarra about Anastasia's plot and he died a short time later. Lombardozzi took over his crew and seems to have lined up with the new regime.

- If there truly were up to 12 captains aligned with Rava, it doesn't necessarily mean all of them were true blue "Anastasia crews" like the few who reported to Dellacroce later. Very likely some of them had their own motivations for siding with Rava or not siding with the new regime as we typically see during conflicts. Same for the people who supported the new Gambino-Biondo-Riccobono regime.

- I agree Robilotto and Tony Anastasio are a given for Rava's group. Squillante would be a good bet but then there is Valachi's info about Squillante meeting with the Commission and disparaging the deceased Anastasia. That could have happened any time between 1957-1960 though and he may have initially stood behind Rava. Luigi Morici was Palermitan but according to a Baltimore source he was very afraid after Anastasia's murder as Baltimore had apparently been close to Anastasia. Baltimore did have a strong Calabrese element and suspected member Joe Gigliotti (Calabrian, ex-Pittsburgh where Anastasia had early ties) told an informant he once went to NYC and sat next to Anastasia at a dinner. Anastasia had members directly with him going back to when he was underboss, like Joe Parisi, so some members may have been direct with him as boss.

- Domenico Arcuri was almost certainly aligned with the Riccobono-Biondo group. They used Arcuri as the messenger when communicating with the other Family captains after the murder. He was trusted and likely sympathetic with Anastasia's killers.

- I don't feel like I've got a great grasp of who exactly the captains were in 1957 beyond the obvious ones. We have references to past captains but it's not necessarily said exactly when it was or what the crew arrangement was. Because a new boss has the right to take all the captains down and put new ones up, a number of changes could have taken place in 1951 then again in 1957 plus whatever changes happened in between. There may have been as many as 3 underbosses and 2 consiglieri between 51-57 so who knows what the captain situation looked like.

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- It's interesting Riccobono, Biondo, and Dongarra were all being targeted by Anastasia. I'm trying to remember if there's anything confirming Riccobono was in fact the captain at the time. He was spokesman of the group and a big name but with all the up and downs in the hierarchy (Gambino reportedly being demoted a captain then reappointed, the seeming musical chairs at underboss and consigliere, etc.) I'm not sure offhand. I'd call this the Riccobono faction either way.

- Biondo was a former consigliere and got his start around Valente and Dimino -- Dimino was a captain by the early 1920s and it seems Valente was on that level around the same time. Both were important enough to be targeted by D'Aquila amidst the Morello conflict and it's confirmed Valente's murder was connected to the Morello situation and there is reason to suspect Dimino's was as well. This is significant because they were members of D'Aquila's own Family, suggesting the Morello group had allies under D'Aquila. Remember Biondo went way back with Charlie Luciano and surfaces in 1930 as a top Masseria supporter -- it is worth speculating that this relationship between Biondo and the Masseria/Genovese Family went back to Valente's relationship to the Morello-Masseria group given he was condemned at the same meeting as Morello, the Terranovas, and Lupo.

- Biondo and Valente were Messinese but can be linked to the early Agrigento element given their association with Dimino and Nick Gentile. Then the Sciacchitani are aligned with Masseria in 1930 along with Biondo. Gentile too says that the Terry Burns murder was set up at the Sciacca club by the Agrigento guys but one of the shooters was an unnamed guy from Sferracavallo, where the Riccobonos come from. Definitely some patterns, make of them what you will.

- Dongarra was an alleged cousin of Valente and was with him when he was killed, so he goes back to the beginning with Biondo. The Armones also go way back -- I don't know if he was a mafioso, but Steve and Joe Armone's father (Steve Grammauta's uncle) Terenzio Armone witnessed Lucchese boss Joe Pinzolo's naturalization and Pinzolo married Joe Riccobono's sister.

- By 1930-31, Biondo is a leader of the Family's pro-Masseria faction along with Mangano and Chiri. Not hard to believe he was a captain at the time as he was operating at a very high level during the war then becomes consigliere. Maybe this was some earlier iteration of the Armone-Dongarra crew but I'm hesitant to assume these crews were continuous as Little Italy (and everywhere else) had a ton of moving pieces and Michael DiLeonardo was told the oldest continuous crews were Traina and Garofalo. That was much later but it can't be overstated how common it is for crews to be merged, split, disbanded, formed, or members moved around. The Riccobono faction was almost completely Sicilian but you had crew members from Sferracavallo / Palermo citta , Messina, Eastern Palermo, Agrigento, Bisacquino, Misilmeri, etc. so it was a mix as far as Sicilian backgrounds went but most of those backgrounds are nonetheless consistent with the Gambino Family's roots.

- Sam Riccobono (extended cousin of Joe Riccobono, I believe) was a captain under Mangano and Charlie Dongarra may have been a captain or acting captain back in the early 1950s too. Sam Riccobono's descendants are the Riccobonos who ended running a completely different Brooklyn crew from the old Riccobono-Armone-Dongarra group but there could be crossover. Possible too the two branches of the Riccobono clan were completely different groups.

- Don't think I've seen exactly why or when Biondo was demoted as consigliere. He later got in trouble as underboss so maybe there was an earlier incident. What's weird is he operated in Manhattan, was close to the Sciacchitani going back to the 1910s, and was the official consigliere so why didn't he mediate problems for the Agrigento crews? Gentile was basically doing Biondo's job so maybe it truly was important to have a paesan do it.

[JoelTurner]

I could understand that based on the first part where he says "Dannarao" ordered the murder of his underboss but he then clarified that even though "Dannarao" had up to 12 captains under him, "Dannarao" was still a capodecina like them and answered only for himself.

There's a phonetic connection between "Tommy Rava" and "Danna Rao" which would be far from the worst interpretation on those tapes, where Magaddino spoke with a heavy accent on a primitive recording device. "Dannarao" was involved in the factionalism after Anastasia's death and had roughly half the captains answering to him while being a captain himself and by early 1965 "Dannarao" is dead.

Magaddino usually calls Anastasia "Tempesta" (storm) and this is the only time he refers to "Dannarao". Many years ago we speculated it could also refer to Robilotto as "Johnny Roberts" could easily become "Dannarao" too but the description of the guy better fits Rava. "Dannarao" having an underboss is the only confusing part but because Magaddino clarifies "Dannarao" was formally still a capodecina we can rule him out as boss. Most likely the underboss remark either refers to "Dannarao" killing the Family's underboss (Scalise?) or my interpretation which is that during the split Rava's group may have chosen their own admin like we saw in the 60s Bonanno war, 90s Colombo war, etc.

Armand Rava fits very well. If he really had 12 captains under his command, and this was really half the family, then at the time of 1957 there were 24 captains (or 25, if Rava himself is not included in the list of 12). I wonder who was on this list of 12 captains.
I think everyone agrees that there should be:
1. John Robilotto;
2. Antonio Anastasio;
There are also reasonable assumptions that this group included:
3. Vincenzo Squillante;
4. Giuseppe Franco;

Apparently the following captains were not part of Rava's faction:
1. Giuseppe Riccobono;
2. Giuseppe Gambino (if captain in 1957)
3. Bartolo Castellano (if captain in 1957)
I very much doubt that these captains were part of Rava’s faction, they were too close to traditional Sicilians:
4. Giuseppe Traina;
5. Jerome D'Aquila;

The following individuals were captains in 1957:
1. Joseph Paterno;
2. Frank Perrone;
3. Pasquale Conte (possibly);
4. Domenico Arcuri;
5. Gaetano Russo (possibly);
6. Salvatore Tornabe (possibly);
7. Joseph Colozzo (possibly);
8. Luigi Morici (possibly);
9. Ettore Zappi (possibly);
10. Agostino Amato (possibly);
Colozzo worked on the waterfront, I have suspicions that his crew is connected with the Mangano-Anastasia cluster. Also, if he was a captain that year, he is a strong candidate to be in the Rava faction. Antonino Conte was Anastasia's underboss, but he could represent another faction as part of the policy of representing both factions in the administration. At least since the end of the Castellamarese War, both factions were necessarily represented in the administration. If the boss was a representative of one, then the underboss was a representative of the other, here are examples:
1. Vincent Mangano (boss, faction?), Albert Anastasia (underboss, Rava faction), Giuseppe Biondo (consigliere, Scalici faction);
2. Albert Anastasia (boss, Rava faction) / Frank Scalici (underboss and/or consigliere, Scalici faction);
3. Albert Anastasia (boss, Rava faction) / Carlo Gambino (consigliere, Scalici faction);
4. Carlo Gambino (boss, Scalici faction), Aniello Dellacroce (underboss, Rava faction);
5. Paul Castellano (boss, Scalici faction), Aniello Dellacroce (underboss, Rava faction);
And it worked even later:
6. John Gotti (boss, Rava faction), Gotti clearly recognized the continuity with this faction, for example, a portrait of Albert Anastasia hung in Ravenita, Joseph Armone (consigliere and underboss, Scalici faction);

The exception to the rule was the era of 1960-1964, when there was not a single representative of the Rava faction in the administration, but this is explained by the fact that the core of this faction was first rebellious, and then, using analogies, was at the stage of “Reconstruction”.

I assume that by killing Scalici, in order to maintain peace in the family, Anastasia had to appoint a representative of the same faction, so my opinion is that Pasquale Conte comes from the Scalici faction. Scalici oversaw the crew in Baltimore, so Morici was part of his faction.

What faction was Arcuri in?

A total of 5 captains for Rava, 6 including Rava, 7 for Scalici. 7 captains are in unclear what faction. There are 19 captains in total. There were probably other captains in the Scalici faction; maybe Paul Castellano was the captain of a separate crew from Bartolo Castellano.

It seems there are a couple of captains we don't know.

Frank Perrone had been very close to the Mangano bros before they were killed.

I don’t know what faction that translates to by 1957 but he probably wouldn’t have been an Anastasia loyalist

[InCamelot]

Any chance we'll get a mob arch pod on this subject?

[Angelo Santino]

Any chance we'll get a mob arch pod on this subject?

On the Gambino Family or some specific event discussed in this thread? Maybe, problem is we've all been busy, four people with conflicting schedules makes things difficult.

I am working on a Gambino... documentary I guess we'll call it. 1860 to 2020. Right now it's about 1:15:00 but that could change. It'll take me some time to finish because there's a few people assisting including Michael DiLeonardo. Working on my 15 min long Camorra 1 vid and that took nearly a week to get 2/3's finished and that's only 15 mins.

[TSNYC]

Any chance we'll get a mob arch pod on this subject?

On the Gambino Family or some specific event discussed in this thread? Maybe, problem is we've all been busy, four people with conflicting schedules makes things difficult.

I am working on a Gambino... documentary I guess we'll call it. 1860 to 2020. Right now it's about 1:15:00 but that could change. It'll take me some time to finish because there's a few people assisting including Michael DiLeonardo. Working on my 15 min long Camorra 1 vid and that took nearly a week to get 2/3's finished and that's only 15 mins.

Can’t wait. Love your work!

[InCamelot]

Any chance we'll get a mob arch pod on this subject?

On the Gambino Family or some specific event discussed in this thread? Maybe, problem is we've all been busy, four people with conflicting schedules makes things difficult.

I am working on a Gambino... documentary I guess we'll call it. 1860 to 2020. Right now it's about 1:15:00 but that could change. It'll take me some time to finish because there's a few people assisting including Michael DiLeonardo. Working on my 15 min long Camorra 1 vid and that took nearly a week to get 2/3's finished and that's only 15 mins.

Might be too heavy to cover the Gambino Family in general, but specific events covered in this thread. Maybe a chronological series split by the various reigns you outlined in your original post would be good). One vid on dispelling some Mangano myths, than another on the Carlo myths, then another on some less-covered Gotti analysis, etc etc.

Looking forward to the doc though! Sounds like that might cover a lot of it.

[Oc1878+]

Any chance we'll get a mob arch pod on this subject?

On the Gambino Family or some specific event discussed in this thread? Maybe, problem is we've all been busy, four people with conflicting schedules makes things difficult.

I am working on a Gambino... documentary I guess we'll call it. 1860 to 2020. Right now it's about 1:15:00 but that could change. It'll take me some time to finish because there's a few people assisting including Michael DiLeonardo. Working on my 15 min long Camorra 1 vid and that took nearly a week to get 2/3's finished and that's only 15 mins.

Really looking forward to this.

[Sdunn48]

I would say riccobono got demoted when Anastasia took over and dongarra became captain I don’t think Steve armone was ever a captain, biondo definitely got demoted from consigliere position when Anastasia took over when valachi had to go to sit down dongarra stood in for riccobono that was late 40s when santantonio got made dongarra was his captain that was in the 50s, Anastasia did not get on with riccobono and biondo end result 6year after getting demoted biondo and riccobono had Anastasia killed