Mr. Diapoulas discussed the Gallo‐Colombo war in interviews with this reporter arranged by a friend of his. Mr. Diapoulas took elaborate precautions during the interviews because he believes some of his underworld associates would kill him if they could find him.

Among his disclosures, substantiated through independent sources, are the following:

¶The first attempt to negotiate peace between the Gallo tiate peace between the Gallo gang and the Colombo group, mediated by Anthony Corallo, a capo in the Luchese crime family, broke down last summer. Immediately afterwards the Colombos tried to shoot several leading Gallo gang members, wounding four and killing one, Steve Grillo, at a dice table at a “Las Vegas Nite” benefit in a Brooklyn synagogue

¶The mistaken‐identity shootings of four businessmen in the Neapolitan Noodle restaurant three years ago were carried out by a hit man from Las Vegas who was misled into thinking the (our were leading figures in the Colombo family. Two of the businessmen were killed.

¶The new boss of the Colombo family, replacing the ineapanitated Mr. Colombo, is Joseph Brancato, a marine veteran who has maintained a low profile in the Mafia. “Brancato is the toughest man in the family,” Mr. Diapoulas said. “He bided his time while others tried for the throne, but now it's his and he's going to hold on to it.”

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¶Before his death, Joseph Gallo planned to establish, his gang as the sixth Mafia family in New York.
¶Most of the 16 gangland killings that followed the murder of Mr. Gallo on April 7, 1972, had nothing to do with the Gallo‐Colombo war. “When a war breaks out, everybody uses it to settle private beefs,” Mr. Diapoulas said.

After the shooting at Umberto's Clam House in “Little Italy” Mr. Diapoulas served a year in jail for possession of an unloaded gun. When he got out he went back to the Gallo gang but was dismayed by the policies of” Albert Gallo, known as “Blast.”

He said that Mr. Gallo “didn't take care of my family” while he was in prison and has not succeeded in doing anything to avenge Joseph Gallo's murder by the Colombo group. Speaking of skizmishes that followed the shooting, Mr. Diapoulas said, “The score is them seven, us zero.”

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“Blast is a high bleacher,” he said. “When there are risks to be taken, he's not down there taking them; he's way up in the bleachers watching.”

According to Mr. Diapoulas, a peace settlement between the Colombos and the Gallos seems to be imminent because Mr. Brancato, the new Colombo family boss, has offered Mr. Gallo money to expand the group's racket plus the chance to be “made” —formally initiated into the Mafia.

“Blast will grab the offer because he's greedy and he's proud,” Mr. Diapoulas said. “All his life he's wanted to be made, to be called a good fellow, a man of respect.

Mr. Diapoulas said that both of Albert Gallo's older brothers, Joseph and Lawrence, who died of cancer in 1968, were “made” and that being a member of the Mafia was very important to Albert because a nonmember is not allowed to participate in Mafia councils called sitdowns. (He pointed out, however, that many powerful organized crime members were not “made” but were still held in high esteem because they big moneymakers.)
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Mr. Diapoulas believes that the peace settlement is aimed at lulling Mr. Gallo into a false sense of security. “In the end the Colombos are going to whack Blast and the others close to him,” he said. “The Gallo gang has been a thorn in the family's side for 15 years and they're determined to wipe it out.”

During the three interviews, Mr. Diapoulas, who is known as “Pete the Greek” among his underworld associates, took careful precautions to avoid being recognized or located by his enemies.

During the second and longest session, which lasted for three days and two nights, Mr. Diapoulas picked up this reporter at the airport of a city which is not his home, drove to a previously undisclosed hotel and stayed with the reporter for the entire time—sleeping in the same room, eating all meals in the hotel's restaurant. He spoke English inside the hotel room but Greek in public places. Even so, Mr. Diapoulas selected secluded tables and stopped speaking whenever anyone came near.

Lived Under Alias

In appearance, Mr. Diapoulas is stocky, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with the muscular build and swaggering gait of a wrestler. His English has a slight Brooklyn accent and is sprinkled with Italian words popular among the underworld crowds with which he has spent his life—such as “babbania” for drugs and “gummare” for girlfriend.

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He was born 43 years ago into a Greek immigrant family living in Brooklyn. Throughout his career in organized crime, Mr. Diapoulas has lived under an alias and his children have no idea what his real name is and what he does.

Mr. Diapoulas first met Joseph Gallo in Brooklyn when they both attended Public School 179. The two became friends but Mr. Diapoulas remembers the young Gallo as an “explosive” personality.

“Once we went horseback riding in Prospect Park,” he recalled. “Joey's horse wasn't moving in the direction he wanted him to go, so he got off, walked up in front of the horse and punched it in the face.”
He said Joseph was “made” along with his older brother, Lawrence, as a reward for killing Albert Anastasia, the Mafia boss, in the Park Sheraton Hotel barber shop in 1957.

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“But some of the old guys thought Joey might be a user [of drugs], so before they made him they kept him under observation for two days in a hotel room to be sure he wasn't a mainliner,” he said.

Colombo Kidnapped

He said that the two brothers became soldiers in the family of Joseph Profaci, on whose orders they executed Mr. Anastasia. But the rewards they thought would come with family membership never materialized, and in 1961 the Gallon struck against Mr. Profaci.

They kidnapped his brother, brother‐in‐law and underboss and demanded a better share of family rackets to release them.

“Everybody's written about those kidnappings, but what isn't known is that the Gallos also took Joe Colombo at that time,” Mr. Diapoulas said. “The other three were scared as hell but Colombo held up pretty good and Larry Gallo got to like him.”

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Mr. Profaci promised to be more generous with the Gallos to win the release of his men but then reneged on the promise. It was during the ensuing gang war that Mr. Diapoulas joined the Gallos.

The war was settled in 1964 after Mr. Colombo became boss of the Profaci family. “When a boss dies in the Mafia all the capos go back to being just soldiers and the new boss names his own capos,” Mr. Diapoulas said. “Joe Colombo put together his own crew and promised a new deal.”
Mr. Colombo gave the Gallos $60,000 to “put on the street” —loan out at usurious interest —and pledged to “make” four Gallo men, including Albert Gallo.

Feared Strength

But Mr. Colombo never initiated the four into the Mafia because he feared the Gallo group would gain prestige with the other families.

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“He wanted to keep us weak,” Mr. Diapoulas said. “He sent down orders for us not to get involved in hijacking, babbania or securities because they were Federal offenses and would bring a lot of heat on the family. But his own people were involved in those things. He just wanted to keep us poor.”

Although the Gallo gang periodically violated Mr. Colombo's restrictions, it was unable to generate enough money to support all its members, particularly after Lawrence Gallo died in 1968. Increasingly Gallo men drifted away and joined the Colombo group.

Albert Gallo didn't protest, Mr. Diapoulas said, but did everything he could to remairil on good terms with Mr. Colombo, hoping, the Mafia boss would “make” him.

“Every Christmas Blast would get us to buy a big, expensive present for Colombo—a diamond watch, a golf cart, things like that,” Mr. Diapoulas remembered. “And every Christmas Colombo would come down to President Street [the Gallo headquarters] and pass out the same cheap ties to all the guys.”

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Gallo Furious

When Joseph Gallo got out of prison on April 11, 1971, he was furious at the low state the Gallo group had reached, Mr. Diapoulas said.
Mr. Colombo sent two of his captains, Nicky Bianco and Rocco Miraglia, to feel out Mr. Gallo, he said. “Nicky gave Joey an envelope from Colombo with $1,000 in it but Joey threw it back at him.”

Joseph Gallo demanded $100,000, opportunity to expand the group's rackets and fulfillment of the pledge to make four Gallo men. “He told Nicky he wanted Colombo's answer in 24 hours,” Mr. Diapoulas said. “Nicky called back the next day and said Colombo was busy planning the next Italian Unity Day rally and couldn't discuss anything with Joey until after that.”

At that point Joseph Gallo decided he was going to make his group into an independent organization, a sixth Mafia family in New York, Mr. Diapoulas said. “I'll make all you guys myself,” he quoted Mr. Gallo as saying.

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“When I pointed out that a lot of us couldn't be made because we weren't Italian—we had an Egyptian, a Jew, an Irishman and two Syrians as well as me—he laughed and said he'd dig up Italian ancestors for us somewhere,” he said.

Gallo's First Step

Mr. Gallo concluded that the best way to expand his group's influence was to weaken the Colombo family financially so that Colombo men would come over to him and bring their rackets with them, Mr. Diapoulas said.

“As a first step Joey started attacking the Italian American Civil Rights League, which was throwing off a lot of money to Colombo,” he said. “By then the other bosses had become disgusted with Colombo's handling of the league and he was getting more and more isolated.”

Mr. Colombo became alarmed with Mr. Gallo's moves and tried to set him up to be killed, according to Mr. Diapoulas. “We got word that Colombo had asked someone in another family to invite Joey and Blast to dinner, where Colombo men would come in and whack them,” he said.
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In retaliation, Mr. Gallo told his men to try to set up Colombo. “We followed Colombo around to catch him offguard,” Mr. Diapoulas said, “but he traveled heavy — four bodyguards—and changed his usual movements, so we couldn't get near him.”

Even though Joseph Gallo wanted Mr. Colombo killed, Mr. Diapoulas contended, Mr. Gallo was not responsible for the shooting of the Mafia boss. The man who allegedly shot Mr. Colombo four years ago was a black named Jerome Johnson, who was killed at the scene. (The police have never made any arrests related to the kill ing although the case is still open.)

“I was as close to Joey as anybody and he swore to me he hadn't set it up,” said Mr. Diapoulas. “If he had done it he would have boasted to us about it like he did about Anastasia.”

After the shooting it was widely reported that the Gallo gang had close ties with black gangsters, stemming from friendships that Joseph Gallo had made in prison. But Mr. Diapoulas said that was not true. “A few blacks who knew Joey in the can came around looking for work, but Blast just gave them $50 and sent them on their way,” he said.

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The Gallo gang did its own investigation into who was behind Jerome Johnson, he said, and decided that the most likely suspect was Tony (Abby) Abbatemarco, a “soldier” in the Colombo family.

“Abby's the biggest numbers operator in Bedford‐Stuyvesant and tight with a lot of blacks, he said. “He was mad at Colombo for squeezing money from him, and he hated Joey because Joey had killed his father, who was a made guy, years back. He knew that if a black hit Colombo, Joey would be blamed for it.”

After the shooting of Mr. Colombo, who is still alive but totally incapacitated, life became very dificult for the Gallo gang, according to Mr. Diapoulas. Everybody had to be on guard against the Colombos and “business” suffered.
Relations between Joseph Gallo and his younger brother deteriorated. “Blast was jealous of Joey's popularity with the other guys and he tried to keep them away from him,” he said. “He was afraid of losing all power to Joey.”

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On the night he was shot at Umberto's Clam House, Joseph Gallo was celebrating his 43d, birthday in the company of his wife, Sina, her daughter by a previous marriage, his sister, Carmella, Mr. Diapoulas and a woman named Edith Russo.

Mr. Diapoulas still shows strong emotion when he talks, about the killing of Mr. Gallo. “It's not only that they killed Joey,” he said, “but the way they did it—in front of his family, in a restaurant full of people. It's against every rule there is.”

He said he was seated next to Joey at Umberto's facing the side door, when he saw Carmine Di Blase also known as Sonny Pinto, walk in.

“I turned to tell him Sonny Pinto's coming in,” he recalled. “By the time I could say that, I hear Sonny shout, and bang, there were bullet flashes evecywhere. Instinctively Joey and I threw the table up, and before I know it I get hit in the left thigh and fall to the floor.

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“I don't know how long it took me to revive myself, but, I got up and ran out the side door, my gun in my hand. Outside I see a couple of guys running for a car and I start pecking at them and they peck back at me as the car drives off.

A Human Shield

“I come back into the place and I see ‘Matty the Horse’ Ianniello on the floor in the kitchen, his hands over his head. When. Sonny Pinto had walked in I'd seen Matty move down the counter toward the kitchen and I figure he's involved. So I put my piece to his neck and move him ahead of me like a shield through the place and out the front door. There I see Joey flat on the street.”
At his trial on gun charges Mr. Diapoulas testified that he did not recognize any of the killers because everything happened so fast. “I was being a stand‐up guy at the trial,” he said. “I was playing the game.”

Joseph Luparelli, who drove the getaway car in the slaying and later became a police informant, said that Mr. Di Biase was one of four men who went into Umberto's and started firing at the Gallo party. Mr. Diapoulas said he saw only Sonny Pinto but knew there were others because of all the bullets fired.

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When he came out of the hospital, where he was treated for his bullet wound, Mr. Diapoulas found the Gallo gang on a war footing. “The plan was to hit some Colombo top guys—Alley Boy [Alphonse] Persico, Jerry Langella, people like that,” he said.

“Some of our guys were assigned to follow them around and let us know when they were exposed, but they hardly ever went. One guy would say he overslept, another had a cold. It was a farce. And Blast wouldn't push them.”

Mr. Diapoulas said that once he was sent to keep Mr. Persico under surveillance. “I was supposed to sit in a panel truck with special glass so you can see out but nobody can see in, but when I get there I see it's only tinted glass, anybody can see inside if they get close,” he said. “I go back to Blast and I ask him what's going on. He tells me the special glass costs $350 so they put in the tinted glass. That's Blast—he'd risk life to save a dime.”

The Gallo gang's major effort against the Colombos came when they heard that Mr. Per sico, Mr. Langella and other Colombo leaders were going to hold a meeting at the Neapolitan Noodle restaurant on the Upper East Side.

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“We had a guy in the Colombo family who gave us that piece of information,” Mr. Diapoulas said. “I don't know the details because I wasn't speaking to Blast at that time and nobody was telling me much.”
Mr. Diapoulas said he “heard” that a member of the Gallo group had recruited a hit man from Las Vegas and had him waiting in a Manhattan hotel. As I understand it there was supposed to be someone—I heard it was Bobby Darrow—in the restaurant or outside the window to point out the targets to the Las Vegas guy,” he said.

‘Just Like Him’

“Bobby Darrow was once my partner. He was always drunk or high on something. He had seen Persico and Langella only once or twice years before. It would be just like him to point out the wrong guys.”

Mr. Darrow, whose real name is Robert Bongiove, was sentenced to life imprisonment two years ago for the murder of the night manager of a midtown bar.

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The bar manager had nothing to do with the Gallo‐Colombo feud, according to Mr. Diapoulas. “Bobby shot him because he was high and wanted to show what a tough guy he was,” he said. “Then he went to President Street and went to sleep.”

He said that, in fact, the Gallos have not succeeded in killing or wounding any Colombo men. Shortly after Joseph Gallo's murder, a Colombo man, Gennaro Ciprio, was shot to death in Brooklyn. But Mr. Di apoulas said that the Colombos themselves killed him because they thought he had been supplying information to the Gallos

On the other hand, the Colombos have killed or wounded seven Gallo men, he said. Thi rest of the 16 killings that followed the murder of Mr. Gallo were not related to the Gallo Colombo war, according to Mr. Diapoulas.

“Gang wars are always used to clean house and settle grudges, he said. “If you kill someone during peacetime, you may have to answer to the bosses, but in wartime nobody asks questions.”
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Having failed to seize the initiative by wiping out the Colombo leadership at the Neapolitan Noodle, the Gallos agreed to peace negotiations a few months after the incident, Mr. Diapoulas said.

Back to the Table

“When I got out of the can, negotiations were already under way,” he said. “But they broke down last summer and the Colombos tried to whack Blast's key people.”

Since they were able to kill only one Gallo gang member, Mr. Cirillo, while superficially wounding four others, the Colombos failed in their attempt to weaken the Gallo group beyond retaliation, Mr. Diapoulas said, so they went back to the negotiating table.

Mr. Diapoulas said that when he got out of prison he returned to President Street for a while, but that his heart wasn't in it anymore. “I saw how things were,” he said. “Blast looking for No. 1 all, the time and the others‐thinking they're all Jimmy Cagney. So I took off.”

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Although he admits to having been involved in a variety of criminal activities, his imprisonment on the gun charge was the first time that he had been in jail and he says he doesn't want to go back.

While Mr. Diapoulas was in prison, Albert Gallo failed to follow the tradition calling for the leader of a Mafia group to provide financial assistance to the family of an imprisoned member. “Six weeks after I went in the can, he sent over $200 and after that he sent $50 a few times,” Mr. Diapoulas said. “That was it. I had to borrow money from my relatives to feed my family.”

Mr. Diapoulas said he made considerable money during his years in organized crime, mostly in stolen securities, labor racketeering and gambling. “But I blew it all because you have to keep up a big front on that kind of life,” he said. “There's a lot of money in organized crime, but in the long run, unless you're Carlo Gambino, there's no future in it.”