Vincent Gigante

The Genovese Family second in command under Chin, Dom Cirillo, was also a pro boxer, but was ko'd couple of times in first few bouts. A lot of those New York gangsters in Maifa were ex-boxers.

 

I knew a lot of the old guys from that area and heard a lot of story's. I met Bummy's brothers Harry (little Gangy) and Willie (Big Gangy) after he finished 30 years in jail for a triple homicide). There were a lot of Damon Runyon characters around even the legit kids who grew up in Brownsville,East NY and the Jewish Mob was a tough bunch of guys and well respected by the other ethnic groups. I don't know if you remember the old TV series Dead end kids, or Bowery Boys but the guys from east NY had that accent. Lepke took the chair but was hard core and did not squeal, so while he was a ruthless guy he was true to his trade.....and Burt you " did the right thing"

 

Did you ever meet Senter and Joey Testa?

 

No, but I read that book I think it was murder machine, also there is a good book that I read about Bummy Davis, I think its called Bummy Davis and Murder INC.

 

Always wondered, BD, if Gigante had anything to do with the disappearance of welter,Tony DeCola.

 

I thought Gigante was the mafia leader who was "above" having to use force. In other words, the guy's planning (and power of persuasion) was so thorough that he could afford to get tough only on a restricted or calculated basis. Other mafia leaders weren't as sophisticated as Chin, I think, and for this reason they had to be more violent.

FBI agents called the Genovese family the "Ivy League" of the underworld, as Chin was that much smarter and better organized than his peers/rivals.

 

Throughout history you have both types.

Guys like John Gotti and Albert Anastasia were more hands-on violent types.

Guys like Lucky Luciano, Vito Genovese and Carmine Galante were violent types in their early stages but were able to handle things in a more shrewd manner later on. I place Gigante in this category.

Frank Costello, Carlo Gambino and Paul Castellano were of a more comparatively non-violent nature. Let the brutes handle it.

 

Wasn't Galante out of control his entire career? I think I remember reading that the "commission" authorized his 1979 assassination for this reason. Even in the late '70s Galante was trigger happy and took reckless, unnecessary risks, if I recall.

 

Absolutely. What I meant was that he was no longer a hands-on guy. He got others to do his killing for him. From what I've heard in interviews guys like John Gotti, Albert Anastasia and Nicky Scarfo never lost their proclivity to take care of killings or beatings themselves. They could always revert back to "soldato" mentality. Once Galante and the others attained the high position they acted according to the etiquette concomitant to that position.

 

I've heard that the talk about Scarfo doing hits himself was all BS. Apparently he was impulsive, sadistic, and ego driven, but by the time he was the godfather, he was no longer pulling the trigger himself. He had henchmen doing it. Ditto for Gotti.

Galante, from what I've read, must have been a loose cannon. He was extremely aggressive in trying to expand his turf, and may have been too quick to "put it to guns." I guess the commission felt the need to bump Galante before his actions jeopardized LCN as a whole.

I can't imagine a tough but tactful guy like Gigante functioning like Galante or Scarfo. Gigante knew how to assess risk vs reward: that's how stayed out of trouble.

Think about it: the best LCN leaders are the ones we barely know about. They operate in stealth, make their profits, manage their troops efficiently, and never get caught.

 

The chin was a thug when they say he shot Frank Costello supposedly ordered by Vito Genevese but he had a lot of old time wise guys that taught him the ropes and only the elite upper-echelon knew he was boss and if someone got caught saying his name on tape watch out, so they started rubbing there chins and saying this guy...even though he missed Costello a lot of whispers on the street say it was him who killed Tommy Ryan Eboli .....

Most bosses made there bones and were respected for having teeth but in order to move had to learn how to control men and at the same time avoid the lime-light and law-enforcement...John Gotti was looked at as a fool because of his loud public image but he still pulled the strings of 1,000 men who could kill....but ultimately it was John Gotti that brought down the mob and caused the government to change laws and spend multi-millions and it was his mouth that caused the weak links like Gravano to expose and it was Gravano who said the Chin was Crazy like a fox, the FBI still did not really know if it was an act, after all when they went to lock him up he was in the shower with an umbrella

 

I did not hear anything about that but there were so many ex-fighters in the mob both pro and amateur...In the case of Degilio he was good friends with Joe Frazier and I heard they had money on the street together and Frazier and Degilio had a piece of Razor Rudduck but Degilio supposedly got too big for his bridges because he was found with his head chopped off and that is usually a sign of a large head or ego and not knowing when to be low key and the guys over there did not like loud

 

You are confusing Galente with Gigante. The Galante you mention is Carmine, killed in back of restaurant in 1979. Vincent Gigante is ex-fighter we are talking about. I can see where you got mixed up, names are similar.

 

Actually, Galante was considered to be as shrewd and cunning as any Mafia don despite his kill crazy ways. He was more like Gigante than Gotti or Anastasia.Machiavelli would have loved Carmine Galante.

You have to remember that it took ALL of the powerful Mafia dons working together to finally bring him down. None of them could do it on their own. The guy was just too cunning and powerful. He mowed down several Genovese family members (some high ranking) and was probably the most powerful Mafia don of the 1970s with the possible exception of Carlo Gambino.

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"He was a mass of contradictions. If he was walking with one person you'd learn not to join him as a third. He'd pick a fight with the third person and force the second to become his ally."-- Galante Associate

"I used to say the rest of them were copper, but he (Galante) was pure steel. When he spoke, he made others shudder."--LT. Remo Franceschini

"Of all the mobsters I met--and I've met dozens--there were only two whose eyes sent shivers down my spine. Aniello Dellacroce was one and Carmine Galante was the other. They had bad eyes; the frigid, icy stare of a killer."--Det. Ralph Salerno

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Read this brief entry on Galante from the Mafia Encyclopedia. It gives a good picture of how "Lilo" was regarded:


http://books.google.com/books?id=jg...=onepage&q=mafia encyclopedia galante&f=false

 

love these mob stories:good

mickey cohen L.A crook im sure he was a pro boxer?

gonna watch this after

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlIRliH1bHM[/ame]