Mario Gigante
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Mario Gigante (born November 4, 1923) is a New York City mobster who served as caporegime and acting boss for the Genovese Crime Family. He is the older brother of late family boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante.
Mario began his criminal life as a "made man", or full family member, in caporegime Vito Genovese's crew. At that time, Vincent was Genovese's chauffeur. During the power struggle between Genovese and then boss Frank Costello, the Gigante brothers were reportedly involved in many significant hits for Genovese. By the 1970s, both Mario and Vincent were capos of their own crews. Neither brother had served significant prison time as they both kept low profiles. In the early 1980s, Vincent became the boss of the Genovese family. Mario rose to become one of the family's highest earners, involved in gambling, loansharking, and other rackets.
In 1984, Mario was convicted of loansharking and received an eight year prison sentence. However, former New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato allegedly lobbied U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani to reduce Mario's sentence. In 1985, Mario's sentence was reduced. Mob turncoat Vincent "Fish" Cafaro then alleged that he had approached power broker and attorney Roy Cohn to bribe a judge to lower Mario's sentence. Cafaro said he delivered a $175,000 “payoff” to Cohn in three installments, dropping off the final $50,000 with Cohn’s law partner, Thomas Bolan. These allegations were investigated, but no charges were filed.
When he was in his late seventies, Mario served a brief prison sentence for racketeering. On his release, he became the acting boss of the Genovese Family. In 2005, Vincent Gigante died and Daniel Leo became the new boss. As of Summer 2007, Leo is still in control. Mario Gigante, now in his mid 80s, is assumed to be in retirement.
| Preceded by Dominick Cirillo |
Genovese Crime Family Boss 2006-2007 |
Succeeded by Daniel Leo |
[edit] Further reading
- Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
- Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8
