N.Y. fear of Mafia war

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 8

N.Y. fear of Mafia war

NZPA-Reuter New York The death of the Mafia boss of bosses, "Godfather” Don Carlo Gambino, on Friday may lead to gang warfare that will rent the New York underworld, according to the police in New York. Gambino, said to be the model of Mario Puzo’s novel, "The Godfather,” portrayed by Marlon Brando in the film, died, unlike so many of his contemporaries, of natural causes. He was 74. The man with the beaknose, black homburg, and wan smile, familiar in New York’s “little Italy,” sipping coffee as he settled disputes, will be buried today in a $7OOO bronze coffin. The question of whether the succession to the multimillion dollar Gambino empire, of gambling, loansharking, narcotics and labour racketeering, employing a 1000-strong network,’will be bloody or peaceful, is getting as much publicity as the

Presidential elections. Unless a leader emerges acceptable to the five New York mafia families, acknowledged as “capo di tutti capi” (boss of all bosses) by the kissing of hands, then underworld gunmen could “go to the mattresses” (under cover) preparatory to a bloody gang war.

Gambino controlled the syndicate in half a dozen states, and was head of the Mafia’s 12rmember commission which served as both board of directors for the enormous business empire—legitimate and illegal—throughout the United States, and the Mafia court which solved internal disputes.

Mafia-watchers said the commission was likely to accept a heir from the Gambino family, probably the underboss, Aniello Delacroce, but there might be a challenge for the over-all New York Mafia mantle from the dead Godfather’s arch-foe. 66-year-old Carmine “Lilo” Galen te.