Castellano's Consilgiere

Does anyone know if he had one? It seems that no one was there to tell Castellano how hated he was, or to advise him on the Gotti situation, unluckily for him and Billoti!

It was Joe Gallo.

Gallo was a member of The Profacis, no? Plus he was killed in '72, long before Castellano was chosen as boss.

Not that Joe Gallo, the other Joe Gallo.

LOL, OOPS! Thanks a lot for the info, doesn't seem like he did his job under Castellano very well. But maybe he was disgruntled, too.

Joe N. Gallo. Not sure what the "N" stands for, but many sources use it to demarcate him from Crazy Joe.

http://www.crimemagazine.com/forgotten-man-sparks

Here is an interesting article on Thomas Bilotti, which provides some details of his life and brutal personality. It also points out the many mistakes Castellano made as boss that lead to their murders.

I don't think I can point to anything specific that could indicate he was a poor Consigliere. He was the traditional kind, very much in the shadows, showing up for meetings to offer counsel. The odd part is that he let Gotti and the crew go ahead with the murder, knowing he would be demoted in the process. To save his own skin? Crisis could have easily been averted by informing Paul. I don't think we'll ever know.

Of all the hilarious jokes Sammy and Angie Ruggiero made at Castellano's expense, Gallo was never included. Paul's inner circle was more like Tommy Gambino, Nino Gaggi, Jimmy Failla, and Tommy Billotti. Gravano jokingly claimed that if a black guy walked in and said 'I just killed Paul, I'm the boss now', Failla would say 'what can I do for you boss'? Castellano and all these guys, in Ruggiero's mind, were 'The Jew Club', Paul and Billotti 'probably whack off together on Todt Hill' Tommy Gambino was a 'fucking dressmaker'. But Joe N Gallo was always left out of the Gotti crew insults. Perhaps that's what let him survive as a Consigliere for so many years. Filling the role in the traditional sense. The more you get attached to the boss or define yourself as part of any inner circle, perhaps the more biased you become? Again, we'll never know.

Gallo was an old time, very old school gangster. Here's a guy that made millions in his own right, yet he never wandered far away from his candy store on Crescent Street in Astoria. He had no pretensions, and he was as far away from being flashy as one can get.

As far as his ability as a Consigliere, I wouldn't be so quick to judge him. Castellano wanted things, the way he wanted them, when he wanted them. He was a greedy bastard who wasn't the type to take advice from anyone, which is what did him in.

Joe N Gallo was actually the consilgiere for 3 Gambino dons. He was named Consilgiere for Carlo for a short time then when Castellano took over he retained Gallo and then when Gotti took over he stayed on for short time and was replaced by Gravano

Right. That's why I'm saying that he shouldn't be judged on just Castellano or Gotti. Castellano wasn't open to advice. And Gotti? Well, Gotti had his own agenda, and didn't really want anything to do with the old timers. He started the process of phasing out guys like Gallo and Armone the day he took over.

Its funny i wonder if Neil knew what would happen to the Gambinos because of gotti would he have still helped gotti get to that level in the family

Thanks for the responses.

The reason I figured his consigliere was ineffective is for several reasons: this includes not stressing the importance of attending Dellacroce's funeral, not telling (or convincing) Castellano how deeply despised he was by his rank and file and why, and letting Castellano act passively towards the Gotti crew once Ruggiero was arrested. I've always been under the impression that the consigliere was in the boss's corner and his well-being was his top priority. The fact that he counseled three different dons would lead one to believe that he was intelligent enough and had the gift of persuasion.

But like you alluded to, Pizza Boy, Castellano was a grown man with frightful power who apparently lived in his own small world and no one could force him to do anything that he didn't want to do no matter what.

Joe N Gallo wasn't a bad consilgiere from what i've read. when it comes to the gotti crew i think Paul did underestimate them. however, for the most part the gotti crew were scared of paul and if it wasn't for neil the gotti crew would have been dead a long time ago. I mean Ruggiero flatly refused to give up the tapes because he was so scared

Gotti originally kept Joe N Gallo on as Consilgiere so as to placate the old timers (dont turn their world upside down at all once).
I think the guy (Joe) did ok from what I've heard

It seemed like every time someone like Neil or Gallo would bring up any sort of beef with Castellano he'd reply like "well maybe they want this job then". Whatever Castellano was I'm gonna bet he wasn't stupid, and probably had a good sense of what was going on in the street and how a lot of the rank and file guys felt about him. His attitude probably was "well I dont care for them either, and what are they gonna do about it? im the boss..."

I dont know how Gotti felt about the old timers whether he was trying to phase them out (Didn't he demote Anthony Scotto?) but Armone and Gallo both got caught up in a case right when the Administration change took place - which I'm sure Gotti was happy about. Going back to Gotti's pigheadishness about pleas, Armone would have been released on bail and been able to spend one last holiday time with his family if he simply admitted to a Judge (not even during a trial) that he was a member of the Gambinos and that he officially is severing his ties. Gotti was furious at the idea and Armone was arraigned on Christmas Eve . such a shame...

Definitely. It's idiotic. As I've said before, my theory is Armone was senile at the time (if anyone wants me to state reasons I can, just don't want to clutter up this post). Gravano regarded him as a sweet old man, everybody loved him.

And it's true on Anthony Scotto. Bar none, THE dumbest demotion decision I can think of. Scarfo demoted a lot of people and none of those hold a candle to this. Take a guy with no real priors who has run the waterfront more successfully than Albert Anastasia and was nearly elected in to the line of succession for president as Secretary of Labor...and demote him for someone I've never heard of. I read on streetgangs.com that this was because Scotto never killed anyone, and thus had no right being a made guy. Christ, couldn't you compromise?

You made a great point, tt120. As has been said in other threads, imagine how guys like Gene feel, a guy who is in prison till 2017 cuz his long dead brother refused to allow him to cut a plea.

Actually BarrattM, Id be pretty interested to hear your theories on Armone. Feel free to PM me if you think it'll take up too much space.

Regarding Gallo but, as JCrusher and PB pointed out, the guy was competent enough for Gambino himself, and was one of those millionaire mobsters who became so despite virtually never venturing out of their neighbourhoods their whole lives. Even if he did "mellow" in his old age, so have many other "successful" mafiosi. And Barratts right again; he was noticeably absent from the majority of the jibes made by Gotti and Fat Ange. As "ineffectual" as some may claim he was, he did recieve a measure of respect certain others of and above his calibre did not.

Good Point Mickey. I am not sure how involved Gallo was in the Bergin crew situation. I have seen pictures of gotti and gallo after a meetign with Big Paul. However I think even though Gallo might have mellowed as he got older he seemed to have a knack for sponsoring some tough guys into the family like Tommy Agro and Frankie Distefano

I think the two best book portrayals of Gallo were in "Boss of Bosses," and "Joe Dogs."

In case anyone's interested .

I'm going to agree with pizzaboy's earlier comments.I'm guessing Joe N. Gallo didn't advise Castellano too much. Paul was a hard head. I don't think telling Paul that Bilotti was an animal, and a bad choice for underboss would've gone to well.