Nicola Gentile was known for publishing his memoirs which, violating the mafiosi code known as omerta, revealed many details of the Sicilian and American underworld.
25 Facts About Nicola Gentile
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Nicola Gentile was born in Siculiana, a small village on the south coast of Sicily in the province of Agrigento.
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Nicola Gentile immigrated to the United States arriving in New York at age 18, in 1903.
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Nicola Gentile fled the country in 1937 while out on $15,000 bail after an arrest for heroin trafficking and returned to Sicily to become a boss in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.
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Nicola Gentile immigrated to the United States in 1903, where he quickly associated with the Black Hand during the early 20th century, Nicola Gentile would become a leader in America's early mafia and would later serve as a confidant for New York mobsters throughout the early part of the 20th century up until the Castellammarese War and the subsequent formation of New York's Five Families under Charles "Lucky" Luciano in 1931.
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Nicola Gentile traveled the country as a troubleshooter and negotiator, known as the messaggero or substituto, relaying messages between crime families and mediating disputes and became part of New York Mafia Family led by Vincent Mangano and Joe Biondo, which later became known as the Gambino Family.
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Nicola Gentile left for Sicily soon after, but not before he met with his New York allies.
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Nicola Gentile decided to align himself against New York mafia bosses Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila and Umberto Valenti and backed mafia boss, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria in his bid to gain control of the Morello crime family in which Masseria was the Capo running Little Italy for the family.
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Nicola Gentile continued his criminal career in New York now aligning himself with the group of Charles "Lucky" Luciano.
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Nicola Gentile was arrested in New Orleans in 1937 on drug charges.
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Nicola Gentile rose to a high-level position in the Sicilian Mafia.
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Nicola Gentile became involved in intelligence and the Sicilian separatist movement.
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Nicola Gentile claimed to have been approached by US special agent Max Brod to support the monarchy in the referendum on June 2,1946.
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Nicola Gentile later supported Christian Democrat Giuseppe La Loggia, who would become president of the autonomous region of Sicily from 1956 to 1958.
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When Lucky Luciano was extradited to Italy in 1946, he teamed up with Nicola Gentile in organizing drug routes to the US.
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Nicola Gentile had very good connections with well-known drug traffickers in Sicily.
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Nicola Gentile's son was married to the daughter of Pietro Davi, one of the leading figures in cigarette smuggling and illicit drug trade in Palermo in the 1950s.
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Nicola Gentile was erroneously believed by some to have replaced Calogero Vizzini as the head of the Sicilian Mafia.
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Nicola Gentile revealed the existence of Piano Solo, a 1964 plan for an anti-communist coup in Italy with the involvement of the Italian intelligence agency SIFAR, the Carabinieri armed forces, and the CIA.
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In 1963 Nicola Gentile wrote down his memoirs, "Vita Di Capomafia", with the help of Italian journalist Felice Chilanti.
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Nicola Gentile approached the journalist Chilanti, who was one of the top investigative journalist of L'Ora that pioneered in investigating the Mafia.
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Nicola Gentile was already more explicit than Buscetta in his first confessions.
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Nicola Gentile undiffidently talked about his links with politicians for whom he acted as a canvasser.
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The memoirs were shown to American Mafia turncoat Joe Valachi who vouched for its accuracy and said Nicola Gentile 'wrote just the way it is'.
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Nicola Gentile died on November 6,1966, at the age of 81.