Paul Castellano
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox criminal Constantino Paul Castellano ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; June 26, 1915 – December 16, 1985) was an American crime boss who succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family of New York City. Castellano ran the organization from 1976 until his murder on December 16, 1985.
Early lifeEdit
Constantino Paul Castellano was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, on June 26, 1915. His parents, Giuseppe and Concetta Castellano (née Cassata), were both Italian immigrants; his father was a butcher and an early member of the Mangano crime family, the forerunner of the Gambino crime family.<ref name="Underboss">Maas, Peter. Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia. New York City: HarperCollins, 1996. Template:ISBN.</ref>
Castellano dropped out of school in the eighth grade to learn butchering and collecting numbers game receipts, both from Template:Nowrap In July 1934, 19-year-old Castellano was arrested for the first time in Hartford, Connecticut, for robbing a haberdasher.<ref name="miranda balks">Template:Cite news</ref> He refused to identify his two accomplices to the police and served a three-month prison sentence. By refusing to break the oath of omertà and cooperate with authorities, Castellano enhanced his reputation for mob loyalty.<ref name="raab 248" />
Castellano's sister Catherine had married one of their cousins, future Mafia boss Carlo Gambino, in 1932. In 1937, Castellano married his childhood sweetheart, Nina Manno; the couple had three sons and a daughter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Manno died in 1999.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was of no relation to actor Richard S. Castellano from The Godfather, despite claims made by Richard's wife after his death.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Castellano often signed his name as "C. Paul Castellano" because he hated his first name, Constantino. His first name at birth has been cited as both Constantino and Costantino.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Mob lifeEdit
Castellano joined the Mangano family in the 1940s and eventually became a caporegime (capo, or captain) under Albert Anastasia, the successor to original boss Vincent Mangano. In 1957, after Anastasia's murder and Gambino's elevation to boss, Castellano attended the abortive Apalachin meeting in Apalachin, New York. When the New York State Police raided the meeting, Castellano was one of 61 high-ranking mobsters arrested. Refusing to answer grand jury questions about the meeting, Castellano spent a year in prison on contempt charges. On January 13, 1960, Castellano was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to withhold information.<ref name="apalachin men">Template:Cite news</ref> However, in November 1960, Castellano's conviction was reversed on appeal.<ref name="conpiracy reversal">Template:Cite news</ref>
Castellano identified more as a businessman than a criminal, taking over non-legitimate businesses and converting them to legitimate enterprises. However, his businesses, and those of his sons, still benefitted from their mob ties. In his early years, Castellano used his butcher's training to launch Dial Poultry, a poultry distribution business that once supplied 300 butchers in New York City. Castellano used intimidation tactics to force his customers, which included supermarket chains Key Food and Waldbaum's, to buy Dial's products.<ref name="Underboss"/>
As Castellano became more powerful in the Gambino family, he started to make large amounts of money from concrete in the construction industry. His son Philip was the president of Scara-Mix Concrete Corporation, which exercised a near monopoly on the concrete supply in Staten Island.<ref name="supplier concrete">Template:Cite news</ref> Castellano handled Gambino interests in the "Concrete Club," a club of contractors selected by The Commission, the mob's ruling body, to handle contracts between $2 million and $15 million.<ref name="task force">Template:Cite book</ref> In return, the contractors gave a two-percent kickback of the contract value to The Commission.<ref name="task force" /><ref name="jury">"U.S. JURY CONVICTS EIGHT AS MEMBERS OF MOB COMMISSION" Template:Webarchive By ARNOLD H. LUBASCH New York Times November 20, 1986</ref> Castellano also supervised Gambino control of Teamsters Union Local Chapter 282, which provided workers to pour concrete at all major building projects in New York and Long Island.<ref name="union charged">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1975, Castellano allegedly had Vito Borelli, his daughter's boyfriend, murdered because he heard Borelli had compared him to Frank Perdue, the owner and commercial spokesman for Perdue Farms. In 2004, court documents revealed that Joseph Massino, a government witness and former boss of the Bonanno crime family, admitted to murdering Borelli as a favor to Castellano.<ref name="bonanno boss">Template:Cite news</ref>
SuccessionEdit
On October 15, 1976, Gambino died at his home of natural causes.<ref name="gambino dies">Template:Cite news</ref> Against expectations, he appointed Castellano to succeed him over his underboss, Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce. Gambino appeared to believe that his crime family would benefit from Castellano's focus on white collar businesses.<ref>O'Brien, Kurins, pp. 104–105</ref> Dellacroce, at the time, was imprisoned for tax evasion and was unable to contest Castellano's succession.<ref>Davis, p. 176</ref>
Castellano's succession was confirmed at a meeting on November 24, with Dellacroce present. Castellano arranged for Dellacroce to remain as underboss while directly running traditional mob activities such as extortion, robbery and loansharking.<ref name="bob 106">O'Brien, Kurins, pp. 106–108</ref> While Dellacroce accepted Castellano's succession, the deal effectively split the Gambino family into two rival factionsTemplate:NdashDellacroce's faction in Manhattan, and Castellano's faction in Brooklyn.<ref name="bob 106"/>
In 1978, Castellano allegedly ordered the murder of Gambino associate Nicholas Scibetta. A cocaine and alcohol user, Scibetta participated in several public fights and insulted the daughter of George DeCicco. Since Scibetta was Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano's brother-in-law, Castellano asked DeCiccio's brother Frank to first notify Gravano of the impending hit. When advised of Scibetta's fate, a furious Gravano initially threatened to kill Castellano first. However, he eventually calmed down and accepted Scibetta's death as a punishment earned by his behavior.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
That same year, Castellano allegedly ordered the murders of Gambino capo James Eppolito and his son, James Eppolito Jr. Eppolito Sr. had complained to Castellano that Anthony Gaggi, another Gambino capo, was infringing on his territory and asked permission to kill him. Castellano gave Eppolito a noncommittal answer, but later warned Gaggi about Eppolito's intentions. In response, Gaggi and soldier Roy DeMeo murdered Eppolito and his son.<ref name=eppolitto>Template:Cite book</ref>
In February 1978, Castellano made an agreement between the Gambino family and the Westies, an Irish-American gang from Hell's Kitchen. Castellano wanted hitmen that law enforcement could not tie directly to the family. The Westies wanted Gambino protection from the other mob families. The Gambino–Westie alliance was set in a meeting between Castellano and Westies leader James Coonan. According to Westies gangster Mickey Featherstone, Castellano gave them the following directive:
You guys got to stop acting like cowboys – acting wild. You're going to be with us now. If anyone is going to get killed, you have to clear it with us.<ref name=westies>Template:Cite news</ref>
Castellano also forged an alliance with the Cherry Hill Gambinos, a group of Sicilian heroin importers and distributors in New Jersey, also for use as gunmen. With the Westies and the Cherry Hill Gambinos, Castellano commanded a small army of capable killers.
In September 1980, Castellano allegedly ordered the murder of his former son-in-law, Frank Amato, for physically abusing his wife, Castellano's daughter Connie, when they were married.<ref name="Raab 251">Raab, p. 251</ref><ref name="raab 252" /> According to FBI documents, DeMeo murdered Amato, cut up his body and disposed of the remains at sea. The following year, Perdue, the alleged cause of the 1975 Borelli murder, approached Castellano for help in thwarting a unionization drive at a Perdue facility in Virginia. However, according to Perdue, the two men never made a final agreement.<ref name="kirland faults">Template:Cite news</ref>
At the height of his power, Castellano built a lavish 17-room mansion on a ridgeline in Todt Hill on Staten Island. Designed to resemble the Template:Nowrap in Template:Nowrap the mansion featured Carrara marble, an Olympic-size swimming pool and an English garden.<ref name="raab 252">Raab, p. 252</ref> Castellano engaged in an affair with his Template:Nowrap Colombian maid, Gloria Olarte.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Castellano became a recluse and rarely ventured outside the mansion, requiring his capos to visit the residence to give information and receive orders. When not entertaining guests, Castellano wore satin and silk dressing gowns and velvet slippers around Template:Nowrap
John Gotti, a former protégé of Dellacroce, became deeply dissatisfied with Castellano's leadership, regarding the boss as being too isolated and greedy.<ref>Davis, p. 187</ref><ref>Capeci, Mustain (1996), p. 61</ref> Like other members of the family he disliked Castellano on a personal level, feeling he lacked street credibility. Gotti also had an economic interest: he had a long-running dispute with Castellano on the split Gotti took from hijackings at John F. Kennedy International Airport.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Furthermore, Gotti was rumored to be expanding into drug dealing, a lucrative trade Castellano had banned under threat of death.
Legal problemsEdit
In January 1983, Castellano allegedly ordered the murder of DeMeo, who was found shot to death in the trunk of his Cadillac.<ref name="raab 271" /> Two months later, the FBI obtained a warrant to install secret listening devices in Castellano's mansion. Waiting until he went on vacation to Florida, agents drugged his watchdogs, disabled his security system, and planted devices in the dining and living rooms. These devices provided law enforcement with a wealth of incriminating information on Castellano.<ref>Blum p. 99</ref>
In August 1983, Gambino members Angelo Ruggiero and Gene Gotti were arrested for dealing heroin, based primarily on recordings from a device in Ruggiero's house.<ref name="Davis, p 216">Davis, p. 216</ref><ref>Capeci, Mustain (1996), p. 77</ref> Castellano demanded transcripts of the tapes,<ref name="Davis, p 216"/><ref>Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 79–80</ref> and when Ruggiero refused he threatened to demote Gotti.<ref name="Davis, p 238">Davis, p 238</ref>
On March 30, 1984, Castellano was indicted on federal racketeering charges, as well as extortion, drug trafficking, theft, prostitution and the murders of Eppolito and DeMeo. He was released on $2 million bail.<ref name="reputed leader">Template:Cite news</ref>
Castellano's legal challenges mounted in 1985. On February 25 he was one of many mob bosses arrested on charges of racketeering, which was to result in the Mafia Commission Trial;<ref name=initial>Template:Cite news</ref> he was released on $3 million bail.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On July 1 he was indicted on loansharking charges and with tax evasion for not reporting the profits from an illegal racket,<ref name="evasion taxes">Template:Cite news</ref> and pleaded not guilty.<ref name="11 plead">Template:Cite news</ref> On November 4, in a testimony from car thief Vito Arena, Castellano was named the head of the stolen-car ring that employed him, as well as having been connected to five murders.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
ConspiracyEdit
Dellacroce died of cancer on Template:Nowrap starting a chain of events that led to Castellano's murder two weeks Template:Nowrap Castellano's failure to attend Dellacroce's wake was taken as an insult by members of the Manhattan faction.<ref name="Blum 107">Blum, p. 107</ref> Then, Castellano named Thomas Bilotti, a loyalist with little diplomatic skill, as the new underboss. Castellano also hinted that he planned to break up John Gotti's crew.<ref>Blum p. 112</ref>
Gravano suggested killing both Castellano and Bilotti while they were eating breakfast at a diner.<ref>Blum p. 115</ref> However, when DeCicco tipped Gotti off that he would be having a meeting with Castellano and several other mobsters at Manhattan's Sparks Steak House on December 16, Gotti and the other conspirators decided to kill him then.<ref>Blum p. 128</ref>
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MurderEdit
On Monday, December 16, 1985, Bilotti drove Castellano to the prearranged early evening meeting at Sparks Steak House.<ref name=mayignt>Template:Cite news</ref> A hit team (consisting of Salvatore Scala, Edward Lino and John Carneglia) waited near the restaurant entrance; positioned down the street were backup shooters Ruggiero, Dominick Pizzonia and Tony Rampino.<ref name="answers mafia">Template:Cite news</ref> Gotti and Gravano observed the scene from a car across the street.<ref name="shot by shot">Template:Cite news</ref>
As Castellano was exiting the car at the front of the restaurant at around 5:26 pm, the gunmen ran up and shot him several times.<ref name=ergaprmb>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=sraphit>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=upimbbmlbl>Template:Cite news</ref> Allegedly, Carneglia delivered the fatal shot to Castellano's head.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bilotti was shot as he exited from the driver's door. Before leaving the murder scene, Gotti drove over to view the bodies.<ref name="shot by shot"/>
AftermathEdit
Castellano was buried in the Moravian Cemetery in the New Dorp section of Staten Island.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Archdiocese of New York refused to grant him a Catholic funeral, citing his notorious life and death.<ref name=mbdpbms>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=mogp>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="middle village">Template:Cite news</ref>
Two weeks after the murder, Gotti was elected as the new boss of the Gambino family.<ref name="shot by shot" /> Vincent Gigante, the boss of the Genovese family, was outraged that Gotti had killed Castellano without following Mafia protocol and solicited the help of Lucchese family boss Anthony Corallo in carrying out a hit. On April 13, 1986, a car bomb meant for Gotti exploded outside a Bensonhurst social club, but the only casualty was Frank DeCicco.<ref name="bombing gotti">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=upida>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Gotti was arrested by the FBI in late 1990 on racketeering charges<ref name=gagnorch >Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=mbgnb>Template:Cite news</ref> and denied bail 10 days later.<ref name=gtsphij>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=jretgbpp>Template:Cite news</ref> On April 2, 1992, with the help of Gravano becoming a government witness, Gotti was convicted of numerous racketeering charges, including the 1985 Castellano murder.<ref name=spcgoguil>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=mtahgcn>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="gotti guilty">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=tflnomil>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref name=tblgv>Template:Cite news</ref> On June 23, 1992, Gotti was sentenced to life in federal prison,<ref name=gglfpsap>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=mcggls>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="gotti sentenced">Template:Cite news</ref> where he died of throat cancer in 2002.<ref name=fmbdip>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=xcbjgdi>Template:Cite news</ref> No one else was ever charged in the Castellano murder.
Media portrayalsEdit
- Jazz pianist Gene DiNovi portrays Castellano in the 1994 TV film Getting Gotti
- Richard C. Sarafian portrays Castellano in the 1996 HBO network original film Gotti
- Abe Vigoda portrays Castellano in the NBC network TV movie Witness to the Mob (1998)
- Sam Coppola portrays Castellano in the 2001 Canadian-American TV movie The Big Heist
- Chazz Palminteri portrays Castellano in Boss of Bosses, a 2001 film on the TNT network.
- Donald John Volpenhein portrays Castellano in the biopic 2018 Gotti, based on John Gotti Jr.'s 2015 book Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father
- Subject of the Fear City: New York vs The Mafia (2020), Netflix documentary
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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