What is your rating / assessment of all Gambino Dons?

[Nasabeak]

Both past and present as leaders, administrators, etc. what would be your rating of each (say from a 1-5 scale or such, or a letter grade?) What would be your assessment of each’s reign?

[Shellackhead]

Depends on ratings is 1 the best or worst one?

[Nasabeak]

Depends on ratings is 1 the best or worst one?

Yeah, 1 worst, 5 best

[Ivan]

Cefalu seems to be pretty damn competent

[MichaelGiovanni]

In a lot of ways their boss ranking have to do with the generally accepted overall family rankings with 5 being the highest.

5. Genovese
4. Gambino
3. Lucchese
2. Bonanno
1. Colombo

You could flip 1 and 2 and I wouldn’t argue with you.

[Boatdrinks]

1910-1928 Salvatore D'Aquila. Very underrated. His longevity is proof of that. He was also Boss of Bosses for most of that time too.
1928-1930 Al Mineo. Also very underrated.
1931-1931 Frank Scalise. Also seems underrated. However, he was a major player, and became one again.
1931-1951 Vincent Mangano. Seems a spot underrated. However, again, longevity shows him to be a major player, as does history.
1951-1957 Albert Anastasia. Is generally underated. However, historically was Mangano's strong arm. A good under, but not boss.
1957-1976 Carlo Gambino. Highly rated by most. Perhaps a bit overrated.
1976-1985 Paul Castellano. Usually highly rated. Deserves to be rated highly. Was given a hard job. Family united while he lived.
1985-2002 John Gotti. Not highly rated these days. Was at the time. Smart enough to become boss, but not really boss material.

[Sullycantwell]

1910-1928 Salvatore D'Aquila. Very underrated. His longevity is proof of that. He was also Boss of Bosses for most of that time too.
1928-1930 Al Mineo. Also very underrated.
1931-1931 Frank Scalise. Also seems underrated. However, he was a major player, and became one again.
1931-1951 Vincent Mangano. Seems a spot underrated. However, again, longevity shows him to be a major player, as does history.
1951-1957 Albert Anastasia. Is generally underated. However, historically was Mangano's strong arm. A good under, but not boss.
1957-1976 Carlo Gambino. Highly rated by most. Perhaps a bit overrated.
1976-1985 Paul Castellano. Usually highly rated. Deserves to be rated highly. Was given a hard job. Family united while he lived.
1985-2002 John Gotti. Not highly rated these days. Was at the time. Smart enough to become boss, but not really boss material.

you missed Ignazio Lupo, but not sure what i would really rate him, not a whole lot is known about what his family thought of him. He also was pretty well known by LE and didn't last very long on the street.

[JCB1977]

Like in sports, it’s hard to compare eras, especially the 1960’s-1980’s vs. 1920’s-1940’s. Different rackets/different times. That’s a tough one to answer correctly

[Shellackhead]

Carlo Gambino - 5
Paul Castellano - 4
John Gotti - 3
Peter Gotti - 3 or 2.

[JeremyTheJew]

Carlo Gambino - gotta give him a 5

Castellano - dead middle with a 2.5 - lots of pros and cons. Interesting new sitdown news makes it kinda look like he might of eventually cooperated - as well as what some say on the streets apparently
To me hes absolutely would not have - different era.

John Gotti - 3 - slightly over Castellano just for the "Legend of Gotti almost as big as gambino"

Peter Gotti - 2.5 pros and cons - did restore order during his reign

Gambino/Cali/Maninno/cefalu - 4 but tine will tell

[Nasabeak]

Carlo Gambino - gotta give him a 5

Castellano - dead middle with a 2.5 - lots of pros and cons. Interesting new sitdown news makes it kinda look like he might of eventually cooperated - as well as what some say on the streets apparently
To me hes absolutely would not have - different era.

John Gotti - 3 - slightly over Castellano just for the "Legend of Gotti almost as big as gambino"

Peter Gotti - 2.5 pros and cons - did restore order during his reign

Gambino/Cali/Maninno/cefalu - 4 but tine will tell

What new sit down news re Castellano?

Technically all 4 Dons in the Comission case “cooperated” to a degree by publicly admitting that Cosa Nostra existed, and that they were members. They however denied it was a criminal organization or conspiracy, and tried to argue that being part didn’t make one a criminal.

I don’t think LaRossa would’ve stayed his defense lawyer if the planned strategy was to flip….What Wiseguy would work with LaRossa after?

Also, the Commission case was so new when he got clipped (he got indicted in March, killed in December, and the pre trial period had only started iirc in October) I don’t see why flipping would even be considered. It’s been said he was confident he would beat the car theft case; and he may have felt the Comission case could drag on for years. He was planning for his succession and to rule the Family from prison…Can’t do that if you flip.

[slimshady_007]

Carlo- 5; IMO the smartest mafiosi in the Gambino’s history.
Castallano- 3; I think Paul gets a lot of flack for being more of a businessman, but I think his biggest fuckup was turning a blind eye to Demeo’s senseless killing spree simply because the Demeo crew were big earners. That gave the Gambino’s a lot of unwanted attention/ investigations.
John Gotti- 2.5; He killed a boss without commission approval, flaunted his power, & indirectly decimated LCN bc of the way he ran the family.
Pete- 2; Tbh I think he was like the Ralph Natale of the Gambinos. Just a figurehead at the right time when nobody else wanted the heat that came with the title.
Cefalu- 4; Although not a lot has come out about Dom & how he conducted his borgata, I think he’s been successful in rebuilding & reorganizing the Gambinos. I honestly think Lorenzo is the real power in the family, but until the Feds say otherwise, Dom has been in the driver’s seat since 2011. That’s an impressive run.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Cefalu seems to be pretty damn competent

Yup.

Everybody loves to say John Gambino was the real power, or Cali, or Mannino, but Doms been at the top for 15 years on the outside, steadied the ship post the Gotti catastrophe.

Up there in my book.

[JeremyTheJew]

Carlo Gambino - gotta give him a 5

Castellano - dead middle with a 2.5 - lots of pros and cons. Interesting new sitdown news makes it kinda look like he might of eventually cooperated - as well as what some say on the streets apparently
To me hes absolutely would not have - different era.

John Gotti - 3 - slightly over Castellano just for the "Legend of Gotti almost as big as gambino"

Peter Gotti - 2.5 pros and cons - did restore order during his reign

Gambino/Cali/Maninno/cefalu - 4 but tine will tell

What new sit down news re Castellano?

Technically all 4 Dons in the Comission case “cooperated” to a degree by publicly admitting that Cosa Nostra existed, and that they were members. They however denied it was a criminal organization or conspiracy, and tried to argue that being part didn’t make one a criminal.

I don’t think LaRossa would’ve stayed his defense lawyer if the planned strategy was to flip….What Wiseguy would work with LaRossa after?

Also, the Commission case was so new when he got clipped (he got indicted in March, killed in December, and the pre trial period had only started iirc in October) I don’t see why flipping would even be considered. It’s been said he was confident he would beat the car theft case; and he may have felt the Comission case could drag on for years. He was planning for his succession and to rule the Family from prison…Can’t do that if you flip.

https://youtu.be/3Gk_XzACRDI

According to this he was queen for a day as they call it

Dont know what to think of it tho... He did set up the panel of Tommy Bilotti , Tommy Gambino and Failia also showing that he planned to continue being boss from prison

But i am pretty sure that they thought Castellano was gonna be guilty in the car ring case ....

[Nasabeak]

Carlo Gambino - gotta give him a 5

Castellano - dead middle with a 2.5 - lots of pros and cons. Interesting new sitdown news makes it kinda look like he might of eventually cooperated - as well as what some say on the streets apparently
To me hes absolutely would not have - different era.

John Gotti - 3 - slightly over Castellano just for the "Legend of Gotti almost as big as gambino"

Peter Gotti - 2.5 pros and cons - did restore order during his reign

Gambino/Cali/Maninno/cefalu - 4 but tine will tell

What new sit down news re Castellano?

Technically all 4 Dons in the Comission case “cooperated” to a degree by publicly admitting that Cosa Nostra existed, and that they were members. They however denied it was a criminal organization or conspiracy, and tried to argue that being part didn’t make one a criminal.

I don’t think LaRossa would’ve stayed his defense lawyer if the planned strategy was to flip….What Wiseguy would work with LaRossa after?

Also, the Commission case was so new when he got clipped (he got indicted in March, killed in December, and the pre trial period had only started iirc in October) I don’t see why flipping would even be considered. It’s been said he was confident he would beat the car theft case; and he may have felt the Comission case could drag on for years. He was planning for his succession and to rule the Family from prison…Can’t do that if you flip.

https://youtu.be/3Gk_XzACRDI

According to this he was queen for a day as they call it

Dont know what to think of it tho... He did set up the panel of Tommy Bilotti , Tommy Gambino and Failia also showing that he planned to continue being boss from prison

But i am pretty sure that they thought Castellano was gonna be guilty in the car ring case ....

LaRossa saw Castellano the day he died. They both were confident he would win the car ring case

“A former federal prosecutor and stellar trial lawyer, La Rossa was confident the prosecution’s case against Castellano in the stolen-car trial was collapsing, and cheered him by saying that the outlook was good. There were no witnesses to directly tie Castellano to the auto ring and no tape recordings implicating him. Agents in the FBI’s Gambino squad, many of whom had opposed naming Castellano in the indictment, privately agreed among themselves that the evidence against him…was flimsy.” - Five Families by Selwyn Raab

Paul Castellano paid a surprise visit to Dad’s office that day at 41 Madison Ave. Court was not in session that afternoon so “I wasn’t expecting to see him until the next day. He walked into our office and brought gifts for my secretary. Tommy Bilotti was with him as well. We spent about an hour talking about the case so far and what I believed was going to occur the next afternoon when we resumed.”

The three men huddled alone in Jimmy’s corner office.

“In effect, what I was saying to Paul was, ‘The trial is over for you. The rest of the witnesses are not going to implicate you.’ That opinion was based on discovery material. So we were talking about going to the jury. We were talking about summations. We were talking about the holiday break. We both talked about how much we needed it.

“We were feeling good about the trial. We thought we were going to win it. He wanted very much to hear the verdict.”

Jimmy rarely, if ever, made predictions. “I thought he had won. Paul thought he had won. Even the other defense lawyers thought we had won. If you read the Sunday Times article the week before he was killed, they said, in effect, that the government’s case fell apart. There was a similar feeling in the courthouse.”

That feeling, according to press reports and Dad himself, was brought on by Jimmy’s cross-examination of the key prosecution witness against Castellano the week before.

The witness was a guy named Montiglio, “and by the time I completed cross on him, he had admitted to committing perjury on six different occasions. He admitted to being addicted to cocaine during this period of time.

“He had never implicated Castellano until October 1985, when the jury had been selected. Notwithstanding that, he had been interviewed on sixty-eight different occasions by agents, assistant US attorneys, and in grand jury appearances, where he implicated dozens of other people but never once implicated Castellano. I think the jury disbelieved him, and I think that was evident in court.”

There was a point in the cross-examination of Montiglio where “seven or eight of the jurors actually turned their backs on him—in their juror’s chairs—to, quite literally, look at the wall. To look away from him, they were shaking their heads in disbelief.”

In the 1985 case, according to Jimmy, “I think the government just wanted Paul so badly, and by the time they had realized how vulnerable the case was, it was too late.”

https://jameslarossa.com/chapter-13-dec ... f-the-end/