Augustus Sclafani, d. 1986, also known as "Big Gus", was a New York mobster who was a mob associate with the Gambino crime family. Sclafani is not to be confused with the younger Augustus "Gus Boy" Sclafani, another Gambino family member.
During the 1970s, Sclafani and Mildred Russo, his mother-in-law, used her position as a court clerk in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to leak confidential information on the Gambino family to Paul Castellano. In 1987, both Russo and Sclafani were indicted for racketeering and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Sclafini had already been declared as a fugitive from justice, although law enforcement believed that Sclafani was dead.
According to mob witness Sammy Gravano, while Paul Castellano was boss of the Gambino family, Sclafani accused Gambino mobster Frank DeCicco of being a mob informant. DeCicco successfully defended himself from this charge and told Gravano that he would murder Sclafani after Castellano was out of power. In 1986, Gambino hitman Joseph Watts shot and stabbed Sclafani to death in a club in Little Italy, Manhattan on orders from new Gambino boss John Gotti.
After Castellano's murder, DeCicco told Gravano that "Gus is gone."
John Gotti was an American mafioso and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano in December 1985 and took over the family shortly thereafter, leading what was described as America's most powerful crime syndicate.
Constantino Paul Castellano 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.
Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano is an American former mobster who rose to the position of underboss in the Gambino crime family. As the underboss, Gravano played a major role in prosecuting John Gotti, the crime family's boss, by agreeing to testify as a government witness against him and other mobsters in a deal in which he confessed to involvement in 19 murders.
The Gambino crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. The group, which went through five bosses between 1910 and 1957, is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963, when the structure of organized crime first gained public attention. The group's operations extend from New York and the eastern seaboard to California. Its illicit activities include labor and construction racketeering, gambling, loansharking, extortion, money laundering, prostitution, fraud, hijacking, and fencing.
Gotti is a 1996 American crime drama television film directed by Robert Harmon and written by Steve Shagan, based in part on the 1996 non-fiction book Gotti: Rise and Fall by Jerry Capeci and Gene Mustain. The film stars Armand Assante in the title role as infamous Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, along with William Forsythe, and Anthony Quinn. It aired on HBO on August 17, 1996.
Thomas "Tommy" Bilotti was an American mobster who briefly served as underboss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. It was his promotion that helped trigger the 1985 assassination of Gambino boss Paul Castellano; Bilotti would end up killed as well as part of the assassination.
Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito were former New York City Police Department (NYPD) detectives who committed various illegal activities on behalf of the Five Families of the American Mafia, principally the Lucchese and Gambino crime families. The two subsequently became known as the "Mafia Cops".
Frank "Frankie Loc" LoCascio was an American mobster who rose to become consigliere of the Gambino crime family under the administration of John Gotti.
John "Jackie" D'Amico was an American mobster and caporegime in New York City who served as street boss of the Gambino crime family from 2005 to 2011. "Street boss" had been the family's number one position ever since official Boss Peter Gotti started serving a life sentence in prison.
Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo is a former Italian-American mobster who rose to position of caporegime in the Gambino crime family. In the early 2000s DiLeonardo turned government witness and decided to cooperate with the FBI and managed to convict over 80 mobsters. DiLeonardo testified a record 15 times, more than any other "made" Mafia member to date.
Bartholomew "Bobby" Boriello was an American mobster who belonged to the Gambino crime family and served as boss John Gotti's favorite bodyguard and chauffeur. A prominent hitman during the 1980s, Boriello participated in the 1990 murder of Gambino soldier Louis DiBono.
Frank DeCicco, also known as "Frankie D" and "Frankie Cheech", was an American mobster and eventual underboss for the Gambino crime family in New York City.
Angelo Salvatore Ruggiero Sr., also known as "Quack Quack", was an American gangster. He was a member of the Gambino crime family and a friend of John Gotti's. After Gotti became leader of the family he made Ruggiero a caporegime.
Thomas Francis Gambino was an Italian-American New York City mobster and a longtime caporegime of the Gambino crime family who successfully controlled lucrative trucking rackets in the New York City Garment District. He was the son of Carlo Gambino nephew of Paul Castellano and son-in-law of Tommy Lucchese.
Joseph Armone, also known as "Joe Piney" and "Shorty", was an American mobster in the Gambino crime family of New York City who served as underboss between 1986 and 1990, and consigliere from 1990 until his death in 1992.
James "Jimmy Brown" Failla was an American mobster who was a high ranking caporegime with the Gambino crime family and a major power in the garbage-hauling industry in New York City. Failla's crew was based in Brooklyn, with operations stretching into Staten Island, Manhattan, and New Jersey.
George "Big Georgie" DeCicco was a New York mobster and longtime captain in the Gambino crime family. DeCicco is one of the last captains of the old John Gotti administration in the 1980s who have not been under any indictment until now. DeCicco is the brother of former Gambino underboss Frank DeCicco, who was killed in a car-bomb meant for his boss John Gotti, ordered by then boss of the Genovese crime family who is now deceased, Vincent "Chin" Gigante, and Lucchese crime family leaders Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso as revenge for the murder of former Gambino crime family boss, Paul Castellano, a strong ally of both the Genovese and Lucchese crime families.
Nicholas Mormando, also known as "Nicky Cowboy", was a Gambino crime family mob associate who was involved in the murder of Frank Fiala and member of Sammy Gravano's Bensonhurst, Brooklyn crew.
Joseph Paruta, also known as "Old Man", was a respected soldier in the Gambino crime family and considered a "key member" of Sammy Gravano's Bensonhurst, Brooklyn crew. He is the only known mobster who asked for a mercy killing after becoming terminally ill with lung cancer. The proposition was not agreed upon by John Gotti but Paruta died before the mercy killing was performed.
Nicholas Scibetta, also known as "Little Nicky", was a Sicilian American mobster who was the nephew of Joseph and John Zicarelli, the brother-in-law of mobster Sammy Gravano and uncle of Gerard Gravano, who was a Gambino crime family mob associate who was later marked as an informant by fellow crime family members.
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