Who exactly was involved in the Galante murder planning?

[Antiliar]

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

This is being discussed in another thread. Persico's attorney is challenging that DiBella was a front boss for Persico, rather that DiBella was a true boss in his own right and Persico had nothing to do with Galante. I personally think he has a case, so may have to re-think some of the evidence and testimony presented in the Commission case.

[Dwalin2014]

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

This is being discussed in another thread. Persico's attorney is challenging that DiBella was a front boss for Persico, rather that DiBella was a true boss in his own right and Persico had nothing to do with Galante. I personally think he has a case, so may have to re-think some of the evidence and testimony presented in the Commission case.

Yes, but even if DiBella was really a power on his own and wasn't just Persico's "errand running boy", here the question is whether the other families than the Bonanno Rastelli loyalists and the Gambinos were involved at all, whether the Commission was involved as a group. Whether DiBella had the last word, or Persico, unless this testimony was made up, it seems some "vote" has taken place. If it was just Rastelli with help from some Gambino members, what "vote" was this DeChristopher witness talking about, when quoting Persico? That's what I am unsure of. Even if Persico wasn't involved in the Galante hit, was the Commission involved or not, that's the question I was thinking could be interesting....If this was fabricated testimony and Persico said no such thing, then it completely changes the picture.

[Antiliar]

Who knows? It could come out that DeChristopher lied.

[bronx]

dechris also testified, carmine said he killed albert a. someone lied about that. i feel carmine would and could not have ever stated that..it was not true..

[B.]

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

I wasn't pulling from specific examples, only his reputation among other wiseguys, LE, etc. Zicarelli, who was a Galante soldier, makes Galante out to be a hard, ruthless guy on the DeCavalcante tapes and Magaddino describes him as a "stinking specimen". All of the CIs from the relevant periods talk about him the same way. Even if some of it was myth, his name is always mentioned with an air of unpredictability and fear, even going back to his earlier days.

The "zips" have always been referenced as his personal army in the 1970s and it does seem they were closely aligned with him. There is misinformation there, though, as a lot of sources have said that he personally recruited them from Sicily, in particular Bonventre and Amato, when the reality is those two came to the US as teenagers with their parents. They were from CDG like Galante's parents and it's possible he had a strong hand in bringing them into the Bonanno fold but he didn't import them. I doubt he had a hand in bringing any of other zips from Middle Village / Ridgewood over either. Many if not most of them had been in the US since the 1960s. And of course there's the fact that at least three zips participated in his murder, so their loyalty fell away when mob politics came into play.

Some of Galante grabbing the steering wheel could have been a bluff on his part. The family was in a weakened state, their reputation in NY was low, and most of the family likely remembered what a force Galante had been under Joe Bonanno. Galante's connections earlier on had been so diverse and spread out, the rest of the family may have assumed he had more weight than he did. By the time other senior leaders realized what was going on, he had brought some old allies out of the woodwork (the DeFilippos for example), promoted some other allies, and officiated ceremonies which possibly gave the new recruits some loyalty to him. This would match up with the 1977 date when he told Massino he was now the boss... before that he may have been going through the motions as a more typical "acting boss". Just an idea, of course.

[Snakes]

Kind of ballsy for Massino to say Rastelli was the boss to Galante's face during his making ceremony.

[B.]

Kind of ballsy for Massino to say Rastelli was the boss to Galante's face during his making ceremony.

I recall Vitale telling a story where Massino was asked to meet with Galante directly and Galante told him to cut ties to Rastelli. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Edit: With the story JD mentioned, it seems pretty provocative of Galante to ask the men who they thought the boss was. At a typical ceremony, they tell the inductees who the administration is and that's that. By asking them, it seems like Galante knew there were issues and was looking to figure out who was aligned with him.

[Chaps]

Kind of ballsy for Massino to say Rastelli was the boss to Galante's face during his making ceremony.

I recall Vitale telling a story where Massino was asked to meet with Galante directly and Galante told him to cut ties to Rastelli. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Yes. To paraphrase the story as Massino related it to Vitale, Massino met with Galante who asked Massino to cut ties with Rastelli and stop meeting him in prison. Massino's reply to Galante was something to the effect that "because Phil brought me up...baptized me." Because of this, Massino told Vitale he was worried Galante was looking to whack him.

[B.]

Kind of ballsy for Massino to say Rastelli was the boss to Galante's face during his making ceremony.

I recall Vitale telling a story where Massino was asked to meet with Galante directly and Galante told him to cut ties to Rastelli. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Yes. To paraphrase the story as Massino related it to Vitale, Massino met with Galante who asked Massino to cut ties with Rastelli and stop meeting him in prison. Massino's reply to Galante was something to the effect that "because Phil brought me up...baptized me." Because of this, Massino told Vitale he was worried Galante was looking to whack him.

Thanks, that's how I remembered it as well. Seems Massino might not have been long for the world if Galante hadn't been killed. I wonder what Napolitano's relationship with Galante was like, though he was in prison for a good stretch there.

[Sol]

Kind of ballsy for Massino to say Rastelli was the boss to Galante's face during his making ceremony.

I recall Vitale telling a story where Massino was asked to meet with Galante directly and Galante told him to cut ties to Rastelli. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Yes. To paraphrase the story as Massino related it to Vitale, Massino met with Galante who asked Massino to cut ties with Rastelli and stop meeting him in prison. Massino's reply to Galante was something to the effect that "because Phil brought me up...baptized me." Because of this, Massino told Vitale he was worried Galante was looking to whack him.

Thanks, that's how I remembered it as well. Seems Massino might not have been long for the world if Galante hadn't been killed. I wonder what Napolitano's relationship with Galante was like, though he was in prison for a good stretch there.

I think something might be wrong with the quote button?......Soliai

[B.]

Yeah. It's the ghost of Carmine Galante trying to take over the forum.

[Sol]

Yeah. It's the ghost of Carmine Galante trying to take over the forum.

His ghost annoying the hell out of me, lol.......Soliai

[Antiliar]

I want answers and I can handle the truth! LOL

I wasn't pulling from specific examples, only his reputation among other wiseguys, LE, etc. Zicarelli, who was a Galante soldier, makes Galante out to be a hard, ruthless guy on the DeCavalcante tapes and Magaddino describes him as a "stinking specimen". All of the CIs from the relevant periods talk about him the same way. Even if some of it was myth, his name is always mentioned with an air of unpredictability and fear, even going back to his earlier days.

B, I wasn't asking you for the answers, I was asking in a general sense. I doubt anyone here knows at this time, but if more of Massino's info gets released, who knows?

[B.]

I want answers and I can handle the truth! LOL

I wasn't pulling from specific examples, only his reputation among other wiseguys, LE, etc. Zicarelli, who was a Galante soldier, makes Galante out to be a hard, ruthless guy on the DeCavalcante tapes and Magaddino describes him as a "stinking specimen". All of the CIs from the relevant periods talk about him the same way. Even if some of it was myth, his name is always mentioned with an air of unpredictability and fear, even going back to his earlier days.

B, I wasn't asking you for the answers, I was asking in a general sense. I doubt anyone here knows at this time, but if more of Massino's info gets released, who knows?

Oh no worries, I didn't think you were putting me on the spot.

The Galante era of the 1970s was one of the big hooks that snagged me with this subject and while some of the other top guys were capable of being very vicious, they were also "complicated" individuals. Galante's reputation truly defines the word "infamous" and it'd be great to know more details.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Kind of ballsy for Massino to say Rastelli was the boss to Galante's face during his making ceremony.

Personally I think Massino's full of sh..