THE PAUL CASTELLANO HIT WAS SANCTIONED

Tommy Bilotti lies dead in the street

THE PAUL CASTELLANO HIT WAS SANCTIONED-
by Jeff Canarsie

All these years, if you listen to the F.B.I. and book writers, they all say the same thing. The murder of Gambino Crime Family Boss Paul Castellano was NOT a sanctioned murder. When we talk "sanctioned" we mean that that commission of La Cosa Nostra did not all sit down and agree with the decision to take Paul out. The Government wants you to believe that, as do all the writers who get it wrong every single time.

What am I talking about? Well put simply the idea that the commission needs to check yes or no to a murder is really as over-dramatic as it gets. History tells us, when someone has to go, they have to go. It doesn't have to be sanctioned. All it has to do is benefit everyone else around them.

For years, writers and police have speculated that John Gotti acted on his own with "co-conspirators" to clip the head of the family over three reasons. The first reason is because Casetellano was not a gangster, rather a businessman, who had his hand in too many pies while the rest the family struggled to make ends meet. The second reason was because Paul Castellano disrespected his underboss Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce by not attending his funeral. The third, and the one that every author uses is that the indictment of Angelo Ruggiero and those "fucking tapes," where Ruggiero was bad mouthing others and discussing his heroin trafficking. Paul wanted copies of the tapes, and Ruggiero was stalling, but no because drug trafficking was bad. He had been caught, and that could drag the boss and everyone else down around him.

Paul Castellano lies dead after multiple gun shot wounds

John Gotti specifically didn't care for Paul Castellano, and he agreed with Neil Dellacroce that Ruggiero had to do what the "boss said." Gotti also knew those tapes could and would likely seal his fate because it was his crew who were actively involved in the heroin trade. The inevitability would be that the Gotti crew would be busted up and split up, and if Paul so chose he'd have both Gotti, and Ruggiero killed.

The one misconception about the Mob is that selling drugs is against the rules. If you believe that, I have a bridge for Brooklyn for sale. The mob has NEVER strayed away from drugs. They would offer edict's such as "Deal drugs and die," but that is very tongue in cheek for "Get caught selling drugs, and we will kill you." Every single Mob boss since Lucky Luciano took huge profits from drugs. Paul Castellano had his own Sicilian heroin faction based out of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, so any idea that Paul was against the selling of narcotics is a joke in an of itself. The real issue was that Ruggiero had gotten caught.

So where does this leave us? The Gotti crew got caught selling heroin and Paul was scared that it would cause a huge indictment against him and the entire Gambino family. Never mind the fact that the F.B.I. already had a huge indictment coming against the entire Commission. What Ruggiero said would have little effect in the grand scheme of things.

The debate, has always been that Gotti acted on his own accord. Anyone who buys that, doesn't know the streets, nor have they looked into the facts. John Gotti, despite what many have reported, may have been the button pusher in certain aspects, but he was NOT the all to end all when it came to Castellano getting killed.

John Gotti

We have to look at the reasons why it would benefit everyone else if Castellano were gone. The street guys were struggling and drowning because Castellano was a pinch the quarter till the eagle screams kind of guy. Under Carlo Gambino, money flowed up like a pyramid scheme. He left enough for his men to survive and then some. Under Castellano, the price for doing business was twice as high. His hand was out and the pound of flesh that Gambino might have requested, jumped to three pounds under Castellano. His hands always seemed to not be full enough, and it was strangling everyone else. He bellyached on numerous tapes that he was getting stiffed from everyone, meanwhile his 17- room mansion and his lurid affair with his maid wasn't enough.

Money is the root of all evil in this life, and when you have a boss that's cannot get enough and refused to allow the men that do his job for him to eat, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the writing on the wall. As for Gotti, sure, he had everything to gain, and I don't think anyone would argue against that, and I certainly won't either. But I also won't indict him on the same excuses and untruths that every other book writer or former informant has to say about the situation.

Now-- some will point to the Frankie DeCicco murder as some sort of proof that Gotti acted on his own. It was some sort of retribtion for John Gotti breaking the rules of La Cosa Nostra. This could not be further from the truth. Why?

First of all it was Vincent "the chin" Gigante who was allegedly behind the murder of Frankie DeCicco(gotti underling). People have written it like a vendetta. What people fail to realize is, Vincent Gigante had tried to murder a mob boss himself. That's right, he tried to kill Frank Costello. He screwed up, but Frank saw it for what it was and got out of the way and allowed Vito Genovese to take over. Secondly, Vincent Gigante had meddled in other family assassinations. Angelo Bruno from Philadelphia ring any bells for ya?

Vincent Gigante was 100% responsible for the hit on Angelo Bruno, and responsible for installing Nicodemo "Nicky" Scarfo as boss of the Philadelphia mafia. We have seen this before from Gigante. Angelo Bruno was killed for almost the same type of reasons Castellano was.

Angelo Bruno, whom was dubbed "the docile don" should have been nicknamed "the delusional don," and I say that because he fit the mold of what Philadelphia is all about. He was heavily involved in the drug trade and had the same edict as Carlo Gambino and all the rest. "Sell drugs and die.....oops sell drugs and get caught and die." The other problem Bruno had was not allowing all the other five families to take a piece of Atlantic City, New Jersey. By rights, it was Philadelphia territory, but Bruno was unwilling to give an inch. He allowed Genovese's to operate in New Jersey as a piecemeal. That angered the shit out of the boys in Philadelphia. The perspective was that Bruno was more loyal to Gigante and Genovese's than his own family.

Vincent Gigante had more to gain by seeing Bruno dead than alive. You think he gave two shits about Bruno? He knew Bruno didn't have the stomach for murder. Bruno also aligned himself with Gigante in the respect that they shared massive construction rackets together. The stage was set for major infighting with the Philadelphia bunch. Everyone was feeling cheated, and the second Bruno aligned with New York, that was it. Vincent Gigante was behind it all. How?

Anthony Caponigro, a capo, in the family desperately wanted Angelo Bruno dead. It wasn't just Caponigro but about every single other member of the family including underboss John Stanfa. As the story goes, Caponigro was behind the murder of Bruno, in fact he was the triggerman.

What went down was this. Anthony "Funzi" Tieri then the former boss of the Genovese Crime Family had sent a message to Caponigro that if he took out Bruno, that it would be universally supported by the Commission. In fact he told him it was sanctioned. So Caponigro assassinates Angelo Bruno. He is immediately sent for and reports to New York for a sit down. Tieri who had given him okay(from Vincent Gigante) lied and said he never gave permission or the murder. Now in the background Nicky Scarfo is chomping at the bit to become boss. Bruno had sent Scarfo out to Atlantic City to keep him away from the crime family because he considered Scarfo a huge liability.

Caponigro is sentenced to death, and Gigante dispatches him quickly. Gigante had given the okay, set the entire thing up like Caesar, then would exterminate the problem. Meanwhile Scarfo agrees in principle to carve out Philadelphia, to share in Scarf Inc(countruction company) and to allow NY to operate in Atlantic City. The whole entire thing smells. Vincent Gigante was a smart guy, and seriously treacherous. He had no intention of taking any heat for the Bruno murder, even though off the record he sanctioned it. He then takes care of the "traitor" and everything looks great in front of the rest of the commission, meanwhile filling his pockets.

He isn't the first boss to do this. Carlo Gambino, and Lucky Luciano made there rise in the exact same fashion. It was Luciano's rule that no other member could kill a boss with the approval and consent of the other four families. He and Gambino did that exact same thing, yet when they took over, they install a rule to protect themselves. These are also the two same bosses who tried in vain to kill Joe Bonanno several times. Gigante was no different, especially when it came to Costello, but the devil is always in the details. That's the hypocrisy of the mob. Say one thing, do another and hope to not get caught by the balls. So back to John Gotti...

Anyone who asserts that Vincent Gigante didn't know about Paul Castellano getting hit is a joke. I could see the arguments that Paul and Vincent enjoyed each others friendship and business ties, but at the time Vincent Gigante was bigger than Paul could ever hope to be. In fact, Gigante knew he had more juice than John Gotti, and if he closed his eyes and made no fuss, that move would effectively render the Gambino's neutral and the Genovese's would become the head family. Now, I don't think Vincent sat down with John Gotti. Messages were sent. I don't think John Gotti was inferior enough to believe he could do that and there would be zero retribution. I also will tell you all the books that claim Gotti was afraid of Vincent are farces. What Gigante would have to do to save face with the other families is take out one of Gotti's men. Eye for an eye, and let it go at that. Frankie DeCicco was killed in the car bomb explosion. They thought "Gotti" would be in the car that day. The funny thing is, the car was remotely set. You mean to tell me nobody knows the difference between Gotti and DeCicco? Please.

I also don't believe Gotti was complicit in the murder of DeCicco. I don't think he knew it would happen. But it happened. The other sign that points to a sanction versus non sanctioned hit is this. How would Gotti be able to walk publicly? He wouldn't. The four other families would have gone after Gotti together. Why just the Genovese's? Doesn't make much sense does it? Gotti's ascension to the head of the Gambino crime family was not happenstance. He earned that spot by being as cunning as Luciano, Gambino, and others. He did the same exact thing as those before him, yet pundits want to lay that out as some sort of less than respectful move. Why is it good for everyone else and not John Gotti.

If Gotti moved on his own, believe me, the other four families would have enacted revenge swiftly and they wouldn't have stopped until he was gone. In fact, Gigante and Gotti met a short time after the DeCicco murder and ironed out what books refer to as a "pass." lol. More like a cutting up of Paul's rackets with Gigante's. It is true that there was a rivalry between Gotti and Gigante, and they operated differently, but the truth is, Paul getting killed was good for business. It was good for the pockets of all involved. It ended the connection to the Westies(Irish loose cannons) and allowed both families to prosper business wise. It was in Gigante's best interest to "act mad, and enact some revenge and miss," then it was for him to sit on his hands and piss all over himself which he had been doing in the streets the last decade to feign his nutt act.

In final, I wish more books would accurately portray those events. Nothing is done with everyone being involved. I guess it makes for better reading where there is some major treachery going on. If you take anything from this, understand Gotti, just like Luciano, Genovese, Gigante, Gambino and others did the exact same thing. No deviation whatsoever, yet pundits want to use that against Gotti, instead of acknowledging the Machiavellian move. What's good for one should be good for the other. History will write it one way, but I know better, and so should you.

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