Aniello John Dellacroce a.k.a. "Father Neil" "The Tall Guy" "The Pollack" (March 15, 1914 - December 2, 1985) was an Italian immigrant gangster, and underboss of the Gambino crime family. He is portrayed in the made for television movie Gotti by actor Anthony Quinn as "Neil Dellacroce".
Much of his early life is a mystery, except that Dellacroce (whose name means "little lamb of the cross" in Italian) rose within the Gambino Family after it formed in 1957. Carlo Gambino supposedly ordered Albert Anastasia's murder, then took over Anastasia's crews and effectively formed the family. Shortly after Gambino's crowning as Boss, he named Dellacroce a captain in his family. Eventually, after Gambino removed Joseph Biondo as underboss in the 1960s, he named Dellacroce his new second-in-command.
On September 21, 1961, Aniello Dellacroce, who at the time was a capo, was dining in the Luna Restaurant in New York City. Joey Gallo and members of his crew got into a dispute with Dellacroce, and severely beat Dellacroce. There would be no immediate retaliation, but Dellacroce may have had the last laugh when Joey Gallo was gunned down in Dellacroce's own Little Italy neighborhood.
Like most 'old time' Mafiosi, Dellacroce did not attract attention to himself, and sometimes he even walked around Manhattan dressed as a priest and calling himself 'Father O'Neil', to confuse both the police and rival mobsters.
In 1976, Carlo Gambino died of natural causes, having declared his wish that brother in law Paul Castellano should be the new boss. Dellacroce had been tipped as the successor and was reportedly annoyed at the late Carlo's decision. A potential inter-family war was prevented, however, because just before Gambino died, he and Castellano agreed to have Dellacroce remain Underboss and furthermore, whilst Castellano concentrated on white-collar crimes like union racketeering and fraud, Dellacroce would have free rein over those crews who carried out more traditional, 'hands-on' Mafia activities, such as robbery, hijacking and extortion. Castellano banned drug dealing in his family, but few took any notice of this, including the ambitious John Gotti, who was so close to Dellacroce that he would never disobey him until after his death. Gotti also had a long affair with one of Neil's illegitimate daughters.
By 1985, Gotti was eager to kill Castellano and take over the Gambino Family. Although Dellacroce reportedly hated Castellano, he was nonetheless committed to the Mafia code, which said that you could not murder your boss, and he demanded Gotti not take such a lethal course of action. However, Dellacroce was suffering from cancer that year, and he died on December 2, aged 71. Castellano's refusal to visit his dying underboss or attend his funeral reportedly enraged Gotti; in any case, Gotti could now arrange Castellano's assassination, which took place less than a fortnight later. He was buried in St. John's Cemetery in the borough of Queens in New York City.
His son, Armond "Buddy" Dellacroce, died following a cerebral haemorrhage while hiding in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania in April 1988. He had been convicted of racketeering and had failed to appear for sentencing on March 31, 1986. His cause of death was listed as alcoholic cirrhosis and overdose of cocaine.
