| Vincent Mangano |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT VINCENT MANGANO | |
| 1888 births | |
| 1951 deaths | |
| italian-american mobsters | |
| bosses of the gambino crime family | |
| gambino crime family | |
| murdered mobsters | |
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Vincent Mangano (1888-1951) was the head of what would become known as the Gambino Crime Family from 1931 to 1951. EARLY LIFE AND CAREER Mangano was born in 1888 in Sicily and, like so many fellow Mustache Pete s, travelled to the United States during the 1920s and swiftly became involved in organised crime. He was accompanied by his brother, Philip and Joseph Profaci , a future mob boss in his own right. The Castellammarese War saw the killing of many of the old order of Mafia men, but Mangano survived, in part due to his close relationship with the vice president of the International Longshoremen's Association , Emil Camarda . This relationship allowed Mangano tight control of rackets on the New York docks - something the ultimate victor of the Castellammarese War, Charles "Lucky" Luciano , could make good use of. Thus Luciano, when dividing the powerbase of the newly-formed National Crime Syndicate , elected Mangano one of the heads of the Five Families. AS HEAD OF THE GAMBINO FAMILY Mangano made the waterfront His family's main income producer. He and his associates would threaten to prevent cargo from being loaded or unloaded if the shipping company refused to pay a tribute. Mangano would force workers to pay a fee for every day they worked on the docks - because of this, the mob knew exactly what was on each ship and could choose what to steal. Mangano and Camarda established the City Democratic Club , which promoted bedrock American Values in the front room, while illegal activities were hatched in the backroom. It became a regular meeting place for the members of Murder, Inc. , the infamous gang of assassins who, for a price, did the bidding of the Italian mobsters. Philip Mangano frequented the club, as did Vincent's underboss, Albert Anastasia . FEUD WITH ANASTASIA Mangano was the only one of the bosses who retained the old ways so resented by the new breed of mob leaders, including Anastasia. Anastasia grew to prefer the company of other mob bosses such as Luciano, Frank Costello and Louis Lepke , and Mangano grew to resent and mistrust his second-in-command. The two men regularly argued and fought, having to be pulled apart - possibly for the protection of the elder Mangano who was no physical match for his younger underboss. DISAPPEARANCE Although it ultimately took a full 20 years of working together for matters to come to a head, Mangano eventually met his end at the hands of Anastasia, or so it is believed. In 1951, Anastasia is believed to have heard of a plot to kill him being formed by his boss, and decided to take pre-emptive action in what he would ultimately describe as "self defence". Philip Mangano was found murdered near Sheepshead Bay , Brooklyn on 19 April 1951. Vincent also vanished the same day without trace. His body has never been found. Though Anastasia never admitted to having a hand in the Mangano murders, he managed to convince the heads of the other families that Vincent Mangano had been plotting to have him killed (a claim backed up by Frank Costello), and he was named as the new boss of the family. |
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