Thomas Gambino

Thomas "Tommy" Gambino (born 1929) is a New York mobster and a longtime Caporegime of the Gambino crime family. He is the son of founder Carlo Gambino, the nephew of Paul Castellano and the son-in-law to former Lucchese crime family boss Thomas Lucchese.

Early and later life

Thomas Gambino was born in 1929 and is the first-born son to Catherine and Carlo Gambino. His father was a known member of the Mangano crime family during the 1930s, holding the rank of Caporegime, later Underboss, and from 1957 to 1976, Carlo Gambino was the recognized Boss of the modern Gambino crime family. In 1962, Thomas Gambino married the daughter of Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese, the head of the rival Lucchese crime family. The marriage was openly received, as his father [Carlo used this occasion to ease the relationship between the families. It was now two families who became close as friends and partners in years to come. Thomas Gambino, who has a college education, wasn't inducted into the family until after his father's death in 1976, when his uncle Paul Castellano took the reins and decided to promote him to Caporegime, which is his rank for the moment. More in the financial side of the Gambino family, Gambino has finished college, as his official job is in finance while running the trucking industry in the Garment District of the Gambino crime family. [In addition to its lucrative criminal enterprises, the Gambino/Gotti family has successfully infiltrated several legitimate industries, especially the garment industry. This is due primarily to the strong influence that caporegime Thomas Gambino has on garment trucking in New York and New Jersey. [http://www.mafianj.com/sci89/gambinogottinjops.shtml] Gambino is married to the daughter of Thomas Lucchese, the late boss of his own LCN family that is also considered a power in the garment industry. And Lucchese's son is Gambino's partner in several garment businesses. Although Gambino has recently been the focus of federal, state and local investigations, he has maintained a secure position within the garment industry and has successfully thwarted law enforcement efforts. A son of the late Carlo Gambino, the last of the mob's powerful "boss of bosses," Thomas Gambino epitomizes the low profile, well buffered, successful businessman image common among second generation members of the LCN. His trucking empire that long dominated the New York garment industry has expanded into New Jersey and he is considered the single most powerful figure in that industry|accessdate=2007-12-17 ]

Death of Carlo Gambino

On October 15, 1976, Carlo Gambino died of natural causes, as he had been heading the crime family for almost 20 years. After his death, there were three people who were next in line, or were considered true followers of Gambino; His Underboss Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce, his brother-in-law Paul Castellano and his son Thomas Gambino. It came clear that Castellano had been chosen by Gambino himself during his final days, which angered most of the followers to Dellacroce, who saw him as a future Boss.

Garment trucking industry

After Paul Castellano became Boss of the Gambino crime family in 1976, Gambino was starting to influence trucking companies, as he bought stocks and legal shares in three different companies, eventually to become in full control over all three of them during the mid 1980s, as well as developing huge influence in the Queens and Manhattan areas with his legal industries.

Death of Paul Castellano

In early 1985, Castellano and Dellacroce, as well as nine other top members of the Five Families were indicted in the infamous Mafia Commission Trial by Rudy Giuliani. The charges were RICO predicates such as construction and labor racketeering, extortion, loansharking, illegal gambling, conspiracy, narcotics and murder, but neither Paul Castellano or Aniello Dellacroce were ever to hear their sentence be brought, as Dellacroce died in late November of that same year, and with the selection of Castellano's driver Thomas "Tommy" Bilotti as the new Underboss, the Dellacroce loyalists had enough, as John Gotti and Frank DeCicco organized the shooting of Paul Castellano on December 16, 1985. Castellano and Bilotti died right at the spot, allegedly with Thomas Gambino waiting right inside the restaurant with DeCicco for a meeting DeCicco had summoned to lure Castellano.

Indictment with Gotti

With Castellano out of the way, Caporegime John Gotti stepped up as Boss of the Gambino crime family shortly after Castellano's murder, with Frank DeCicco as Underboss and Gambino's longtime partner Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano as Consigliere. Although his heyday were paying the bills, John Gotti, Gravano, Frank "Frankie Loc" LoCascio and Gambino would be arrested and prosecuted in 1991 for racketeering, loansharking, extortion, illegal gambling and 11 murder charges. Gravano eventually turned state's evidence, as he testifyed aganst both Gotti and LoCascio in 1992, handing them life imprisonment, but for some reason the charges against Gambino didn't held as much as the US government wanted, as he was released on bail, but sentenced to five years for loansharking, and pleaded guilty on two counts of racketeering in the Garment District from the 1980s, receiving a $12 million fine during the year of 1991 and 1992. Thomas Gambino would eventually serve five years in prison, from 1995 to 2000 for his loansharking and racketeering indictments.

Popular culture

*Thomas Gambino is portrayed by Tony Sirico in the 1998 made-for-television movie "Witness to the Mob", that followes the rise and fall of Sammy Gravano and John Gotti. It stars with Nicholas Turturro as Sammy Gravano and Tom Sizemore as Gotti. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0153882/fullcredits#cast]

References

Further reading

*Bonanno, Joseph. "A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno". New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003. ISBN 0-312-97923-1
*Capeci, Jerry and Gene Mustain. "Gotti: Rise and Fall". New York: Onyx, 1996. ISBN 0-451-40681-8
*Capeci, Jerry. "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia". Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
*Davis, John H. "Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family". New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-109184-7
*Jacobs, James B., Christopher Panarella and Jay Worthington. "Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra". New York: NYU Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8147-4230-0
*Maas, Peter. "Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia". New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997. ISBN 0-06-093096-9
*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

External links

* [http://www.thelaborers.net/lexisnexis/articles/verdict_is_termed_a_blow_to_the.htm New York Times: Verdict Is Termed a Blow to The Mafia] by Ralph Blumenthal
*http://www.geocities.com/OrganizedCrimeSyndicates/GambinoFamily.html
*http://www.mafianj.com/sci89/gambinogottinjops.shtml
*http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEED9113DF931A25756C0A965958260
*http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4298/is_198911/ai_n14997496
*http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEFDA133FF931A35751C1A964958260