Anthony Gaggi
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| Anthony Gaggi | |
 Anthony Gaggi on February 25, 1984
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| Born | August 7, 1925 Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
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| Died | April 17, 1988 (aged 62) Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Anthony Frank "Nino" Gaggi (August 7, 1925 – April 17, 1988) was a high-ranking member of the New York Gambino crime family who supervised the infamous DeMeo crew, noted for their lucrative auto theft schemes and multiple murders.
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[edit] Early life and criminal career
Born in the summer of 1925, Anthony Frank Gaggi was the youngest of three Sicilian-American children. He grew up on 12th Street near Avenue A in the East Village of Manhattan. Nino's father ran a barber shop and his mother worked as a seamstress in a sweatshop. Growing up during the The Depression, Nino worked before age 10 at his father's shop, sweeping up hair and polishing shoes. He also delivered flowers for a neighborhood florist. Anthony Gaggi was always expensively dressed in Italian brand name designer suits with black receding hair who always wore black sunglasses even at night time that completely hid his eyes. There was a feeling of superiority and power that surrounded him. Anthony was the only individual who Roy DeMeo ever seemed anxious to please. Albert DeMeo, Roy's son thought he was "very nice and very friendly." He was married and his wife was a seamstress who made him custom made suits. Around this time, Nino joined the dominant neighborhood gang, the Tenth Street Mob. Mob members robbed vendor carts and frequently fought with rival gangs. The Mob included among its members the future middleweight boxing champion, Jake LaMotta. Nino was used to organized crime; his father's cousin was Frank Scalise, a well-respected mobster and future underboss of the Gambino crime family. Nino reportedly idolized Scalise, telling fellow gang members that he only wanted two things in life: to be like Scalise and to die in the street with a gun in his hand.
At age 14, Nino graduated from eighth grade and stopped going to school, becoming a barber at his father's shop and delivering flowers. He began earning enough money to occasionally buy himself expensive clothes. He bought a pair of dark-tinted prescription eyeglasses, which became part of his appearance for the rest of his life.
During his teenaged years, his family announced they were moving to a farm in New Jersey. Nino reportedly hated the farm and tried to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1942. However, the Army rejected him rejected due to nearsightedness and Nino remained in New Jersey. In 1943, the Gaggi family moved back to Bath Beach, Brooklyn. That same year, after turning 18, Nino contacted Scalise and asked for work.
[edit] Early association with the Gambino Family
Scalise first gave Nino a job at a truck dock and then quickly promoted him to supervisor. Nino officially worked the dock job until he quit in 1945; however, he still got paid for the job thanks to Scalise. This practice of holding a "no show-job" gave mobsters a legitimate source of income to report to the IRS while enabling them to devote time to their illegal rackets. Nino now got involved in loan sharking in Brooklyn bars and pool halls.
In 1947, Nino's married sister gave birth to Dominick Santamaria. Since Nino worked late in the day, he usually watched Dominick during the day. Dominick would grow up to become involved in Nino's criminal enterprises and later play a part in his downfall. By 1950, Nino wanted to expand into the car business. He attempted to talk Anthony Santamaria, Dominick's father, into staging a car accident so that Nino could defraud the insurance company. Santamaria refused, triggering a feud between the two men that ended when Nino kicked Santamaria out of the house in 1951. The 26-year-old Nino warned Santamaria never to interact with Dominick or his family again.
In 1954, seven-year-old Dominick saw the FBI force their way into his house and arrest Uncle Nino for running an international auto theft ring. Operating out of a used-car lot in Brooklyn, the ring was backed by Scalise, who was now underboss of the Gambino family. In operation for two years, Nino and two associates would fabricate vehicle registrations for nonexistent Cadillacs. Car thieves would then steal real Cadillacs that matched the phoney descriptions and replace their Vehicle Identification Numbers with new numbers. The vehicles would also get new license plates with falsified registrations. The stolen vehicles, now looking totally legal, were then sold in Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Mexico. Amazingly, the auto theft ring was Nino's first arrest. In early 1956, Nino was found not guilty; witnesses forgot their testimony on the stand and his co-defendants refused to testify against him. Because he had been granted bail only a few hours after his arrest, Nino served no jail time whatsoever
While the trial was underway, Nino married in 1955 and became a father in 1956. His wife and child lived on the first floor of the three-story Gaggi household. Nino still served as a father figure for his nephew Dominick. When Dominick was confirmed in 1957, Nino was Godfather.
In June 1957, the Gambino family underwent a change in leadership. His mentor, Frank Scalise, was murdered in the Bronx at a fruit stand, shot four times. Frank's brother Joseph, who was overheard at the wake swearing revenge, disappeared shortly thereafter. In October 1957, boss Albert Anastasia was shot to death in a barber’s chair at a Manhattan hotel. Nino’s close associate, Carlo Gambino became the new boss of the family. During this period of turmoil, Nino ordered his family to stay inside the Gaggi home for a few days. Gambino soon appointed Aniello Dellacroce, an Anastasia loyalist, as underboss and gave him control over the Manhattan faction of the family.
In October 1960, Nino committed his first murder for the Gambino family. He served on a hit squad that murdered Vincent Squillante, the man who probably killed both Frank and Joseph Scalise. According to Dominick, Nino’s account of the murder was as follows: “We surprised him 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 an incinerator, and cremated it. With this murder, Nino was inducted into the Gambino Family. In 1963 he fathered a Gambino crime family mobster Joseph Gaggi.
[edit] Promotion and Association with DeMeo Crew
By the mid-1960s, Nino had a wide variety of loanshark customers and was also a silent partner in several businesses. Looking to increase his earnings, Nino became acquainted with Roy DeMeo, who was running stolen cars in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Flatlands and Canarsie. DeMeo whose connections with the Lucchese Family and had a reputation as a capable and resourceful earner. Nino and DeMeo began making co-loans to loanshark customers. By 1970, DeMeo was officially working for Nino and paying him weekly tributes. In 1972, the two men forced their way into a partnership with a company that illegally processed X-rated films. After it was raided in 1973, owner Paul Rothenberg began to cooperate with authorities. Nino ordered DeMeo to murder Rothenberg, who was found shot to death shortly thereafter.
The Rothenberg killing was the first in a long line of murders committed DeMeo. While Nino was not involved in most of these killings, he did participate in some of them. In 1975, Nino and DeMeo shot to death Vincent Governara, a young man with no organized crime ties. Governara had been in a fight with Nino; his killing was strictly revenge . In 1976, Nino and DeMeo killed George Byrum, an electrical contractor who worked on Nino's Florida vacation home. Byrum had tipped off thieves who robbed the house while Nino was in New York. DeMeo lured Byrum to a Miami hotel room, where he was shot to death and left partly decapitated.
In late 1976, boss Carlo Gambino died of natural causes. Gambino supposedly wanted Paul Castellano, his brother-in-law, to replace him as boss. However, another family faction favored underboss Aniello Dellacroce instead. At a leadership meeting held at Nino's house, Castellano was appointed the boss and Dellacroce remained underboss. Nino was promoted to capo, or captain, of Castellano's old crew. Nino remained close to Castellano, hoped to eventually become underboss.
With Castellano as boss, Nino started proposing DeMeo for family membership. Castellano initially balked because he felt DeMeo was too violent and Nino couldn't control him. In Summer 1977, Castellano finally relented. DeMeo had successfully formed an alliance between the Gambino family and The Westies, a group of Irish-American criminals that dominated the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. DeMeo continued to expand his many illegal activities and passed ever more money to Nino. Nino continued to expand his loansharking business. His nephew Dominick, now officially a Gambino associate, was put in charge of collecting the loans from Nino's customers and the weekly payments from DeMeo. Montiglio's close involvement in nearly all facets of Nino's criminal activities, particularly with the DeMeo Crew, would have heavy repercussions for Gaggi in the mid-1980s.
On June 7, 1978, Nino and nine others were charged with racketeering, conspiracy and fraud charges as a result of a year-long Federal investigation into the bankruptcy of a theatre in New York. The majority of the evidence in this case came from wiretapped conversations; fortunately for Nino, he never said anything incriminating. As a result, Nino was cleared of all charges in December of 1978. [1]
[edit] Eppolito Murders and Arrest
By 1979, DeMeo was involved in loansharking, murder-for-hire, and the operation of an auto theft ring that was shipping cars to the Middle East. Nino received a large percentage of these profits along with money from DeMeo's drug trafficking. The DeMeo Crew sold cocaine, marijuana, and a variety of pills in large amounts. Under Mafia protocol, both DeMeo and Nino should have been murdered if Castellano had discovered their drug trade. In late 1979, long-time Gambino captain James Eppolito went to Castellano and accused Nino and DeMeo of drug trafficking. Eppolito's son, a Gambino soldier, had been ripped off in a drug-deal by the DeMeo Crew and then accused by Nino of being a police informant. Eppolito asked Castellano permission to murder Nino and DeMeo. However, despite their drug-dealing, Castellano sided against Eppolito and gave permission to murder Eppolito and his son.
On October 1, 1979, Nino and DeMeo shot and killed both Eppolitos. However, a witness alerted an off-duty policeman, who soon found Nino walking away from the crime scene (DeMeo had gone in a different direction). After a brief shootout, Nino was wounded in the neck and arrested. Although later charged with murder and the attempted murder of a police officer, Nino got away with only an assault conviction and a 5 to 15 year sentence (jury tampering was suspected). DeMeo became acting captain of his crew in his absence. In 1981, Nino's sentence was overturned; he had persuaded the juror he bribed during his trial to make false claims of government misconduct.
[edit] Downfall
By the time Nino was released, dark clouds were appearing on the horizon. His nephew Dominick had become a drug addict and fled New York for fear of his life. The FBI busted DeMeo's auto theft operation and sent two crew members to prison. Another crew member, Vito Arena, had turned informant in 1980. In 1982, Arena began testifying about crimes committed by the DeMeo Crew and by Nino. As the Task Force investigation intensified, Castellano became concerned that DeMeo might cooperate with the authorities also. On, January 10, 1983, the body of DeMeo was found nearly frozen in the trunk of his car. The murderer was never identified, but law enforcement authorities believe Nino, in a high state of paranoia, killed DeMeo himself.
Shortly after DeMeo's murder, Dominick was arrested in New York; he came back to collect on an old loanshark debt. Dominick started cooperating with the government, providing information on the DeMeo crew and Nino. Dominick's information led to the indictments of both Nino and Castellano. By early 1984, some of the DeMeo crew members were arrested. One of them, Richard DiNome, was murdered on February 4, 1984. Like DeMeo, the killers were never identified, but law enforcement assumed it was the remaining members of the DeMeo Crew. Richard's brother Frederick DiNome also suspected the DeMeo Crew and agreed to become a government witness also.
On February 25, Nino was arrested on multiple charges of racketeering and murder. Castellano was arrested the next month. The court decided to split the numerous charges into two trials, with the first one dealing only with the overseas auto theft operation and five murders committed in relation to it. The trial began in October of 1985 and saw testimony from Arena, DiNome, and Dominick. Midway through the trial, in December 1985, Castellano and his new underboss were shot to death on the orders of capo John Gotti. Nino became the new lead defendant; there was also some speculation about him replacing the late Castellano as boss. In March 1986 Nino was convicted of conspiracy to sell stolen cars and sentenced to five years in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. In 1988, Nino was transferred from Lewisburg to Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City for the second Federal trial. This trial focused primarily on the racketeering acts and 25 murders committed by the DeMeo Crew.
On April 17, 1988, while being held at MCC-NYC Anthony "Nino" Gaggi died of natural causes.The trial would continue on for another year and end in guilty verdicts and life sentences for the remainder of Roy DeMeo's crew. It was estimated that the DeMeo crew murdered between 75 and 200 people.
[edit] In popular culture
Dominick would provide writers Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustaine information for their book Murder Machine, on the rise and fall of Anthony Gaggi and the DeMeo Crew. Dominick would blame Gaggi's influence on his upbringing for his own criminal actions, both in the book and in appearances on documentary programs detailing organized crime.
[edit] 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
- 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. [1]
[edit] References
- ^ "The Region: A Defendant Clear In Theater Fraud". (December 14, 1978). The New York Times
[edit] External links
- New York Times - The City: New Trial Ordered In Brooklyn Case by United Press International
- Albert Demeo on The Diane Rehm Show
