They did not have a big mafia crew, but they had a lot of members of their own gang, and it disintegrated as the years rolled by. They took in any idiot, and must have had a a lot of informers in their group. As soon as Joe Gallo was killed Pete the Greek started singing for the police and FBI immediately.
They were at least big enough at one point that they could've taken over 1 of the 5 families
Interesting article that include Pete spilling some beans in 1975. 3 years after Joe was hitAstro News, the major New York distributor for porno papers, is operated by Richard A. DiMatteo, who is listed by the police as a member of the Gallo faction of the Joseph Colombo crime family. Peter Diapiiulas, a member of the Gallo group for 15 years until his recent defection, said Mr. Dimatteo was the “front” at Mtro Neivs for Albert Gallo, the leader of the Gallo group, who actually controls the company.
According to Mr. Diapoulos, the three men were at first reluctant to give up the distribution and maintained that they were with Vincent Gigante, a reported captain in the family of the late Vito Genovese.
Mr: Diapoulas arranged a “sit?down” — an arbitration meeting — with the three and Mr. Gigante, who, he said, disclaimed any connection with them.
Nevertheless, the three still refused to turn over the distributorship, according to Mr. Diapoulas. “So we got a bunch of guys from President Street [the Gallo headquarters] and started busting up their trucks.”, Quickly the three independent distributors capitulated.
At the start Mr. Diapoulas and his partner, Mr. Bongiove, who is now serving a life term for murder, rented a truck and undertook the distribution of Screw by themselves. But it proved so profitable (the two paid themselves each $600 a week and the business made an average of $800 a week profit on top of that) that Albert Gallo decided to set up a regular company to handle the distribution of Screw and other pornographic papers.
