Carlo Gambino was king of the Mafia in America, he turned his family in to the biggest most successfull, richest, and most influential family in the U.S. He was also the most important boss on the Mafia's board of directors, the commission. With him on top, thanks to Don Carlo's shrewdness during his time the Mafia was undoubtedly at the height of it's powers. Power that soon diminished upon his death in 1976. Carlo Gambino was born in Palermo (Sicily) on the 24th of August 1902. He was born into a wealthy family, many of whom were men of honour, living in a part of town that was even off limits to police and military, such power the Sicilian godfather's enjoyed around that time in Sicily. As a teenager a young Carlo went to work for one of the most powerful bosses in Sicilian Mafia History, Don Vitone Casio Ferro. Much of the money that Don Casio Ferro accumulated came from the protection rackets operating in and around Palermo, many of them ran by Carlo Gambino.

Carlos Superiors soon noticed the shrewdness of the very capable young Carlo Gambino and so when he was only 19 years of age he was formally inducted into the world of Cosa Nostra. Carlo wasn't exactly an imposing figure of a man, he was only 5ft 7" with an average build, but with his mischievous smile and his hooked nose he proved himself with his high level of intelligence, his acute astuteness and his accurate judgment of situations and people. All these attributes would hold Gambino in good stead for life in the mob, the many people that came in contact with him were always impressed by his level of intelligence, this would gain Gambino lots of respect, something vital for a life in the Mafia. During the early 1920's fascism had been gaining huge support in Italy, and so the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini announced a full-scale assault on the leaders of the Mafia in Sicily. Many of the young mobsters fearing that there may be little future for the Mafiosi if Mussolini were true to his words, began to flee Sicily for America. Thousands of Sicilian and Italian immigrants had been fleeing to the U.S for some time and inhabited large parts of New York. Carlo Gambino also feared the worst and decided to leave Palermo for New York. With permission from Don Vito Casio Ferro, Carlo Gambino now in his mid twenties left, his family behind for a life in the U.S. Fortunately for Carlo he wouldn't be by himself when he stepped off the boat on New York harbour, his mother had a huge, well respected family already living in Brooklyn.

The Castellano's were familiar with many of the Mafiosi in New York and it didn't take long for Carlo to start running operations of his own as he attempted to climb the clandestine ladder of a Cosa Nostra Family. The Castellano's had their own trucking firm, and as it was the era of prohibition, the Castellano's gave Carlo his first chance to earn some descent money and hopefully get noticed as a capable young Mafiosi. Joe "the boss" Masseria was the leader of one of the two major Mafia gangs in New York. He ran a huge bootlegging operation and so he recruited the up and coming young mobster Carlo Gambino. Carlo soon became indispensable for Joe the boss and became a vital member of Masseria's bootlegging empire. The other major gang in New York at that time was one led by Salvatore Maranzano and in the early thirties the two gangs were locked in a bloody bootlegging war. Some of the younger mobsters thought the war was tearing the Mafia apart , Carlo spoke with a friend about other possible solutions to settle the mob war. The friend was Lucky Luciano, and between them they decided that drastic action needed to take place in order for things to run smoothly again. Joe the boss was an extremely arrogant boss who said no to a sit down with the other gang leader to work things out more peacefully, he preferred all out warfare in order to win and take control of both gangs.

On April 15th 1931 Joe the boss was invited to his last dinner as Luciano excused himself from the table three gunmen walked in and shot Joe the boss where he sat. The remaining members of the gang aligned themselves with Salvatore Maranzano, leader of the other gang. The harmony didn't last for long, a few months later Maranzano met the same fate as his previous enemy as he too was murdered by Luciano and his co-conspirators. These events paved the way for a new structure of Cosa Nostra in the U.S, this time leading the `new way`was Lucky Luciano. All the major Mafia figures attended a summit in order to lay down the future of the Mafia. New York was divided up into 5 families, with each of them able to have their say on a newly formed commission, where each of the bosses would arbitrate and iron out any problems that may occur in the complex world of Cosa Nostra. They also came to an agreement that in the future no Mafia boss could be murdered unless the members of the commission decreed it.

With the New York Mafia now divided into 5 family's Carlo Gambino would now be working for Vincent Mangano as he began to establish himself as one of the top earners in the entire New York mob and soon became indispensable to Vincent Mangano, who was more than happy to let Carlo run some of his most important rackets. During the second world war Carlo was looking for ways to take advantage of the current situation, and soon enough he found a way. Ration stamps became his war time innovation that soon made Carlo another black market million. The ration stamps were locked away in safes at most of the New York banks, so it wasn't easy to get hold of them, but the shrewd Carlo found a way as he bribed the bank managers and security guards which enabled him to just simply have a loyal soldier walk out with the goods. This racket brought even more prestige to Gambino as his status in the Mafia just grew and grew. Carlo was married to Katherine Castellano, his cousin and brother of his closest ally Paul Castellano. His decision to marry Katherine surprised many as she was his first cousin, something that your not supposed to do if you are catholic. Never the less though she gave Carlo three sons and a daughter and all through their marriage Carlo served her as a loyal and loving husband, a true family man who loved spending time at home with his family. In marrying Katherine he also cemented his bond with the Castellanos who were well respected within the Mafia, and he also knew that he could trust Paul Castellano as he included Paul in everything he did, after all he was a blood relative.

Soon though leadership in his family was about to change. In 1951 Vincent Mangano had strangely disappeared. Many believed that Mangano's deputy and rival Albert Anastasia was responsible. Anastasia took over the family that Mangano left behind, a family that was fast becoming the biggest and most influential of the five New York families. Albert Anastasia was an extremely deranged individual, his nick name the lord high executioner became too true when Frank Costello an ally of Alberts survived an assassination attempt from Vincent "the chin" Gigante who was sent by the power hungry Vito Genovese wanting to become the capi di tutti i capi ( boss of all boss ). This sent Albert right off the deep end, and he became paranoid that he would be killed in retribution, he took steps to eliminate anyone who he thought posed a physical threat to him. As the blood bath ensued it was decided that some thing must be done.

Gambino arranged the murder of Anastasia, nominally on the grounds that he had been charging $40'000 for entry in to his Mafia family, an alarming lapse in protocol. On October 25th 1957, Albert Anastasia visited the barber shop at the Park Shearton Hotel, Manhattan where the Gallo brothers lay in wait. They cunningly waited untill Anastasia was comfortable and as a hot towel was placed over his head the Gallo brothers made their move and shot Anastasia a total of five times. Many mobsters breathed a sigh of relief on hearing the news that Albert Anastasia had gotten what had been coming to him. But more importantly Carlo Gambino knew that with Anastasia now out of the way there would be no one to stop him from becoming the king of New York. The first major summit that Don Carlo attended was the infamous Appalachian summit, probably the biggest summit in the history of American Cosa Nostra. Although the conference was interrupted thanks to the state police this was the crowning of Carlo Gambino Reign as boss of what soon came to be known as the Gambino crime family. During his time as boss, he extended the family into many lucrative legitimate business's from the Fulton fish market to the Garment center where he also owned a trucking company. Consolidated Trucking was the only company that trucked anything out of the garment center. He was also instrumental in setting up the marriage of his son Tommy with another crime bosses daughter Tommy Lucchese boss of the Lucchese crime family. In doing this Don Carlo multiplied his powers as Tommy Lucchese cut Gambino in on another lucrative racket, the airport was the Lucchese families gold mine over the years as the thousands of goods imported to the U.S would go through Idlewild airport, leaving the wiseguys to hijack many of the trucks and fencing off the goods.

Carlo Gambino became the most influential boss in the U.S since lucky Luciano and created a dynasty that would by far out live him. He had crews stretching as far as Connecticut, he had more crews than any other family in New York or the rest of the U.S. He also enjoyed great political backing as he controlled many of the local teamster unions in New York. He probably took the Gambino crime family to the heights no boss has ever seen the likes of before, the Godfather of Godfathers ultimate respect from everyone who was anyone within the Mafia. He achieved great success with a huge amount of anonymity, getting Carlo on your radar screen was extremely difficult he didn't have flashy cars and big mansions, he lived very modestly.

Then in 1976 the great Don Carlo Carlo died peacefully. His final order was that Paul Castellano would take over the family, this would anger many in the organization, none more so than Neil Dellacroce, the loyal family underboss, but Dellacroce was a Cosa Nostra traditionalist and would accept the decision. Don Carlo will be long remembered throughout the Mafia as the most successfull boss of all. His funeral was attended by some of the top bosses throughout the U.S. 500 people crammed into the church in order to pay their final respects. Don Carlo left a criminal empire with both economic and political power. Unfortunately his successors would not show the same shrewdness that Don Carlo had shown in running this massive empire, and inevitably they brought the family down to a lower level than the great don Carlo had carefully cultivated throughout his years as family boss. Rest in peace Don Carlo, as you were undoubtedly the last of the great godfathers.

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