TAKING ON THE MOB, ONE MEMBER AT A TIME! SAMMY 'THE BULL' GRAVANO

One of my upcoming novels is about the mafia titled Sleeping with the Enemy. The story is about
Giuliana Ruggieri, an only child of an immigrant family who witnesses her father’s death at the hands of a man she believes to be her uncle. Just eight-years old at the time, she was too young to understand the logistics of her large family.

With the help of a friend, the trio are whisked off to New York City where they take on new identities. It isn't until years later that Giuliana learns her father, the man she's always thought of as her hero, was the crime boss of the fiercest family in Italy. Devastated, she decides to become a member of the NYPD--she's going to demolish the mafia. During the early years, she falls in love with a restaurateur by the name of Nicky. She fits right in with his family and friends. To protect her identity and because men are intimidated by her line of work, she uses a fictitious name and claims to be a secretary. She never really thought she and Nicky would become an item, but by that time, it was too late and she maintained her secret. When she's offered an assignment to work undercover for the mob, she breaks off the relationship. Four months into the assignment, she learns Nicky is one of them.

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So, today, my first series post is about career criminals in the mob to get you acquainted. Lord knows, I won't run out of subjects. This post is about John Gotti and Sammy "the bull" Gravano.

I actually met Mr. Gotti when I worked in a law firm in New Jersey. Talk about handsome. OMG! Believe every word they say about the way he dressed. He was the Dapper Don. Seeing him and knowing about the awful things he did it's hard to believe he was capable of all those things. But as we all know, he did every one of them, and he paid dearly.

I remember the day he entered the office. I did a double-take, certain I was mistaken, but my boss came out of his office and scooted him behind closed doors so fast, I didn't have a chance to drool. He wanted my boss to represent his nephew for an offense he'd committed.

The day of the trial, my boss took him for lunch at a small luncheonette near the courthouse and my sister happened to be having lunch there as well. My sister is very pretty and John was taken aback by her. When my boss returned to the office, he told me John wanted to date my sister. My sister was married and that was the end of that.

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First up is Sammy 'the Bull" Gravano, the man who took John Gotti down without a bullet!

Sammy "the Bull" Gravano was known as an Associate. According to the dictionary, an associate  is an unofficial low level member of a crime family who often works in the family's rackets or carries out odd jobs for family members in the hopes of being 'made' into a family soldato. An associate is not a member of the mob; his role is more similar to that of an errand boy. Usually seen as a go-between, associates sometimes deal in drugs to keep the heat off the actual members. In other cases, an associate might be a corrupt labor union delegate or businessman.

Sammy Gravano eventually worked himself up to underboss in the Gambino crime family. He's the most famous informant against former boss John Gotti. His testimony helped put Gotti in prison for the rest of his life. Interesting that the Feds were willing to forgive Gravano for committing numerous murders and contract killings  himself during his criminal career, during which, he acquired his nickname, “The Bull”, because of his size and stature, and his habit of starting fist fights with fellow mobsters.

He began his mafia activity in the late 1960s as an associate of the Colombo crime, actively participating in armed robberies and other petty crimes, though he quickly evolved into the lucrative field of loan sharking. Gravano committed his first murder in 1970 when he killed Joe Colluci who'd been having an affair with Tommy Spero’s wife. Instead, Gravano shot Colluci in the head at close range in a mobster-owned bar. It was that murder that earned Gravano respect among powerful underworld figures.

By the early 1970s Gravano was an associate of the Gambino family. Although he was arrested on suspicion of murder, the Feds apparently couldn't prove it and he was soon released. It was during this time that began a long running robbery spree that lasted a year and a half. He was rewarded by the Gambino family by making his a 'made man'. A made member is something all the associates aspire to become.  

As a made man, his first contract killing occurred in 1980. The victim was  John Simone, who had been part of a conspiracy to murder Philadelphia crime boss Angelo Bruno, without the consent of the mafia commission. THIS was a big no-no in the mafia!  Gravano abducted Simone with the help of two friends and drove him to a wooded area where he was shot in the head and his body disposed of.

Gravano would go on to commit many more crimes. Coming up on his third murder in the early 1980s, he decided to kill a wealthy business magnate who'd insulted him. This is what is meant by,
 I don't get mad, I get even. He was ambushed in the street by Gravano’s friends and shot in the head, and once in each eyeball. Gravano proceeded to spit on the man as he died on the floor.

It wasn't long after that Gravano became underboss of the Gambino crime family under John Gotti, and was Gotti’s favorite hitman in this period. After he was charged with various crimes, he offered evidence against Gotti in return for reduced jail time. He had confessed to 19 murders, and for this, he only received a five-year sentence.

As they say, once a criminal, always a criminal, Gravano was placed in the Witness Protection Program, but that didn't last long because he became involved with organized crime in Arizona. And now, he's back in the slammer serving time!