Anthony Gaggi
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Anthony Gaggi | |
---|---|
Born | Antonino Frank Gaggi August 7, 1925 New York City, U.S. |
Died | April 17, 1988 New York City, U.S. | (aged 62)
Other names | Nino |
Relatives | Dominick Montiglio (nephew) |
Anthony Frank Gaggi (born Antonino Frank Gaggi; August 7, 1925 – April 17, 1988), better known as Nino Gaggi, was an American mobster who was a caporegime in the Gambino crime family. Based in Canarsie, Gaggi was a criminal mentor to Roy DeMeo and a longtime partner of the infamous DeMeo crew.
Biography
Gaggi was born to Angelo and Mary Gaggi, Gaggi was the youngest of three children. Gaggi had a sister Marie, and a brother known as "Roy". Angelo emigrated to the United States from
Gaggi dropped out of school during the eighth grade and followed his father into the barber business. He also earned extra money delivering flowers, which he used for gambling. It was at this age that Gaggi learned the profitability of loan sharking to gamblers.[2]
When Gaggi was a young teenager, his family moved to New Jersey after purchasing a small farm. When Gaggi turned 17 in 1942, he attempted to join the United States Army, but was rejected due to myopia. In 1943, Gaggi's family left the farm and moved to the Bath Beach area of Brooklyn. Angelo resumed work as a barber while his mother and sister worked in a dress factory. Discharged from the Army due to injury, Roy sold peanut dispensers to bars.[3]
After returning to New York, Gaggi decided to pursue criminal activities. His father's cousin was mobster
Early career
In 1947, Gaggi's sister Marie gave birth to Dominick Montiglio. Her husband, and Montiglio's father, was boxer and deliveryman Anthony Santamaria. However, Gaggi was the dominant personality in the household, eventually leading to Santamaria's estrangement from his family. Gaggi soon became Montiglio's surrogate father. When he became older, Montiglio joined his uncle in criminal activities and eventually testified in court about them.[5]
In 1954, after his first arrest, Gaggi was charged with running an international
Gaggi married in 1955 while his auto theft trial was underway. During his trial, witnesses "forgot" their testimony on the
In 1957, the Gambino family underwent a dramatic change in leadership. In June, Scalise was shot and killed at a fruit stand in the Bronx. In October, Gambino boss Albert Anastasia was shot to death in a barber's chair at a Manhattan hotel. Immediately after the Anastasia murder, Gaggi ordered his family to stay home for a few days. Gaggi's close associate, underboss Carlo Gambino, became the new boss. He appointed caporegime Aniello Dellacroce, an Anastasia loyalist, as underboss and gave him control over the Manhattan faction of the family.
In October 1960, Gaggi committed his first murder for the Gambino family. He served on a hit squad that murdered mobster
DeMeo crew
By the mid-1960s, Gaggi had established a large clientele of loan shark customers and was also a
Gaggi and DeMeo began making co-loans to loan shark customers. By 1970, DeMeo was officially working for Gaggi and paying him weekly
The Rothenberg killing was the first of many murders committed by DeMeo's crew. While Gaggi was not involved in most of these killings, he did participate in some of them. DeMeo and Gaggi shot and killed Vincent Governara, a young man with no mob ties, over a fight between him and Gaggi that had occurred twelve years before. In 1976, DeMeo killed George Byrum, an electrical contractor, who had tipped off thieves who attempted to burglarize Gaggi's Florida vacation home without knowing Gaggi and his wife were present. Under Gaggi's direction, DeMeo shot and killed Byrum in a Miami hotel room while Gaggi and another mobster, Tony Plate, attempted to dismember the body.[citation needed] However, they were interrupted by a construction crew outside the room that was repairing a faulty air conditioning unit, causing them to flee. The bloody corpse of George Byrum was later found by the motel maid.[citation needed]
In late 1976, boss Carlo Gambino died of natural causes. Before his death, he had designated Paul Castellano, his brother-in-law and head of the family's Brooklyn faction, as the new boss. However, the Manhattan faction favored Dellacroce. At a leadership meeting held at Gaggi's house, it was agreed that Castellano would become the new Gambino boss while Dellacroce was retained as underboss. Gaggi was promoted to capo of Castellano's old crew. Gaggi remained close to Castellano, hoping to become promoted to underboss.[citation needed]
Gaggi proposed that DeMeo be admitted into the family, but Castellano hesitated, initially because he felt DeMeo was too violent and uncontrollable. In the summer of 1977, Castellano relented and allowed DeMeo into the family. During this period, DeMeo successfully formed an alliance between the Gambino family and
On June 7, 1978, Gaggi and nine other mobsters were charged with
Eppolito murders
By 1979, DeMeo was involved in loan sharking,
Gambino capo James Eppolito told Castellano that Gaggi and DeMeo were trafficking drugs. Eppolito claimed that DeMeo had cheated Eppolito's son, a Gambino soldato, in a drug deal. In addition, Eppolito accused Gaggi of being a police informant. Eppolito asked for permission to murder Gaggi and DeMeo, but Castellano broke his own rules and sided with them. Instead, he gave Gaggi and DeMeo permission to murder both Eppolito and his son.
On October 1, 1979, Gaggi and DeMeo shot and killed both Eppolitos. However, a witness alerted an off-duty policeman, who soon found Gaggi walking away from the crime scene (DeMeo had gone in a different direction). After a brief shootout, the policeman wounded Gaggi in the neck and arrested him. Although charged with the murders, and the attempted murder of the police officer, Gaggi was only convicted of assault. He was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in federal prison.
While Gaggi was in prison, DeMeo became acting capo of Gaggi's crew. In 1981, Gaggi's sentence was overturned on appeal and he was released from prison. Gaggi had bribed a juror to make false claims of government misconduct during the trial.
Downfall
After Gaggi's release, Montiglio had become a drug addict and fled New York for fear of punishment from the Gambino family. The FBI dismantled DeMeo's auto theft ring and sent two crew members to prison. In 1980, a third crew member, Vito Arena, became a government witness. In 1982, Arena began testifying about crimes committed by Gaggi and the DeMeo crew. As the investigation intensified, Castellano became concerned about DeMeo cooperating with authorities if he were arrested. On January 20, 1983, DeMeo's body was found nearly frozen in the trunk of his car. DeMeo's killer was never identified, but law enforcement theorized that Castellano had him killed by either Gaggi or remaining DeMeo crew members.
Shortly after DeMeo's murder, Montiglio returned to New York to collect an old loan shark debt and was arrested. To avoid prosecution, Montiglio started cooperating with the government, providing information on Gaggi and the DeMeo crew. Montiglio's information led to the indictments of both Gaggi and Castellano. By early 1984, some of the DeMeo crew members were arrested. One of them,
On February 25, Gaggi was indicted on multiple charges of racketeering and murder. Castellano was indicted the following month. The court decided to split the numerous charges against both men into two trials. The first trial would be dealing with the auto theft ring and five related murders. The first trial began in October 1985 and saw testimony from Arena, DiNome, and Montiglio. In December 1985, midway through the trial, Castellano was shot to death at the Sparks Steak House in Manhattan on orders from capo John Gotti. With Castellano's death, Gaggi became the lead defendant in the first trial. Gotti quickly assumed control of the family.
In March 1986, Gaggi was convicted of conspiracy to sell stolen cars, and was sentenced to five years in
Death
On April 17, 1988, while awaiting his second trial, Gaggi died of a
Media
Montiglio provided writers Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustaine information on Gaggi and the DeMeo crew for their book Murder Machine. In both the book and the television documentaries, Montiglio blamed his criminal actions on Gaggi's bad influence.
Gaggi is played by Philip Williams in the 2001 made-for-television film Boss of Bosses.
In the movie The Iceman, a fictionalized version of Gaggi, named Leo Marks (played by Robert Davi), is a high-ranking member in the Gambino crime family and is killed by Richard Kuklinski.
In the movie Inside Man Anthony Gaggi is also played by Robert Davi.
According to his family, the character Tony Soprano is reported to bear resemblance to Anthony Gaggi.
Further reading
- Mustain, Gene and Jerry Capeci Murder Machine: A True Story of Murder, Madness, and the Mafia. Penguin, 1993. ISBN 0-451-40387-8
- For The Sins of My Father: A Mafia Killer, His Son, and the Legacy of a Mob Life, by Al DeMeo, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7679-1129-0
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. For sale by the Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, U.S. G.P.O., 1988. [1]
References
- ^ Gene Mustain & Jerry Capeci, Murder Machine (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1993), page 5.
- ^ Gene Mustain & Jerry Capeci, Murder Machine (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1993), 7-8.
- ^ Gene Mustain & Jerry Capeci, Murder Machine (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1993), 8-9.
- ^ Gene Mustain & Jerry Capeci, Murder Machine (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1993), 9-10.
- ^ Gene Mustain & Jerry Capeci, Murder Machine (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1993), 10.
- ^ "The Region: A Defendant Clear In Theater Fraud". (December 14, 1978). The New York Times
External links
- New York Times - The City: New Trial Ordered In Brooklyn Case by United Press International
- Albert Demeo on The Diane Rehm Show