Joe Gallo
Encyclopedia
Joseph Gallo also known as "Crazy Joey" and "Joe the Blond", was a celebrated New York City
gangster for the Profaci crime family, later known as the Colombo crime family
. Gallo initiated one of the bloodiest mob conflicts since the 1931 Castellammarese War
and was murdered as a result of it.
section of Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Umberto and Mary Gallo. A bootleg
ger during Prohibition
, Umberto did nothing to discourage his three sons from becoming criminals. In 1949, after viewing the film Kiss of Death
, Joe Gallo began mimic
ing Richard Widmark
's gangster character "Tommy Udo" and reciting movie dialogue. Gallo was nicknamed "Joey the Blond" because of his full chest of blond hair. In 1950, after an arrest, Gallo was temporarily placed in Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia
. Albert A Seedman, the head of New York's detective bureau
, called Gallo "That little guy with steel balls".
Joe Gallo's brothers were Larry Gallo and Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo
, who were also his criminal associates. His sister was Carmello Fiorello. Gallo's first wife, who he married around 1960, divorced in the mid 1960's, and then in July 1971 remarried, was Jeffie Gallo. Later in 1971, Jeffie divorced Gallo again. The couple had one daughter, Joie Gallo. In March 1972, three weeks before his death, Gallo married 29-year-old actress Sina Essary. Gallo became the stepfather of Sina's daughter, Lisa Essary-Gallo.
in the Profaci crime family. Gallo ran floating dice and high-stakes card games, an extortion racket and a numbers game
betting operation. His headquarters was an apartment on President street in Brooklyn, where Gallo allegedly kept a pet lion named Cleo in the basement. Within a few years, Gallo secretly owned several Manhattan nightclubs and two sweat shops in the Manhattan
garment district
where 40 or 50 women made fabric for dress suits.
In 1957, Profaci allegedly asked Joe Gallo and his crew to murder Albert Anastasia
, the boss of the Anastasia crime family
. Anastasia's underboss Vito Genovese
wanted to replace Anastasia and asked Profaci for assistance. As a former head of Murder, Inc.
, Anastasia was a dangerous hitman who could not be easily killed.
On October 25, 1957, Anastasia entered the barber shop of the Park Sheraton Hotel (now the Park Central Hotel
} in Midtown Manhattan
. Anastasia's bodyguards parked the car in an underground garage and then left the building. As Anastasia relaxed in the barber chair, two men – scarves covering their faces – rushed in, shoved the barber out of the way, and fired at Anastasia. After the first volley of bullets, Anastasia allegedly lunged at his killers. However, the stunned Anastasia had actually attacked the gunmen's reflections in the wall mirror. The gunmen continued firing and Albert Anastasia finally fell to the floor, dead.
To this day, Anastasia's murderers have not been conclusively identified. An alternative theory states that the gunmen actually came from the Patriarca crime family
of Providence, Rhode Island
. However, Carmine Persico
later said that he and Joe Gallo had shot Anastasia, joking that he was part of Gallo's "barbershop quintet".
In 1958, Joe Gallow and his brothers were summoned to Washington, D.C.
to testify before the McClellan Committee of the U.S. Senate on organized crime. When visiting Senate Counsel Robert F. Kennedy
in his office, Joe Gallo flirted with Kennedy's secretary and told Kennedy his carpet would be excellent for a dice game. On the witness stand, none of the brothers provided any useful information.
along with four Profaci capos. The Gallos demanded a more favorable financial scheme for the hostages' release. Joe Gallo wanted to kill one hostage and demand $100,000 before negotiation, but Larry Gallo overruled him. After a few weeks of negotiation, Profaci made a deal with the Gallos.
However, Profaci was busy planning his revenge. He bribed Carmine Persico to secretly work for him and planned his next strike. In May 1961, Profaci gunmen killed Joseph "Joe Jelly" Gioelli, Gallo's top enforcer. They dumped Gioeli's body, his clothing stuffed with dead fish, in front of a restaurant frequented by the Gallo gang. On August 20, 1961, Larry Gallo was lured to a meeting at the Sahara Lounge, a Brooklyn supper club
. Once inside the club, Profaci hitmen, including Persico, tried to strangle Larry Gallo. However, a passing police officer thwarted the execution.
With the start of the gang war, the Gallo gang retreated to their headquarters on President Street. Dubbed "The Dormitory
". Joey's father served as cook for the gang. Larry Gallo forced the crew members to pick their cigarette butts and do chores on a regular basis. A virtual arsenal
, the Dormitory was safe from attack. However, the New York Police Department (NYPD) raided the place many times.
As the year progressed, the Gallo brothers were unable to tend to their usual rackets. Joe Gallo tried to extort from a cafe owner, who immediately went to the police. In November, 1961, Joe Gallo was convicted on conspiracy and extortion for attempting to extort money from the businessman. On December 21, 1961, Gallo was sentenced to 7 to 14 years in state prison.
in Beekman, New York
. Attica Correctional Facility
in Attica, New York
, and Auburn Correctional Facility in Auburn, New York
While at Green Haven, Gallo became friends with African-American drug trafficker Nicky Barnes
. Gallo predicted a power shift in the Harlem
drug rackets from the Cosa Nostra to African-American gangs, and he coached Barnes on how to upgrade his criminal organization. Gallo was soon recruiting African-Americans as soldiers in the Gallo Crew. Gallo's relationships with other Cosa Nostra inmates was distant; they reportedly called him "The Criminal" for fraternizing with Barnes and other African-Americans inmates. On August 29, 1964, Gallo sued the Department of Corrections, stating that guards inflicted cruel and unusual punishment at Green Haven after Gallo allowed an African-American barber to cut his hair. The Commissioner characterized Gallo as a belligerent prisoner and an agitator.
While at Auburn, Gallo took up water color
painting. He became an avid reader and was soon conversant on Jean-Paul Sartre
, Franz Kafka
, Albert Camus
, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo
, Leo Tolstoy
, Ayn Rand
, and his role model Niccolò Machiavelli
. Gallo also read the The New York Times
. Gallo worked as an elevator operator in the prison's woodworking shop. During a riot at Auburn, Gallo rescued a severely wounded corrections officer from angry inmates. The officer later testified for Gallo at a parole
hearing.
According to Donald Frankos, a fellow inmate at Auburn, Gallo's philosophy was to be the best you can be, whether it was a car driver or gangster; never settle for second rate. Gallo tutored Frankos on Machiavelli and Frankos taught Gallo how to play bridge
. Frankos later described Gallo;
In May 1968, while Joe Gallo was still in prison, Larry Gallo died of cancer.
Gallo soon became a part of New York high society
. His connection started when actor Jerry Orbach
played the inept mobster "Kid Sally Palumbo" in the 1971 film The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
, a role loosely based on Gallo. Gallo felt Palumbo character was demeaning and wanted to discuss his objections with Orbach. After Gallo dined with Orbach and his first wife Marta Curro, they became good friends and the couple invited Gallo to many social events. Marta Orbach later commented that Gallo had "absolutely" charmed her. Gallo's new friends soon included actress Joan Hackett
, comedian David Steinberg
and writer Peter Stone
. Gallo and his wife Jeffie moved from President Street to an apartment in Greenwich Village
so they could live closer to his new social circle.
took over and continued the battle with Albert and Larry Gallo. In 1963, through negotiations with Patriarca crime family
boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca
, a peace agreement was reached between the two factions. Later in 1963, the Mafia Commission
forced Magliocco to resign and installed Colombo, an ally of Gambino crime family
bossCarlo Gambino
, as the new Profaci family boss. The Profaci family now became the Colombo crime family
.
However, Colombo soon alienated Gambino with his establishment of the Italian-American Civil Rights League
. Gambino did not appreciate all the publicity that Colombo was generating. It is possible that Gambino encouraged Gallo to continue his challenge to the Colombo leadership.
Immediately after Gallo's release from prison, Colombo and Joseph Yacovelli invited him to meet with them and receive a homecoming gift of $1,000. Gallo reportedly told the family representatives that he wasn't bound by the 1963 peace agreement and demanded $100,000 to settle the dispute. When the leadership heard Gallo's answer, they issued an order to kill Gallo.
However, another gunman struck first. On June 28, 1971, at the second League rally in Columbus Circle, Colombo was shot in the head by Jerome A. Johnson, a gunman posing as a photographer. Colombo's bodyguards immediately shot and killed Johnson. Colombo survived the shooting, but went into a coma from which he never recovered. After completing their investigation (which included an interview with Joe Gallo) the police concluded that Johnson was a lone shooter who had no ties with any criminal organization.
Despite the official conclusions, the Colombo family leadership (led by Joseph Yacovelli) was convinced that Gallo set up the Colombo shooting. Given that Johnson was African-American, the Colombos believed he was one of Gallo's prison recruits. The drive to kill Joe Gallo was intensified.
in Little Italy, Manhattan
. He was there to celebrate his 43rd birthday with sister Carmella, wife Sina Essary, her daughter Lisa, his bodyguard Peter "Pete the Greek" Diapoulas, and Diapoulas' female companion. Earlier that evening, the Gallo party visited the Copacabana Club
in Manhattan with Jerry and Marta Orbach to see a performance by comedian Don Rickles
. Once at Umberto's, the Gallo party took two tables, with Gallo and Diapoulas facing the wall.
Unknown to Gallo, Colombo associate Joseph Luparelli was sitting at the bar. When he saw Gallo, Luparelli immediately left Umberto's and walked two blocks to another restaurant that was a Colombo hangout. After contacting Yacovelli, Luparelli recruited Colombo associates Philip Gambino, Carmine DiBiase, and two other men to kill Gallo. On reaching Umbertos, Luparelli stayed in the car and the other four men went inside through the back door.
Between seafood courses, the four gunmen burst into the dining room and opened fire with .32 and .38 caliber revolvers. Gallo swore and drew his handgun. Twenty shots were fired and Gallo was hit in the back, elbow, and buttock. After overturning a butcher block
dining table, Gallo staggered to the front door. Witness would claim that Gallo was attempting to draw fire away from his family. Diapoulas was shot once in the buttocks as he dove for cover. The mortally wounded Gallo stumbled into the street and collapsed. He was taken in a police car to New York Downtown Hospital
(then called Beekman-Downtown Hospital). Joe Gallo died in the emergency department.
. Gallo was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery
in Brooklyn.
After spending time in a Colombo safe house, an increasingly paranoid Luparelli fled to California, then contacted the FBI and reached a deal to become a government witness. Luparelli then implicated the four gunmen in the Gallo murder. However, the police could not bring charges against them; there was no corroborating evidence and Luparelli was deemed an unreliable witness. No one was ever charged in the Gallo murder. In 2003, mobster Frank Sheeran
claimed that he had killed Gallo.
After Gallo's murder, a frightened Yacovelli would leave town. The Colombo family was now led by the imprisoned Carmine Persico
and his clan. The Second Colombo War would last for several years until a 1968 agreement allowed Albert Gallo and his remaining crew to join the Genovese crime family
.
Gallo's death would be the subject of Bob Dylan
and Jacques Levy
's song "Joey
", recorded by Dylan on his 1976 album "Desire".
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
gangster for the Profaci crime family, later known as the Colombo crime family
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
. Gallo initiated one of the bloodiest mob conflicts since the 1931 Castellammarese War
Castellammarese War
The Castellammarese War was a bloody power struggle for control of the Italian-American Mafia between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and those of Salvatore Maranzano. It was so called because Maranzano was based in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily...
and was murdered as a result of it.
Background
Joe Gallo was born and raised in the Red HookRed Hook, Brooklyn
Red Hook is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6. It is also the location where the transatlantic liner, the , docks in New York City.- History :...
section of Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Umberto and Mary Gallo. A bootleg
Bootleg
The term bootlegging originally came from concealing hip flasks of alcohol in the legs of boots.Bootleg or bootlegging* Bootleg , the use of illegal equipment, frequencies, or operating procedures in two-way radio...
ger during Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
, Umberto did nothing to discourage his three sons from becoming criminals. In 1949, after viewing the film Kiss of Death
Kiss of Death (1947 film)
Kiss of Death is a 1947 film noir movie directed by Henry Hathaway and written by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer from a story by Eleazar Lipsky. The story revolves around the film's protagonist, a former robber, and the antagonist, the ruthless, violent Tommy Udo...
, Joe Gallo began mimic
Mimic
In evolutionary biology, mimicry is the similarity of one species to another which protects one or both. This similarity can be in appearance, behaviour, sound, scent and even location, with the mimics found in similar places to their models....
ing Richard Widmark
Richard Widmark
Richard Weedt Widmark was an American film, stage and television actor.He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death...
's gangster character "Tommy Udo" and reciting movie dialogue. Gallo was nicknamed "Joey the Blond" because of his full chest of blond hair. In 1950, after an arrest, Gallo was temporarily placed in Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
. Albert A Seedman, the head of New York's detective bureau
New York City Police Department Detective Bureau
The NYPD Detective Bureau is one of the ten bureaus that comprise the New York City Police Department and is currently headed by Bureau Chief Phil T...
, called Gallo "That little guy with steel balls".
Joe Gallo's brothers were Larry Gallo and Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo
Albert Gallo
Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo, Jr. was a New York mobster for the Profaci crime family, later called the Colombo crime family. Gallo led his crew in challenging the Colombo leadership during the Second Colombo War.-Biography:...
, who were also his criminal associates. His sister was Carmello Fiorello. Gallo's first wife, who he married around 1960, divorced in the mid 1960's, and then in July 1971 remarried, was Jeffie Gallo. Later in 1971, Jeffie divorced Gallo again. The couple had one daughter, Joie Gallo. In March 1972, three weeks before his death, Gallo married 29-year-old actress Sina Essary. Gallo became the stepfather of Sina's daughter, Lisa Essary-Gallo.
Criminal career
Joe Gallo started as an enforcer and hitman for Joe ProfaciJoe Profaci
Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci was a New York La Cosa Nostra boss who was the founder of what is today known as the Colombo crime family. Established in 1928, this was the last of the Five Families to be organized. He was the family's boss for over three decades.-Family ties:Profaci's sons were Frank...
in the Profaci crime family. Gallo ran floating dice and high-stakes card games, an extortion racket and a numbers game
Numbers game
Numbers game, also known as a numbers racket, policy racket or Italian lottery, is an illegal lottery played mostly in poor neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the following day...
betting operation. His headquarters was an apartment on President street in Brooklyn, where Gallo allegedly kept a pet lion named Cleo in the basement. Within a few years, Gallo secretly owned several Manhattan nightclubs and two sweat shops in the 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...
garment district
Garment District, Manhattan
The Garment District, also known as the Garment Center, the Fashion District, or the Fashion Center, is a neighborhood located in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The dense concentration of fashion-related uses give the neighborhood, which is generally considered to span between Fifth Avenue...
where 40 or 50 women made fabric for dress suits.
In 1957, Profaci allegedly asked Joe Gallo and his crew to murder 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...
, the boss of the Anastasia crime family
Genovese crime family
The Genovese 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 Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
. Anastasia's underboss Vito Genovese
Vito Genovese
Vito "Don Vito" Genovese was an Italian mafioso who rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family. Genovese served as mentor to future mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante...
wanted to replace Anastasia and asked Profaci for assistance. As a former head of Murder, Inc.
Murder, Inc.
Murder, Inc. was the name given by the press to organized crime groups in the 1920s through the 1940s that resulted in hundreds of murders on behalf of the American Mafia and Jewish Mafia groups who together formed the early organized crime groups in New York and...
, Anastasia was a dangerous hitman who could not be easily killed.
On October 25, 1957, Anastasia entered the barber shop of the Park Sheraton Hotel (now the Park Central Hotel
Park Central Hotel
The Park Central Hotel is a 31-story, 935-room hotel located at 870 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York.Built in the pre-Depression late-twenties, its grand opening took place on June 12, 1927...
} in Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
. Anastasia's bodyguards parked the car in an underground garage and then left the building. As Anastasia relaxed in the barber chair, two men – scarves covering their faces – rushed in, shoved the barber out of the way, and fired at Anastasia. After the first volley of bullets, Anastasia allegedly lunged at his killers. However, the stunned Anastasia had actually attacked the gunmen's reflections in the wall mirror. The gunmen continued firing and Albert Anastasia finally fell to the floor, dead.
To this day, Anastasia's murderers have not been conclusively identified. An alternative theory states that the gunmen actually came from the Patriarca crime family
Patriarca crime family
The Patriarca crime family, also known as the New England crime family and the Providence crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in New England, specifically Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts, and is part of the Italian-American Mafia or "La Cosa Nostra"...
of Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. However, Carmine Persico
Carmine Persico
Carmine John Persico, Jr. also known as "Junior", "The Snake" and "Immortal", has been the de-facto boss of the Colombo crime family since the early 1970s. Persico has overseen gang wars, murders, and major rackets, most of the time from prison. He has been serving life imprisonment without...
later said that he and Joe Gallo had shot Anastasia, joking that he was part of Gallo's "barbershop quintet".
In 1958, Joe Gallow and his brothers were summoned to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to testify before the McClellan Committee of the U.S. Senate on organized crime. When visiting Senate Counsel Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
in his office, Joe Gallo flirted with Kennedy's secretary and told Kennedy his carpet would be excellent for a dice game. On the witness stand, none of the brothers provided any useful information.
First Colombo War
In early 1961 the Gallo crew attempted to kidnap the entire Profaci leadership. Profaci escaped capture, but the crew was able to get Profaci's brother-in-law and underboss Joseph MaglioccoJoseph Magliocco
Joseph Magliocco, also known as "Joe Malayak" was a New York mobster and the boss of the Profaci crime family from 1962 to 1963...
along with four Profaci capos. The Gallos demanded a more favorable financial scheme for the hostages' release. Joe Gallo wanted to kill one hostage and demand $100,000 before negotiation, but Larry Gallo overruled him. After a few weeks of negotiation, Profaci made a deal with the Gallos.
However, Profaci was busy planning his revenge. He bribed Carmine Persico to secretly work for him and planned his next strike. In May 1961, Profaci gunmen killed Joseph "Joe Jelly" Gioelli, Gallo's top enforcer. They dumped Gioeli's body, his clothing stuffed with dead fish, in front of a restaurant frequented by the Gallo gang. On August 20, 1961, Larry Gallo was lured to a meeting at the Sahara Lounge, a Brooklyn supper club
Supper club
A supper club, in general, refers to a dining establishment that also functions as a social club. The term may describe different establishments depending on the region, but in general, supper clubs tend to present themselves as having a high-class image, even if the price is affordable to...
. Once inside the club, Profaci hitmen, including Persico, tried to strangle Larry Gallo. However, a passing police officer thwarted the execution.
With the start of the gang war, the Gallo gang retreated to their headquarters on President Street. Dubbed "The Dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
". Joey's father served as cook for the gang. Larry Gallo forced the crew members to pick their cigarette butts and do chores on a regular basis. A virtual arsenal
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
, the Dormitory was safe from attack. However, the New York Police Department (NYPD) raided the place many times.
As the year progressed, the Gallo brothers were unable to tend to their usual rackets. Joe Gallo tried to extort from a cafe owner, who immediately went to the police. In November, 1961, Joe Gallo was convicted on conspiracy and extortion for attempting to extort money from the businessman. On December 21, 1961, Gallo was sentenced to 7 to 14 years in state prison.
Prison
While serving his sentence, Gallo was incarcerated at three New York State prisons: Green Haven Correctional FacilityGreen Haven Correctional Facility
Green Haven Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison in New York, United States. The prison is located in the Town of Beekman in Dutchess County. The New York State Department of Correctional Services lists the address as Route 216, Stormville, NY 12582...
in Beekman, New York
Beekman, New York
Beekman is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area. The population was 11,452 at the 2000...
. Attica Correctional Facility
Attica Correctional Facility
The Attica Correctional Facility is a maximum penitentiary in the town of Attica, New York, operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services. After it was constructed in the 1930s, it held many of the most dangerous criminals of the time. A tear gas system is installed in the mess...
in Attica, New York
Attica, New York
Attica is the name of some places in the U.S. state of New York:*Attica , New York, in Wyoming County*Attica , New York, in Wyoming and Genesee Counties...
, and Auburn Correctional Facility in Auburn, New York
Auburn, New York
Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 27,687...
While at Green Haven, Gallo became friends with African-American drug trafficker Nicky Barnes
Leroy Barnes
Leroy Nicholas "Nicky" Barnes is a government informant, former drug lord and crime boss, who led the notorious African-American criminal organization known as The Council, which controlled the heroin trade in Harlem, New York during the 1970s. In 2007 he released a book, “Mr...
. Gallo predicted a power shift in the Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
drug rackets from the Cosa Nostra to African-American gangs, and he coached Barnes on how to upgrade his criminal organization. Gallo was soon recruiting African-Americans as soldiers in the Gallo Crew. Gallo's relationships with other Cosa Nostra inmates was distant; they reportedly called him "The Criminal" for fraternizing with Barnes and other African-Americans inmates. On August 29, 1964, Gallo sued the Department of Corrections, stating that guards inflicted cruel and unusual punishment at Green Haven after Gallo allowed an African-American barber to cut his hair. The Commissioner characterized Gallo as a belligerent prisoner and an agitator.
While at Auburn, Gallo took up water color
Water color
Water color may refer to:* Watercolor painting, a painting method* Color of water, a measure of water quality as well as a physical property of water* Water Colors , the first album by Japanese song writer Ayako Ikeda...
painting. He became an avid reader and was soon conversant on Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
, Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
, Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
, Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
, and his role model Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...
. Gallo also read the The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Gallo worked as an elevator operator in the prison's woodworking shop. During a riot at Auburn, Gallo rescued a severely wounded corrections officer from angry inmates. The officer later testified for Gallo at a parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
hearing.
According to Donald Frankos, a fellow inmate at Auburn, Gallo's philosophy was to be the best you can be, whether it was a car driver or gangster; never settle for second rate. Gallo tutored Frankos on Machiavelli and Frankos taught Gallo how to play bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
. Frankos later described Gallo;
"Joe was articulate and had excellent verbal skills being able to describe gouging a man's guts out with the same eloquent ease that he used when discussing classical literature."
In May 1968, while Joe Gallo was still in prison, Larry Gallo died of cancer.
Release from prison
In 1971, Gallo was released from prison. Gallo's second wife Sina described Gallo shortly after his release, saying he appeared,"...extremely frail and pale. He looked like an old man. He was a bag of bones. You could see the remnants of what had been a strikingly handsome man in his youth. He had beautiful features - beautiful nose, beautiful mouth and piercing blue eyes."
Gallo soon became a part of New York high society
High society
High society may refer to:* Upper class, group of people at the top of a social hierarchy* Gentry, origin Old French genterie, from gentil ‘high-born, noble* High society , social grouping which socialites may be affiliated with....
. His connection started when actor Jerry Orbach
Jerry Orbach
Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...
played the inept mobster "Kid Sally Palumbo" in the 1971 film The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight is a 1969 novel written by Jimmy Breslin and a film of the same name based on the book and released in 1971 starring Robert De Niro. The novel is a roman à clef of the life of Joey Gallo whose fictional counterpart, Kid Sally Palumbo, is played by Jerry Orbach...
, a role loosely based on Gallo. Gallo felt Palumbo character was demeaning and wanted to discuss his objections with Orbach. After Gallo dined with Orbach and his first wife Marta Curro, they became good friends and the couple invited Gallo to many social events. Marta Orbach later commented that Gallo had "absolutely" charmed her. Gallo's new friends soon included actress Joan Hackett
Joan Hackett
Joan Ann Hackett was an American actress who appeared on stage, in films, and on television.- Early life :She was born in New York City of Irish and Italian extraction...
, comedian David Steinberg
David Steinberg
David Steinberg is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was one of the best-known stand-up comics in the United States...
and writer Peter Stone
Peter Stone
Peter Hess Stone was an American writer for theater, television and movies.-Life and career:Stone was born in Los Angeles. His mother, Hilda , was a film writer, and his father, John Stone was the writer and producer of many silent films, including Shirley Temple and Charlie Chan movies...
. Gallo and his wife Jeffie moved from President Street to an apartment in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
so they could live closer to his new social circle.
Family problems
While Gallo was serving his sentence, big changes were happening in the Profaci family. On June 7, 1962, after a long illness, Profaci died of cancer. Underboss Joseph MaglioccoJoseph Magliocco
Joseph Magliocco, also known as "Joe Malayak" was a New York mobster and the boss of the Profaci crime family from 1962 to 1963...
took over and continued the battle with Albert and Larry Gallo. In 1963, through negotiations with Patriarca crime family
Patriarca crime family
The Patriarca crime family, also known as the New England crime family and the Providence crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in New England, specifically Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts, and is part of the Italian-American Mafia or "La Cosa Nostra"...
boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca
Raymond L.S. Patriarca
Raymond Loreda Salvatore Patriarca, Sr. was an Italian-American mobster from Providence, Rhode Island who became the longtime boss of the Patriarca crime family, whose control extended throughout New England for over three decades...
, a peace agreement was reached between the two factions. Later in 1963, the Mafia Commission
Mafia Commission
Mafia Commission may refer to:*Sicilian Mafia Commission*The Commission *Mafia Commission Trial...
forced Magliocco to resign and installed Colombo, an ally of 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...
bossCarlo 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...
, as the new Profaci family boss. The Profaci family now became the Colombo crime family
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
.
However, Colombo soon alienated Gambino with his establishment of the Italian-American Civil Rights League
Italian-American Civil Rights League
The Italian-American Civil Rights League was formed as a political group in and around New York City in the early 1970s. Its stated goal was to combat pejorative stereotypes about Italian-Americans....
. Gambino did not appreciate all the publicity that Colombo was generating. It is possible that Gambino encouraged Gallo to continue his challenge to the Colombo leadership.
Immediately after Gallo's release from prison, Colombo and Joseph Yacovelli invited him to meet with them and receive a homecoming gift of $1,000. Gallo reportedly told the family representatives that he wasn't bound by the 1963 peace agreement and demanded $100,000 to settle the dispute. When the leadership heard Gallo's answer, they issued an order to kill Gallo.
However, another gunman struck first. On June 28, 1971, at the second League rally in Columbus Circle, Colombo was shot in the head by Jerome A. Johnson, a gunman posing as a photographer. Colombo's bodyguards immediately shot and killed Johnson. Colombo survived the shooting, but went into a coma from which he never recovered. After completing their investigation (which included an interview with Joe Gallo) the police concluded that Johnson was a lone shooter who had no ties with any criminal organization.
Despite the official conclusions, the Colombo family leadership (led by Joseph Yacovelli) was convinced that Gallo set up the Colombo shooting. Given that Johnson was African-American, the Colombos believed he was one of Gallo's prison recruits. The drive to kill Joe Gallo was intensified.
Gallo Murder
On April 7, 1972, Colombo family gunmen murdered Joe Gallo in a Manhattan restaurant. At 4:30 a.m. that day, Gallo and his family entered Umberto's Clam HouseUmberto's Clam House
Umberto's Clam House is a restaurant located in Little Italy, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Originally located on Mulberry Street, it has since moved to Broome Street.-History:...
in Little Italy, Manhattan
Little Italy, Manhattan
Little Italy is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York City, once known for its large population of Italians. Today the neighborhood of Little Italy consists of Italian stores and restaurants.-Historical area:...
. He was there to celebrate his 43rd birthday with sister Carmella, wife Sina Essary, her daughter Lisa, his bodyguard Peter "Pete the Greek" Diapoulas, and Diapoulas' female companion. Earlier that evening, the Gallo party visited the Copacabana Club
Copacabana (nightclub)
The Copacabana is a famous New York City nightclub. Many entertainers, among them Danny Thomas, Pat Cooper and the comedy team of Martin and Lewis, made their debuts at the Copacabana. The 1978 Barry Manilow song "Copacabana" is named after, and is about the nightclub. Part of the 2003 Yerba...
in Manhattan with Jerry and Marta Orbach to see a performance by comedian Don Rickles
Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
. Once at Umberto's, the Gallo party took two tables, with Gallo and Diapoulas facing the wall.
Unknown to Gallo, Colombo associate Joseph Luparelli was sitting at the bar. When he saw Gallo, Luparelli immediately left Umberto's and walked two blocks to another restaurant that was a Colombo hangout. After contacting Yacovelli, Luparelli recruited Colombo associates Philip Gambino, Carmine DiBiase, and two other men to kill Gallo. On reaching Umbertos, Luparelli stayed in the car and the other four men went inside through the back door.
Between seafood courses, the four gunmen burst into the dining room and opened fire with .32 and .38 caliber revolvers. Gallo swore and drew his handgun. Twenty shots were fired and Gallo was hit in the back, elbow, and buttock. After overturning a butcher block
Butcher block
A butcher's block is a style of assembled wood used as heavy duty chopping blocks, table tops, and cutting boards...
dining table, Gallo staggered to the front door. Witness would claim that Gallo was attempting to draw fire away from his family. Diapoulas was shot once in the buttocks as he dove for cover. The mortally wounded Gallo stumbled into the street and collapsed. He was taken in a police car to New York Downtown Hospital
New York Downtown Hospital
New York Downtown Hospital is a not-for-profit, acute care, teaching hospital in New York City and is the only hospital in Lower Manhattan...
(then called Beekman-Downtown Hospital). Joe Gallo died in the emergency department.
Aftermath
Gallo's funeral was held under police surveillance; Gallo's sister Carmella declared over his open coffin that "The streets are going to run red with blood, Joey!". Since the local Catholic diocese refused to perform a burial service for Gallo, Sina arranged for a priest to fly in from Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. Gallo was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County , New York. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.-History:...
in Brooklyn.
After spending time in a Colombo safe house, an increasingly paranoid Luparelli fled to California, then contacted the FBI and reached a deal to become a government witness. Luparelli then implicated the four gunmen in the Gallo murder. However, the police could not bring charges against them; there was no corroborating evidence and Luparelli was deemed an unreliable witness. No one was ever charged in the Gallo murder. In 2003, mobster Frank Sheeran
Frank Sheeran
Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran was a former labor union official who was accused of having links to the Bufalino crime family. In his capacity as a high official in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sheeran was a leading figure in the corruption of unions by organized crime...
claimed that he had killed Gallo.
After Gallo's murder, a frightened Yacovelli would leave town. The Colombo family was now led by the imprisoned Carmine Persico
Carmine Persico
Carmine John Persico, Jr. also known as "Junior", "The Snake" and "Immortal", has been the de-facto boss of the Colombo crime family since the early 1970s. Persico has overseen gang wars, murders, and major rackets, most of the time from prison. He has been serving life imprisonment without...
and his clan. The Second Colombo War would last for several years until a 1968 agreement allowed Albert Gallo and his remaining crew to join the Genovese crime family
Genovese crime family
The Genovese 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 Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
.
Gallo's death would be the subject of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy was an American songwriter, theatre director, and clinical psychologist.Levy was born in New York City in 1935, and attended its City College. He received a doctorate in psychology from Michigan State University. Levy was a trained psychoanalyst, certified by the Menninger Institute...
's song "Joey
Joey (Bob Dylan song)
"Joey" is a song from Bob Dylan's 1976 album Desire. It was written by Dylan and Jacques Levy, who collaborated with Dylan on most of the songs on the album. In a 2009 interview with Bill Flanagan, Dylan claimed that Levy wrote all the words to this song. Like another long song on the album,...
", recorded by Dylan on his 1976 album "Desire".
Gallo crew members
- Joe Gallo - murdered in 1972 by Colombo gunmen
- Albert "Kid Blast" GalloAlbert GalloAlbert "Kid Blast" Gallo, Jr. was a New York mobster for the Profaci crime family, later called the Colombo crime family. Gallo led his crew in challenging the Colombo leadership during the Second Colombo War.-Biography:...
- transferred to Genovese family in 1975 - Larry Gallo - died of cancer in 1968
- Frank "Punchy" IllianoFrank IllianoFrank "Punchy" Illiano is a Brooklyn capo with the Genovese crime family. During the 1960's and 1970's, he served as a top lieutenant to the Gallo brothers in their two wars with the Colombo crime family leadership.-Biography:...
- transferred to Genovese family in 1975 - Nicholas BiancoNicholas BiancoNicholas "Nicky" Bianco was a Rhode Island mobster who became an influential member of the Patriarca crime family of New England.-Biography:Bianco was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island...
- transferred to Patriarca family in 1963, died of natural causes in 1994 - Vic Amuso - transferred to Lucchese family, serving life in prison.
- Joseph "Joe Pesh" Luparelli - entered witness protection program in 1972, current location unknown
- Joe Gioelli - murdered in 1961 by Profaci gunmen
- Carmine PersicoCarmine PersicoCarmine John Persico, Jr. also known as "Junior", "The Snake" and "Immortal", has been the de-facto boss of the Colombo crime family since the early 1970s. Persico has overseen gang wars, murders, and major rackets, most of the time from prison. He has been serving life imprisonment without...
- Colombo family boss, serving life in prison - John Cutrone - led breakaway faction from Gallo crew, murdered in 1976 by unknown gunmen
- Gerry Basciano - seceded from Gallo crew, murdered in 1976 by unknown gunmen
- Steve Cirrilo - murdered in 1974 by Cutrone gunmen.
- Joseph Cardiello - defected to Profaci, murdered by Gallo gunmen on December 10, 1963
- Louis Mariani - murdered by Profaci gunmen on December 10, 1963
- Leonard Dello
- John Commarato
- Alfonso Serantonio
- Joseph Yancone
- Eugene LaGana
- Frank Balzano
Further reading
- Albanese, S. Jay, Contemporary Issues in Organized Crime, Criminal Justice Press 1995 ISBN 1881798046
External links
- New York City Gangland by Arthur Nash, Chapter 6: "The Godfather Game: Gangland Jumps the Shark"
- Gallo article at americanmafia.com
- Death of Gallo at crimelibrary.com
- Former Umberto's Clam House at Google Maps