Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce

Is there any more info on this guy?
Seems very interessting.
Could only find them same info over and over again and no documentary. He just gets mentioned from time to time.
Maybe some stories

That's a good question CN...there is probably somebody here that can shed some light on Neil...from my understanding, he was a slob, ignorant, crude, but very old school LCN and commanded one helluva a lot of power throughout the mob, not just in the Gambinos.

Philip Carlo had this to say about Dellacroce.

Neil was a stone cold gangster; frigid. He grew up on the streets. Learning the rhyme and the rhythm of the streets. He idolised the gangsters. The way they carried themselves; their comportment. They were real men; men's men. When Neil became a gangster, he carried himself with the same dignity and respect as these men. A glare from Dellacroce was known to send grown men scuttling, scurrying, shuffling away in terror. It was a menacing glare. It was a terrible sight to behold; horrible. Only Anthony Casso's glare was more terrifying. Dellacroce was not as handsome as Casso either. Casso looked like a matinee idol. Chiseled features carved out of the finest Italian marble...

God, aside from being a lousy researcher, Carlo was just a terrible writer .

Ditto that PB...in fact, after reading his first book, I actually wondered whether he had any editing help at all...his grammar and style are poor and his info. is suspect at times...a lot of times.

I agree it'd be really interesting to learn more about him. He was almost the number one boss in the country.

Many LV Casino's solicited help from Neil to collect unpaid markers back in the day. His end was 50 % of recovered money.

TROLL

In "The Killer Within" Carlo sang a love song about Casso's eyes. If I remember correctly he actually compared them to the black hole that supposedly exists in outer space. Of course he also described Casso's "chiseled good looks" again in great detail. I think I threw up in my mouth a bit while reading all of that

I would love to find something that talked about him more, but of course if someone knew more about him he probably would have been locked up for life (which he would have anyways if he lived).

I think it's a shame to not have a Mobsters show about him. His whole story is interesting. Like him or not he was stone cold LCN through and through.

I would like to hear more about his power play when Carlo was boss. I'm remember reading something about him trying to become boss or something in an old paper. Anyone know anything about that?

Dixie mafia, I think if you check on u tube,gangsters.com you might find a video on him. im not sure but, I thought there was one.

No I mean a good hour documentary, not any less..

Yeah that Carlo believed to be mentally disturbed

Chain smokin Neil was active through the mafias's golden years in NY. A street guy gangster. I'd say he was the last fella you would have wanted to have ran into.

Carlo had a bigger crush on gas pipe than roemer had on joe batters aka tony accardo. And the bs he wrote about kuklinski was probably the worst researched book ever. Should be changed to fiction from non fiction

Dellacroce was a gangsters gangster. Only man who could keep the bergin crew in line. Stone killer but was all about the rules. Boss is the boss and he kept castellano alive. The bug at dellacroce house w ang and gotti about the tapes is classic. Angelo says no matter what he ain't given up the tapes so Neil says this guy wants these fucking tapes, can't get him to give it up. What should I say go fuck yourself you ain't gettin the tapes and then we go to war! Maybe if he didn't die he would of broken his rules and let gotti take out the boss. Who knows

Christy tic, yeah, the tapes are what got castellano killed, the gotti crew was never going to give them up. too incriminating to angelo, gene gotti, if castellano ever heard them it would be all over for gotti. he would have told dellacroce to kill them all. and angelo ruggerio was his nephew. what would neil have done? who knows.

He was Armand "Tommy" Rava chief enforcer when he was a soldier in his crew. Rava and Neil's brother Carmine went back to the 1920's and were both made during the Castellammarese War in Albert Anastasia crew. Don't know when Aniello was made, there is very little info on him.

Why was Castellano even waiting for the tapes? If they wouldn't give them over, he should have called Quack Quack in. But really, why does a boss need a tape? For proof to be able to whack somebody? Only reason I can see why Castellano might have wanted the tapes was so that he could mount his own legal defense in court. Other than that, I don't see what was the big deal about keeping Gotti and Quack Quack alive just for some tapes.

Yeah I read Carlo's Gaspipe book and it read like really long love letter.

If they were relevant to his legal defense, he probably could have gotten them in court. I would guess it's because of Dellacroce that he wanted those tapes in the first place. He may have feared an uprising if he whacked Gotti on mere suspicion.

I tend to agree with you here.

In the book 'five families" by raab. he goes into the tapes, saying gotti and the rest were not going to give up those tapes.
it may have led to gotti ploting to kill catellano. he could not give them up, it would implicate the drug dealing going on behind castellanos back. and they feared he would kill them all.
but everybody knows that. just saying.

Neil was actually very against going to war. "I been trying to get u (Angelo)away with these tapes, but God almighty I can't stop the guy from always bringing it up, unless I tell him to go fuk himself. Then we know what we gotta do (war). Is that what u want? All over these tapes. Consider not only u could get hurt, but him (Gotti) and me too. A lot of good people could get hurt. And for what ? These tapes?"

Angelo," I ain't giving up these tapes, there are good people on these tapes."

Gotti," Ange, what does cosa nostra mean?"

Neil," cosa nostra means the boss is the boss is the boss".

Neil was actually pushing for Angelo to give up the tapes for peace sake

'We roll it up and we go to war' Best wiretap line ever.

TonyTough is right though, it's clear from the tapes Neil didn't want conflict. He's just trying to school Angelo and John.

Ralph Salerno, a former NYPD detective, said of Dellacroce: "When Carlo Gambino died, If I'd been asked to place a ten dollar wager as to who would be his successor, I would've put the ten dollars on the man who was his under-boss, Aniello Dellacroce, a tough man. Of all the gangsters that I've met personally, and I've met dozens of them in all of my years, there were only two who, when I looked them straight in the eye, I decided I wouldn't want them to be really personally mad at me. Aniello Dellacroce was one and Carmine Galante was the other. They had bad eyes, I mean, they had the eyes of killers."

"You looked at Dellacroce's eyes and you could see how frightening they were," Salerno said, "the frigid glare of a killer."

Other than this I've heard of Neil being described as a "hoodlum's hoodlum."

i think both he wanted to know everything what's said in the tapes, so he can fix a high powerful defense team lawyers. Because he had a lot of money and he thought he would maybe get 5 years or something because this was before the commision case. And when he would hear the tapes he would figure out who he needed to eliminate for his legal battles and some of them where Aniello Dellacroce direct familie. Neil was ice cold street guy he would follow the rules but don't forget, he was dying so my guess is he would tell the guys on the record to act and kill paul and take over. Neil never told gotti direct but i think he told it off the record, or did gotti have the brains to figure itself out?

I recall reading that Gotti was banging his daughter

He smoked the roce.

Aniello was made in 1939,Big Paul was made in 1940.I am sure i read it somewhere.Aniello was made a capo in 1957,and Paul became a capo in 1956.Somebody asked on the previous page.

thats true her name is sandy and is a attractive woman even in her 50's. The affair produced a child,meagan who also is very good looking. I met the daughter in a club years back, she is about a year younger than me

Was she the Irish broad?

Sandy was the daughter of neil and rosemary connelly

Mr. Neil had to be tough as they come. The Boss of a Family demands the tapes and you stalled him out?! This would have never happened under Carlo's rule.