37 Facts About Paul Castellano

Constantino Paul Castellano was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, on June 26,1915.

Paul Castellano's parents, Giuseppe and Concetta Castellano, were both Italian immigrants; his father was a butcher and an early member of the Mangano crime family, the forerunner of the Gambino crime family.

Paul Castellano dropped out of school in the eighth grade to learn butchering and collecting numbers game receipts, both from In July 1934,19-year-old Paul Castellano was arrested for the first time in Hartford, Connecticut, for robbing a haberdasher.

Paul Castellano refused to identify his two accomplices to the police and served a three-month prison sentence.

In 1937, Paul Castellano married his childhood sweetheart, Nina Manno; the couple had three sons and a daughter.

Paul Castellano was of no relation to actor Richard S Castellano from The Godfather, despite claims made by Richard's wife after his death.

Paul Castellano joined the Mangano family in the 1940s and eventually became a caporegime under Albert Anastasia, the successor to original boss Vincent Mangano.

In 1957, after Anastasia's murder and Gambino's elevation to boss, Paul Castellano attended the abortive Apalachin meeting in Apalachin, New York.

On January 13,1960, Paul Castellano was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to withhold information.

However, in November 1960, Paul Castellano's conviction was reversed on appeal.

Paul Castellano identified more as a businessman than a criminal, taking over non-legitimate businesses and converting them to legitimate enterprises.

Paul Castellano used intimidation tactics to force his customers, which included supermarket chains Key Food and Waldbaum's, to buy Dial's products.

Paul Castellano handled Gambino interests in the "Concrete Club," a club of contractors selected by The Commission, the mob's ruling body, to handle contracts between $2 million and $15 million.

Paul Castellano supervised Gambino control of Teamsters Union Local Chapter 282, which provided workers to pour concrete at all major building projects in New York and Long Island.

In 1975, Paul Castellano allegedly had Vito Borelli, his daughter's boyfriend, murdered because he heard Borelli had compared him to Frank Perdue, the owner and commercial spokesman for Perdue Farms.

Against expectations, he appointed Paul Castellano to succeed him over his underboss, Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce.

Gambino appeared to believe that his crime family would benefit from Paul Castellano's focus on white collar businesses.

Paul Castellano arranged for Dellacroce to remain as underboss while directly running traditional mob activities such as extortion, robbery and loansharking.

In 1978, Paul Castellano allegedly ordered the murder of Gambino associate Nicholas Scibetta.

Since Scibetta was Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano's brother-in-law, Paul Castellano asked DeCiccio's brother Frank to first notify Gravano of the impending hit.

That same year, Paul Castellano allegedly ordered the murders of Gambino capo James Eppolito and his son, James Eppolito Jr.

Paul Castellano gave Eppolito a noncommittal answer, but later warned Gaggi about Eppolito's intentions.

In February 1978, Paul Castellano made an agreement between the Gambino family and the Westies, an Irish-American gang from Hell's Kitchen.

Paul Castellano wanted hitmen that law enforcement could not tie directly to the family.

Paul Castellano forged an alliance with the Cherry Hill Gambinos, a group of Sicilian heroin importers and distributors in New Jersey, for use as gunmen.

In September 1980, Paul Castellano allegedly ordered the murder of his former son-in-law, Frank Amato, for physically abusing his wife, Paul Castellano's daughter Connie, when they were married.

At the height of his power, Paul Castellano built a lavish 17-room mansion on a ridgeline in Todt Hill on Staten Island.

Paul Castellano engaged in an affair with his Colombian maid, Gloria Olarte.

Paul Castellano became a recluse and rarely ventured outside the mansion, requiring his capos to visit the residence to give information and receive orders.

John Gotti, a former protege of Dellacroce, became deeply dissatisfied with Paul Castellano's leadership, regarding the boss as being too isolated and greedy.

Furthermore, Gotti was rumored to be expanding into drug dealing, a lucrative trade Paul Castellano had banned under threat of death.

In January 1983, Paul Castellano allegedly ordered the murder of DeMeo, who was found shot to death in the trunk of his Cadillac.

Paul Castellano demanded transcripts of the tapes, and when Ruggiero refused he threatened to demote Gotti.

On March 30,1984, Paul Castellano was indicted on federal racketeering charges, as well as extortion, drug trafficking, theft, prostitution and the murders of Eppolito and DeMeo.

Paul Castellano hinted that he planned to break up John Gotti's crew.

Paul Castellano was buried in the Moravian Cemetery in the New Dorp section of Staten Island.

Vincent Gigante, the boss of the Genovese family, was outraged that Gotti had killed Paul Castellano without following Mafia protocol and solicited the help of Lucchese family boss Anthony Corallo in carrying out a hit.