Anthony Gaggi
Encyclopedia
Anthony "Antonino" "Nino" Frank Gaggi (August 7, 1925 – April 17, 1988) was a captain
Caporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization...

 in the New York Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...

 who supervised the infamous DeMeo crew, headed by Roy DeMeo
Roy DeMeo
Roy Albert DeMeo was a soldier in the Gambino crime family. He is infamous for heading the DeMeo crew, a gang suspected by the FBI of murdering at least 70 people between 1973 and 1983. The vast majority were disposed of so thoroughly that they were never found...

. It is estimated that the DeMeo crew murdered between 75 and 200 people.

Biography

Born Antonino Gaggi to Angelo and Mary Gaggi, Gaggi was the youngest of three children. Gaggi had a sister Marie, and a brother Rosario (known as "Roy"). Angelo emigrated to the United States from Palermo, Sicily and ran a barbershop on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....

 of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

. Mary worked as a seamstress until Gaggi's birth.

Gaggi dropped out of school during the eighth grade
Eighth grade
Eighth grade is a year of education in the United States, Canada, Australia and other nations. Students are usually 13 - 14 years old. The eighth grade is typically the final grade before high school, and the ninth grade of public and private education, following kindergarten and subsequent grades...

 and followed his father into the barber business. Gaggi also earned extra money delivering flowers, which he used for gambling. It was at this age that Gaggi learned the profitability of loansharking to gamblers.

When Gaggi was a young teenager, his family purchased a small farm in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 and moved there to operate it. When Gaggi turned 17 in 1942, he attempted to join the US Army, but was rejected due to myopia
Myopia
Myopia , "shortsightedness" ) is a refractive defect of the eye in which collimated light produces image focus in front of the retina under conditions of accommodation. In simpler terms, myopia is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in...

. In 1943, Gaggi's family left the farm and moved to the Bath Beach area of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

. Angelo resumed work as a barber while Mary and Marie worked in a dress factory. Discharged from the Army due to injury, Roy sold peanut dispensers to bars.

After returning to New York, Gaggi decided to pursue criminal activities. His father's cousin was mobster Frank Scalise, a founding member of the Gambino family. Scalise helped Gaggi obtain a job at a truck dock, where he quickly became a supervisor. Scalise eventually allowed Gaggi to become a "ghost employee", someone who did not have to work. Gaggi could devote all his time to loan sharking in Brooklyn bars and pool halls. This "no show" job also allowed Gaggi to report legitimate, taxable income to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...

 and avoid prosecution for tax evasion
Tax evasion
Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...

.

Dominick Montiglio

In 1947, Gaggi's sister Marie gave birth to Dominick Montiglio
Dominick Montiglio
Dominick Montiglio is a former associate of the Gambino crime family. The nephew of Anthony 'Nino' Gaggi, who was a powerful and respected captain in the Gambino family, Dominick became a government witness in 1983 after being arrested for extortion and went on to testify in two Federal trials...

, Her husband and Montiglio's father was boxer and deliveryman Anthony Santamaria. However, Gaggi was the dominant personality in the household, eventually leading to Santamaria's estrangement from his family. Gaggi soon became Montiglio's surrogate father. When he became older, Montiglio joined his uncle in criminal activities and eventually testified in court about them.

In 1954, in his first arrest, Gaggi was charged with running an international auto theft ring. Operating out of a used car lot in Brooklyn, the ring was backed by Scalise, now the Gambino boss. For two years, Gaggi and two associates fabricated false vehicle registration
Vehicle registration
Vehicle registration is the compulsory registration of a vehicle with a government authority. Vehicle registration's purpose is to establish clear ownership and to tax motorists or vehicle owners....

s for nonexistent Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

s. The gang stole cars that matched the phoney vehicle descriptions and replaced their original Vehicle Identification Numbers
Vehicle identification number
A Vehicle Identification Number, commonly abbreviated to VIN, is a unique serial number used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles. VINs were first used in 1954...

 with phony new numbers. They also gave the vehicles new license plates that matched the falsified registrations. The gang then sold the stolen vehicles in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

In 1955, while his auto theft trial was underway, Gaggi got married. During Gaggi's auto theft trial that year, witnesses "forgot" their testimony on the witness stand and Gaggi's co-defendants refused to testify against him. In early 1956, Gaggi was acquitted. Later in 1956, Gaggi became a father. His wife and child now lived on the first floor of the three-story Gaggi house.

In 1957, the Gambino family underwent a dramatic change in leadership. In June, Scalise was shot and killed at a fruit stand in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...

. In October, Gambino boss Albert Anastasia
Albert Anastasia
Albert Anastasia was boss of what is now called the Gambino crime family, one of New York City's Five Families, from 1951-1957. He also ran a gang of contract killers called Murder Inc. which enforced the decisions of the Commission, the ruling council of the American Mafia...

 was shot to death in a barber’s chair at a Manhattan hotel. Immediately after the Anastasia murder, Gaggi ordered his family to stay home for a few days. Gaggi's close associate, underboss Carlo Gambino
Carlo Gambino
"Don" Carlo Gambino, was a Sicilian mafioso who became Boss of the Gambino crime family, that still bears his name today. After the 1957 Apalachin Convention he unexpectedly seized control of the Commission of the American Mafia. Gambino was known for being low-key and secretive...

, became the new family boss. He appointed capo Aniello Dellacroce
Aniello Dellacroce
Aniello John "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce , also known as "Father O'Neil" and "The Tall Guy", was an Italian-American gangster and underboss of the Gambino crime family. A capo of his own crew for many years he rose to the position of underboss when Carlo Gambino moved Joseph Biondo aside.-Early...

, an Anastasia loyalist, as underboss and gave him control over the Manhattan faction of the family.

In October 1960, Gaggi committed his first murder for the Gambino family. He served on a hit squad that murdered mobster Vincent Squillante, the man who probably killed Scalise. According to Montiglio, Gaggi described the murder: “We surprised him (Squillante) in the Bronx. We shot him in the head, stuffed him in the trunk, then dumped him for good.” In this case, “dumped him for good” meant that they hauled the body to the basement of a building, loaded it into a trash incinerator, and cremated it. After the Squillante murder, Gaggi was inducted
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...

 into the Gambino family.

DeMeo crew

By the mid-1960s, Gaggi had established a large clientele of loanshark customers and was also a silent partner
Silent partner
Silent partner may refer to:*An anonymous member of a business partnership, or one uninvolved in management*The Silent Partner, the name of several films*Silent partner , a piece of climbing equipment...

 in several businesses. To increase his earnings, Gaggi partnered with mobster Roy DeMeo, who was running a stolen car ring in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Flatlands
Flatlands, Brooklyn
Flatlands is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.One of the original five Dutch towns on Long Island , this neighborhood was originally known as Nieuw Amersfoort, after the Dutch city of Amersfoort, but the name was changed to...

 and Canarsie. DeMeo had connections with the Lucchese family
Lucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder...

 and a reputation as a capable and resourceful earner. Gaggi persuaded DeMeo to leave the Luccheses and work instead for the Gambinos.

Gaggi and DeMeo began making co-loans to loanshark customers. By 1970, DeMeo was officially working for Gaggi and paying him weekly tributes. In 1972, the two men forced their way into a partnership with a company that illegally processed X-rated
X-rated
In some countries, X is or has been a motion picture rating reserved for the most explicit films. Films rated X are intended only for viewing by adults, usually legally defined as people over the age of 17.-United Kingdom:...

 films. After law enforcement raided the company in 1973, owner Paul Rothenberg began to cooperate with them. Gaggi ordered DeMeo to murder Rothenberg, whose body was found with bullet wounds shortly thereafter.

The Rothenberg killing was the first of many murders committed by the DeMeo crew. While Gaggi was not involved in most of these killings, he did participate in some of them. In 1975, Gaggi and DeMeo shot and killed Vincent Governara, a young man with no organized crime ties. Governara had fought with Gaggi and Gaggi wanted revenge. In 1976, Gaggi and DeMeo killed George Byrum, an electrical contractor
Electrical contractor
An electrical contractor is a business person or firm that performs specialized construction work related to the design, installation, and maintenance of electrical systems—a $130 billion industry in the United States....

 who worked on Gaggi's Florida vacation home. Byrum had tipped off thieves who burglarized the house while Gaggi was in New York. When Gaggi discovered the plot, he had DeMeo lure Byrum to a Miami hotel room and shoot him to death. DeMeo left the body partially decapitated.

In late 1976, boss Carlo Gambino died of natural causes. Before his death, Gambino had designated Paul Castellano
Paul Castellano
Constantino Paul "Big Paul" Castellano , also known as "The Howard Hughes of the Mob" and "Big Paulie" , was an American Mafia boss in New York City. He succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family, at the time, the nation's largest Mafia family...

, his brother-in-law and head of the Brooklyn faction, as the new boss. However, the Manhattan faction instead favored Dellacroce. At a leadership meeting held at Gaggi's house, Castellano became the new Gambino boss. In turn, Castellano agreed to retain Dellacroce as underboss. Gaggi was promoted to capo of Castellano's old crew. Gaggi remained close to Castellano, hoping to become underboss one day.

With Castellano as boss, Gaggi proposed DeMeo for family membership. Castellano initially balked at this request because he felt DeMeo was too violent and Gaggi couldn't control him. In Summer 1977, Castellano finally relented and allow DeMeo into the family. During this period, DeMeo successfully formed an alliance between the Gambino family and the Westies, a gang of Irish-American criminals that dominated the Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....

 neighborhood of Manhattan. DeMeo continued to expand his many illegal activities and passed more money over to Gaggi.

Gaggi continued to expand his loansharking business. He placed Montiglio, now a Gambino associate, in charge of collecting loan payments from Gaggi's customers and weekly payments from DeMeo. Montiglio's close involvement in nearly all facets of Gaggi's criminal activities, particularly with the DeMeo Crew, would bring heavy repercussions for Gaggi in the mid-1980s.

On June 7, 1978, Gaggi and nine other mobsters were charged with racketeering, conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...

 and fraud charges as a result of a year-long Federal investigation into the bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 of a theatre in New York. The majority of the evidence in this case came from wiretapped conversations; fortunately for Gaggi, he never said anything incriminating. In December 1978 Gaggi was cleared of all charges.

Eppolito murders

By 1979, DeMeo was involved in loansharking, murder-for-hire, and the operation of an auto theft ring that shipped cars to the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. Gaggi received a large percentage of these profits from these rackets, along with money from DeMeo's drug trafficking. The DeMeo crew sold cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

, marijuana, and a variety of pills in large amounts. DeMeo continued his drug trade despite a public prohibition that Castellano had made against this type of racket.

In late 1979, Gambino captain James Eppolito told Castellano that Gaggi and DeMeo were drug trafficking. Eppolito claimed that DeMeo had cheated Eppolito's son, a Gambino soldier, in a drug deal. In addition, Eppolito accused Gaggi of being a police informant. Eppolito asked Castellano for permission to murder Gaggi and DeMeo. However, Castellano broke his own rules and sided with Gaggi and DeMeo. He then gave them permission to murder both Eppolito and his son.

On October 1, 1979, Gaggi and DeMeo shot and killed both Eppolitos. However, a witness alerted an off-duty policeman, who soon found Gaggi walking away from the crime scene (DeMeo had gone in a different direction). After a brief shootout, the policeman wounded Gaggi in the neck and arrested him. Although charged with the Eppolitos' murders and the attempted murder of the police officer, Gaggi was only convicted of assault. Gaggi was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in federal prison.

While Gaggi was in prison, DeMeo became acting captain of Gaggi's crew. In 1981, Gaggi's sentence was overturned on appeal and he was released from prison. Gaggi had bribed a juror to make false claims of government misconduct during the trial.

Downfall

After Gaggi was released from prison, dark clouds were appearing on the horizon. Montigliohad become a drug addict and fled New York for fear of punishment from the Gambino family. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 (FBI]) dismantled DeMeo's auto theft operation and sent two crew members to prison. In 1980, a third crew member, Vito Arena, became a government witness. In 1982, Arena began testifying about crimes committed by Gaggi and the DeMeo crew. As the investigation intensified, Castellano became concerned about DeMeo cooperating with the authorities if he were arrested. On January 10, 1983, DeMeo's body was found nearly frozen in the trunk of his car. DeMeo's murderer were never identified, but law enforcement theorized that Gaggi killed him.

Shortly after DeMeo's murder, Montiglio returned to New York to collect an old loanshark debt and was arrested. To avoid prosecution, Montiglio started cooperating with the government, providing information on the DeMeo crew and Gaggi. Montiglio's information led to the indictments of both Gaggi and Castellano. By early 1984, some of the DeMeo crew members were arrested. One of them, Richard DiNome
Richard DiNome
Richard "Richie" DiNome was an alleged member of the DeMeo crew under the Gambino crime family. He was the younger brother of Gambino associate and government informant Frederick DiNome.-Biography:Richard DiNome was born to Italian-American emigrants in Pigtown, Brooklyn...

, was later murdered on February 4, 1984. As with DeMeo, DiNome's killers were never identified, but law enforcement assumed they were the remaining DeMeo crew members. DiNome's brother, Frederick DiNome
Frederick DiNome
Frederick DiNome was a professional drag racer and a member of the DeMeo crew, headed by Gambino soldier Roy DeMeo...

, also suspected the DeMeo crew of killing Richard and agreed to become a government witness.

On February 25, Gaggi was indicted on multiple charges of racketeering and murder. Castellano was indicted the next month. The court decided to split the numerous charges against both men into two trials. The first trial would dealing with the auto theft operation and five related murders. The first trial began in October 1985 and saw testimony from Arena, DiNome, and Dominick. In December 1985, midway through the trial, Castellano was shot to death at the Sparks Steak House
Sparks Steak House
The Sparks Steak House is a restaurant located at 210 East 46th Street between Second & Third Avenues in Midtown Manhattan.-History:The restaurant was founded by brothers Pat and Mike Cetta in 1966...

 in Manhattan on orders from capo John Gotti
John Gotti
John Joseph Gotti, Jr was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti grew up in poverty. He and his brothers turned to a life of crime at an early age...

. With Castellano's death, Gaggi became the lead defendant in the first trial. There was some speculation about Gaggi becoming the new Gambino boss, but Gotti quickly assumed control of the family.

In March 1986, Gaggi was convicted of conspiracy to sell stolen cars and was sentenced to five years in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
The United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg is a male inmate high security federal penitentiary and satellite minimum security prison camp housing some 1,000 and 500 respectively, just outside Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The Lewisburg Penitentiary was opened in 1932...

. In 1988, Nino was transferred from Lewisburg to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City
Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City
The Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City is a Federal Bureau of Prisons remand center in downtown Manhattan in New York City, located on Park Row behind the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse at Foley Square....

 for his second trial. The second trial would focus on Gaggi's racketeering acts and on the 25 murders allegedly committed by the DeMeo Crew.

Death

While being held at the Correctional Center for the second trial, Gaggi died of a heart attack. Early in the day on April 17, 1988, Gaggi had told a guard that he was suffering chest pain
Chest pain
Chest pain may be a symptom of a number of serious conditions and is generally considered a medical emergency. Even though it may be determined that the pain is non-cardiac in origin, this is often a diagnosis of exclusion made after ruling out more serious causes of the pain.-Differential...

. However, the guard did nothing. Later that day, Gaggi suffered a major heart attack, but was not transported to a hospital for several hours. Gaggi died in the hospital later that day.

It was widely speculated that Gaggi might have survived his heart attack if he had been sent to the hospital sooner. Gaggi's wife successfully sued the prison system for negligence, assisted by testimony from several other inmates. Gaggi's death sparked a controversy that eventually resulted in better medical conditions in New York City prisons.

Media

Dominick provided writers Jerry Capeci
Jerry Capeci
Gerald "Jerry" Capeci is an American journalist and author who specializes in coverage of the Five Mafia crime families of New York City. Capeci has been described by news organizations, such as CNN and BBC, as an expert on the American Mafia.-Gang Land:Capeci writes a column called Gang Land...

 and Gene Mustaine information on Gaggi and the DeMeo crew for their book Murder Machine. In both the book and the television documentaries, Dominick blamed his criminal actions on Gaggi's bad influence.

Further reading

  • Mustain, Gene and Jerry Capeci Murder Machine: A True Story of Murder, Madness, and the Mafia. Penguin, 1993. ISBN 0-451-40387-8
  • For The Sins of My Father: A Mafia Killer, His Son, and the Legacy of a Mob Life, by Al DeMeo, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7679-1129-0
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. For sale by the Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, U.S. G.P.O., 1988. http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC19099088&id=DQeMhDjHx58C&q=%22Anthony+Gaggi%22&dq=%22Anthony+Gaggi%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1

External links

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