Top 10 Infamous American Gangsters & Mobsters (Page 2) 

Nicodemo Scarfo or Little Nicky was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1929.  He
was the son of a made man in the Genovese crime family.  Scarfo also had
family ties in the Philadelphia crime family.  In the early 1950s, Scarfo's uncle
Nicholas "Nicky Buck" Piccolo, a capo in the Philadelphia family, gave him a
bookmaking operation to run.  At the time the Philadelphia family was led by
boss Joseph Ida and the family controlled criminal activities in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, South Jersey, Delaware, Baltimor, Maryland and Atlantic City,
New Jersey.  In the late 1950’s Scarfo became a made man.  After Joseph
Ida moved back to Italy Antonio Pollina became the new boss.  However, after
only a few years the position was taken over by Angelo Bruno, who had strong
ties with the New York Mafia Commission. 

Scarfo was put in charge of bookmaking and loan sharking operations in
Atlantic City.  The legalization of casino gambling in 1976 helped to make
Scarfo a mafia powerhouse.  He soon established close ties with Local 54 of
the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union.  He
turned Local 54 into a cash cow for the mob and began receiving monthly
payments of about $20,000 from the union.  In 1977, Tony Caponigro became
the captain of the Newark branch of the Philadelphia crime family.  Three
years later he organized the death of boss Angelo Bruno.  Bruno was shot in
the back as he sat in a car driven by John Stanfa just outside his home.
 
Caponigro was attempting to seize control of the Philadelphia family by force.
He was planning to promote Frank Sindone to underboss and to kill off Phil
Testa, Scarfo, and Frank "Chickie" Narducci.  Caponigro thought he had
gained the backing of the Five Families, but when he went to meet with them
Vincent Gigante and his crew were waiting.  They brutally tortured and killed
him.  The Commission promoted underboss Phil Testa to Boss of the
Philadelphia crime family. 

Testa promoted Scarfo to consigliere and Peter Casella to underboss.  On
March 15, 1981, Testa was killed by a nail bomb detonated beneath his porch.
Scarfo met with The Commission and gave the Gambino and Genovese
families’ permission to operate in Atlantic City in exchange for their support for
him to become Boss.  With their backing, Scarfo easily took over the
Philadelphia family.  He soon installed a street tax in Philadelphia.  The tax
was paid by any criminal working independently from the Mafia, drug dealers,
bookmakers, pimps and guys running numbers in the territory that Scarfo
deemed his own.  He orchestrated a particularly ruthless regime and ordered
over a dozen murders during his time as boss.
 
He was often described by informants as cold-hearted and narcissistic.  In
1987, Scarfo was indicted on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
Act charges that included drug trafficking, loan sharking, extortion, and
murder.  He was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison.  In 1989 he
was also convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.  Little Nicky
currently resides in the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia.   

Frank Lucas was successfully able to cut out the middleman and purchase
pure heroin.  During this time, Lucas claims to have made US $1 million per
day selling drugs on 116th Street in Harlem.  He payed off government officials
and kept his friends happy.  Frank Lucas built a ruthless gang and was known
for brutal beatings, guns, and violence.  Of course he had connections with the
Sicilian and Mexican mobs, which he paid off nicely.  Lucas held an enormous
monopoly on the heroin market in Manhattan.  He labeled his product “Blue
Magic."  His huge profit margin allowed him to buy property all over the country,
including office buildings in Detroit, apartments in Los Angeles and Miami, and
a several-thousand-acre ranch in North Carolina. 

In January of 1975, Lucas' house in Teaneck, New Jersey was raided by a
task force.  In his house they found drugs and $600,000.  He was convicted of
both federal and New Jersey state drug violations.  He was sentenced to 70
years in jail, but provided evidence to the DEA that directly led to more than
100 drug-related convictions.  Lucas and his family were placed in the witness
protection program.  In 1984, he was caught dealing heroin again and went
back to jail for 7 years.  Today, Frank Lucas is reaching 80 years old.  His
life was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster and he was
portrayed by Denzel Washington.

John Gotti was 12 years old when he moved to East New York, Brooklyn with
his family.  At a young age Gotti began working under Carmine Fatico, capo of
the Bergin Crew reporting to Carlo Gambino and Aniello Dellacroce.  After
Gambino's death, Paul Castellano, Gambino's brother-in-law, was elevated to
the head of the Gambino crime family.
 
On March 18, 1980, 12-year-old Frank Gotti, youngest son of John Gotti was
run over and killed by John Favara, a neighbour.  Police found that he was not
to blame for the accident, but four months later Favara disappeared after
leaving work and has not been seen since.  In 1985, Gotti's crew was
discovered to be selling heroin against the rules of the Gambino family.  Gotti
and others, fearing reprisals, ordered the execution of Paul Castellano.  Gotti
then took control of the Gambino family and became one of the most powerful
crime bosses in America. 

In 1992, Gotti was convicted of racketeering, 13 murders, obstruction of
justice, conspiracy to commit murder, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion,
and loansharking, and was sentenced to life in prison.  He died 10 years later
after a long bout with throat cancer.  While in prison Gotti was assaulted by an
African American inmate named Walter Johnson, in return he offered the
Aryan Brotherhood $100,000 to kill him.  The Aryan Brotherhood accepted
Gotti's offer, but the prison guards surmised that Johnson was in danger, and
moved him to a different cell block.  After the imprisonment of John Gotti in
1992 Vincent Gigante, who was the capo of the Genovese crime family became
the Boss of Bosses. 

In separate federal cases Gigante claimed mental illness to escape criminal
prosecution. He often wandered the streets of Greenwich Village, Manhattan
in his bathrobe and slippers, mumbling incoherently to himself.  Gigante later
admitted it was an elaborate act to avoid prosecution.  In 1991, Salvatore
"Sammy the Bull" Gravano, former underboss of the Gambino crime family
became a cooperating witness with the government.  Gigante was implicated
by Gravano and in 1997 he was convicted on several racketeering and
conspiracy charges and sentenced to 12 years in a federal prison.  In 2005,
Gigante's health started to decline.  He started suffering labored breathing,
oxygen deprivation, swelling in the lower body, and bouts of unconsciousness.
He died later that year.