Gigante in the 1960's - 1970's

We know about him from the Frank Costello hit then the drug conviction from the late 1950's to the early 1960's. We know about him taking over as boss and using Fat Tony Salerno as his front boss in the early 1980's. What did he do in between that made him rise up to the top of the Genovese when there were so many other capable guys in the family?

When he got out of jail from the costello hit vito made him cap, he did'nt have to do too much cause vito liked him, if any other mobster had botched a hit lile he did, they would never be seen again

After vito genevese benny squint lombardo was the boss and he was grooming gigante as his protege.

Why was he the chosen one? What did he do that made Genovese and Lombardo think so highly of him? The only thing we know that he did was botch a hit and go to prison for dealing drugs. That's not exactly a great resume.

He was a earner

Well he was brought up in vitos crew while vito was a captain and he and vito were both convicted of drug dealing together and served time together so they probly got close then.as far as the failed hit goes it made frank retire and the end result was the same that vito became boss so i dont think any1 looked down on him. Once he became a captain he was on of the higherest earners in the family.

Isn't there a crazy story about Chin where someone has to go to his apartment and then into the bathroom and then into the shower and Chin is standing under an umbrella and whispers into the guys ear who to whack....???

The way I heard it,The Feds were serving a subpoena on the Chin. His wife directed them upstairs,where they found Vinnie under the shower,naked,and holding an umbrella. Apparently,when he heard the Feds downstairs,he ran into the shower in order to put on the flip act.He was also well known for walking the streets in his bathrobe,mumbling to himself.

I think u read somewhere that the Chin was a consigliere at some point in the 70's

Does anyone know what were his income drivers that made him such a big earner

He really was one of the top gangster in NY as you never heard a peep about him yet he was such a money powerhouse . His strength is still being felt today on the genovese family today IMO

He controlled alot of unions in the contruction and garbage hauling industries. He controled the javits convention center which was a cash cow, the fulton fish market, was involved in drug trafficking, the concrete industry and ofcourse the traditional mob rackets of extortion, gambling loansharking and bookmaking.

This guy was amazing. We know almost nothing about his rise to power. One thing I have wondered about is when he really became boss of the family. It is usually said he became boss after Lombardo retired in 1981. However we have testimony that he ordered the murders of at least four Philly mobsters in 1980 to avenge the death of Angelo Bruno. Not just anyone can order the murders of four members from another family. My question is, could he have been the boss earlier then has always been thought. There are several sources that say Lombardo never wanted to be boss. I find it highly probable he may have been calling the shots earlier then 1981.

I was under the impression that Antonio Caponigro and a few other Philly guys were killed on orders from the Commission for killing Bruno without permission.As the story goes, Caponigro (Bruno's consiglieri)approached Funzi Tieri,the Genovese Boss at the time and de facto head of the Commission, seeking consent for the hit. Funzi gave it the OK,and promised that Caponigro would become the new Boss of Bruno's Family.After the killing Caponigro was summoned to New York presumably to be formally installed as the new Boss. Instead, Tieri denied ever giving permission,and Caponigro wound up tortured and shoved in the trunk of a car,with pieces of currency stuffed in "both ends".
Generally,it is accepted that Tieri set Caponigro up,so that he could take over his multi-million dollar gambling rackets.

He was close to older men like Genovese who ran things, and outlived them. It seems no one challenged him for the boss position, so he got it.

Vito was a very powerful and scary man, even spending the last years of his life in prison no one ever crossed him, vito was grooming the chin to be boss very early in his career, when chin was a soldier he was a very big drug dealer on behalf of vito, so if vito say vinnie is my boy, thats it!

Genovese must of really liked Chin. Anybody else blew that hit on Costello like Chin did would of gone MIA.

I'm not so positive they actually served theyr sentences at the same facility, did they? Either way your still right, Chin and Vito were tight.






Thing is, all this is true. I wonder how much weight in heroin he was really moving?

Extremely diverse. In fact, one of his crew members (Morris Levy) shook down John Lennon, who was arguably the biggest rock star on the planet at the time.

Chin would take people into the restroom and turn on all the faucets and whisper into the other person's ears just in case they were wearing a wire.

Massino would do walk-talks at the beach and be facing the ocean so nobody could pick up the conversation or read their lips.

In the end, they were both taken down by rats. It just goes to show that no matter how careful you are, if the FBI wants you, they will get to you by taking down those around you. The best strategy is to stay under the radar.

Was he Vito driver/bodyguard in the late 50's.

Yes he was Vito's driver.
The Gigante brothers were said to have put in a lot of "work" for the family during that era.

Lots of dope. Put the dope money on the street. Lots of debts and lots of favors owed. He was a master politician. Just like the men he was schooled by and the ones who have succeeded him. He was a master manipulator, something he learned from vito. He could create friction between two crews if he didnt trust them. Unions/construction, he more inherited thru his crew. Not saying he was a slouch, just that wasnt his thing. He was a natural leader and had more experience and lessons than anyone else. Heavy fucking hitter too. They talk like gotti or casso was trigger happy but look how many ppl chin took out.

Skinny, was the dope dealing early on in his career only? I don't remember any guys close to him later on that were involved with it

In 1993 the FBI laid out in a 34 page memo how Gigante ordered the murders of six Philly mobsters who were in on the Bruno hit. Four of these men were killed in 1980, before Gigante is usually said to have become boss. Most of the info comes from confidential sources, Phil Leonetti being one. I know Tieri basically started the whole thing by setting up Caponigro to take over his numbers business, however I do not believe he was the boss, let alone de facto head of the Commission. Gigante may not have taken over full control of the family by this point, but if he hadn't I think he was second only to Lombardo. When they say he ordered the murders he may have been passing along orders from Lombardo. By 1980 Lombardo was in bad health and Tieri was 77 years old. Everyone knew Gigante was next in line to be the Boss. I think Lombardo may have put Tieri out in front to shield Gigante, which worked because instead of Gigante getting getting busted it was Tieri. By that point Gigante was much more important to the family than Tieri.

In his book Leonetti said Tieri wanted to take over Caponigro's north jersey rackets but he said he thought Chin was more concerned about getting philly's vote on the commission. Before Bruno was hit Bobby Manna asked Scarfo something like "if something was to happen to Bruno where would the philly family stand?" And Scarfo told him they would be "una familia" with the Genovese. Manna replied "my friends will be very happy to hear that". It's in Leonetti's book.

According to Leonetti, Scarfo told him "Lefty (Bruno) has some real trouble heading his way and when it does he ain't gonna know what the fuck hit him".

Leonetti contradicts himself on who the boss of the Genovese was when Bruno was taken out. In one part of his book he's talking about how Caponigro thought he was dealing with the boss of the Genovese when he asked Tieri for the greenlight on Bruno but Leonetti said the real boss at that time was Chin. Then in another part of the book he said Chin didn't become boss until later. So who the hell knows, i'm not so sure Phil really knew himself.

Until the mid 80s as far as i know. Most the guys he put into that business are straightened out guys now. Mostly into the trades/union shit. Their idea of retirement haha

I read somewhere that Castellano and Bruno were often seen eating dinner together and at the same time Philly/Bruno had a commission seat. Philly would always side with Paul and that rubbed Chin the wrong way even though him and Paul were close.

Carlo Gambino literally gave the job to Bruno in 1959 and him and Bruno were supposed to be pretty close. The Gambinos pretty much controlled Bruno's vote on the Commission from 1959 until 1980 when Tony Caponigro blasted him in the head with a shotgun.

Bruno and Castellano would meet and have dinner at a restaurant in south jersey owned by John Gambino's brothers, Joe and Rosario.

Castellano wasn't an idiot, he must of known soon after the Bruno hit how the Genovese played this thing out with Bruno and Caponigro.

At least before he went to jail, Gerry Catena was the highest ranking member of the family on the streets, Vito made him acting boss. Tommy Eboli was second in command and the day to day boss on the NY side of the Hudson. Mike Miranda was the consigliere, and until Catena went to jail on contempt charges those three were meeting on important family matters, with Catena having the final say. This was indicated by the Mary Ferrell FBI docs, which had transcripts of Eboli talking with various people, including his brother, Vito's brother and Benny Squint himself, and the Jersey Mafia book, which had the transcripts from the Barn where Ray DeCarlo met with a ton of different people.

After Catena got out of jail is when things get murky. Apparently he never wanted to be boss, but only took the job out of obligation. He was one of if not the wealthiest mobsters in the country, and Vito was dead, so when he got out of jail he immediately retired to Florida. Supposedly he and Carlo Gambino pushed for Tieri to be boss, while some say that the rest of the family wanted Lombardo.

I personally believe that Tieri was at least for some time in the 70's the actual boss, but he was really sick so it would not surprise me if at some point he was replaced by Gigante or Salerno, who at time were in better health. My question is, why would Tieri, who was mega rich and not in good health, and later Salerno, who was maybe even wealthier and also sick, subject themselves to the stress of the boss job on a daily basis only to let Lombardo and then the Chin swoop in to have the final say on the really important matters? Was there some type of financial incentive? You would think that being the front boss would not be worth the headaches.

Maybe I'm being overly nostalgic,but I think that Salerno and Tieri subscribed to the old school mentality that the Family comes before everything else,so if a front Boss is needed,end of story,you're it. After all,neither one attempted to cut a deal,even though it would have been a major coup for the FBI and they could pretty much have written their own tickets. Instead,they took the fall,kept their mouths shut and died in custody. Since RICO was still fairly new,(Tieri was the first mobster to fall victim to it),the Feds would have jumped through hoops to give these guys the sweetest deal they could.
They stayed quiet,honored the oath that they took,and died as respected men.

Eboli was related to Louie (The Mooch) Eboli in the Outfit. Louie was a made guy who belonged to Lombardo. (Grand Ave)

Chicago always dealt with the Genovese Family. What a powerhouse they were in the old da

In the 1980's, Gigante hated Gotti. He hated that Gotti raised his hand against a Boss who also happened to be Gigante's partner.

Gotti was the worst thing that ever happened to the very powerful Gambino Family. Carlo Gambino probably cursed Gotto from his grave.

Very interesting stuff. seems like his "deal dope & die" edict was a way to suppress competition.

Cafaro testified that much of Gigante's power (as a captain) came from the size of his crew, which was said to be rather large. He also said that, in addition to taking over Eboli's loansharking operations, Gigante's crew controlled the numbers operations from Sullivan Street up to 14th Street. The crew also controlled the Saint Anthony Feast.



Chin's crew had their interests in these businesses but the Javits Center was more the 116th crew. They were also the family's main crew in the construction trades.



The Genovese family's leadership succession during that time has been one of the most debated topics on these forums over the years. Vincent Cafaro testified that Vito Genovese turned the family over to Philip Lombardo when he went to prison. Chin was a captain during this time. Fast-forward to 1972 - Lombardo was the boss, Tommy Eboli the underboss, and Tony Salerno the consigliere. Lombardo wanted to stay in the background however, so Eboli fronted as the boss of the family. In other words, Lombardo was the official boss but Eboli was the acting boss. After Eboli's death, Eli Zaccardi was the acting/front boss for Lombardo. By 1974, Lombardo was the boss, Frank Tieri was the underboss (but also the acting/front boss), and Salerno the consigliere. By 1976, Lombardo was still the boss, Zaccardi was the underboss, and Antonio Ferro the consigliere. In 1978, Dom Alongi replaced Ferro as consigliere, followed by Bobby Manna in 1980. During this time, Salerno had been the acting/front boss for Lombardo. Of course, Salerno had his stroke in 1981. Cafaro said that, while Salerno was in NYU hospital, he was visited by Chin, Santora, and Manna at different times. Lombardo was also ill and hospitalized. It was decided by these three, as well as Lombardo, that Chin would take over as the official boss of the family. After he recovered, Salerno resumed his role as acting/front boss but was now doing it for Chin instead of Lombardo. Lombardo went into at least semi-retirement, though later bugged conversations seemed to insinuate that he still held some influence.

While I'm not sure where it originated, the idea of Chin being the consigliere at one point is a mistake. In 1976, Sammy Gravano had a disagreement with Vincent DiNapoli involving the construction business. Gravano met with Chin at the Triangle Social Club. Gigante was still a captain at this point and Gravano still a soldier. At the meeting, Gravano's captain, Toto Auriello, introduced a man named "Dom" as a captain. Chin corrected Auriello and said Dom (not Chin, himself) was the consigliere. The "Dom" mentioned was probably Dom Alongi. Now, there is obviously a slight date discrepancy, as this meeting was said to have taken place in 1976 but Cafaro said that Alongi didn't become the consigliere until 1978. There was likely a mistake in the timeline on one hand or the other.



Leonetti may have gotten a little mixed up, this whole Bruno/Philadelphia thing was over a number of years, and Tieri was the acting boss and Chin the official boss at different points during it.

It's interesting that Phil Leonetti talks about the Genovese family plotting against Angelo Bruno early on. George Fresolone said one of the reasons Bruno was killed by Anthony Caponigro was because he was letting the NY families into Atlantic City. Of course, the beef between Funzi Tieri and Caponigro over the $2 million gambling operation in North Jersey, originally testified about by Tommy DelGiorno, is well known. George Anastasia wrote that Tieri saw Bruno's death as an opportunity to take over Caponigro's North Jersey gambling operations, apparently knowing what would befall Caponigro after the fact, as well as weaken the Philadelphia family's hold on Atlantic City. Obviously other top Genovese leaders, besides Tieri, were involved in all this, including Chin. Bobby Manna's role is no surprise, as he was close to Scarfo. And we know that, after Bruno's death and Scarfo's eventual succession, the Genovese got a cut from the money he was taking out of HEREU Local 54. Tony Salerno was sitting along side Chin and Manna at he meeting where Scarfo was installed as the new boss and Peter Casella was banished to Florida. The 6 Philadelphia guys Leonetti testified Chin had ordered dead were Caponigro, Alfred Salerno, Johnny "Keys" Simone, Frank Sindone, Frank Narducci, and Rocco Marinucci. Again, several of these top Genovese guys had a hand in this, not just Tieri or Chin.

there was an fbi wiretap where cleveland boss john tronolone was acting as a messenger between tony salerno and jackzero aka jackey cerone regarding vegas casino mogul steve wynn blocking certain deals in vegas. chicago was upset with wynn and wanted fat tony to use his contacts to pressure wynn to back off

The Chin was probably the best to ever do it. He starts out as an amateur boxer being managed by Tommy Ryan. Then serves as a driver / bodyguard for Genovese. While working for Vito I assume he was mentored in the dope game. The boss takes a liking to him and he gets the Costello contract. Fast forward two years and he is jailed alongside his boss for Conspiracy to distribute heroin. After completing his sentence he assumes the role of captain of the Greenwich Village crew. Which so happens to have been the biggest and most profitable in the Family. Throughout the late 60's and 70's we can only speculate what business investments he had on the streets. Or what his take was from these ventures. By 81' he is officially declared the Boss. Aside from the embarrassment of Pete Savino he held a tight reign!

Vito was fond of Chin because Vincent was willing to get dirty. In 1956 Genovese family crap games were being stuck up and the players were being robbed. Louis Musto , James Rocereto , Michael Langone were identified as the persons responsible. All three were brutally killed. Musto was incinerated in a basement furnace while he was still alive. Rocereto and Langone were found inside a car trunk on the lower East Side. Their bodies were in pieces as both were axed to death.

downtown you think chins brother mario became a capo before him since he never went to prison in the 60tys and he was a few yrs older. read he made fortune in the garbage. he must be close to 100.

pmac , Chin was a Capo first, The Greenwich Village crew went from Tony Bender to Dom the Sailor. Chin then became Capo of the GV crew after Dom the Sailor , but only after Vinnie (Bruno) Mauro's protest that he get the slot did him no good. Mario (Mars) would later go on to have a crew in the northern suberbs. think he is 96 now.

Are you sure Tommy Ryan Eboli didn't take over the GV crew after Tony Bender?

dom the sailor guy was in the wmob wire tap sieries between fitzy and that guy frankie condo im pretty sure. frankie condo would go visit him in florida and cutt his toe nails cause he was a diabetic. talk about a good friend. he was once the consig to i think. wasnt he also busted at the little applalchian meeting in queens with gambino and the bosses from florida. wonder where he stood with tommy eboli getting whacked.

pmac , Frankie (Ubatz) Condo would trim Dom (Fat Dom) Alongi toe nail's due to poor health. Fat Dom was at La Stella. Fat Dom was born in New Orleans and was nephew to Carlos Marcello.

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Very interesting stuff. seems like his "deal dope & die" edict was a way to suppress competition.[/quote]

Heroin dealing was very much controlled by a Family. The Family could not have members dealing H on their own. To dangerous. Specific crews/members specialized in handing the distribution of it.

thnks dt. lotta doms in chins village crews.