The Gambino Family

When Mario Puzo wrote “The Godfather,” it seemed to strike a chord within the hearts of the American people. Without a doubt it glorified organized crime and somehow it seemed to popularize the term “wiseguy” and has made gangsters as legendary as the old western cowboys. In the New York City area dating from the early 1900s, a crime organization which came to be known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) arose and its tentacles like an octopus penetrated the illicit activities from prostitution, money laundering, murder for hire, wire fraud and even into labor and construction unions. They extend up and down the eastern seaboard and even to parts of Canada.

The Gambino family has been involved in the mafia since it began in America around the early 1900s. The founding family member that was involved from the beginning was Carlo Gambino and he was one of the Boss of Bosses during the 1950s to the mid-1970s. Carlo Gambino or Don Carlo started in the family business as a soldier for Joe Masseria when he was killed and he moved up until Albert Anastasia gave him a job as an underboss. He had a mild personality and this allowed him to go virtually unnoticed by his peers and he was able to maneuver his way to the top. He arranged with a rival boss Vito Genovese to have Anastasia murdered. He then became head of the Gambino family and eventually head of the five families in New York.

Carlo Gambino took the mafia family business and built it into a worldwide organization, which covers the five boroughs of New York, Atlantic City, Las Vegas and even the heroin plants and fields of Sicily and Asia. The Gambino family is a multi-million dollar conglomerate and worth what a great many corporations are worth.