Carlo Gambino (1902 - 1976)

Born 1 Sep 1902 in Palermo, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Husband of Caterina (Castellano) Gambino — married 5 Dec 1926 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States

Died 15 Oct 1976 at age 74 in Massapequa, Nassau, New York, United States

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Biography

Carlo Gambino is Notable.

Carlo Gambino, son of Tommaso Gambino and Felicia Castellana, is born 1 September 1902 in the second official district of the city of Palermo.^[1] When he declared his intention to naturalize, he gave a birthdate of 25 August, which is repeated in many secondary sources.^[2][3][4]

As a teenager, Carlo drops out of school and works as an enforcer for Vito Cascio Ferro. He is inducted into the Mafia at age nineteen.^[5]

With fascism on the rise in Italy, the Mafia is under assault from the state. Carlo is smuggled into the United States in November 1921 through Norfolk, Virginia, on a freighter. His Castellano relatives take him home and groom him for a Mafia career.^[5]

Carlo declared his intention to naturalize on 19 January 1923. Carlo is age 20, an importer, white, fair complexion, 5’4”, 150#, brown hair and eyes, born in Palermo, Italy on 25 August 1902. Lives at 300 E. 105th St., NYC. Emigrated from Palermo on the Vincenzo Florio, arriving in the port of New York on 25 December 1921. Not married. Signed and sworn 19 January 1923.^[2] He never completed the naturalization process, leaving him vulnerable to attempts to deport him in his sixties.

Another piece of misinformation from Carlo's naturalization petition is his emigration. He claimed to have migrated from Palermo on the Vincenzo Florio, arriving in the port of New York on 25 December 1921.^[2] He was smuggled into the United States in November 1921 through Norfolk, Virginia, on a freighter. Castellana relatives from his mother’s side met him and brought him home to Brooklyn, where they groomed him for a Mafia career.^[5]

During Prohibition, he works with his Castellano relatives, driving trucks loaded with bootleg alcohol. He joins a faction headed by Salvatore Masotto, and later by his uncle and future father-in-law, Frank Castellano.^[5][4]

He also works with Joe "The Boss" Masseria, but is cautious about becoming too closely associated with any one mafioso. He is part of Lucky Luciano's plan to assassinate Masseria.^[5] He is targeted by Maranzano.^[4]

His brothers, Paolo and Joseph, join Carlo's criminal organization. Paolo is sometimes mistaken for Carlo.^[4]

Next, he works in Vincent Mangano's waterfront territory in a variety of rackets including gambling and cargo theft.^[5]

The year before he marries, he is made a captain. He chooses his teenage cousin Paul Castellano, the son of a numbers runner, to join him.^[5]

Carlo marries his first cousin, Paul's sister.

Carlo marries Catherine Castellano on 5 December 1926 in Brooklyn.^[6] Carlo Gambino lives at 664 E. 182nd St., NY. He is 24 (b. 1902), white, single, a butcher, born in Italy, son of Tommaso Gambino and Felica (Felicia) Castellano. Catherine Castellano lives at 1692 83rd St. She is 19 (b. 1907), white, single, born in NYC, daughter of Joseph Castellano and Concetta Cassata. It is the first marriage for them both. They are wed at St. Rosalia’s Church in Brooklyn, NY on 5 December 1926 before witnesses Paolo Gambino and Providence Castellano. All four sign their names. Stamped received 10 December 1926.^[7][8]

Carlo and Catherine have four children: Phyllis (1927), Thomas (1929), Joseph (1936), and Carl (c. 1944).

In the 1930 federal census of the Bronx, taken 7 April, Carlo Gambino, 27 (b. 1903), heads a household at 706 E. 182nd St. with his wife Katerine, 22 (b. 1908), daughter Phillys, 2 (b. 1928), brother Paul, 25 (b. 1905), and son Thomas, 1 (b. 1929). Carlo and Paul were born in Italy and the other household members were born in New York. Carlo and Katerine married when he was 24 and she was 19 (3 ya; 1927). Carlo emigrated in 1910 and is a naturalized citizen. He is a real estate agent. His brother Paul is in the same profession and emigrated in 1925.^[9]

With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Carlo Gambino diversified. He remained in the contraband liquor business, selling untaxed liquor. He is convicted of tax evasion in 1937 connected with a still he owns in Philadelphia. He is given a suspended sentence.^[5]

In the 1940 federal census of Brooklyn, AD 16, taken 8 April, Carlo Gambino, 37 (b. 1903), heads a household at 2230 Ocean Parkway. With Carlo are his wife Katherine, 32 (b. 1908), and children Phyllis, 12 (b. 1928), Thomas, 10 (b. 1930), and Joseph, 4 (b. 1936). Carlo was born in Italy and his wife and children in NY. Carlo is a wholesale fruit salesman working on his own account.

Two of his close neighbors are Joseph Castellano, 62 (b. 1878), and Anthony Castellano, 42 (b. 1898).^[10]

In the 1940s, Carlo becomes a capo.^[4]

During World War II, Carlo enters the ration stamp racket. He owns gay bars, which are money makers through numerous avenues including blackmail and prostitution. (See Gay Liberation and the Mafia.)

He grows wealthy and moves to Long Island. He is a partner in a labor consultancy, has clothing and trucking company interests in the garment district.^[4]

In the 1950 federal census of Brooklyn, NY, ED 24-2451, sheet 72, taken 4 April, it says at top that line 6 gave a confidential income report. Line 6 is Carl Gambino.

Carl Gambino, 47 (b. 1903), born in Italy, heads a household at 2230 Queens Parkway with his wife Catherine J., 42 (b. 1908), and children Phyllis, 22 (b. 1928), Thomas, 20 (b. 1930), Joseph, 14 (b. 1936), and Carl, 6 (b. 1944), all born in NY. No one in the household is employed.^[11]

In 1951, Vincent Mangano disappears and Carlo's rival, Albert Anastasia, is suspected. Anastasia becomes the new boss of the Family. He heads a Calabrian faction, and Frank Scalice, the underboss, led a Sicilian faction. Scalice is killed in June 1957, and Gambino succeeds him.^[5][4]

Carlo has Anastasia killed in October 1957 and becomes the new boss. Joseph Biondo, whose regime is used to kill Anastasia, is rewarded with the underboss position. Carlo's brother, Paolo, is a captain.^[4]

He continues to diversify the rackets of his crime family. In addition to controlling the Brooklyn waterfront, he expands gambling, construction bid rigging, securities fraud, and loan-sharking activities.^[5]

In 1962, Carlo, arranges his son, Thomas' marriage to Frances Lucchese, daughter of Tommy Lucchese. This gives Carlo access to the Lucchese racket, hijacking freight from JFK Airport, by corrupting the freight handlers’ union. John Davis, author of Mafia Dynasty, explains that because of the marriage, Lucchese cut Gambino in.^[5]

His alliance with Lucchese allows Carlo to dominate the Commission. He uses the power to make peace in the Profaci/Colombo Family. However, he struggles with Joe Bonanno. After the death of Lucchese in 1967, and Bonanno's retirement in 1968, Carlo Gambino was a very powerful man.^[4]

Like Lucchese in the 1930s, Gambino infiltrated the garment industry through the truckers' unions. His sons, Thomas and Joseph, inherited his trucking businesses in the garment district and were forced to sell them in the early 1990s. Thomas is inducted into the Mafia.

His wife Kathryn dies in 9 August 1971. She is interred in Saint John Cemetery and Mausoleum in Middle Village, Queens, NY.^[12]

In his latter years, Carlo is threatened with deportation, but his connections in Congress protect him.^[5]

He lives during the week in his Brooklyn apartment at 2230 Ocean Parkway and spends weekends at his oceanfront home at 34 Club Drive, Massapequa, Long Island.^[13]

Death of Carlo

Carlo Gambino, born 1 September 1902, dies on 15 October 1976 at age 74 in New York. He last resided in Brooklyn, NY 11223.^[14][15][16]

Carlo is buried in Saint John Cemetery and Mausoleum in Middle Village, Queens, NY. His profile on Find a Grave links him to his wife Kathryn Castellano Gambino (1907-1971, m. 1926) and children Phyllis Catherine Gambino Sinatra (1927-2007) and Joseph C. Gambino (1936-2020).^[15]

He is succeeded as boss by his cousin, Paul Castellano.^[4]

Phyllis dies in 2007.

Joseph dies in February 2020.

Sources

1. ↑ Uff. 2. Vol. 450, n. 3255. 10-year index of births in Palermo. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMZ-Y99B-Z
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} "New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9M8-5NRC?cc=1999177&wc=MDS5-BZ3%3A326209701%2C328021801 : 7 November 2018), New York > Declarations of intention 1923 vol 608, no 300236-300735 > image 68 of 252; Citing multiple County Clerk offices of New York.
3. ↑ "New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPR8-H72T : 5 November 2019), Carlo Gambino, 1923; citing Naturalization, New York, United States, citing multiple County Clerk offices of New York; FHL microfilm 005411804.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9} Feather, B. (2016, February 12). Bios. of early Gambino members [1930-50’s]. Mafia Membership Charts [Website]. http://mafiamembershipcharts.blogspot.com/2016/02/bios-of-early-gambino-members-1930-50s.html
5. ↑ ^{5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11} Mafia Nation. (2015, September 18). The Gambino Crime Family - Full Documentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVjZqdlhipc
6. ↑ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2C6-X1Z7 : 17 August 2022), Carlo Gambino and Catherine Castellano, 1926.
7. ↑ Certificate and record of marriage, Carlo Gambino and Catherine Castelano. (1926, December 5). Kings. Cert no. 17617. https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/9742539
8. ↑ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2C6-X18W : 17 August 2022), Carlo Gambino and Catherine Castellano, 1926.
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRCJ-ZXS?cc=1810731&wc=QZF7-NJJ%3A649437801%2C652307101%2C652307102%2C1589285498 : 8 December 2015), New York > Bronx > Bronx (Districts 501-750) > ED 556 > image 7 of 46; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).
10. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9MY-5D9V?cc=2000219&wc=QZXR-CNK%3A790105101%2C795835101%2C804038401%2C804199801 : accessed 22 November 2022), New York > Kings > New York City, Brooklyn, Assembly District 16 > 24-1873 New York City, Brooklyn Borough Assembly District 16 (Tract 390 - part) > image 16 of 26; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.
11. ↑ 1950 census https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHN-GQHW-MS6K-S
12. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #160935229
13. ↑ Gage, N. (1972, December 8). Gambino believed seeking single mafia family here. The New York Times. P. 1. https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/08/archives/gambino-believed-seeking-single-mafia-family-here-gambino-said-to.html
14. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JPC3-FYD : 7 January 2021), Carlo Gambino, Oct 1976; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1} Find A Grave: Memorial #5826
16. ↑ "United States, GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries, 1815-2011", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q5MN-T64S : 18 July 2020), Carlo Gambino, 1976.

See also:

• Wikipedia: Carlo Gambino
• Wikidata: Item Q452127, en:Wikipedia