John Joseph Gotti Jr. 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 assassination on December 16, 1985.
Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano is an American former mobster who became underboss of 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 dominated 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.
Aniello John "Neil" Dellacroce was an American mobster and underboss of the Gambino crime family of New York City. He rose to the position of underboss when Carlo Gambino moved Joseph Biondo aside. Dellacroce was a mentor to future Gambino boss John Gotti.
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".
Peter Arthur Gotti was an American mobster. He was the boss of the Gambino crime family, part of the American Mafia, and the elder brother of the former Gambino boss John Gotti.
Richard V. Gotti is an American mobster in the Gambino crime family.
Bruce Cutler is an American criminal defense lawyer best known for having defended John Gotti, and for media appearances as a legal commentator.
Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo is an American mobster who is a captain in the Gambino crime family of New York City.
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.
Domenico Cefalù is an Italian-American mobster and is currently the boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City, since July 2011.
Wilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson was a reputed American mobster. According to court documents and pretrial testimony, Johnson was a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant from 1966 to 1985, when he provided investigators with information relating to John Gotti and other members of the Gambino crime family. However, Johnson and his attorneys publicly disputed claims that he ever cooperated with investigators. Johnson was shot and killed as he walked to his car in Brooklyn.
Angelo Salvatore Ruggiero Sr., also known as "Quack Quack", was a member of the Gambino crime family and a friend of John Gotti's. Once Gotti became leader of the family he made Ruggiero a caporegime. Although he showed little organizing or money making ability, anyone questioning Ruggiero's suitability for a top position in the hierarchy did so at their peril so the FBI regarded Ruggiero as an unpredictable psychopath not amenable to confrontational tactics. While Gotti was held in pretrial detention for a state case that he eventually beat, Ruggiero served as his contact with the crime family until the impulsive capo got himself thrown in jail beside Gotti by cursing and arguing with the judge during a hearing. This blunder lost Ruggiero any chance he had of becoming Gotti's underboss.
Louis Anthony "Bobby" Manna, is an American mobster and former consigliere of the Genovese crime family operating with the family's New Jersey faction.
Joseph "Jo Jo" Corozzo, Sr. is a New York mobster who was the reputed consigliere of the Gambino crime family.
Thomas Cacciopoli, also known as Tommy Sneakers and Cacci, is an American member of the Gambino crime family, holding the rank of caporegime in the Queens, New Jersey, and Westchester faction of the family.
John Edward Alite is an American former mobster and Gambino crime family affiliate who turned government witness and in 2008 testified against the crime family and John A. "Junior" Gotti. That year, Alite pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, including two murders and a variety of other crimes, and in 2011, was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison. Due to his cooperation with prosecutors, he was released on a five-year supervised release in 2012. Alite has estimated that he shot between 30 and 40 people, beat about 100 people with a baseball bat, and murdered seven people. Later in life, Alite publicly denounced the life of organized crime and became a motivational speaker, podcaster and books author.
