Who exactly was involved in the Galante murder planning?

[Snakes]

Good points, HK.

1. Perhaps Dellacroce saw this as an opportunity to increase his profits by absorbing some of Galante's drug trade? It would mutually benefit the Bonannos involved as they would step into the void created by Galante's death, while also allowing Dellacroce to take over some of Galante's drug profits.

2. As B mentioned, I think the Bonannos asked permission from the Commission not because Galante was boss but because his killing could have caused some type of destructive conflict which would have affected all of the NY families.

[Dwalin2014]

Finally found that earlier article about the (supposed?) Commission meeting to decide the hit. It says Santo Trafficante was there too? But why the hell would they ask his permission? He was never a Commission member.

http://www.cosanostranews.com/2014/01/f ... nanas.html

[Dwalin2014]

And this too:

http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/b ... noon-the-1

Underworld informers confirmed that a top level meeting had gone down in Florida, at the Boca Raton home of Gerry Catena, the retired Genovese family capo, who many believed actually ran the family, after Vito Genovese was sent off to prison on drug charges in 1959.

It was rumoured that Frank Tieri, the current boss of that family, along with Paul Castellano, head of the Gambino crime family, and Anthony Corallo, boss of the Luchese family, were among the powerful underworld heads of state who arbitrated, then agreed that Galante had to go. It was even rumoured that Joseph Bonanno, the seventy-four year old, disposed former family boss, was contacted at his home in Arizona to put the final stamp of approval on the plan. It's possible that Aniello Dellacroce himself, travelled to Tucson, where the elder Bonanno lived, to confirm that the hit was going down and to ensure that Joe would not use the killing as an opportunity to re-ignite his interest in the families affairs.

[HairyKnuckles]

There´s so much misinformation out there, makes your head spinning like crazy. Dwalin, you need to find the original sources for those articles to make an assessment how true the presented facts are. There is no other way in finding out the truth. That´s why deeper reseach is vital and certainly needed.

[Dwalin2014]

There´s so much misinformation out there, makes your head spinning like crazy. Dwalin, you need to find the original sources for those articles to make an assessment how true the presented facts are. There is no other way in finding out the truth. That´s why deeper reseach is vital and certainly needed.

I can try, but the chances are low, I am afraid. If I happen to see the same information in another source, will post it and see where did they get it, if there is a quote...Here, the sources aren't quoted, unfortunately. In the 2nd article they say "Underwold informers confirmed"....Not really a specific enough information to make a good start for tracking down the source....

[LcnBios]

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[Pogo The Clown]

Great info JD. So from the looks of it Galante was appointed Acting Boss by Rastelli and it was only in 1977 or so that Galante tried to supplant Rastelli as Boss.


Pogo

[Antiliar]

From JD's info, I'm not sure there's enough to conclude that Rastelli appointed Galante as acting boss or if he appointed himself. I'm sure Rastelli must have had an acting boss, but it very well could have been the underboss or consigliere at that time. If that was the case, then it means that Galante actually had a coup of some kind by swaying other capos to support him to replace Rastelli. Maybe Galante didn't need to organize all the captains, but just the most powerful ones and the others would be fearful to speak up.

I think while Rastelli could have just given the order to kill Galante, he still would have wanted the support of the other bosses in case things didn't go well. If your in one of the smaller of the five Families and the other bosses don't recognize you, like what happened in Joe Magliocco's case, then you're not the boss, irrelevant of the support inside your own borgata. If you're in a large Family, then you can get away with it, like John Gotti.

[Pogo The Clown]

I was also going by what had been posted earlier (don't remember if it was JD or HK who originally posted it) that Galante was one of the major driving forces in getting the NY books opened in the mid 70s. He would have had to have been recognized as the leader of the Bonannos for the other families to go along with that. If he was just an official Capo in the family he would not have had a say in the matter. Likewise would he have been conducting making ceremonies if he was not recognized by either Rastelli or the NY families? Wouldn't NY just invalidate everyone he made if he were just a rogue Capo at that point?


Pogo

[HairyKnuckles]

For what it´s worth, here are three snippets from FBI files and reports regarding Galante that may be of interest for those following this thread.

I assume this one is dated sometime in 1972 after Evola had been named boss. Note that Galante apparently held no rank at the time:




And in this snippet, informant advised that Galante had been made boss and had the support from atleast three of the Commission members. Perhaps he was made acting boss of the Family by the Commission?



And here´s a snippet describing how Galante ruled the Family:



Pogo, yes it seems Galante was instrumental in the opening of the books in 1976. Here´s a snippet from an article published in The New York Times February 1977:

Even before the ailing Mr. Gambino died of a heart attack last October, Mr. Galante had succeeded in persuading the commission to allow each family to initiate 10 new members, and underworld sources indicate that with Mr. Gambino's death the doors of the Mafia will be opened even further for the first time in 20 years.

[Antiliar]

I didn't see that previous post. But some capos are more respected than others, and clearly he had a lot of respect.

Making ceremonies aren't so cut and dry. I've seen examples where members who weren't part of the administration making people and they're accepted. They are rare, but have happened. A couple examples I recall are when Nick Gentile made the nephew of the Pittsburgh boss and the boss was forced to accept the new member, and another where a member was making others while in prison. As far as I know, this member wasn't even a capo.

In Galante's case, it could have been that the capos together were making people, not just Galante alone. A team effort, like a council. Details are sketchy. I'd like to know how Galante came to be so respected in the first place, but maybe that's a question that just won't get answered.

[B.]

In Galante's case, it could have been that the capos together were making people, not just Galante alone. A team effort, like a council. Details are sketchy. I'd like to know how Galante came to be so respected in the first place, but maybe that's a question that just won't get answered.

His ruthlessness seems to have been the biggest factor. Unlike a lot of these guys, he didn't hide the fact that he was a violent, uncompromising thug. At one point he had a massive crew sprawling just about every borough, into NJ, and of course Montreal, but I wonder what he had left when he came out, as his crew had been split and reassigned all different ways by then.

That's why his exact role as a captain after his release is interesting to me. Was he assigned any soldiers? Outside of narcotics, were there any rackets waiting for him when he got out? He doesn't get described as an earner, but he must have been making a fair amount of money even outside of drugs in his heyday due to the size of his crew and his sheer aggression.

I had never heard of any tension between Galante and Evola. That informant had a pretty solid read on the situation, as Galante did exactly what they described. I have wondered if Galante usurped Evola's role in the heroin operation that was ramping up at the time. Maybe one of you knows more about Evola's drug trafficking associates.

Rastelli likely hadn't been formally introduced to many of the members who were visiting him and may not have known Cesare Bonventre on the street at all, so these visits make you wonder what was actually discussed. Frank Lupo was demoted after Galante's murder but was it for reasons separate from Galante? His visits to Rastelli before and after the murder are curious.

Galante telling Massino that he had just been named boss the week previous raises a lot of questions. Sounds like Galante and his supporters were claiming the official boss title beginning in 1977 either way.

[Antiliar]

Galante shot a police officer when he was young and killed Carlo Tresca in 1943, but how are his murders any more ruthless than that of the other Bonannos? That's the question I have. I'm sure they were all fairly ruthless, so what did he do that was so scary to make other members fear him? Plus, at his age at that time I'm sure he himself wouldn't do much shooting, so he must have had some sort of following to give him the power he had. So I agree with you, B. What happened when he was released? Did he have his own Luca Brasi who was mowing down his enemies? If so, who were they?

The follow up is, Who supported him when he came out? Why would the other captains go against their own boss to replace him and who were they? Why didn't Marangello and Steve Cannone stop them? I want answers and I can handle the truth! LOL

[sdeitche]

Finally found that earlier article about the (supposed?) Commission meeting to decide the hit. It says Santo Trafficante was there too? But why the hell would they ask his permission? He was never a Commission member.

http://www.cosanostranews.com/2014/01/f ... nanas.html

I have an article, somewhere deep in my files, that talks about Trafficante being present at a meeting where Galanate murder was discussed. The meeting was in FLorida, about Galante and heroin- which ties into Trafficante's business at the time, so not out of the realm of possibility that he would attend such a meeting, but no hard evidence.

[Dwalin2014]

Finally found that earlier article about the (supposed?) Commission meeting to decide the hit. It says Santo Trafficante was there too? But why the hell would they ask his permission? He was never a Commission member.

http://www.cosanostranews.com/2014/01/f ... nanas.html

I have an article, somewhere deep in my files, that talks about Trafficante being present at a meeting where Galanate murder was discussed. The meeting was in FLorida, about Galante and heroin- which ties into Trafficante's business at the time, so not out of the realm of possibility that he would attend such a meeting, but no hard evidence.

Thanks for the information. In fact, those 2 articles I posted, I don't know where did they get their sources of information, but since you have one that supports what the article says, could you help please with finding where the information came from?

I found another article, about testimony that Carmine Persico was aware of the Galante hit but voted against it....But how, if he was in prison? Did he send a message to DiBella?
http://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/03/nyreg ... ifies.html