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Joseph Gallo (April 7, 1929 – April 7, 1972), also known as "Crazy Joe", was an Italian-American mobster and a captain in the Colombo crime family of New York City.

Key Information

Diagnosed with schizophrenia in his youth, Gallo became an enforcer in the Profaci crime family and formed his own crew with his brothers, Larry and Albert. In 1957, Joe Profaci allegedly asked the Gallo crew to murder Albert Anastasia, the boss of what was to become the Gambino crime family; Anastasia was later murdered at a barbershop in Midtown Manhattan. In 1961, the Gallo brothers kidnapped four of Profaci's top men: underboss Joseph Magliocco, Frank Profaci (Joe Profaci's brother), captain Salvatore Musacchia and soldier John Scimone, demanding a more favorable financial scheme for the hostages' release. After a few weeks of negotiation, Profaci and his consigliere, Charles "the Sidge" LoCicero, made a deal with the Gallos and secured the peaceful release of the hostages. This incited the First Colombo War.

In 1961, Gallo was sentenced to seven-to-fourteen years' imprisonment for conspiracy and extortion. During his incarceration, Magliocco took over the family in the wake of Profaci's death, leading to a murder attempt against Carmine Persico by the remaining Gallo brothers in 1963. Patriarca family boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca negotiated a peace agreement between the two factions, but Gallo later refused to abide by the agreement, citing his imprisonment. After Gallo's release from prison in 1971, a peace offering of $1,000 was made by boss Joseph Colombo, but Gallo demanded $100,000; Colombo refused. On June 28, 1971, at an Italian-American Civil Rights League rally in Columbus Circle, Colombo was shot three times by an African-American gunman, who was immediately killed by Colombo's bodyguards; Colombo survived the shooting but was paralyzed. Although many in the Colombo family blamed Gallo for the shooting, police eventually concluded that the gunman acted alone after they had questioned Gallo.

The Colombo family leadership was convinced that Gallo ordered their boss' murder after his falling out with the family, inciting the Second Colombo War. On April 7, 1972, around 4:30 a.m., Gallo was shot dead at Umbertos Clam House in New York's Little Italy while celebrating his 43rd birthday. Although differing accounts of who the killer or killers were have been reported by various sources over the years, "the case officially remains unsolved."[1]

Early life

[edit]

Joe Gallo was born on April 7, 1929, in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn in New York City. His parents were Umberto and Mary Gallo. A bootlegger during Prohibition, Umberto invested his earnings into a loan-sharking racket and did little to discourage Gallo and his two brothers, Larry and Albert, from participating in local criminal activity.[2]

Although he would remain deeply entwined with South Brooklyn in the popular imagination, and often frequented the area as a youth because of familial ties, Gallo was actually raised in Kensington (then customarily characterized as a subsection of Flatbush), where his family owned and operated Jackie's Charcolette, a greasy spoon at 108 Beverley Road. As late as 1964, a United States Senate dossier on organized crime identified the family's home at 639 East 4th Street as Gallo's permanent residence.[3][a] Gallo completed his primary education at P.S. 179 in Kensington before dropping out of the Brooklyn High School of Automotive Trades in Williamsburg at the age of sixteen.

Shortly thereafter, Gallo sustained head trauma in an automobile accident, resulting in the manifestation of a "nervous tic"; by this juncture, he and lifelong associates Peter "Pete the Greek" Diapoulas and Frank Illiano had begun to contemplate various criminal schemes while frequenting the Ace Pool Room on Church Avenue and a candy store on 36th Street and Fourteenth Avenue in nearby Borough Park.[6] In 1949, after viewing the film Kiss of Death (1947), Gallo began mimicking Richard Widmark's gangster character "Tommy Udo" and reciting movie dialogue.[2] After a 1950 arrest he was temporarily confined to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.[7] Albert Seedman, the head of New York City Police Department's Detective Bureau, called Gallo "that little guy with steel balls."[8] Gallo's brothers Larry and Albert (the latter of whom had by now gained the street moniker "Kid Blast") were also his criminal associates.[9]

Gallo's first wife – whom he married around 1960, divorced in the mid-1960s and then remarried in July 1971 – was Las Vegas showgirl Jeffie Lee Boyd. Later in 1971, Jeffie divorced Gallo again. The couple had one daughter, Joie.[10][11] In March 1972, three weeks before his death, Gallo married 29-year-old actress Sina Essary. He became the stepfather of Sina's daughter, Lisa Essary-Gallo (born 1962).[12]

Early criminal career

[edit]

Gallo started as an enforcer and hitman for Joe Profaci in the Profaci crime family. In addition to helping to manage his father's loan-sharking business and Larry's vending machine and jukebox operations (with the latter often perceived as the "crown jewel" of the family's rackets), Gallo directly oversaw a variety of enterprises, including floating dice and high-stakes card games, extortion shakedowns and a numbers game. He maintained his headquarters at "The Dormitory," a three-story brick tenement at 51 President Street (within the boundaries of Brooklyn's contemporary Carroll Gardens) that previously housed the Gallo family's vending machine interests; there, he allegedly kept a pet lion named Cleo in the basement. Within a few years, Gallo secretly owned several Manhattan nightclubs and two sweat shops in the Garment District.

In 1957, Profaci allegedly asked Gallo and his crew to murder Albert Anastasia, the boss of the Gambino crime family. Anastasia's underboss, Carlo Gambino, wanted to replace him and asked Profaci for assistance. On October 25, Anastasia entered the barbershop at the Park Sheraton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. As Anastasia relaxed in the barber's chair, two men—scarves covering their faces—rushed in, shoved the barber out of the way and killed the Gambino boss in a hail of bullets.[13] Anastasia's killers have never been conclusively identified, but Carmine Persico later claimed that he and Gallo had shot Anastasia, joking that he was part of Gallo's "barbershop quintet."[8]

The following year, Gallo and his brothers were summoned to Washington, D.C., to testify before the McClellan Committee of the United States Senate on organized crime. While visiting Senate Counsel Robert F. Kennedy in his office, Gallo flirted with Kennedy's secretary and told Kennedy his carpet would be excellent for a dice game. On the witness stand, none of the brothers provided any useful information.[14]

First Colombo War

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On February 27, 1961, the Gallo brothers kidnapped four of Profaci's top men: underboss Joseph Magliocco, Frank Profaci (Joe Profaci's brother), caporegime (captain) Salvatore Musacchia and soldato (soldier) John Scimone.[15] Profaci himself eluded capture and flew to sanctuary in Florida.[15] While holding the hostages, Larry and Albert sent Joe to California. The Gallos demanded a more favorable financial scheme for the hostages' release. Gallo wanted to kill one hostage and demand $100,000 before negotiations, but his brother Larry overruled him. After a few weeks of negotiation, Profaci and his consigliere, Charles "the Sidge" LoCicero, struck a deal with the Gallos and secured the peaceful release of the hostages.[16][17]

However, Profaci had no intention of honoring this peace agreement. On August 20, 1961, he ordered the murders of Larry and Joseph "Joe Jelly" Gioielli, a member of the Gallo crew. Gunmen allegedly murdered Gioielli after inviting him to go fishing.[15] Larry survived a strangulation attempt by Persico and Salvatore "Sally" D'Ambrosio at the Sahara Club in East Flatbush after a police officer intervened.[15][18] The Gallos had been previously aligned with Persico against Profaci and his loyalists;[15][18] they then began calling Persico "the Snake" after he had betrayed them.[18] The gang war continued, resulting in nine murders and three disappearances.[18] With the start of the war, the Gallo crew retreated to the Dormitory.[14] Persico was indicted later that year for the attempted murder of Larry, but the charges were dropped when Larry refused to testify.[19]

In November 1961, Gallo was convicted of conspiracy and extortion for attempting to extort money from a businessman.[14] On December 21 of that year, he was sentenced to seven-to-fourteen years in prison.[20]

Prison

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While serving his sentence, Gallo was incarcerated at three New York state prisons: Green Haven Correctional Facility, Attica Correctional Facility and Auburn Correctional Facility. In 1962, when Gallo was serving time in Attica, his brothers Larry and Albert, along with five other members of the Gallo crew, rushed into a burning Brooklyn tenement near their hangout, the Longshore Rest Room, and rescued six children and their mother from a fire. The crew was briefly celebrated in the press.[21][22]

While at Green Haven, Gallo became friends with African-American drug trafficker Leroy "Nicky" Barnes.[23] Gallo predicted a power shift in the Harlem drug rackets towards black gangs, and coached Barnes on how to upgrade his criminal organization.[24] On August 29, 1964, Gallo sued the New York Department of Corrections, stating that corrections officers inflicted cruel and unusual punishment on him at Green Haven after he allowed a black barber to cut his hair. The prison commissioner characterized Gallo as a belligerent inmate and an agitator.[25]

At Auburn, Gallo took up watercolor painting, became an avid reader and worked as an elevator operator in the prison's woodworking shop. During a prison riot there, Gallo rescued a severely wounded corrections officer from angry inmates. The officer later testified for Gallo at a parole hearing.[2] According to Donald Frankos, a fellow inmate at Auburn, Gallo was "articulate and had excellent verbal skills, being able to describe gouging a man's guts out with the same eloquent ease that he used when discussing classical literature."[26]

In May 1968, while Gallo was still in prison, his brother Larry died of cancer.[27]

Release from prison and Second Colombo War

[edit]

The Profaci family went through a period of change during Gallo's incarceration. On June 7, 1962, after a long illness, Profaci died of cancer.[28] Magliocco took over the family and continued the battle with Gallo's brothers. On May 19, 1963, Persico survived an assault by a Gallo hit team, although he was shot multiple times.[29] Later that year, through negotiations with Patriarca family boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca, a peace agreement was reached between the two factions.[15] Gallo later stated that the peace agreement did not apply to him because he was in prison when it was negotiated.[30]

The Commission, the American Mafia's governing body, forced Magliocco to resign as boss after they discovered he helped formulate a plot to overthrow them. Joseph Colombo, an ally of Gambino, was named as the new Profaci family boss; the family was renamed the Colombo crime family.[31] However, Colombo soon alienated Gambino with his establishment of the Italian-American Civil Rights League (IACRL) and the media attention that it entailed. Gallo was released from prison on April 11, 1971.[32] His second wife, Sina, described him shortly after his release, saying he appeared extremely frail and pale,

He looked like an old man. He was a bag of bones. You could see the remnants of what had been a strikingly handsome man in his youth. He had beautiful features—beautiful nose, beautiful mouth and piercing blue eyes.[12]

Gallo soon became a part of New York high society. His connection started when actor Jerry Orbach played the inept mobster Kid Sally Palumbo in the film The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971), a role based loosely on Gallo.[8] Following his release, Colombo and Joseph Yacovelli invited Gallo to a peace meeting with an offering of $1,000.[33][32] Gallo reportedly told the family representatives that he was not bound by the 1963 peace agreement and demanded $100,000 to settle the dispute, which Colombo refused.[34][32] On June 28, 1971, at an IACRL rally in Columbus Circle, Colombo was shot three times, once being in the head, by an African-American gunman named Jerome A. Johnson; Johnson was immediately killed by Colombo's bodyguards.[35] Colombo survived the shooting but was paralyzed[36] until his death in May 1978.[35] Although many in the Colombo family blamed Gallo for the shooting, police eventually concluded that Johnson was a lone gunman after they had questioned Gallo.[30] The Colombo leadership was convinced that Gallo ordered the murder after his falling out with the family.[37]

Murder

[edit]

On April 7, 1972, around 4:30 a.m., Gallo and his family entered Umbertos Clam House in Manhattan's Little Italy to celebrate his 43rd birthday with sister Carmella, wife Sina, her daughter Lisa, his bodyguard Peter "Pete the Greek" Diapoulas and Diapoulas' girlfriend.[38] Earlier that evening, the Gallo party had visited the Copacabana with Orbach and his wife, Marta, to see a performance by comedian Don Rickles and singer Peter Lemongello.[39] Once at Umbertos, the Gallo party took two tables, with Gallo and Diapoulas facing the wall.[9] Rickles and Lemongello declined Gallo's invitation to join them at Umbertos, possibly saving their lives.[40]

Joe Gallo crime scene April 1972

Colombo associate Joseph Luparelli claimed he was sitting at the bar, unbeknownst to Gallo. When Luparelli saw Gallo, he claimed he immediately left Umbertos and walked to a Colombo hangout two blocks away. After contacting Yacovelli, Luparelli said he recruited Colombo associate Philip Gambino, Genovese soldier Carmine "Sonny Pinto" DiBiase[32] and two other men – reputedly members of the Patriarca family – to kill Gallo due to their belief the Colombos had a contract on Gallo's life. Upon reaching Umbertos, Luparelli claimed he stayed in the car while the other four men went inside through the back door.[38]

Between seafood courses, Luparelli asserted that the four gunmen walked into the dining room and opened fire with .32- and .38 caliber revolvers. Gallo swore and attempted to draw his handgun, but twenty shots were fired at him and he was hit in the back, elbow and buttock.[9] After overturning a butcher block dining table, Gallo staggered to the front door. Witnesses claimed that he was attempting to draw fire away from his family. Diapoulas was shot once in the hip.[9] The mortally wounded Gallo stumbled into the street and collapsed. He was taken in a police car to Beekman-Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at around 5:30 a.m.[9][38]

Luparelli's account earned wide publicity but was met with skepticism by police. NYPD homicide detective Joe Coffey, who inherited the Gallo case from the original investigators, reported that eyewitness testimony and crime scene reconstruction led police to believe that Gallo was killed by a lone assailant.[41] Coffey also asserted that police circulated a false story about three shooters to help screen information from supposed witnesses or informers: anyone who reported three gunmen rather than one was immediately deemed unreliable.[41] Author Charles Brandt notes that "[Luparelli's] statement was never corroborated in a single detail" and resulted in no arrests.[41] Brandt further speculates that Luparalli's confession was most likely disinformation ordered by the Colombo family with the intention of defusing tensions after the Gallo shooting. Umbertos was owned by associates of the Genovese crime family, which would normally imply the Genoveses had given their blessing to a killing on their territory, but Luparelli's account, that the shooting was a spontaneous unplanned act without approval from high-ranking mafiosi, took pressure off the feuding Colombo and Genovese families.[41]

A differing but equally disputed[42] account of the murder was offered by Frank Sheeran, a hitman and labor union boss. Shortly before his death in 2003, Sheeran claimed that he was the lone triggerman in the Gallo hit acting on orders from mobster Russell Bufalino, who felt that Gallo was drawing undue attention with his flashy lifestyle.[41][43] Coffey and several other NYPD investigators are confident that Sheeran killed Gallo.[41] Furthermore, an eyewitness at Umbertos on the night of the incident, later a New York Times editor who spoke on condition of anonymity, also identified Sheeran as the man she observed shooting Gallo.[41] Jerry Capeci, a journalist and Mafia expert who was at Umbertos shortly after the shooting as a young reporter for the New York Post, later wrote if he were "forced to make a choice" about who shot Gallo, Sheeran was the most likely culprit.[44]

Bill Tonelli disputes the truthfulness of Sheeran's claim in his Slate article "The Lies of the Irishman," as does Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith in "Jimmy Hoffa and 'The Irishman': A True Crime Story?" which appeared in The New York Review of Books.[45][46] Former Colombo family captain Michael Franzese also disputes that Sheeran was the killer when reviewing the scene depicting the assassination in The Irishman, claiming that he knows "for a fact what happened there" based on his personal involvement with the Mafia at the time.[47] Gallo's widow later stated that she remembered the attack involving multiple men, all of whom were short and appeared to be Italian. Sheeran, on the other hand, was of mixed Irish-Swedish descent and 6'4".[42]

Aftermath

[edit]

Gallo's funeral was held under police surveillance; his sister Carmella declared over his open coffin that "the streets are going to run red with blood, Joey!"[48] Looking for revenge, Albert sent a gunman from Las Vegas to the Neapolitan Noodle restaurant in Manhattan, where Yacovelli, Alphonse Persico and Gennaro Langella were dining. However, the gunman did not recognize the mobsters and shot four innocent diners instead, killing two of them.[49] After this assassination attempt, Yacovelli fled New York, leaving Persico as the new boss.[50] The Colombo family, led by the imprisoned Persico, was plunged into a second internecine war which lasted for several years, until a 1974 agreement allowed Albert and his remaining crew to join the Genovese family.

An increasingly paranoid Luparelli fled to California, then contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and reached a deal to become a government witness. He implicated the four gunmen in the Gallo murder. However, police could not bring charges against them; there was no corroborating evidence and Luparelli was deemed an unreliable witness. No one was ever charged in Gallo's murder.[8]

In October 1975, the New York City Department of Water Resources began to replace the sewer on the "Gallo block" of President Street with a system designed to connect to a new sewage treatment plant in Red Hook. When a house at 21 President Street collapsed on December 3, 1975 (resulting in the death of one man), all work on the project stopped for more than eighteen months, leaving an "open trench in the middle of the street [...] braced with steel and filled with stagnant water" due to an ensuing pump failure; this compromised the foundations of every building on the block and the remaining buildings on an adjoining stretch of Carroll Street, compounding the effects of probable earlier damage stemming from the construction of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and the depressed alignment of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway on nearby Hicks Street.[51] Gallo crew member Frank DiMatteo has speculated that "lawyers and corrupt politicians [...] decided to turn the whole block into a stinking shithole until no one could live there anymore" in an effort to rid the area — by now convenient to the gentrifying enclaves of Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill — of remaining Gallo associates.[52] According to DiMatteo, only four buildings on the block were owned by the Gallo crew: "The rest were all owned by innocent people who'd had those buildings in their families for generations. [...] The Law didn't care. They got what they wanted."[53] As many as 33 buildings on the block were subsequently condemned and replaced with new housing, with none of the Gallo-era buildings extant today.[54]

Gallo crew

[edit]
  • Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo – transferred to Genovese crime family in 1975
  • Larry Gallo – died of cancer in 1968
  • Frank "Punchy" Illiano – transferred to Genovese crime family in 1975, died in January 2014
  • Bobby Boriello – transferred to Gambino crime family in 1972, murdered in 1991 on orders of Anthony Casso
  • Nicholas Bianco – transferred to Patriarca crime family in 1963, died of natural causes in 1994
  • Vic Amuso – transferred to Lucchese crime family, serving life in prison
  • Joseph "Joe Pesh" Luparelli – entered witness protection program in 1972, current location unknown
  • Joseph "Joe Jelly" Gioielli – murdered in 1961 by Profaci gunmen
  • Carmine "the Snake" Persico – Colombo family boss, died in 2019 while serving 139-year sentence in prison[55]
  • Michael Rizzitello – transferred to Los Angeles crime family, died while incarcerated due to complications of cancer in 2005
  • Peter ("Pete the Greek") Diapoulas
  • John Cutrone – led breakaway faction from Gallo crew, murdered in 1976 by unknown gunmen
  • Gerry Basciano – seceded from Gallo crew, murdered in 1976 by unknown gunmen
  • Steve Cirrilo – murdered in 1974 by Cutrone gunmen
  • Joseph Cardiello – defected to Profaci, murdered by Gallo gunmen on December 10, 1963
  • Frank DiMatteo – magazine publisher and distributor
  • Louis Mariani – murdered by Profaci gunmen on August 10, 1963
  • Leonard "Big Lenny" Dello – died in 2009
  • John Commarato
  • Vincent “Chico” Regina
  • Alfonso Serantonio
  • Joseph Yancone
  • Eugene LaGana
  • Frank Balzano
  • Sergio "SergForce" Gallo
  • Dan 'Big Fish' Cantelliani
  • Hugh "Apples" McIntosh – died in 1997
[edit]

Author Jimmy Breslin's 1969 book The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight was a fictionalized and satirical depiction of Gallo's war with the Profaci family. It was made into a 1971 feature film with Jerry Orbach playing Kid Sally Palumbo, a surrogate for Gallo.

After Gallo's murder, producer Dino De Laurentiis produced a more serious, but still fictionalized drama about Gallo titled Crazy Joe, released in 1974. Based on newspaper articles by reporter Nicholas Gage, the movie was directed by Carlo Lizzani and starred Peter Boyle as the title character.

Gallo is the main character in Bob Dylan's biographical, 12-verse ballad "Joey".[56] The song appears in Dylan's 1976 album Desire. Dylan was criticized for overly romanticizing his life in the song.

Gallo was portrayed by Sebastian Maniscalco in the 2019 Martin Scorsese film The Irishman.

Gallo is portrayed in the 2019 film Mob Town by Kyle Stefanski.[57]

In the Paramount+ 2022 TV Series The Offer, Gallo is portrayed by Joseph Russo.

See also

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Notes

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References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Joe Gallo

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from Grokipedia
Joseph Gallo (April 7, 1929 – April 7, 1972), known as "Crazy Joe" Gallo, was an Italian-American mobster who served as a in New York City's . Born in to Italian immigrant parents, Gallo rose through the ranks of the Profaci crime family—later renamed —in the 1950s via involvement in and labor . His defining characteristic emerged in the late 1950s when he openly rebelled against boss Joseph Profaci's leadership over profit-sharing disputes, initiating a bloody intra-family conflict from 1961 to 1963 that included kidnappings of loyalists and multiple assassinations, ultimately forcing Profaci's ouster but resulting in Gallo's 1962 conviction for and a seven-to-fourteen-year prison sentence. Released on parole in 1971 after nearly a decade incarcerated, Gallo attempted to reclaim influence amid ongoing factionalism but was fatally shot multiple times outside Umberto's Clam House in Manhattan's on his 43rd birthday, an event attributed by law enforcement informants to retaliation from family rivals. Gallo's erratic behavior, alliances outside traditional norms, and cultural notoriety—earning him the "Crazy Joe" moniker for unpredictable actions like keeping a pet —distinguished him from contemporaries, influencing perceptions of internal dynamics during a period of federal scrutiny and generational shifts.

Early Life and Background

Childhood and Family Origins

Joseph Gallo was born on April 7, 1929, in the Red Hook section of , , to Italian-American parents Umberto Gallo and Mary Gallo. His father, Umberto, worked as a bootlegger during the era, immersing the family in an environment shaped by illicit alcohol trade and early organized crime influences. Gallo grew up alongside two brothers, Lawrence "Larry" Gallo and Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo, as well as a sister, Carmela Fiorello. The 1940 U.S. recorded the family, including 11-year-old Joseph, residing in Red Hook, a working-class neighborhood with deep roots in Italian immigrant communities and proximity to waterfront docks that facilitated operations. This setting, combined with his father's Prohibition-era activities, positioned Gallo within a milieu where criminal enterprises were normalized from an early age.

Initial Exposure to Crime

Joseph Gallo, born on April 7, 1929, in 's Red Hook neighborhood, grew up in a family environment steeped in illicit activities, with his father, Umberto Gallo, having engaged in bootlegging during and later . This paternal involvement provided an early model of criminal enterprise, as Umberto's operations exposed the family to the underworld's and networks prevalent in Depression-era immigrant communities. Gallo's upbringing in the tough, working-class enclaves of , where figures operated openly, further normalized such pursuits, with local rackets in numbers running and extortion shaping the social fabric. At age 16, Gallo dropped out of high school, marking his pivot toward full-time delinquency amid a neighborhood rife with street-level hustles. He formed a small alongside associates Pete the Greek Diapoulas and , initially targeting petty thefts such as stealing jukeboxes and candy vending machines to resell them in a rudimentary scheme. These early ventures escalated with violence; for instance, Gallo reportedly threatened a business owner with a knife to enforce compliance in his operations, demonstrating an emerging pattern of intimidation that foreshadowed his later enforcer role. His brothers, Larry and Albert ("Kid Blast"), similarly gravitated toward crime, reinforcing familial ties to illegality through joint participation in Brooklyn's informal . By the late 1940s or early 1950s, Gallo's street-level activities transitioned into formal when he aligned with the Profaci crime family, initially under the mentorship of Frank "Frankie Shots" Abbatemarco. He assumed roles as an enforcer and , handling loan-sharking, protection, and rackets in South Brooklyn, which solidified his initial embedding in hierarchies. This entry point, facilitated by Profaci boss Joseph Profaci's recruitment of ambitious young Italians from the borough's docks and tenements, represented Gallo's shift from opportunistic juvenile crime to structured syndicate violence, though accounts of his precise induction date vary due to the secretive nature of such affiliations.

Rise in the Profaci Crime Family

Entry into Organized Crime

Joseph Gallo, born on April 7, 1929, in , New York, to Italian-American parents, began his involvement in during his late teens and early twenties in the South Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook. His father, a numbers runner and , introduced Gallo and his brothers, Larry and Albert, to illicit activities such as operations, which served as an entry point into the rackets controlled by local figures. By the early , Gallo aligned with the Profaci , one of New York City's , initially operating as an enforcer enforcing collections and protecting family interests in and policy (numbers) . Gallo's crew, which included his brothers, quickly gained a reputation for ruthlessness, handling violent enforcement duties that solidified their position within the family hierarchy. Under boss Joseph Profaci, Gallo engaged in high-stakes assignments, including an alleged role in the October 25, 1957, assassination of , the boss of the Mangano (later Gambino) family, at the Park Sheraton Hotel barbershop in ; Profaci reportedly commissioned the hit through Gallo's group to eliminate a rival. This involvement marked Gallo's emergence as a key operational figure, transitioning from street-level enforcement to strategic mob violence, though direct attribution remains based on accounts and mob informant testimonies rather than courtroom convictions. By the mid-1950s, Gallo had been inducted as a "made" member of the Profaci family, rising to the rank of () overseeing a South Brooklyn crew focused on labor , loan-sharking, and . His entry exemplified the post-World War II expansion of operations in , where family ties and demonstrated loyalty through violent acts facilitated rapid ascent, though Gallo's independent streak foreshadowed later internal conflicts.

Role Under Profaci Leadership

Joseph Gallo served as an enforcer and hitman for the Profaci crime family in the 1950s, rising to the position of overseeing operations in South Brooklyn. His crew, including brothers Larry and Albert, controlled key rackets such as high-stakes card games, schemes targeting local businesses, and illegal numbers gambling, generating substantial revenue for the family. Gallo's reputation for unpredictable violence and willingness to use lethal force made him a valued asset for Profaci in maintaining discipline and expanding influence in Brooklyn's waterfront and labor sectors. In 1957, Profaci reportedly tasked Gallo and his crew with assassinating , boss of the rival Mangano (later Gambino) family, amid tensions over Anastasia's dominance; though the hit occurred at a barbershop on , Gallo's direct involvement remains unproven and contested in mob lore, with primary credit often attributed to a Gambino-orchestrated plot. This assignment underscored Gallo's role as a go-to operative for high-risk enforcement, leveraging his crew's street-level intimidation tactics rather than finesse. By the late , as a made member inducted under Profaci, Gallo had solidified control over a loyal faction, blending traditional with bold, attention-grabbing methods that foreshadowed his later rebellions.

The First Profaci-Gallo Conflict

Grievances and Outbreak

The Gallo brothers—Joseph, Lawrence, and Albert—developed grievances against Profaci family boss Joseph Profaci primarily over the unequal distribution of profits from family rackets, despite the crew's role in enforcing collections and generating revenue through extortion and loansharking operations. Profaci's practice of demanding high kickbacks, often described as excessive taxes on subordinates' earnings, intensified the rift, as the Gallos openly resisted these levies and viewed them as undermining their financial independence within the family. Tensions were further fueled by Profaci's failure to reward Joseph Gallo's reputed involvement in the 1957 murder of , for which Gallo anticipated promotions or direct payments that never materialized. These issues, building since late 1959, erupted into the First Profaci War on February 27, 1961, when the Gallos kidnapped four senior Profaci associates to compel negotiations: underboss , Profaci's brother Frank Profaci, caporegime Salvatore Profaci (or Musacchia in some accounts), and another lieutenant such as John Scimone. The abductions, planned as leverage for better profit shares and reduced tribute demands, narrowly missed capturing Profaci himself and held the hostages for weeks amid threats of execution. Following tense negotiations mediated by intermediaries, Profaci agreed to ransom terms—reportedly including payments totaling around $150,000—and the captives were released unharmed by mid-March 1961. However, Profaci soon violated the truce by authorizing hits on Gallo crew members, such as the August 1961 murder of associate Joseph Gioielli, prompting retaliatory violence and prolonging the intra-family conflict through 1963 with at least a dozen deaths.

Kidnappings and Key Violent Acts

On February 27, 1961, Joseph Gallo and his brothers orchestrated the kidnapping of four high-ranking members of the amid escalating disputes over profit-sharing and leadership tribute demands. The hostages included , Frank Profaci (Joseph Profaci's brother), and capos Salvatore Profaci and John Robilotto, who were seized in a coordinated operation targeting family leadership to force negotiations. The Gallos held the men captive for several weeks, using the abductions as leverage to demand changes in the family's financial structure, with Joseph Gallo reportedly advocating to kill one to underscore their resolve and seek a , a proposal overruled by his brother Lawrence. The hostages were eventually released following interventions by other Mafia figures and internal pressure, but the act ignited a full-scale intra-family war, marked by retaliatory violence on both sides. In the ensuing conflict, the Gallo crew engaged in targeted assaults, including attempts to capture Joseph Profaci himself, which narrowly failed, further escalating hostilities through ambushes and enforcer deployments in rackets. Profaci loyalists responded with hits on Gallo associates, such as the August 1961 disappearance and presumed murder of Joseph "Joe Jelly" Gioiello, a Gallo crew member signaled by a dead fish left at a Gallo hangout, though the Gallos maintained operational pressure via street-level intimidation and selective enforcements rather than immediate large-scale killings.

Imprisonment Period

Arrest, Trial, and Sentencing

Gallo was arrested in 1961 amid the escalating Profaci-Gallo war, charged with and for attempting to coerce payments from a New York businessman through threats of violence. The charges stemmed from Gallo's crew's aggressive tactics to generate revenue during the factional strife, independent of direct orders from Profaci but exacerbating the family's internal divisions. Gallo's trial proceeded in federal court, where prosecutors presented evidence of his role in the extortion scheme, including witness testimony linking him to demands for protection money. He was convicted in November 1961 on both and counts, a outcome that sidelined him from the ongoing rebellion while his brothers continued operations. On December 21, 1961, Judge Jacob Mishler imposed the maximum sentence of seven years and three months to fourteen years and six months in state prison, citing the severity of the offenses and Gallo's criminal . This term effectively removed Gallo from street-level activities for over a decade, though appeals and procedural delays influenced the exact incarceration period.

Prison Experiences and Associations

Gallo was incarcerated following his December 1961 conviction on charges of conspiracy to commit , receiving a sentence of seven to fourteen years, though he served approximately ten years before in April 1971. During this period, primarily at , Gallo immersed himself in reading, reportedly devouring up to eight books daily, including philosophical texts by , , and , as well as works on strategy like those by Niccolò Machiavelli. This self-education, facilitated by shipments from New York bookstores such as the Eighth Street Bookshop, contributed to Gallo's evolving public image as an erudite mobster upon release, though contemporaries questioned the depth of his intellectual pursuits amid his ongoing criminal mindset. Gallo also cultivated unusual associations for a Mafia member by befriending African American inmates, forming bonds that extended to black criminal elements and later supported his post-prison alliances in policy operations. In August 1964, from Green Haven, Gallo initiated a civil lawsuit against the New York State Department of Corrections, claiming guards subjected him to cruel and unusual punishment, including physical assaults and denial of privileges.

Release and Renewed Conflicts

Parole and Return to Activities

Gallo was granted parole on April 11, 1971, after serving roughly ten years of a sentence for extortion imposed in 1962. His release followed a period of relative dormancy for his faction amid ongoing family tensions under the leadership of Joseph Colombo, who had succeeded the late Joe Profaci. Upon returning to , Gallo immediately criticized the weakened position of his supporters within the , attributing it to neglect and exploitation during his imprisonment. He rejected overtures from aimed at resolving past grievances, arguing that the proposed terms failed to restore adequate territory or revenue shares to his group, thereby renewing the factional feud. Gallo quickly reasserted control over his remaining loyalists, expanding operations into , loansharking, and in and while cultivating a more visible public profile through associations with entertainers and intellectuals in . This approach, including recruitment of non-Italian associates for protection and enforcement, marked a departure from conventional insularity and positioned his crew for escalated confrontations with loyalists.

Second Colombo War and Colombo Shooting

Following his parole on April 11, 1971, after serving approximately ten years for , Joe Gallo resumed activities in and defied Joseph Colombo's authority over the family, declining to remit tribute payments and demanding autonomy for his crew in South and other territories. Colombo attempted negotiations to reintegrate Gallo, but these efforts failed amid Gallo's associations with non-Italian criminals and his public cultivation of a countercultural image, including ties to actors and poets, which alienated traditionalists. The conflict intensified on June 28, 1971, when was shot three times at point-blank range during an rally at in ; the assailant, A. Johnson, a 25-year-old from , was killed seconds later by an unidentified . survived the attack but remained paralyzed and in a until his death from on May 22, 1978. Official investigations found no evidence of a broader , deeming Johnson a lone actor motivated by personal grievances against Italian-American organizations, though loyalists, including acting leadership under , attributed the shooting to Gallo based on prior disputes and Gallo's reputed willingness to employ non-Mafia gunmen. Gallo denied involvement, and no charges linked him to the incident. This attribution fueled the Second Colombo War, a violent intra-family struggle from 1971 to around 1975 pitting Gallo's independent crew—comprising brothers and Albert, along with allies like Pete Diapoulos—against Persico's faction of Colombo enforcers. The war featured ambushes, hijackings, and targeted killings, with Gallo's group conducting robberies to fund operations while loyalists retaliated against perceived defectors; documented violence included at least ten murders tied to the feud, though exact attributions remain disputed due to the era's and informant limitations. Persico's forces gained the upper hand after Gallo's on April 7, 1972, eventually forcing surviving Gallo associates to capitulate or integrate under Persico's control by the mid-1970s.

Operations and Inner Circle

The Gallo Crew Structure

The Gallo crew functioned as a semi-autonomous faction within the Profaci (later renamed ), centered on familial leadership by the three Gallo brothers from their base in 's Red Hook and South Brooklyn neighborhoods. Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo emerged as the primary leader and enforcer, directing violent operations and serving as the crew's public figurehead, while his brother Lawrence Gallo handled administrative and strategic roles, effectively managing the group during Joseph's frequent imprisonments from 1961 onward. Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo, the youngest brother, supported enforcement through his proficiency with firearms and participation in hits, bolstering the crew's reputation for aggression. Beneath the brothers, the structure relied on a small cadre of made s—reportedly limited to three or four, including Joseph Gallo himself at the soldier level—and a broader array of non-initiated associates for operational execution. At its peak in the mid-1960s, the crew expanded to over 100 members, encompassing core loyalists for rackets like and hijackings, plus an outer ring of loosely affiliated hoodlums for manpower in conflicts. Key lieutenants included figures like Frank "Punchy" Illiano, a member who acted as a trusted enforcer and later transitioned to other families. This flat, loyalty-driven enabled rapid mobilization during wars but lacked formal authority, reflecting the crew's rebellious status within the family. The crew's organization emphasized personal allegiance over rigid ranks, with associates like Joseph Gioielli handling hits and reconnaissance until his murder in 1961 amid the Profaci conflict. This setup facilitated coordinated actions, such as the February 27, 1961, of four Profaci lieutenants, but also sowed vulnerabilities to betrayals, including by former ally . By the late 1960s, following Lawrence Gallo's death from cancer in 1968, the structure contracted under renewed pressures, leading to its dispersal after Joseph's 1972 assassination.

Criminal Methods and Revenue Sources

Gallo and his crew primarily derived revenue from , loansharking, illegal , and control over vending operations in during the late 1950s and early 1960s. These activities generated income through enforced protection fees, high-interest loans, house advantages in betting, and shakedowns of machine operators, often backed by threats of or labor union pressure. Enforcement tactics included physical , with Gallo reportedly maintaining a pet in his to coerce loanshark debtors into repayment. Extortion formed a core method, exemplified by Gallo's 1960 conviction in Mineola and federal courts for shaking down a machine executive, resulting in a sentence of 7 to 15 years. In another case, he was convicted in November 1961 of and attempted against a businessman, demanding a 50% stake in the victim's operations under threat of harm, leading to a 7-to-14-year prison term imposed on December 21, 1961. These schemes relied on Gallo's reputation for unpredictability to compel compliance without always resorting to overt violence. Loansharking operations, inherited and expanded from his father, involved issuing usurious loans to gamblers, owners, and others in Brooklyn's Italian-American communities, with weekly "vig" rates often exceeding 5% compounded aggressively. Gallo assisted in managing these rackets alongside brothers and Albert, using enforcers to collect debts through beatings or property damage for defaulters. Gambling rackets under Gallo's influence included bookmaking, dice games, and policy numbers in South , where his crew sought territorial control to skim profits from bets placed on horse races, , and lotteries. stemmed from the house edge and operator cuts, with disputes over shares in these Brooklyn operations contributing to the Profaci-Gallo war. Jukebox and vending machine rackets provided additional steady income via a Gallo-formed association of operators, who paid protection fees to avoid sabotage or union disruptions orchestrated through Teamsters Local 266 allies like Joe DeGrandis and Vincent Amalfitano. Gallo's 1957 subpoena by the U.S. Senate Rackets Committee highlighted his role in these extortive placements across Brooklyn bars and social clubs.

Death and Immediate Consequences

The Assassination Event

Joseph Gallo was assassinated in the early morning of April 7, 1972, at Umberto's Clam House, located at 129 Mulberry Street in Manhattan's Little Italy. He had arrived around 4:00 a.m. with his wife Sina Essary, 10-year-old stepdaughter Lisa Essary, bodyguard Pete Diapoulas, Diapoulas's date Edith Russo, and another associate Carmella Fiorello, following a night of birthday celebrations that included a stop at the Copacabana nightclub. As the group dined, at least one gunman entered through a side door and opened fire, with approximately 20 bullets discharged from multiple weapons. Gallo sustained gunshot wounds to his left elbow, left buttock, and back—the latter proving fatal—and staggered out the front door onto Hester Street before collapsing. His bodyguard Diapoulas was wounded in the left hip and later arrested for possessing an illegal firearm, though he was reported in satisfactory condition. Gallo was pronounced dead at Beekman-Downtown Hospital shortly thereafter. The murder was linked to ongoing feuds within the , particularly retaliation for the May 1971 shooting of boss , in which Gallo was widely suspected of involvement. According to informant Joseph Luparelli, a Colombo associate who provided details to authorities, the hit was sanctioned by acting boss Joseph Yacovelli and executed by gunmen including Carmine "Sonny Pinto" DiBiase, who allegedly fired directly at Gallo, and Philip Gambino, with Luparelli himself remaining in a getaway car. Two unidentified brothers were also implicated as additional shooters by Luparelli, whose account stemmed from fear of by his accomplices. Eyewitness identifications supported DiBiase's role, though he had a prior in a 1951 murder case. No convictions resulted from these allegations, and the gunmen fled in a vehicle after the shooting.

Aftermath and Retaliations

The assassination of Joseph Gallo on April 7, 1972, generated immediate speculation among law enforcement that it could conclude the internal conflict within the , potentially halting further escalation of the Second Colombo War. Gallo's funeral proceedings coincided with reports of two additional shootings in , which police attributed to possible gangland activity, though no connections to his killing were confirmed in initial investigations. Family members, including his widow and associates, gathered at the amid public displays of mourning, but authorities reported no leads on the gunmen responsible. In the organization, the murder induced leadership flux, as acting boss Joseph Yacovelli went into hiding fearing reprisals from Gallo's remaining supporters; he was succeeded briefly by Joseph Brancato, who soon relinquished the role. Surviving Gallo crew members, particularly his brother Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo, failed to orchestrate effective retaliation, hampered by internal rivalries and Albert's reported reluctance or inability to mobilize against the perpetrators. This absence of sustained counterviolence weakened the Gallo faction, enabling to stabilize and assume control of the Colombo family without prolonged disruption.

Broader Impact and Perceptions

Influence on Mafia Power Structures

Gallo's orchestration of the 1961 rebellion against Profaci family boss Joseph Profaci, involving the kidnapping of Joseph and Salvatore Profaci to protest excessive profit skimming, ignited the first major internal war within the family, resulting in over a dozen murders and significant territorial disruptions in through 1963. This conflict exposed fractures in the traditional loyalty to the boss, compelling the Commission to intervene by pressuring Profaci's faction to negotiate peace and ultimately facilitating the transition to Magliocco's leadership after Profaci's death from cancer in 1962. Upon Gallo's parole on April 11, 1971, after serving nearly a decade for , his return exacerbated divisions, culminating in the June 28, 1971, shooting of boss at an rally—widely attributed to Gallo's faction by family members despite his denials—which left Colombo comatose and created a leadership vacuum. The ensuing Second Colombo War, fueled by Gallo's refusal to submit to acting boss , further eroded the family's cohesion and earning capacity, prompting Commission-mediated truces that underscored the governing body's intolerance for prolonged intra-family strife but highlighted the Colombo family's vulnerability compared to more stable outfits like the Gambino or Lucchese. Gallo's assassination on April 7, 1972, at Umberto's Clam House in , ordered amid lingering grudges from the Profaci-era war, eliminated a key insurgent and enabled Persico to consolidate control by 1973, yet the pattern of rebellion Gallo exemplified contributed to the Colombo family's reputation for chronic instability, with subsequent wars in the 1970s and 1990s reflecting weakened hierarchical enforcement. His advocacy for recruiting non-Italians, including and Hispanics, into rackets—viewed as a radical departure from omertà-enforced ethnic exclusivity—challenged Commission norms on membership but gained no traction, reinforcing rather than altering the insular power structures of the Five Families.

Controversies and Viewpoints on Gallo's Character

Joseph Gallo, known as "Crazy Joe," earned his nickname through a combination of ruthless violence and a 1963 court diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, which highlighted his erratic and unpredictable behavior in mafia circles. This mental health assessment stemmed from incidents during his criminal career, including threats and aggressive tactics in enforcing rackets, such as holding a knife to a victim's throat to secure jukebox placements. Controversies over his character intensified due to suspected involvement in high-profile hits, like the 1957 assassination of Albert Anastasia at a Manhattan barber shop, though never proven in court, and the 1971 shooting of Colombo family boss Joseph Colombo at an Italian-American rally, which paralyzed Colombo and escalated intra-family violence. These acts, coupled with his leadership in the 1961 revolt against Profaci family leadership— including the kidnapping of underboss Frank Profaci to demand profit shares—painted Gallo as a disruptive force unwilling to adhere to traditional omertà and hierarchical norms. Within the mafia, Gallo was widely viewed as a renegade and "mad dog" whose refusal to pay tribute, inclusion of non-Italian associates from prison connections, and operations in minority neighborhoods violated ethnic exclusivity and low-profile codes, provoking grudges that fueled two bloody wars killing at least ten by 1972. Traditional mob figures resented his publicity-seeking, such as testifying before the Senate Rackets Committee while pleading the Fifth, and his post-1971 parole flaunting of celebrity ties, seeing him as an unhinged liability rather than a disciplined earner. In contrast, public and intellectual perceptions romanticized Gallo as an iconoclastic underdog; after an intellectual awakening in prison where he studied , , and painted, he emerged self-styling as a and , charming New York literati with conversations on diverse topics. Figures like described him not as a but a "" battling establishment forces, while dubbed him among the "beautiful people" and lamented missing a chance to discuss ideas with him before his death. His wife, Sina Essary, emphasized his broad intelligence, noting people were "mesmerized" by him, underscoring a folk-hero aura that clashed with his enforcer past. This duality—violent rebel versus cultured —fueled debates on Gallo's authenticity, with critics arguing his intellectual pose masked , while admirers saw genuine transformation from reading, evidenced by his atypical friendships across racial lines and society-page appearances as a fashion trendsetter. Yet, causal links to his 1972 at Umberto's Clam House on his 43rd birthday trace directly to character-driven feuds, as his warned at the funeral that "the streets are going to run red with blood," signaling retaliatory cycles from perceived betrayals. Mainstream accounts, often from or rival testimonies, emphasize his destabilizing volatility, but lack corroboration for sanitizing his role in convictions or wars, suggesting selective narratives in mob lore favor portraying him as uniquely aberrant to justify eliminations.

Cultural Representations

Depictions in Film and Literature

Joe Gallo's life and death inspired the 1974 Italian-American film Crazy Joe, directed by Carlo Lizzani and starring in the title role as the eponymous mobster. The screenplay by drew from a series of New York Times articles by journalist , presenting a fictionalized narrative of Gallo's rise within the , his rebellions against bosses, and his assassination on April 7, 1972, at Umberto's Clam House in . Co-starring as Gallo's protector Sam Detto and as the mob boss Falco, the film portrays Gallo as a volatile, anti-establishment figure challenging hierarchies, though critics noted its blend of gritty realism with melodramatic elements. Gallo appears as a minor but pivotal character in Martin Scorsese's 2019 film , where he is depicted ordering a hit that escalates tensions in the Mafia underworld. Portrayed by actor , the character's brief screen time underscores Gallo's reputation for unpredictability and his role in inter-family conflicts during the late and early , aligning with historical accounts of his crew's war against Profaci-Colombo leadership. In literature, Tom Folsom's 2008 nonfiction The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld chronicles Gallo's insurgent activities against New York bosses, framing him as a figure influenced by countercultural ideas and personal grievances. Drawing on interviews and archival records, Folsom details the Gallo brothers' 1961-1963 , including rackets and attempts, while questioning romanticized views of Gallo as an intellectual rebel rather than a pragmatic criminal. Jimmy Breslin's 1969 satirical novel The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight was loosely inspired by the Gallo crew's bungled operations and public antics during their feud with , portraying a comically inept group of Brooklyn gangsters mirroring Gallo's real-life crew of misfits and allies. Breslin, a columnist who covered the , used the book to lampoon organized crime's inefficiencies, with characters evoking Gallo's defiant persona and his band's failed coups, though the author emphasized exaggeration for humor over strict biography. Gallo's notoriety also influenced Bob Dylan's 1976 song "Joey" from the album Desire, which eulogizes him as a tragic anti-hero gunned down in , blending factual elements like the murder date with poetic speculation on his loves and enemies. The lyrics reflect Dylan's fascination with Gallo's outsider status in the , though the song prioritizes mythic narrative over historical precision.

Public Fascination and Myths

Joseph Gallo, known as "Crazy Joe," garnered significant public interest due to his unconventional persona within organized crime circles, blending ruthless criminality with intellectual and cultural pursuits that set him apart from typical mob figures. Unlike the more reserved mafia bosses of his era, Gallo cultivated an image of eccentricity, reportedly immersing himself in philosophy, literature, and art during his imprisonments, which drew admiration from writers and journalists who visited him. His associations with non-traditional allies, such as Harlem drug lord Nicky Barnes, and plans for interracial criminal enterprises further fueled perceptions of him as a maverick challenging established mafia hierarchies. This fascination extended to his socialite tendencies, appearing in New York society pages with bold fashion choices and celebrity connections, positioning him as a trendsetting "socialite gangster." Myths surrounding Gallo often amplified his "crazy" reputation, including unverified tales of him parading a pet lion through New York streets as a symbol of his audacity. He was also widely speculated to have orchestrated the 1957 assassination of in a barber shop, though no concrete evidence confirmed his involvement, enhancing his lore as a daring hitman. Gallo's self-proclaimed paranoia-schizophrenia, diagnosed by a , contributed to legends of his mental instability driving unpredictable violence, such as the 1961 kidnapping of his own family's and capos to seize power. The dramatic circumstances of his April 7, 1972, outside Umberto's Clam House in perpetuated enduring myths, with theories attributing the hit to the Colombo family for sparking internal wars or even rival boss for broader strategic reasons, despite official attributions remaining disputed. This event, occurring on his 43rd birthday amid celebrations with his wife, stepdaughter, and , symbolized the chaotic end to his rebellious saga, inspiring ballads like Bob Dylan's "Joey" and cementing his status as a folk anti-hero in popular narratives. While some accounts romanticized Gallo as an iconoclast against ossified crime structures, others viewed these myths as exaggerations masking his role in initiating bloody intra-family conflicts that claimed numerous lives.

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