Mario Gigante

Mario "the shadow" Gigante^[1] (November 4, 1923 – March 10, 2022) was an American mobster in New York City who served as caporegime for the Genovese crime family. He was the elder brother of late family boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante.

Biography

Gigante was born in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, to Salvatore Esposito Vulgo Gigante (April 26, 1900 – April 1979), a jewel engraver, and Yolonda Santasilia-Gigante (1902 – May 10, 1997), a seamstress and maternal niece of Dolores Santasilia. His parents and aunt were first-generation immigrants from Naples, Italy, and never learned the English language. Vincent and his extended family relatives settled in New York City and Westchester County including Connecticut and Massachusetts. He had four brothers, Vincent, Pasquale A. Gigante (October 18, 1921 – January 7, 1983) and Ralph Gigante (March 14, 1930 – 1994), who followed his brother Vincent into a life of organized crime. His last brother Louis Gigante became an ordained Roman Catholic priest at St. Athanasius Church in the South Bronx and city councilman. Gigante had two sons Salvatore and Louis.^[2] His son Salvatore would follow him into a life of organized crime.^[3]

Criminal career

Mario began his criminal life as a "made man", or full family member, in caporegime Vito Genovese's Greenwich Village crew. At that time, his brother Vincent was Genovese's chauffeur. During the power struggle between Genovese and then boss Frank Costello, the Gigante brothers were reportedly involved in several significant hits for Genovese. On August 12, 1957, the day after the attempted assassination of Costello, New York Police Department (NYPD) detectives were watching Vincent's house in Greenwich Village. When Mario drove up, detectives took him out of the car and one tried to search him. Mario punched the detective and was arrested for assault. In court, the charge was reduced and Mario paid a $25 fine.^[4]

By the 1970s, both Mario and Vincent were capos of their own crews. Neither brother had served significant prison time as they both kept low profiles. In the early 1980s, Vincent became the boss of the Genovese family. Mario rose to become one of the family's highest earners, involved in illegal gambling, loansharking, and other rackets. On January 25, 1975, Mario was indicted on charges of illegal gambling.^[5]

On June 16, 1983, Mario was convicted of loansharking and received an eight-year prison sentence.^[2][6] However, former New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato allegedly lobbied U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani to reduce Mario's sentence. In 1989, Mario's sentence was reduced to six years in prison. Mob turncoat Vincent "Fish" Cafaro later alleged that he had approached power broker and attorney Roy Cohn to bribe a judge to lower Mario's sentence. Cafaro said he delivered a $175,000 "payoff" to Cohn in three installments, dropping off the final $50,000 with Cohn's law partner, Thomas Bolan.^[7] These allegations were investigated, but no charges were ever filed.

In June 1996, Gigante was indicted along with his son Salvatore and five others on charges of using threats and violence to keep potential competitors from entering the garbage collection business in Westchester, Orange, Rockland, Ulster and Dutchess Counties in New York, southwestern Connecticut and Mahwah and Edison in New Jersey.^[3] After Vincent was sent to prison in the summer of 1997, the family switched to a collective decision-making system. On October 1, 1997, Mario and other Genovese mobsters pleaded guilty to racketeering charges involving the trash hauling industry in Westchester, Rockland, and Orange counties in New York.^[8] According to prosecutors, the Genovese family maintained a "property rights" system in which they took control of local hauling firms and then insisted each firm had a "permanent right" to every customer. On one occasion, Mario enforced those rights by ordering the baseball bat beating of an uncooperative hauler.^[9]

Mario was released from prison in June 2001 after serving five years for extortion and racketeering in the solid waste hauling industry.^[10]

In 2005, his brother Vincent died. Gigante died on March 10, 2022, at the age of 98.^[11]

References

1. Maurice D. Hinchey, Paul Miller, New York (State). Legislature. Assembly. Committee on Environmental Conservation, Gail McFarland-Benedict (1986). A Report from Chairman Maurice D. Hinchey to the New York State Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee on Organized Crime's Involvement in the Waste Hauling Industry. The Committee. p. 52. Retrieved 22 January 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. Anderson, Cerisse (15 June 1983). "Mario Gigante, the brother of a reputed boss of..." UPI Archives. News Paper. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
3. Van Natta Jr., Don (25 June 1996). "Garbage Hauling Is Tied to Mafia in Suburbs". New York Times. News Paper. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
4. "The Chin returns to the Big Apple" American Mafia.com February 18, 2002
5. United States v. Mario Gigante 2011-08-20 at the Wayback Machine The Laborers.net
6. THE CITY; "Reputed Mobster Gets 8-Year Term" The New York Times, June 16, 1983
7. Jerry Capeci's Gang Land By Jerry Capeci
8. Haulers Plead Guilty to Controlling Garbage Routes With Violence", Benjamin Weiser, The New York Times, October 1, 1997
9. Smith, Greg B. (June 25, 1996). "THE FEDS CALL IT A LOT OF TRASH INDICT CHIN'S BROTHER AND 6". Daily News. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
10. The Changing Face of ORGANIZED CRIME IN NEW JERSEY – A Status Report(May 2004)State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation
11. "This Week in Gang Land – Mario Gigante, Brother Of Mafia Boss Chin Gigante, Cashes In His Chips. He Was 98". Gang Land News. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.

Further reading

• Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
• Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8