Gravano promised to reveal the 'the story behind the story' of his once bloodthirsty life, which saw him murder 19 people, that he confessed to. Gravano in May launched a Facebook page, with photos of his family and from his past. Gravano's daughter Karen said her father was making an appearance in a new docu-series. The studio features high-end recording equipment, a bright red neon sign in the shape of a bull and fake fireplace.
Gravano seems to be following in the footsteps of his daughter, Karen, 48, who featured in the VH1 reality show Mob Wives, set in Staten Island. Karen maintains an active social media presence, and in April said that her father was appearing on a remake of the short-lived MTV series Made in Staten Island, which was cancelled in after only three episodes.
The new MTV show, she said, will be called Families of the Mafia and follows four neighboring mafia-related families for two years as they attempt to reshape their lives away from organized crime. Surveillance footage from shows Gravano with Gotti leaving a restaurant in Manhattan. This is who we are. Karen said her father has been impressed by the power of social media - something that has changed the world since he was sentenced in That was mandatory.
Spending time with your family was non-negotiable. Phones were never at the table. Gravano in March in court in Arizona, charged with selling 30, ecstasy pills a week. Growing up in the Bensonhurst district, he caught the eye of mafia bosses as a child, when his bicycle was stolen and he beat up several children at once. One of the bosses is said to have remarked that the boy 'fought like a bull', and the nickname stuck.
Gravano rose through the ranks, owning and running bars and construction companies as fronts for his money laundering, loan sharking and extortion. That was me. Tishman, Donald Trump, all these guys - they couldn't build a building without me. Dellacroce's vouching for Gravano led Gotti, a rising star, to take Gravano under his wing.
Gravano was driving Gotti on the night Gotti ordered the infamous December murder of Paul Castellano, Gambino boss, outside Spark's Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan. Gravano said he eventually turned against Gotti when Gotti asked him to go to jail. Gravano said Gotti told him: 'The streets need me, the boss, you're the sacrificial lamb.
He toyed with the idea of carrying out a hit on Gotti, but instead became a government informant. On September 26, , a federal judge sentenced Gravano to five years in prison. However, since Gravano had already served four years, the sentence amounted to less than one year. Later that year, he moved to Tempe, Arizona, where he assumed the name Jimmy Moran and started a swimming pool installation company. On May 25, , Gravano pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to drug trafficking charges.
The target is a Czech-born cocaine dealer, Frank Fiala, who buys the Brooklyn discotheque along with the building and Gravano's office for 1 million Dollars.
Fiala incurs Gravano's wrath when he moves into his office before paying the full amount. Gravano faces Cosa Nostra's death penalty for the unauthorized murder, but gets a pass from Castellano. The Fiala murder remains unsolved. However, it triggers an investigation by the IRS.
Gravano is charged with tax evasion and later is acquitted. Gravano gets into a heated dispute with Louie DiBono over withheld payments for subcontracts.
In a direct confrontation, Gravano threatens to kill DiBono, which brings him before the family hierarchy again. And again, Gravano's life is spared. In , Gravano is approached by Angelo Ruggiero, a close friend of John Gotti's, about a plot to remove Paul Castellano as boss of the Gambino family. Gravano consults with Frank DeCicco, a member of the Gambino family who is respected by both factions, and the two agree to side with Ruggiero and Gotti and to wait how they will do as the new leadership, to possibly remove them after one year.
The conspirators get tacit consent from the Colombo and Lucchese families and decide not to approach the Genoveses. Two weeks after the murder of Castellano and his new underboss Tommy Bilotti in December , all captains of the Gambino family meet and Frank DiCicco nominates John Gotti for boss who is elected unanimously and declares DiCicco his underboss while Joe Gallo remains consigliere.
Soon after, Gravano becomes captain of Toddo Aurello's crew, who steps down because of old age. In April DiCicco is killed by a car bomb. When co-defendant Angelo Ruggiero's bail is revoked, Gravano becomes acting boss until Gotti's release.
Gotti beats the case after Gravano bribed one of the jurors. Following the murder of DiBernardo, Gravano takes over as the link between the Gambino family and Teamsters Local Using his position in the construction business, Gravano forms a company for general contracting which is sought after because he can guarantee good quality and the solving of any problems with unions and competitors. In , Gravano is first appointed acting consigliere and then consigliere. Gravano obtains permission to kill his old friend Louie Milito for backbiting, and two other members of his crew who got hooked on crack.
On orders of Gotti, he also supervised or set up a number of other murders. In October , after becoming underboss, Gravano goes into hiding in the Pocono Mountains to run the Gambino family while John Gotti is in detention for the trial of the Castellano murder. At a bail hearing a few days later surveillance tapes are played which "portrayed Gotti as a long-suffering boss saddled with a mad-dog killer", Gravano p.
Gravano fears that Gotti could use the tapes to lay most of the blame on him. Gravano, a stocky, muscular man who seems younger than his 54 years, oozes bravado. He says he doesn't look under his car or over his shoulder, doesn't understand fear. Every time you go out, you don't know if you're coming back. I know what it's like to get hit. I know what it is to fight. And you lose your fear. Or I can live here, where I'm happy, five years.
I choose to live here. Gravano pauses, smiles. If they start shooting, then I'll be a little scared. Upon release, he was given a new identity and background. He rented an apartment, returned to the construction business, settled in. Seated in a back room, Gravano used indelicate terms to vent his anger about being found out. He said he wasn't worried about himself, but family members and employees.
Innocent people would suffer. Jobs would be lost, reputations ruined. Gravano knows about cutting deals. He traded testimony against La Cosa Nostra for a shortened prison sentence. In , he completed the five-year term, entered a Witness Protection Program and got some facial work.
The New York attorney general is pursuing book and film profits. The John Gotti Tribute Page, an Internet site, warned that Gravano ''may be living next door to you with the government's blessing. Association President John Flood said it's despicable that an admitted murderer was unleashed on society after spending fewer than five years behind bars. The reward money went uncollected.
Gravano had vanished into Arizona, the anonymous retirement mecca that attracted a number of mob bosses over the years, including Joe Bonanno. Athia Hardt, a public relations woman who represents him, said the FBI was concerned about his safety. Hardt, who once worked for Arizona Govs. In a phone call from New York, Gabriel said blowing Gravano's cover would have one outcome: ''He's a dead man. Hardt said her client would talk if the newspaper agreed not to reveal his new name or company, and if it would withhold information on family members.
The Arizona Republic agreed, on the condition that the deal would be void if the newspaper found that Gravano or his company had engaged in corrupt activity in Arizona.
Attorney Thayne Lowe lies on the floor to ease the pain of a back problem. Sammy the Bull lights a cigarette and worries aloud about family members.
He says they are the main reason he sought refuge here, along with the weather and relatively mob-free environment. Though he hasn't been threatened here, Gravano figures the Mafia knows his whereabouts. FBI agents agree, saying he is too casual about his cover. Gravano quit the Witness Protection Program nine months after getting out of prison. You couldn't have contact with your family or anybody.
And though he had plastic surgery, the face didn't change much.
0コメント