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NARRATOR: Previously
on American Godfathers:

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00:00:10,292 --> 00:00:11,958
The Five Families...

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SELWYN RAAB: In the 1930s,
Lucky Luciano,

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he made the Five Families

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the rulers of the entire
American Mafia.

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NARRATOR: Luciano
established a code,

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a set of rules
for the families to live by.

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SAMI JARROUSH: Omertà
becomes the most pivotal rule.

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Never rat out your friends,

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never rat out your family,

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and you should be okay.

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But if you talk outside
of that code of silence,

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you never know
what might happen to you.

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[gunshots ringing]

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NARRATOR: When they followed
these rules, they won.

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But in the 1950s,
a new generation

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began to challenge
the old guard...

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TOM FOLSOM: Joey Gallo's
one of these

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larger-than-life gangsters,

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but he also
has these ideas

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about the future
of organized crime

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that are really
going against the grain.

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NARRATOR: ...and their way
of life started to fray.

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ED O'DONNELL: Valachi
is gonna commit

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the greatest sin
of a mobster,

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which is to break
the code of omertà.

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First of all,
I want revenge.

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CLAIRE WHITE: After
Valachi does it,

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the floodgates are open
for federal law enforcement

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to take advantage of people

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who are willing
to break the code of omertà.

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- MAN: What'd you get out of it?
- VALACHI: Nothing but misery.

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As you all understand,
once you're in, you're in.

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You can't get out.

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NARRATOR: Joseph Valachi's
decision to testify

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marked a time of change
for the Five Families.

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A change in the way they were
chased by investigators,

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a change in the way
they were viewed by outsiders,

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and a change
in the way they operated.

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Changes that would
test them like never before.

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TOM: In some ways
I would say

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that's the beginning
of the end of--

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of the Five Families.

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♪

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I-- I'm not sure
how to introduce my next guest.

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He's a businessman who leads
a most colorful, uh, life.

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His name has been in the papers
a great deal lately,

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and I, uh,
just met him backstage,

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but I'm anxious
to meet him further.

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Will you welcome, please,
Mr. Joseph Colombo, Sr.

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[audience applauding]

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NARRATOR: In the spring
of 1971,

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Joseph Colombo was
the reputed boss

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of one of New York's
Five Mafia Families.

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A title other men
had held before,

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yet, on this night,

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Colombo decided
to go somewhere,

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do something no boss
had done before,

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he was a guest
on a late-night talk show.

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I was wondering
how you answer the people

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who constantly imply

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that you're associated
with organized crime?

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I would say
it's distressing to all people,

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and I would also say that

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to associate anybody

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with organized crime

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and just label 'em
or stigmatize them

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or guilt by association
or guilt by innuendo

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is very unfair to anyone.

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NARRATOR: A Mafia boss
on a late-night show.

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Clearly the Five Families
were in a new era.

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But it was no accident.

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This was all a part
of Joe Colombo's plan.

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A plan that started
years earlier.

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♪

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JOHN F. KENNEDY: A great
change is at hand.

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This is one country,
and we owe ourselves

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a better country than that.

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ED: The 1960s
is a tumultuous decade,

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to say the very least.

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There are all kinds of social
movements taking place,

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principally
the civil rights movement,

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where African Americans
are demanding equality

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and full inclusion
in American society.

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[women cheering]

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You have women, feminists,
organizing for equality.

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You also have the Vietnam War
that's happening at this time.

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PROTESTORS: Peace! Now!

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Peace! Now!

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[crowd chanting, shouting]

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SAMI: All of these things

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lead to a lot of
Americans during this era

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no longer
trusting the government.

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NARRATOR: At the same time,
the Five Families,

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the core
of the American Mafia,

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was in the midst
of its own period of change.

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By 1963,

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four of the five
original bosses were dead,

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and for the first time,

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one of New York's Five Families
would be led

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by an American-born Mafioso,

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Joseph Colombo.

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MICHAEL FRANZESE:
In the early sixties,

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there was a deal
where Joe Colombo,

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he was on a hit squad
to go after Carlo Gambino.

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And rather than
carry that out,

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he went and let Carlo know
what was happening.

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And as a result of that,

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Joe Colombo was given
the privilege of becoming boss.

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That's how he got it.

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Everybody thinks
that we changed the names.

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It's the FBI
that changes the names.

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We-- we didn't
call ourselves anything.

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They changed it
from Profaci to Colombo.

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NARRATOR: Joseph Colombo,

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born and raised
in South Brooklyn.

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Here, the Mafia
wasn't just part of life.

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It was life.

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Colombo's father, Anthony,

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was a made man
in the Profaci family.

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When Joe was 14,

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Anthony was found murdered
in a car

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less than two miles
from their home.

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By the time Joe was 40,
he was a made man,

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a rising star
in the Profaci family.

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He was feared,

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having killed at least
a dozen men for the family.

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In 1961,
when the Gallo Brothers

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kidnapped a handful
of Profaci's men,

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Joe Colombo
was on their list.

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Trusted or feared,
Colombo was the future.

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His close relationship
to leaders on the Commission

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like Carlo Gambino made him
destined for the big time.

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CHRIS COLOMBO: My father
looked to Carlo like a father.

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Carlo Gambino
was the most soft-spoken,

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gentleman, kind old man
you ever met in your life.

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He had a European
sense of chivalry.

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He was very unpretentious.

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They were men
of few words.

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You knew their ethics.
You knew their morals.

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You knew their sense of what
was right and what was wrong.

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NARRATOR: Carlo Gambino
was an old-school don,

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a valuable mentor,

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and a vital ally
for Joe Colombo.

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But unlike his mentor
and the dons before him,

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Joe Colombo
wasn't born in Sicily.

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He was born in America.

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And what's more American

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than putting a new twist
on an old tradition?

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Joe Colombo
had a new idea

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of what it meant to be
a mob boss in New York City.

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♪

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My name is Joe Colombo.

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I should be treated
the same as anybody else.

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Joe Colombo is just a much
more sensible gangster.

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He's got a funeral parlor.
He's got a car dealership.

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If someone wants
to talk business

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and the cops show up,
he's just saying,

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"I'm just showing
the guy a car."

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He's very business-oriented.

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Joe Colombo was totally
innovative

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about how he wanted
to operate.

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He didn't escape
from the media.

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He welcomed the media.

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Mr. Colombo,
people have described you

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as a man of wealth
and power and everything.

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Why not-- Will you
tell us what you do

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and how you have
earned your living?

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I work very hard,
and I work many a job.

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Legitimately, hard, diligently.

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TOM: Joe Colombo wants
to take the Profaci family,

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now the Colombo family,
to the modern age.

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No more of these
sort of Sicilian ideas.

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We're gonna
run strictly on business.

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Whatever I earn,
I live to what I earn.

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INTERVIEWER: You file an income
tax return just as I do.

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Every year. Never missed.

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CLAIRE: The reality is
is that Joe Colombo

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is still running
these extortion rackets,

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his family
is still involved

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in all of these traditional
racketeering operations

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that the family has always
participated in.

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JIM NELSON: A lot of
loan sharking,

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gambling, union activity.

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He strangely enough
had his own

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gambling operation
that he ran,

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which was very rare
for the top guy.

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Usually their underlings
are doing all that,

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but he actually ran it.

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He was feared
because of his past history

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of being a hitman,
a murder-for-hire guy.

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He was very confident,
as most hitmen are.

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Always well-dressed, boastful.

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And they have to make bosses for
wherever they need scapegoats.

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I happen to be one
of the scapegoats.

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NARRATOR: As Colombo
rose in stature

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in the criminal underworld,

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investigators
began to take note.

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Since Valachi's bombshell
testimony back in 1963,

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law enforcement agencies
were scrambling

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to put organized criminals
behind bars.

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And who would be
better to nail

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than the first American don,
Joe Colombo?

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CLAIRE: By the 1960s,

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the average American
finally knows

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that the Mafia is real,

207
00:09:07,042 --> 00:09:08,958
there are
organized crime groups

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00:09:09,042 --> 00:09:12,667
of all ethnic groups
across the United States,

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and that
they really are affecting

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at least some aspects
of American society.

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MAN: Are you a member
of any such organization?

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00:09:21,958 --> 00:09:22,917
Yes, I am.

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CLAIRE: All of
the federal focus

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00:09:25,500 --> 00:09:28,292
on the Italian-American
Mafia specifically

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does sort of give law
enforcement this carte blanche

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00:09:31,458 --> 00:09:34,000
to focus
on Italian-American men.

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And even though
there's mobsters of all ilks,

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there is this hyper-focus

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on the Italian-American Mafia.

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The Justice Department began
to send strike forces

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into various cities to attack
organized crime.

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Many Italian-Americans
began to protest

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that Italian-Americans
were being singled out,

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and that they were
being harassed,

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that even their families
had not escaped

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the prying of the FBI.

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In the 1960s, Congress empowered

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the Justice Department,
the FBI,

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federal law enforcement
agencies,

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to get court orders
to authorize

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00:10:07,667 --> 00:10:10,250
the electronic surveillance
on telephones,

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and placing bugs in premises

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where there were conversations
about criminal activity ongoing.

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NARRATOR: Title 3
of the 1968 Crime Control Act

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allowed law enforcement
to more aggressively surveil

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New York City's mob families,

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and the Colombo
family in particular.

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Those around Colombo,
like his underboss,

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Sonny Franzese,
were under constant watch.

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MICHAEL: My dad
was the underboss

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00:10:36,208 --> 00:10:38,667
of the Colombo family
back in the '60s.

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A very powerful position.

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REPORTER: This man
is John "Sonny" Franzese.

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00:10:45,042 --> 00:10:48,542
Franzese, who has been
arrested countless times,

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00:10:48,667 --> 00:10:50,583
was described
as a rising young lieutenant

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00:10:50,667 --> 00:10:52,458
in the Brooklyn Mafia

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and one of the most dangerous
mobsters in the country.

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MICHAEL: And my dad
was extremely high-profile

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00:10:58,875 --> 00:11:02,167
in terms of media attention,
law enforcement investigations.

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00:11:02,708 --> 00:11:05,000
And he was arrested
several times,

251
00:11:05,083 --> 00:11:07,250
indicted several times
in the state of New York,

252
00:11:07,333 --> 00:11:09,792
so we had law enforcement
around us all the time.

253
00:11:09,875 --> 00:11:12,167
They all had cars
parked around our house

254
00:11:12,208 --> 00:11:14,167
24 hours a day,
seven days a week.

255
00:11:14,292 --> 00:11:17,167
REPORTER: These women are
the wives, sisters, and friends

256
00:11:17,250 --> 00:11:19,417
of the Colombo
and Franzese families.

257
00:11:19,500 --> 00:11:22,958
All of them claim the FBI
is harassing their families.

258
00:11:23,042 --> 00:11:25,667
"Oh, you must be
Joe Colombo's sister.

259
00:11:25,750 --> 00:11:27,792
Well, we wanna
get to your brother."

260
00:11:27,875 --> 00:11:30,375
Why? Why do you wanna
get to my brother?

261
00:11:30,458 --> 00:11:31,833
"Well, we're gonna
put him away."

262
00:11:31,833 --> 00:11:33,667
MICHAEL: I grew up
hating the police.

263
00:11:33,750 --> 00:11:35,750
Hated law enforcement,
hated the government.

264
00:11:35,833 --> 00:11:37,833
You know, I always saw them
as harassing my dad,

265
00:11:37,917 --> 00:11:39,375
harassing my family.

266
00:11:39,458 --> 00:11:40,875
We were all in a car.

267
00:11:40,958 --> 00:11:42,542
There were the seven--
seven children.

268
00:11:42,667 --> 00:11:44,208
And they said,

269
00:11:44,292 --> 00:11:46,458
"Go ahead, Sonny,
do something to me."

270
00:11:47,125 --> 00:11:50,042
And the other one pulled a gun
out of his pocket and said,

271
00:11:50,125 --> 00:11:52,833
"Go ahead,
'cause I'm dying to do it."

272
00:11:53,375 --> 00:11:56,042
Taking pictures
or walking into your job,

273
00:11:56,125 --> 00:11:58,167
disrupting your place
of business...

274
00:12:00,292 --> 00:12:02,667
They get me upset because...

275
00:12:03,958 --> 00:12:05,417
they sit in front
of my house.

276
00:12:05,542 --> 00:12:07,208
[sobs] They bother my husband.

277
00:12:08,042 --> 00:12:11,375
...disrespectful
at wakes, weddings.

278
00:12:11,500 --> 00:12:12,667
Name it, they did it.

279
00:12:13,125 --> 00:12:14,667
There is no such thing
as the Mafia.

280
00:12:14,750 --> 00:12:16,458
I'm supposed to be the sister

281
00:12:16,542 --> 00:12:18,625
of the biggest Mafia
in New York.

282
00:12:18,708 --> 00:12:20,333
I don't know
what the word means.

283
00:12:20,375 --> 00:12:22,333
People wanna know
this about Joe Colombo?

284
00:12:22,375 --> 00:12:23,917
No!

285
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,958
What they wanna know
about Joe Colombo,

286
00:12:26,042 --> 00:12:29,500
he's gangster, he's connected
with every dirty thing there is.

287
00:12:29,583 --> 00:12:31,292
We, the family,
know he isn't.

288
00:12:31,375 --> 00:12:37,000
♪

289
00:12:37,125 --> 00:12:39,375
SEAN MCWEENEY: You gotta
remember, this guy whacked up

290
00:12:39,375 --> 00:12:42,292
a lot of other Mafia guys.

291
00:12:42,375 --> 00:12:45,417
That was his job
in the Colombo family,

292
00:12:45,500 --> 00:12:47,042
was murder for hire.

293
00:12:47,125 --> 00:12:49,042
And he was hired
by a lot of people,

294
00:12:49,125 --> 00:12:53,167
Gambino and others,
to do those activities.

295
00:12:53,208 --> 00:12:55,792
He was a tough guy
and he was a fighter,

296
00:12:55,875 --> 00:12:57,542
and he wanted
to fight back,

297
00:12:57,625 --> 00:13:00,250
and the investigative activity

298
00:13:00,375 --> 00:13:02,792
involving the Colombo family
was pretty intense.

299
00:13:02,875 --> 00:13:04,958
They had a very
strong squad,

300
00:13:05,042 --> 00:13:06,917
and it was
a natural instinct.

301
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,708
He saw the FBI
coming at his family,

302
00:13:09,792 --> 00:13:11,792
and he fought back.

303
00:13:13,167 --> 00:13:15,000
NARRATOR: If there
was one characteristic,

304
00:13:15,042 --> 00:13:18,917
one universal instinct
of all men in the Mafia,

305
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,375
it was to protect
their families at all costs,

306
00:13:22,458 --> 00:13:24,208
to defend when necessary.

307
00:13:24,292 --> 00:13:26,333
Joe Colombo
was no different.

308
00:13:26,417 --> 00:13:29,042
He realized early
that the best defense

309
00:13:29,125 --> 00:13:30,667
was a good offense.

310
00:13:31,500 --> 00:13:33,875
I will say there's
a conspiracy in this country

311
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:35,375
against
all Italian-Americans.

312
00:13:35,458 --> 00:13:38,708
And I won't stop
saying it until I feel

313
00:13:38,792 --> 00:13:40,042
that the father
of our country

314
00:13:40,125 --> 00:13:42,333
treats us all
like his children.

315
00:13:42,417 --> 00:13:45,833
INTERVIEWER: Mr. Colombo,
are you a boss of the Mafia?

316
00:13:45,917 --> 00:13:47,208
No, I am not.

317
00:13:47,875 --> 00:13:49,833
- INTERVIEWER: Is there a Mafia?
- No, there is not.

318
00:13:55,458 --> 00:13:57,083
[protesters chanting]

319
00:13:58,750 --> 00:14:00,417
NARRATOR: By the early 1970s,

320
00:14:00,500 --> 00:14:03,083
America was in the midst
of sweeping change.

321
00:14:04,208 --> 00:14:06,875
The new laws brought
about by the Civil Rights Act

322
00:14:06,958 --> 00:14:08,375
were now in effect,

323
00:14:08,458 --> 00:14:10,667
and some
Italian-Americans figured

324
00:14:10,750 --> 00:14:13,000
it was now their turn
to speak up

325
00:14:13,083 --> 00:14:16,417
and fight back against
Italian-American discrimination.

326
00:14:17,042 --> 00:14:19,167
ED: A lot of white
ethnic groups, Irish-Americans,

327
00:14:19,250 --> 00:14:21,000
Polish-Americans,
Italian-Americans,

328
00:14:21,083 --> 00:14:23,250
begin to dig
into their histories

329
00:14:23,375 --> 00:14:25,083
and to say, "Well,
we have a history too,

330
00:14:25,167 --> 00:14:26,708
we have culture too,

331
00:14:26,792 --> 00:14:28,167
and we also have suffered

332
00:14:28,250 --> 00:14:29,750
some level of discrimination."

333
00:14:29,833 --> 00:14:32,417
♪

334
00:14:32,500 --> 00:14:35,250
So Joseph Colombo sees
what's happening in the 1960s

335
00:14:35,375 --> 00:14:36,833
and all this talk
about rights

336
00:14:36,875 --> 00:14:38,458
and oppression
and discrimination,

337
00:14:38,542 --> 00:14:40,333
and he realizes that
there's an opportunity there.

338
00:14:40,417 --> 00:14:45,375
♪

339
00:14:48,958 --> 00:14:51,292
He was so outraged
at that period of time

340
00:14:51,292 --> 00:14:55,042
because the harassment tactics
by the FBI were terrible.

341
00:14:55,875 --> 00:14:57,833
The final thing was that
they had arrested

342
00:14:57,917 --> 00:14:59,542
my brother, Joey, unjustly.

343
00:15:00,208 --> 00:15:02,167
He was charged
with interfering

344
00:15:02,208 --> 00:15:04,250
with interstate commerce,

345
00:15:04,375 --> 00:15:06,625
and he was arrested
and facing 20 years.

346
00:15:07,708 --> 00:15:10,875
My father realized that
it was a tactic to get to him

347
00:15:10,958 --> 00:15:13,542
because of his alleged stature

348
00:15:13,625 --> 00:15:15,208
within what they call

349
00:15:15,292 --> 00:15:17,667
Italian-American
organized crime,

350
00:15:17,750 --> 00:15:19,333
and it was a tactic
to hurt him.

351
00:15:22,208 --> 00:15:25,042
SEAN: Colombo made a big deal
out of his son's arrest,

352
00:15:25,125 --> 00:15:26,958
and he claimed
that the FBI

353
00:15:27,042 --> 00:15:31,000
was just picking on his son
to get at him,

354
00:15:31,042 --> 00:15:33,458
and that they were picking on
Italians in general.

355
00:15:33,542 --> 00:15:36,250
They were trying
to portray all Italians

356
00:15:36,333 --> 00:15:39,500
as members of organized crime,
which was not true.

357
00:15:40,042 --> 00:15:42,375
It was patently
a false claim.

358
00:15:44,167 --> 00:15:47,417
MICHAEL: Well, my dad had been
convicted on a federal case

359
00:15:47,500 --> 00:15:49,375
and sentenced
to 50 years in prison,

360
00:15:50,292 --> 00:15:52,042
And I was devastated.

361
00:15:52,833 --> 00:15:57,167
But shortly after my dad went
into prison in 1970,

362
00:15:57,208 --> 00:15:59,958
we got a call
from Joe Colombo

363
00:16:00,042 --> 00:16:02,500
that his son
had been arrested,

364
00:16:02,542 --> 00:16:05,417
and he said, "We're not standing
for FBI harassment anymore.

365
00:16:05,542 --> 00:16:07,708
We're gonna be picketing
the FBI building

366
00:16:07,792 --> 00:16:09,792
on 69th Street
and Third Avenue."

367
00:16:09,875 --> 00:16:11,500
NEWS ANCHOR: Joe Colombo
had organized a picket line

368
00:16:11,583 --> 00:16:14,000
around FBI headquarters
in Manhattan.

369
00:16:14,042 --> 00:16:15,167
MICHAEL: So I was excited.

370
00:16:15,292 --> 00:16:17,083
I saw it
as a way to help my dad,

371
00:16:17,167 --> 00:16:19,583
and I was probably
the first day or second day

372
00:16:19,667 --> 00:16:22,125
I was on that line,
picketing the FBI.

373
00:16:22,208 --> 00:16:25,042
They actually gave me
a sign when I got there.

374
00:16:25,042 --> 00:16:27,917
"My dad's a victim
of FBI Gestapo tactics.

375
00:16:27,917 --> 00:16:29,083
He was framed
and sentenced to 50 years."

376
00:16:29,208 --> 00:16:31,125
That's what it said.

377
00:16:31,208 --> 00:16:33,667
So I was happy to walk
that line with Joe Colombo.

378
00:16:33,750 --> 00:16:35,333
CHRIS: People started
coming that knew us.

379
00:16:35,375 --> 00:16:37,292
The neighborhood
came to support.

380
00:16:37,375 --> 00:16:40,000
We had a mass
demonstration outside

381
00:16:40,042 --> 00:16:42,667
of 69th Street
FBI headquarters.

382
00:16:42,750 --> 00:16:43,875
MICHAEL: It was several months.

383
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,000
That line grew from 30

384
00:16:46,083 --> 00:16:47,250
or 40 or 50 people
the first day

385
00:16:47,333 --> 00:16:48,833
to several thousand.

386
00:16:48,917 --> 00:16:50,500
I mean, they had
to close off the street.

387
00:16:50,542 --> 00:16:52,583
Before you knew it,
everybody was joining

388
00:16:52,667 --> 00:16:54,042
in that picket line.

389
00:16:56,375 --> 00:16:58,250
The FBI
was extremely distressed.

390
00:16:58,375 --> 00:16:59,917
They didn't
like us out there.

391
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,500
They were throwing
water balloons out

392
00:17:01,625 --> 00:17:03,292
from the top floor
of the building

393
00:17:03,375 --> 00:17:04,792
down onto the line.

394
00:17:04,875 --> 00:17:07,167
Hidey-hidey-hidey-ho,

395
00:17:07,208 --> 00:17:09,667
[indistinct].

396
00:17:09,708 --> 00:17:12,417
I was the night supervisor
at the time.

397
00:17:12,542 --> 00:17:15,083
I worked the 12:00
to 8:00 shift,

398
00:17:15,167 --> 00:17:18,333
and I was in charge
of the FBI office at that point.

399
00:17:18,458 --> 00:17:20,208
And I would go down
in the morning.

400
00:17:20,292 --> 00:17:22,583
They usually came
about nine o'clock.

401
00:17:22,667 --> 00:17:24,625
PROTESTORS: Hitler vowed
he'd never die,

402
00:17:24,708 --> 00:17:26,500
he came back as the FBI!

403
00:17:26,583 --> 00:17:28,958
JIM: We would hear
on the wiretaps sometimes,

404
00:17:29,042 --> 00:17:30,500
the word went out,
"Hey, it's 3:30.

405
00:17:30,542 --> 00:17:32,125
You gotta get down
to 69th Street,"

406
00:17:32,208 --> 00:17:33,667
where the FBI office was.

407
00:17:33,750 --> 00:17:34,875
SEAN: And they'd be carrying

408
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,250
these homemade signs

409
00:17:37,333 --> 00:17:39,375
uh, criticizing the FBI,

410
00:17:39,458 --> 00:17:42,833
saying that the FBI
was picking on Italians,

411
00:17:42,875 --> 00:17:46,125
calling all Italians
members of organized crime,

412
00:17:46,208 --> 00:17:48,042
which was
absolutely not true.

413
00:17:48,125 --> 00:17:52,333
We had more FBI agents
that were Italian

414
00:17:52,375 --> 00:17:55,500
than probably all of the Mafia
people in the United States.

415
00:17:55,542 --> 00:18:00,250
♪

416
00:18:08,250 --> 00:18:10,250
SAMI: The committees
and the hearings

417
00:18:10,333 --> 00:18:12,333
of people
like Frank Costello,

418
00:18:12,417 --> 00:18:14,500
and the rise of guys
like Vito Genovese.

419
00:18:14,625 --> 00:18:17,333
All these names coming from
Italian immigrant backgrounds

420
00:18:17,417 --> 00:18:19,458
are now affiliated
with Mafia,

421
00:18:19,542 --> 00:18:21,375
affiliated with crime,
affiliated with violence.

422
00:18:21,458 --> 00:18:24,000
"We are sick and tired

423
00:18:24,042 --> 00:18:27,250
of being stereotyped
as violent mafioso.

424
00:18:27,375 --> 00:18:28,917
That is not who we are."

425
00:18:29,042 --> 00:18:30,667
So it makes sense
that with all of this...

426
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:33,917
civil rights activity happening,

427
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:35,833
why wouldn't Colombo

428
00:18:35,917 --> 00:18:37,417
get involved
in the fray as well?

429
00:18:37,500 --> 00:18:40,708
♪

430
00:18:40,792 --> 00:18:42,542
CHRIS: We were basically
viewed as greaseballs.

431
00:18:44,875 --> 00:18:46,500
They now had
a sense of pride,

432
00:18:46,625 --> 00:18:49,583
which they didn't have before,
and a sense of unity,

433
00:18:49,667 --> 00:18:51,750
and they looked
to my father as their leader.

434
00:18:51,833 --> 00:18:55,625
♪

435
00:18:55,708 --> 00:18:57,292
ED: And so he founds
an organization,

436
00:18:57,375 --> 00:18:59,292
the Italian-American
Civil Rights League.

437
00:18:59,833 --> 00:19:02,833
And in 1970, he holds
a rally at Columbus Circle,

438
00:19:02,917 --> 00:19:05,042
where there's a great big
statue of Christopher Columbus,

439
00:19:05,125 --> 00:19:06,542
symbol of
Italian-American heritage.

440
00:19:06,625 --> 00:19:08,042
And thousands
of people show up.

441
00:19:08,167 --> 00:19:09,833
There are big speeches.

442
00:19:09,917 --> 00:19:12,542
MARIO A. PROCACCINO:
What we are doing here today,

443
00:19:12,625 --> 00:19:15,333
pledging allegiance
to our country

444
00:19:15,417 --> 00:19:18,833
with a show of Italian-
American solidarity.

445
00:19:18,917 --> 00:19:20,333
[crowd cheering]

446
00:19:22,208 --> 00:19:23,958
ANTHONY IMPERIALE:
Let us not forget

447
00:19:24,042 --> 00:19:25,792
that the Italian-American...

448
00:19:26,708 --> 00:19:29,333
has been an asset
to this country!

449
00:19:29,417 --> 00:19:32,500
That we built it with our backs
brick by brick!

450
00:19:32,625 --> 00:19:35,000
We didn't steal it!
We didn't burn it!

451
00:19:35,083 --> 00:19:37,208
[crowd cheering]

452
00:19:42,208 --> 00:19:45,208
Thank God that
I was born

453
00:19:45,208 --> 00:19:46,667
of Italian birth.

454
00:19:46,750 --> 00:19:48,750
[crowd cheering]

455
00:19:52,792 --> 00:19:54,500
But today,

456
00:19:54,583 --> 00:19:57,625
this day belongs
to you, the people!

457
00:19:58,208 --> 00:20:01,667
You are organized.
You are one!

458
00:20:01,708 --> 00:20:05,083
Nobody could
take you apart anymore.

459
00:20:05,167 --> 00:20:06,500
[crowd cheering]

460
00:20:06,542 --> 00:20:09,208
You've overcome
what no Italian

461
00:20:09,292 --> 00:20:11,875
has overcome
in this country.

462
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,292
God bless you,
and thank you!

463
00:20:14,375 --> 00:20:16,500
[crowd cheering]

464
00:20:16,583 --> 00:20:18,583
ED: And this goes
really well.

465
00:20:18,708 --> 00:20:20,708
They start
to draw in lots of members.

466
00:20:20,792 --> 00:20:23,208
By the end of the year,
he says he has 45,000

467
00:20:23,333 --> 00:20:25,292
dues-paying members
across the country.

468
00:20:25,375 --> 00:20:27,417
SELWYN: Nelson Rockefeller,

469
00:20:27,500 --> 00:20:30,208
who was then the governor
of New York,

470
00:20:30,292 --> 00:20:32,125
became a supporter.

471
00:20:32,208 --> 00:20:34,167
And there were
other politicians.

472
00:20:34,208 --> 00:20:36,042
Nobody wanted to stop them.

473
00:20:37,375 --> 00:20:40,583
So for me, it was all
about the League helping me

474
00:20:40,667 --> 00:20:42,667
get my father's
conviction overturned.

475
00:20:42,750 --> 00:20:44,917
That's what I believed in,
that's why I was there.

476
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,417
As far as, "There was no Mafia."
I obviously knew there was.

477
00:20:50,375 --> 00:20:53,208
This sort of message
begins to steamroll.

478
00:20:53,292 --> 00:20:54,542
The governor's involved
all of a sudden.

479
00:20:54,625 --> 00:20:56,125
You've got Frank Sinatra at,
you know,

480
00:20:56,208 --> 00:20:57,542
Madison Square Garden

481
00:20:57,625 --> 00:20:59,833
for the Italian-American
Civil Rights League.

482
00:20:59,958 --> 00:21:00,958
This thing is huge.

483
00:21:01,875 --> 00:21:03,250
Mobster, Joe Colombo,

484
00:21:03,333 --> 00:21:05,458
he's on the cover
of Time magazine,

485
00:21:05,542 --> 00:21:07,250
and he's kind of
positioned himself

486
00:21:07,375 --> 00:21:09,000
in the spirit of the times
as a civil rights figure

487
00:21:09,125 --> 00:21:10,417
for Italian-Americans.

488
00:21:11,708 --> 00:21:13,958
SELWYN: And he also
got the FBI

489
00:21:14,042 --> 00:21:15,583
and the Justice Department

490
00:21:15,667 --> 00:21:17,917
to never use
the word "Mafia"

491
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,917
when they had the few
indictments that they did.

492
00:21:21,708 --> 00:21:24,542
In fact,
Colombo was so powerful

493
00:21:24,625 --> 00:21:27,167
that when the movie,
The Godfather was made,

494
00:21:27,333 --> 00:21:29,375
he made sure
that the word "Mafia"

495
00:21:29,458 --> 00:21:31,083
would never be used in it.

496
00:21:31,167 --> 00:21:32,500
CHRIS: It was Lindsay's office

497
00:21:32,542 --> 00:21:33,833
that wouldn't give him
the permits,

498
00:21:33,917 --> 00:21:35,333
because the League
was up in arms.

499
00:21:35,375 --> 00:21:37,500
What happened
is Al Ruddy comes

500
00:21:37,625 --> 00:21:39,167
and meets my father
at League headquarters

501
00:21:39,208 --> 00:21:40,500
and brings him a suitcase,

502
00:21:40,542 --> 00:21:42,000
they don't put this
in the movie,

503
00:21:42,083 --> 00:21:43,167
with a half
a million dollars,

504
00:21:43,208 --> 00:21:44,292
which is significant money

505
00:21:44,375 --> 00:21:46,833
in 1970, '71.

506
00:21:46,875 --> 00:21:47,875
Serious money.

507
00:21:49,375 --> 00:21:50,792
My father says,
"Keep your money.

508
00:21:50,875 --> 00:21:52,667
Bring the script."
He says, "I'll help you.

509
00:21:52,750 --> 00:21:56,500
As long as you don't put
"Mafia," "Cosa Nostra"

510
00:21:56,625 --> 00:21:58,000
and try to make
Italians look bad."

511
00:21:58,083 --> 00:21:59,208
It was an immigrant story.

512
00:21:59,333 --> 00:22:00,542
It was a great story.

513
00:22:00,625 --> 00:22:02,625
AL: We have been in touch

514
00:22:02,708 --> 00:22:04,833
with the Italian-American
Civil Liberties Union--

515
00:22:05,542 --> 00:22:06,958
- MAN: Civil Rights.
- Civil Rights, [indistinct].

516
00:22:07,667 --> 00:22:10,500
We are going
to delete any reference

517
00:22:10,583 --> 00:22:12,500
to "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra."

518
00:22:12,583 --> 00:22:14,875
We are working closely
with your organization

519
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,000
to get ultimately
the result that I want,

520
00:22:18,042 --> 00:22:20,000
that Paramount wants,
and that you all want.

521
00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:22,583
[audience applauding]

522
00:22:24,708 --> 00:22:26,500
TOM: It's interesting
that these themes

523
00:22:26,583 --> 00:22:28,500
that are going on in
American culture during the '60s

524
00:22:28,542 --> 00:22:30,792
are also finding voice
in the underworld.

525
00:22:31,792 --> 00:22:34,375
Flip side, though,
is that they want money.

526
00:22:34,458 --> 00:22:35,667
For a guy like
Joe Colombo, it's like,

527
00:22:35,750 --> 00:22:37,125
"Let's start this League.

528
00:22:37,208 --> 00:22:38,875
I'm gonna be
in charge of it

529
00:22:38,958 --> 00:22:41,750
and, uh, I'm gonna send out
this terrific message,

530
00:22:41,875 --> 00:22:43,667
but, you know,
it's also a really good way

531
00:22:43,792 --> 00:22:45,042
to launder some profits."

532
00:22:46,417 --> 00:22:49,917
SEAN: Colombo began
using the League

533
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,083
for, uh,

534
00:22:52,167 --> 00:22:54,333
purposes of extortion.

535
00:22:54,417 --> 00:22:58,000
Extorting shopkeepers
in Queens and Brooklyn,

536
00:22:58,042 --> 00:22:59,875
uh, asking for donations

537
00:23:00,042 --> 00:23:03,333
to the Italian-American
Civil Rights League,

538
00:23:03,417 --> 00:23:06,208
and it ended up being, uh,

539
00:23:06,292 --> 00:23:08,167
an extortion-type racket.

540
00:23:08,250 --> 00:23:09,625
NARRATOR: To the naked eye,

541
00:23:09,708 --> 00:23:11,250
Joe Colombo
was a businessman,

542
00:23:11,333 --> 00:23:13,375
an organizer, a public figure.

543
00:23:14,125 --> 00:23:17,125
But beneath the surface,
he continued to lead

544
00:23:17,208 --> 00:23:19,917
one of New York's
most powerful crime families,

545
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,667
and he was sworn
to a code of secrecy,

546
00:23:22,750 --> 00:23:25,083
a code that, if threatened,

547
00:23:25,208 --> 00:23:26,292
could cost him his life.

548
00:23:26,375 --> 00:23:31,417
♪

549
00:23:35,042 --> 00:23:36,917
♪

550
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,792
NARRATOR: As Joe Colombo's
public exposure increased,

551
00:23:39,875 --> 00:23:42,208
the other bosses
looked on uneasily.

552
00:23:43,167 --> 00:23:46,500
At the time, Carlo Gambino
was the most tenured

553
00:23:46,625 --> 00:23:48,250
and respected boss
in New York.

554
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,042
Gambino and his allies
in the Lucchese family

555
00:23:52,167 --> 00:23:53,958
had enthusiastically supported

556
00:23:54,042 --> 00:23:56,125
Colombo's Civil Rights League
in the beginning.

557
00:23:56,875 --> 00:23:58,792
But word
on the street was

558
00:23:58,875 --> 00:24:01,292
that the bosses
were having second thoughts,

559
00:24:01,375 --> 00:24:04,167
that all the publicity
was doing more harm than good.

560
00:24:04,875 --> 00:24:07,042
But Colombo was unperturbed.

561
00:24:08,417 --> 00:24:10,833
By this point,
Joseph Colombo

562
00:24:10,917 --> 00:24:13,833
had been boss of
a Mafia family for seven years.

563
00:24:13,917 --> 00:24:17,500
He had come to power at the end
of the Gallo-Profaci war,

564
00:24:17,542 --> 00:24:18,958
a time of great conflict

565
00:24:19,042 --> 00:24:21,167
and uncertainty
within the family.

566
00:24:21,833 --> 00:24:24,167
But he had successfully
steadied the ship.

567
00:24:25,042 --> 00:24:27,625
It may have been
his strong leadership qualities.

568
00:24:27,708 --> 00:24:29,500
Or perhaps the fact

569
00:24:29,583 --> 00:24:31,500
that the family's
biggest troublemaker,

570
00:24:31,583 --> 00:24:33,750
Joey Gallo, was stuck in jail.

571
00:24:34,958 --> 00:24:37,000
That was
about to change, however.

572
00:24:37,625 --> 00:24:40,417
Crazy Joe would soon be back
on the street,

573
00:24:40,500 --> 00:24:42,167
which meant trouble
for Joe Colombo.

574
00:24:42,208 --> 00:24:45,833
♪

575
00:24:45,917 --> 00:24:48,000
SELWYN: After becoming
head of the family,

576
00:24:48,125 --> 00:24:50,833
Joe Colombo was outward.

577
00:24:51,708 --> 00:24:53,083
Welcomed people.

578
00:24:53,167 --> 00:24:54,833
Wanted publicity.

579
00:24:54,958 --> 00:24:56,792
But that was his undoing.

580
00:24:57,792 --> 00:25:00,167
Because eventually
what happened to him was,

581
00:25:00,250 --> 00:25:03,500
with that Italian-American
Civil Rights League,

582
00:25:03,583 --> 00:25:04,875
he exposed himself,

583
00:25:04,958 --> 00:25:07,000
which a lot of bosses
didn't wanna do.

584
00:25:07,083 --> 00:25:10,125
♪

585
00:25:10,208 --> 00:25:13,542
You didn't go out there
and address thousands of people,

586
00:25:13,542 --> 00:25:15,083
'cause you realized
it was always a crackpot

587
00:25:15,167 --> 00:25:16,500
or some enemy.

588
00:25:16,625 --> 00:25:19,500
You get the sense
that your Carlo Gambinos

589
00:25:19,583 --> 00:25:20,917
are kind of looking
at Joe Colombo,

590
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,708
and they don't want publicity.

591
00:25:23,792 --> 00:25:26,542
And this guy's on,
you know, the cover of Time.

592
00:25:26,667 --> 00:25:28,875
I mean, it was bad enough
when the Gallo brothers

593
00:25:28,958 --> 00:25:30,958
were plastered
all over the tabloids.

594
00:25:30,958 --> 00:25:33,833
So, you get the sense
that a shrewd cat

595
00:25:33,958 --> 00:25:36,500
like Carlo Gambino is just like,

596
00:25:36,542 --> 00:25:38,000
"What the hell is he doing?"

597
00:25:38,083 --> 00:25:39,875
You know, "He's taking
this thing too far."

598
00:25:39,958 --> 00:25:42,833
I mean, going
and antagonizing the FBI

599
00:25:42,917 --> 00:25:46,000
will really probably only
get you in trouble at the end.

600
00:25:47,292 --> 00:25:50,000
MICHAEL: There was a lot of
dissent coming from the guys.

601
00:25:50,083 --> 00:25:52,167
But there was a lot of talk
on the street

602
00:25:52,208 --> 00:25:55,042
that Joey was becoming
too high-profile.

603
00:25:55,125 --> 00:25:58,417
A lot of the guys
within the family were upset

604
00:25:58,417 --> 00:26:00,042
that they were walking the line,

605
00:26:00,125 --> 00:26:02,792
and that
the FBI was noticing guys

606
00:26:02,875 --> 00:26:06,667
that probably had
a lower profile prior to this.

607
00:26:06,750 --> 00:26:08,667
So, everybody's complaining,

608
00:26:08,708 --> 00:26:10,417
"Hey, I'm on blast here,
you know?

609
00:26:10,542 --> 00:26:13,000
"The FBI is watching
our movements now.

610
00:26:13,042 --> 00:26:15,083
Where they didn't know us,
they're knowing us now."

611
00:26:17,250 --> 00:26:21,583
Uh, and one time I went
to see my dad in Leavenworth,

612
00:26:21,708 --> 00:26:25,208
and he wanted me to stop
hanging out at the League.

613
00:26:25,292 --> 00:26:26,792
He said
"It's gonna put you in trouble."

614
00:26:26,875 --> 00:26:28,917
And I said, "Dad,
they're gonna help you."

615
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:30,375
And he said,
"They're not gonna help me."

616
00:26:31,875 --> 00:26:34,208
♪

617
00:26:34,292 --> 00:26:36,000
NARRATOR: In early 1971,

618
00:26:36,125 --> 00:26:37,625
things were tense
in the Colombo family.

619
00:26:38,292 --> 00:26:41,500
It didn't help
that on April 11th, 1971,

620
00:26:41,542 --> 00:26:43,708
Joey Gallo was released
from prison.

621
00:26:44,583 --> 00:26:46,292
It had been 10 years

622
00:26:46,375 --> 00:26:48,125
since Crazy Joe
was down on President Street,

623
00:26:48,208 --> 00:26:50,042
and a lot had changed.

624
00:26:50,125 --> 00:26:52,083
His brother, Larry, had died,

625
00:26:52,167 --> 00:26:54,417
as had the old boss,
Joe Profaci.

626
00:26:55,375 --> 00:26:58,333
But Joey Gallo was still
a bull in a china shop

627
00:26:58,417 --> 00:27:02,000
with no respect for the rules,
no respect for the code,

628
00:27:02,083 --> 00:27:05,667
and no respect
for his new boss, Joe Colombo.

629
00:27:06,792 --> 00:27:08,208
Joe Colombo,

630
00:27:08,292 --> 00:27:11,875
his one big enemy
was Crazy Joe Gallo.

631
00:27:14,375 --> 00:27:17,375
And Crazy Joe had also come
from the same roots

632
00:27:17,458 --> 00:27:19,292
in South Brooklyn.

633
00:27:19,375 --> 00:27:20,542
They knew each other.

634
00:27:20,625 --> 00:27:22,750
And Crazy Joe really thought

635
00:27:22,833 --> 00:27:25,667
he deserved to be head
of the Profaci family

636
00:27:25,708 --> 00:27:27,458
when Profaci died,

637
00:27:27,542 --> 00:27:30,542
that he was really the one
who had been a big earner,

638
00:27:30,625 --> 00:27:32,167
had done
a lot of important things,

639
00:27:32,208 --> 00:27:35,583
including being involved
in the assassination

640
00:27:35,667 --> 00:27:37,458
of Albert Anastasia.

641
00:27:37,542 --> 00:27:40,875
So, here was an inbuilt rivalry

642
00:27:40,875 --> 00:27:43,167
that Colombo wasn't ready for.

643
00:27:43,250 --> 00:27:45,750
♪

644
00:27:45,833 --> 00:27:47,500
While in prison,

645
00:27:47,542 --> 00:27:49,375
Gallo was looking
for reinforcements

646
00:27:49,458 --> 00:27:51,083
for his own group.

647
00:27:51,208 --> 00:27:53,958
And he knew
he couldn't get it from Colombo.

648
00:27:54,042 --> 00:27:56,833
And he recruited
a lot of Black prisoners.

649
00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:58,958
And he told them,
"When you come out,

650
00:27:59,042 --> 00:28:01,625
go and see my brothers
in South Brooklyn."

651
00:28:01,708 --> 00:28:03,500
So, he was building up an army.

652
00:28:04,208 --> 00:28:06,083
It's sort of
an interesting thing,

653
00:28:06,167 --> 00:28:08,167
because this is definitely
a breach of etiquette,

654
00:28:08,250 --> 00:28:09,708
to go into prison

655
00:28:09,792 --> 00:28:13,750
and to be actively
courting friendships

656
00:28:13,833 --> 00:28:16,167
with people
outside of the mafia.

657
00:28:16,250 --> 00:28:19,333
♪

658
00:28:19,375 --> 00:28:21,000
When you're in prison,

659
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,500
each ethnic group
is gonna look at the guy that...

660
00:28:24,625 --> 00:28:27,000
the people in that group gonna
have the most respect for.

661
00:28:27,083 --> 00:28:30,167
If they can see themselves
making money with that person,

662
00:28:30,250 --> 00:28:31,917
they're gonna try
to get in touch with them.

663
00:28:32,875 --> 00:28:35,583
TOM: Joey Gallo,
he does not like the shape

664
00:28:35,667 --> 00:28:37,833
that the Gallo brothers are in.

665
00:28:37,917 --> 00:28:40,125
Joey starts to think,
"You know what?

666
00:28:40,208 --> 00:28:42,958
"If the Black gangsters
got organized,

667
00:28:43,042 --> 00:28:45,417
"they could team up with us,
the Gallo brothers.

668
00:28:45,500 --> 00:28:48,167
You know, we would really be
kings of the streets then."

669
00:28:48,250 --> 00:28:49,833
Now, this idea

670
00:28:49,917 --> 00:28:52,667
to the traditional
mob establishment is just,

671
00:28:52,708 --> 00:28:55,542
"Why would you, you know,
partner with Black gangsters?"

672
00:28:56,333 --> 00:28:57,667
They don't see
this happening at all.

673
00:28:57,708 --> 00:28:59,042
But Joey Gallo is,

674
00:28:59,125 --> 00:29:01,167
um, better or for worse,

675
00:29:01,208 --> 00:29:03,042
he's sort of an innovator
in that sense,

676
00:29:03,125 --> 00:29:04,875
and he's willing to go there.

677
00:29:07,125 --> 00:29:08,208
FRANK DiMATTEO: Joey came home.

678
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:10,833
Joey never acknowledged

679
00:29:10,875 --> 00:29:13,042
that Joe Colombo
was gonna be boss.

680
00:29:13,125 --> 00:29:14,458
So, he refused him as boss.

681
00:29:15,500 --> 00:29:18,167
"I don't care who made him boss.
Ain't happening."

682
00:29:18,958 --> 00:29:21,833
And he demanded from Colombo,

683
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,875
the Colombo family,
pay him $100,000

684
00:29:24,958 --> 00:29:26,167
that was owed to him.

685
00:29:27,250 --> 00:29:30,292
And then Colombo
took a dollar bill

686
00:29:30,375 --> 00:29:33,292
out of his billfold
and threw it at Gallo

687
00:29:33,375 --> 00:29:35,042
and said, "Here,
this is all you're getting,"

688
00:29:35,042 --> 00:29:36,583
and left the room.

689
00:29:37,375 --> 00:29:39,833
CLAIRE: The fact
that Gallo is even willing

690
00:29:39,875 --> 00:29:41,000
to demand things,

691
00:29:41,083 --> 00:29:44,833
and allude to a lack of respect

692
00:29:44,875 --> 00:29:46,000
for his leadership

693
00:29:46,083 --> 00:29:48,500
is very much outside of the code

694
00:29:48,542 --> 00:29:50,000
of the families.

695
00:29:50,083 --> 00:29:52,542
Even if you don't agree
with your boss,

696
00:29:52,625 --> 00:29:54,250
you don't outright say it.

697
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:57,750
FRANK: When Joey got home,
he told 'em,

698
00:29:57,833 --> 00:29:59,333
"We give them nothing
and we take everything

699
00:29:59,417 --> 00:30:01,250
"from now on.

700
00:30:01,333 --> 00:30:03,333
"I want everything
that was ours before.

701
00:30:03,375 --> 00:30:05,000
"The waterfront,
bars, restaurant,

702
00:30:05,125 --> 00:30:06,375
"bookmaking, shylocking.

703
00:30:06,458 --> 00:30:07,583
I want it. That's it."

704
00:30:08,333 --> 00:30:10,333
TOM: Joey Gallo, he thinks
that the Gallo brothers

705
00:30:10,375 --> 00:30:13,500
are being disrespected
by Joe Colombo.

706
00:30:13,583 --> 00:30:15,125
He hates the idea

707
00:30:15,208 --> 00:30:16,917
of this Italian-American
Civil Rights League,

708
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:18,667
thinks of it totally
as a sham.

709
00:30:19,250 --> 00:30:21,583
And he starts ripping up
these League posters

710
00:30:21,667 --> 00:30:24,458
that are required
to be put on Red Hook turf.

711
00:30:24,542 --> 00:30:26,500
Sort of like
grease the pistols, you know?

712
00:30:26,583 --> 00:30:27,667
The war's back on.

713
00:30:27,750 --> 00:30:30,333
♪

714
00:30:34,417 --> 00:30:35,833
[cheerful music playing]

715
00:30:35,917 --> 00:30:38,750
[crowd cheering]

716
00:30:38,875 --> 00:30:41,333
It's June 28th, 1971.

717
00:30:41,417 --> 00:30:42,917
This is the second

718
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,792
Italian-American
Civil Rights League rally.

719
00:30:45,875 --> 00:30:49,542
[crowd chanting]

720
00:30:49,625 --> 00:30:52,875
All over Columbus Circle,
you got cameras everywhere.

721
00:30:52,958 --> 00:30:54,458
People are coming in droves.

722
00:30:55,417 --> 00:30:57,167
They've got

723
00:30:57,208 --> 00:30:58,958
the little Italian-American
Civil Rights League pins.

724
00:30:59,042 --> 00:31:01,125
They've got--
Waving Italian flags.

725
00:31:01,125 --> 00:31:03,375
This is gonna be
a major turnout.

726
00:31:05,042 --> 00:31:06,667
CHRIS: I had my outfit
all picked out,

727
00:31:06,750 --> 00:31:08,667
red, white, green shorts, a hat.

728
00:31:08,708 --> 00:31:11,792
You know, excited to go.
Sausage and peppers, zeppoles.

729
00:31:12,500 --> 00:31:14,917
You know, entertainment,
people, politicians.

730
00:31:15,833 --> 00:31:17,917
MICHAEL: So, I wanted to be
among the first getting there,

731
00:31:18,042 --> 00:31:19,167
so I was there early.

732
00:31:19,208 --> 00:31:21,042
My mother refused to come.

733
00:31:21,125 --> 00:31:23,083
As a matter of fact,
she didn't want me to come.

734
00:31:23,208 --> 00:31:24,500
She said she had a dream

735
00:31:24,542 --> 00:31:26,083
that something bad
was gonna happen.

736
00:31:26,167 --> 00:31:28,167
She said,
"I don't want you going."

737
00:31:28,250 --> 00:31:29,333
And I said, "Mom, I'm going."

738
00:31:30,917 --> 00:31:33,667
NARRATOR: While Joe Colombo
and his League members prepared

739
00:31:33,792 --> 00:31:35,833
for their biggest rally yet,

740
00:31:35,917 --> 00:31:38,375
the Gallo crew
down on President Street

741
00:31:38,458 --> 00:31:39,417
has other plans.

742
00:31:40,250 --> 00:31:42,500
Joey Gallo and the Gallo faction

743
00:31:42,583 --> 00:31:44,792
were not interested
in the political actions

744
00:31:44,875 --> 00:31:46,625
that Colombo was trying
to push forward.

745
00:31:46,708 --> 00:31:49,042
This is not a world that
they wanted to be a part of.

746
00:31:49,125 --> 00:31:52,375
They weren't going to go
to this rally.

747
00:31:52,458 --> 00:31:54,083
FRANK: They made us go
up into Court Street

748
00:31:54,167 --> 00:31:55,833
and go to a few stores
and make sure

749
00:31:55,917 --> 00:31:58,042
they didn't close down
for the day.

750
00:31:58,125 --> 00:32:00,167
Told 'em that Joey didn't want
them closing for the day.

751
00:32:00,250 --> 00:32:02,292
And then the day of rally,

752
00:32:02,375 --> 00:32:03,917
we all were in the clubs
on President Street,

753
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:05,375
just hanging out.

754
00:32:06,208 --> 00:32:08,625
NARRATOR: Back in Manhattan,
Giuliano Schiozzi,

755
00:32:08,708 --> 00:32:11,375
a 22-year-old cop
from the 14th Precinct

756
00:32:11,375 --> 00:32:13,083
prepared for the day's events.

757
00:32:13,667 --> 00:32:14,833
He remembers it well.

758
00:32:14,917 --> 00:32:19,042
♪

759
00:32:22,292 --> 00:32:23,292
GIULIANO SCHIOZZI: I heard
about it

760
00:32:23,375 --> 00:32:25,500
the morning of the actual event.

761
00:32:25,542 --> 00:32:28,250
So, there's
no advance notification given.

762
00:32:28,333 --> 00:32:30,500
You came to work
and you were told,

763
00:32:30,625 --> 00:32:33,625
"You're attending this
Italian-American unity rally."

764
00:32:35,125 --> 00:32:36,500
I had heard
through the grapevine,

765
00:32:36,583 --> 00:32:38,208
having Italians
in my family,

766
00:32:38,292 --> 00:32:41,833
that Italians who worked
for unions

767
00:32:41,917 --> 00:32:43,750
would not work that day.

768
00:32:43,875 --> 00:32:45,667
They were told
to take the day off.

769
00:32:45,708 --> 00:32:47,792
"Don't come to work that day.
Go up to the rally."

770
00:32:48,625 --> 00:32:51,292
JIM: So when the rally--
On that-- on that day,

771
00:32:51,375 --> 00:32:52,833
police were everywhere.

772
00:32:52,917 --> 00:32:55,833
We staked out a photo area

773
00:32:55,917 --> 00:32:57,958
on the 13th floor of the Gulf
and Western Building,

774
00:32:58,042 --> 00:33:01,333
looking right down on--
on Columbus Circle.

775
00:33:01,417 --> 00:33:03,917
One of my squad mates
had the camera,

776
00:33:04,042 --> 00:33:05,042
and I had binoculars.

777
00:33:05,125 --> 00:33:06,083
We're all watching.

778
00:33:06,167 --> 00:33:09,333
[crowd cheering]

779
00:33:09,375 --> 00:33:11,167
CLAIRE: It's a wild thing,
you know.

780
00:33:11,250 --> 00:33:14,542
It is-- it's a political rally,
but it's a mob boss,

781
00:33:14,667 --> 00:33:18,500
and Joe Colombo is there,
like always, front and center.

782
00:33:18,542 --> 00:33:21,333
He is just mixing
with the people.

783
00:33:21,375 --> 00:33:24,042
He is, uh,
talking to the media,

784
00:33:24,125 --> 00:33:25,500
he's talking
to law enforcement.

785
00:33:25,583 --> 00:33:27,750
He's interacting
with all of these people

786
00:33:27,833 --> 00:33:29,417
that, traditionally,

787
00:33:29,500 --> 00:33:31,833
the mob would have done anything

788
00:33:31,875 --> 00:33:33,000
to distance themselves from.

789
00:33:33,083 --> 00:33:34,917
♪ God bless...

790
00:33:35,042 --> 00:33:38,000
GIULIANO: These were all
peaceful people milling around.

791
00:33:38,083 --> 00:33:40,208
I thought it was benign.

792
00:33:40,292 --> 00:33:42,083
Kick off with a few speeches

793
00:33:42,167 --> 00:33:43,958
and a few rounds of applause,

794
00:33:44,042 --> 00:33:46,458
and that would be the end of it,
we would be dismissed,

795
00:33:46,542 --> 00:33:48,500
and I'd go back to the precinct,

796
00:33:48,583 --> 00:33:50,667
and that would be the end
of the day.

797
00:33:50,750 --> 00:33:53,333
♪

798
00:33:53,375 --> 00:33:55,167
Somebody came and said
"Joey wants to see you,"

799
00:33:55,250 --> 00:33:59,000
so I went up on the stage,
and he looked at me

800
00:33:59,083 --> 00:34:02,750
and he gave me some brochures
to hand out near Central Park.

801
00:34:02,833 --> 00:34:04,333
And then he looked at me

802
00:34:04,417 --> 00:34:06,333
and the last thing
he said to me, he said,

803
00:34:06,417 --> 00:34:08,458
"Hey, Michael, this League
is going to help your father."

804
00:34:08,542 --> 00:34:12,333
[cheering]

805
00:34:12,458 --> 00:34:15,250
I walked 12 steps away,
ready to go down the stairs,

806
00:34:15,333 --> 00:34:17,042
and that's when the shots
fired out.

807
00:34:17,167 --> 00:34:18,458
[gunshot]

808
00:34:18,542 --> 00:34:20,000
[screaming]

809
00:34:20,083 --> 00:34:21,250
[gunshots]

810
00:34:22,875 --> 00:34:25,500
GIULIANO: I hear
what sounds like, to me...

811
00:34:26,792 --> 00:34:29,042
muted firecrackers.

812
00:34:29,167 --> 00:34:31,125
But people don't run
from fireworks.

813
00:34:31,208 --> 00:34:32,875
People run from gunfire.

814
00:34:33,667 --> 00:34:35,625
As Joseph Colombo
is making his way

815
00:34:35,708 --> 00:34:37,208
through the crowd,

816
00:34:37,333 --> 00:34:40,208
a gunman approaches him
and gets off three shots.

817
00:34:40,292 --> 00:34:42,708
Shoots him three times,
Colombo collapses to the ground.

818
00:34:42,792 --> 00:34:44,375
Please do not panic!

819
00:34:44,458 --> 00:34:46,708
Please, ladies and gentleman!

820
00:34:46,708 --> 00:34:49,125
This is the type of thing
you can't do!

821
00:34:49,208 --> 00:34:52,083
OFFICER: Captains,
get into your position.

822
00:34:52,208 --> 00:34:53,583
Keep your eyes open.

823
00:34:53,708 --> 00:34:56,333
[clamoring]

824
00:34:56,417 --> 00:34:58,375
GIULIANO: As I'm going
towards the area

825
00:34:58,458 --> 00:34:59,667
where the gunshots are,

826
00:34:59,708 --> 00:35:01,167
I see a female

827
00:35:01,292 --> 00:35:04,500
with a medium-sized afro

828
00:35:04,583 --> 00:35:06,917
with a camera,
a tri-lens camera.

829
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:08,417
She's running away.

830
00:35:08,500 --> 00:35:10,583
Where she ultimately
ends up going,

831
00:35:10,667 --> 00:35:11,917
down the subway.

832
00:35:16,042 --> 00:35:18,292
Joe Colombo was on the ground...

833
00:35:19,792 --> 00:35:21,708
with what appears to be
two gunshot wounds

834
00:35:21,792 --> 00:35:22,958
to the back of his head.

835
00:35:26,375 --> 00:35:30,458
There was an individual
holding a gun.

836
00:35:32,167 --> 00:35:35,917
Myself and other police officers
now tackle

837
00:35:36,042 --> 00:35:38,458
this unknown person.

838
00:35:39,125 --> 00:35:42,792
Take him to the ground,
secure him, handcuff him.

839
00:35:42,875 --> 00:35:45,083
Mr. Johnson,
I believe was his name.

840
00:35:45,167 --> 00:35:48,750
[overlapping shouting]

841
00:35:50,208 --> 00:35:52,250
MICHAEL: I turn around,
and it's hysteria.

842
00:35:52,333 --> 00:35:53,875
The only thing I heard
was "Joey's been shot,

843
00:35:53,958 --> 00:35:54,917
Joey's been shot."

844
00:35:55,667 --> 00:35:57,292
And, you know,
I didn't see him.

845
00:35:57,375 --> 00:35:59,667
He obviously went right down.

846
00:35:59,750 --> 00:36:01,917
And then, boom,
I heard another shot...

847
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:03,750
- [gunshot]
- [shouting]

848
00:36:03,833 --> 00:36:05,292
MAN: Please be calm!

849
00:36:05,417 --> 00:36:06,750
...and that's when
they got Johnson.

850
00:36:07,417 --> 00:36:10,458
GIULIANO: Jerome Johnson
was, uh, shot

851
00:36:10,542 --> 00:36:13,958
while being apprehended
by the police.

852
00:36:14,042 --> 00:36:17,250
♪

853
00:36:18,875 --> 00:36:20,333
NEWS ANCHOR: The crowd
was still gathering

854
00:36:20,458 --> 00:36:22,167
in New York's Columbus Circle

855
00:36:22,208 --> 00:36:23,750
for what was to be
the mass rally

856
00:36:23,833 --> 00:36:25,167
of Italian-Americans

857
00:36:25,250 --> 00:36:26,833
when suddenly, gunshots,

858
00:36:26,875 --> 00:36:28,250
a whole series of them.

859
00:36:28,333 --> 00:36:29,833
And Joe Colombo Sr.,

860
00:36:29,875 --> 00:36:31,667
the principal organizer
of this event,

861
00:36:31,708 --> 00:36:33,833
was lying on the ground,
badly wounded,

862
00:36:33,917 --> 00:36:36,500
shot in the head
and bleeding profusely.

863
00:36:36,625 --> 00:36:38,000
REPORTER: One
was apparently killed.

864
00:36:38,083 --> 00:36:39,667
One was killed.

865
00:36:39,750 --> 00:36:41,500
I don't know what happened
to the other two.

866
00:36:41,625 --> 00:36:44,375
The one-- the girl
was closest to the colored guy.

867
00:36:44,542 --> 00:36:46,375
She was here, I don't know
what happened to her, either.

868
00:36:48,083 --> 00:36:51,417
JIM: Through the investigation,
Jerome Johnson, Black man,

869
00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:53,333
had press credentials.

870
00:36:53,458 --> 00:36:56,208
And he had a camera pouch
on his belt,

871
00:36:56,292 --> 00:36:58,167
and he's taking
Colombo's picture like that.

872
00:36:58,208 --> 00:36:59,708
Put the camera down,
pulled out his gun,

873
00:36:59,833 --> 00:37:01,458
and hit him three times
in the head.

874
00:37:03,417 --> 00:37:05,292
Jerome Johnson
was grabbed by the police

875
00:37:05,375 --> 00:37:06,667
and dragged down immediately.

876
00:37:07,375 --> 00:37:09,500
Meanwhile, as we later learned,

877
00:37:09,583 --> 00:37:13,167
a Colombo bodyguard
named Philip "Chubby" Rosillo

878
00:37:13,250 --> 00:37:16,292
crawls through the cop's legs,
got his gun,

879
00:37:16,375 --> 00:37:19,500
and shot Jerome Johnson
in the back and killed him.

880
00:37:19,583 --> 00:37:21,417
And get this, he got away.

881
00:37:22,792 --> 00:37:25,542
With-- with 25 cops
around the whole--

882
00:37:25,625 --> 00:37:27,292
the whole time, he got away.

883
00:37:28,250 --> 00:37:29,500
CHRIS: This fellow,
Philip Rosillo,

884
00:37:29,583 --> 00:37:31,125
he crawled under the cops,

885
00:37:31,208 --> 00:37:32,500
and he unloaded a .38

886
00:37:32,583 --> 00:37:36,125
into Jerome Johnson's back

887
00:37:36,208 --> 00:37:37,333
and neck.

888
00:37:38,042 --> 00:37:39,792
Crawled out from under the cops.

889
00:37:39,875 --> 00:37:42,333
They never arrested him.
Could never figure out why.

890
00:37:44,083 --> 00:37:45,667
JIM: Police investigated him

891
00:37:45,708 --> 00:37:48,042
but were never able
to get enough to charge him.

892
00:37:48,167 --> 00:37:50,167
Murder's not a federal crime.

893
00:37:50,208 --> 00:37:53,333
And usually,
and unfortunately, when--

894
00:37:53,375 --> 00:37:55,500
when our jurisdiction ends,

895
00:37:55,583 --> 00:37:58,375
quite often we have to back off.

896
00:37:58,458 --> 00:38:00,458
DIRECTOR:

897
00:38:01,292 --> 00:38:02,625
Oh, we gave 'em all to--

898
00:38:02,708 --> 00:38:04,708
to New York City
Police Department, sure.

899
00:38:06,583 --> 00:38:08,375
And there was a--
there was a female with--

900
00:38:08,500 --> 00:38:11,750
with Jerome Johnson,
our photos showed.

901
00:38:12,417 --> 00:38:16,417
And I thought-- I've thought
many times since then,

902
00:38:16,500 --> 00:38:18,958
all you have to do is go
to where Jerome Johnson lived

903
00:38:19,042 --> 00:38:20,875
and show photos of that.

904
00:38:21,708 --> 00:38:25,250
So, I don't know
what the police did,

905
00:38:25,333 --> 00:38:26,583
but to my knowledge,

906
00:38:26,708 --> 00:38:28,000
they never found out
who she was.

907
00:38:28,083 --> 00:38:31,042
[siren blaring]

908
00:38:32,583 --> 00:38:34,500
I ask you in joining hands...

909
00:38:35,583 --> 00:38:39,625
to order a prayer with me
for Joey.

910
00:38:40,500 --> 00:38:42,500
NARRATOR: With three rounds
in his brain,

911
00:38:42,542 --> 00:38:44,917
Joe Colombo was rushed
to Roosevelt Hospital,

912
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,417
where doctors scrambled
to keep him alive.

913
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,917
♪

914
00:38:54,042 --> 00:38:56,417
JIM: Colombo is then taken
to Roosevelt Hospital.

915
00:38:57,417 --> 00:38:59,417
Uh, and I was then sent

916
00:38:59,542 --> 00:39:01,500
to go find out what's going on.

917
00:39:01,625 --> 00:39:04,000
We got there,
and they said he's in operation.

918
00:39:04,083 --> 00:39:06,208
- REPORTER: How many bullets?
- Three in the brain.

919
00:39:06,292 --> 00:39:07,375
- Three in the brain?
- Yes.

920
00:39:07,458 --> 00:39:08,708
Is there any hope, Doctor?

921
00:39:08,792 --> 00:39:10,000
It's impossible to say.

922
00:39:10,792 --> 00:39:13,792
JIM: Two surgeons came out
right next to me,

923
00:39:13,875 --> 00:39:16,917
and I heard them say,
"We're out of B-negative blood."

924
00:39:18,708 --> 00:39:20,750
B-negative blood is--

925
00:39:20,833 --> 00:39:24,000
is had
by about 1.5% of the population.

926
00:39:25,125 --> 00:39:26,542
I have B-negative blood.

927
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:31,667
So, I'm thinking, "Uh-oh.
What do I do?"

928
00:39:31,708 --> 00:39:34,667
I said, "I have
B-negative blood."

929
00:39:35,833 --> 00:39:37,167
They said,
"Would you give it?"

930
00:39:37,208 --> 00:39:39,583
I said,
"Under these conditions,

931
00:39:39,667 --> 00:39:41,417
nobody else
needs to know about this."

932
00:39:41,500 --> 00:39:42,542
They agreed.

933
00:39:42,625 --> 00:39:44,292
I don't know what was said

934
00:39:44,375 --> 00:39:45,500
at the FBI headquarters
in New York,

935
00:39:45,542 --> 00:39:46,917
but after I gave blood,

936
00:39:47,042 --> 00:39:49,583
I was brought back
up to the office,

937
00:39:49,583 --> 00:39:53,000
to the head of--
of Criminal Investigations,

938
00:39:53,042 --> 00:39:56,000
who was my boss, and he said,
"Tell me what happened."

939
00:39:56,708 --> 00:39:59,000
I told him
exactly what I just related.

940
00:39:59,083 --> 00:40:01,125
And I said,
"I don't want any publicity.

941
00:40:01,750 --> 00:40:03,458
"I did it. It's my blood.

942
00:40:03,542 --> 00:40:05,875
And the person was dying."

943
00:40:05,958 --> 00:40:08,917
His pupils were unreactive.
He was more or less half-dead.

944
00:40:09,667 --> 00:40:11,000
He is more or less reacting...

945
00:40:11,958 --> 00:40:13,667
much better now
than he did before.

946
00:40:13,750 --> 00:40:16,167
NARRATOR: With Joe Colombo
on life support

947
00:40:16,250 --> 00:40:18,667
and his survival unlikely,

948
00:40:18,750 --> 00:40:20,958
word began to spread
in the underworld.

949
00:40:21,042 --> 00:40:24,958
♪

950
00:40:25,042 --> 00:40:26,625
FRANK: There was somebody
who came and told us

951
00:40:26,708 --> 00:40:28,000
that Joe Colombo got shot.

952
00:40:28,042 --> 00:40:29,667
You know,
a lot of scuttlebutt about,

953
00:40:29,750 --> 00:40:31,375
you know, right away,
that it was a Gallo.

954
00:40:31,500 --> 00:40:32,667
What are we gonna do?

955
00:40:32,750 --> 00:40:34,458
Who are you gonna reach out to?

956
00:40:34,542 --> 00:40:35,917
Go get a gun?
What are we gonna do?

957
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:37,708
It was a lot of,
you know, chaos.

958
00:40:40,042 --> 00:40:42,167
TOM: Now, here's the big
million-dollar question.

959
00:40:43,333 --> 00:40:45,375
Is Jerome Johnson
just a lone nut

960
00:40:45,500 --> 00:40:47,000
like Lee Harvey Oswald,

961
00:40:47,083 --> 00:40:50,000
or is he part
of a greater conspiracy?

962
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:51,667
This is, of course,
what the mob thinks.

963
00:40:51,750 --> 00:40:54,583
And if there's anyone
who they can look at

964
00:40:54,667 --> 00:40:58,542
and say is responsible
for hiring Jerome Johnson

965
00:40:58,625 --> 00:41:01,250
to kill Joe Colombo,

966
00:41:01,375 --> 00:41:02,750
it's Crazy Joe Gallo.

967
00:41:02,833 --> 00:41:05,750
♪

968
00:41:11,167 --> 00:41:12,833
♪

969
00:41:12,958 --> 00:41:15,667
WOMAN: Our Father,
who art in heaven,

970
00:41:15,708 --> 00:41:17,417
hallowed be Thy name.

971
00:41:17,500 --> 00:41:19,333
Thy kingdom come...

972
00:41:19,417 --> 00:41:20,708
NEWS ANCHOR:
In New York City today,

973
00:41:20,792 --> 00:41:22,417
they are still trying
to figure out

974
00:41:22,500 --> 00:41:24,583
who wanted Joe Colombo dead.

975
00:41:24,667 --> 00:41:27,042
Colombo is the alleged
mafia figure

976
00:41:27,125 --> 00:41:29,000
identified
by the federal government

977
00:41:29,042 --> 00:41:31,958
as a top man
in Brooklyn crime circles

978
00:41:32,042 --> 00:41:33,458
who has gained
considerable notoriety

979
00:41:33,542 --> 00:41:35,167
as the organizer

980
00:41:35,208 --> 00:41:37,875
of the Italian-American
Civil Rights League.

981
00:41:37,958 --> 00:41:40,167
Colombo was shot yesterday
at a League rally,

982
00:41:40,208 --> 00:41:43,083
and he remains
in critical condition today.

983
00:41:43,875 --> 00:41:46,458
Blessed art thou among women,

984
00:41:46,542 --> 00:41:47,958
and blessed is the fruit--

985
00:41:48,042 --> 00:41:49,667
CLAIRE: When Joe Colombo
was first brought

986
00:41:49,667 --> 00:41:51,333
to the hospital,

987
00:41:51,375 --> 00:41:54,500
there's really no clear idea

988
00:41:54,625 --> 00:41:56,917
of whether
he will survive this hit.

989
00:41:57,042 --> 00:42:00,292
He's in a coma,
and his biological family

990
00:42:00,375 --> 00:42:04,042
as well as his crime family
as well as his activist family

991
00:42:04,125 --> 00:42:07,833
are all sort of rushing
to his side to be there

992
00:42:07,875 --> 00:42:11,083
and to give him their support
and their prayers.

993
00:42:11,167 --> 00:42:14,000
There are vigils
outside of Roosevelt Hospital

994
00:42:14,083 --> 00:42:15,958
for days,

995
00:42:16,042 --> 00:42:18,333
praying
that he will make it through.

996
00:42:18,417 --> 00:42:20,167
...forgive us our trespasses

997
00:42:20,250 --> 00:42:24,000
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.

998
00:42:24,833 --> 00:42:26,667
I mean,
it was a horrible situation.

999
00:42:26,750 --> 00:42:28,167
It was a tragedy.

1000
00:42:28,208 --> 00:42:31,167
It forever changed
the life of my siblings,

1001
00:42:31,250 --> 00:42:33,042
my mother, the family,
the Italian people.

1002
00:42:36,750 --> 00:42:38,458
NARRATOR: The shooting
of Joe Colombo

1003
00:42:38,458 --> 00:42:41,042
devastated family members,
shocked the press,

1004
00:42:41,125 --> 00:42:43,375
and left law enforcement
with more questions

1005
00:42:43,375 --> 00:42:44,625
than answers.

1006
00:42:44,708 --> 00:42:47,000
Here's what was understood.

1007
00:42:47,083 --> 00:42:49,875
The shooter,
Jerome A. Johnson,

1008
00:42:49,958 --> 00:42:51,792
a 24-year-old Black man

1009
00:42:51,875 --> 00:42:54,250
and graduate
of New Brunswick High School

1010
00:42:54,333 --> 00:42:57,500
was an aspiring filmmaker
and small-time crook.

1011
00:42:57,583 --> 00:43:00,750
♪

1012
00:43:02,542 --> 00:43:04,667
He had a rap sheet
that cited arrests

1013
00:43:04,750 --> 00:43:06,792
for grand larceny,
attempted rape,

1014
00:43:06,875 --> 00:43:08,583
and drug possession,

1015
00:43:08,667 --> 00:43:10,458
and did a two-year stint
in prison

1016
00:43:10,542 --> 00:43:13,042
from 1968 to 1970.

1017
00:43:13,167 --> 00:43:16,250
When he got out,
it was back to making movies,

1018
00:43:16,333 --> 00:43:17,500
or trying to.

1019
00:43:17,583 --> 00:43:20,708
[chanting]

1020
00:43:21,708 --> 00:43:24,208
And on June 28th, 1971,

1021
00:43:24,292 --> 00:43:27,958
he attended the rally
with his Bolex camera, a rental,

1022
00:43:28,042 --> 00:43:30,125
and an unknown female associate.

1023
00:43:30,875 --> 00:43:33,667
Before the rally began,
he fired three rounds

1024
00:43:33,792 --> 00:43:36,125
into the head and neck
of Joseph Colombo.

1025
00:43:37,125 --> 00:43:38,792
Johnson was tackled instantly,

1026
00:43:38,875 --> 00:43:40,792
subdued, and shot to death.

1027
00:43:41,500 --> 00:43:44,375
We know what happened to him.
We know what he did.

1028
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:47,833
We don't know why
or who gave the orders.

1029
00:43:49,042 --> 00:43:51,375
The street knew.
Or thought they knew.

1030
00:43:52,208 --> 00:43:54,708
They knew Joey Gallo didn't like
Joe Colombo.

1031
00:43:55,542 --> 00:43:57,292
Joey Gallo had Black friends.

1032
00:43:57,375 --> 00:43:59,500
And they knew a Black man
killed Joe Colombo.

1033
00:44:00,500 --> 00:44:02,958
Without any evidence
stronger than that,

1034
00:44:03,042 --> 00:44:04,875
a theory took hold.

1035
00:44:05,708 --> 00:44:07,958
Yesterday,
a federal crime official said

1036
00:44:08,042 --> 00:44:10,750
Colombo's assassin acted alone.

1037
00:44:10,875 --> 00:44:12,583
Today,
the New York Police Department

1038
00:44:12,667 --> 00:44:14,000
disputed that theory

1039
00:44:14,083 --> 00:44:16,083
and said
it is the department's view

1040
00:44:16,167 --> 00:44:18,667
that the shooting resulted
from a power struggle

1041
00:44:18,750 --> 00:44:19,875
in the underworld.

1042
00:44:21,917 --> 00:44:23,500
The story right away

1043
00:44:23,542 --> 00:44:26,792
was that Jerome Johnson
was set up

1044
00:44:26,875 --> 00:44:28,750
by Joey Gallo

1045
00:44:28,875 --> 00:44:30,250
because he made friends

1046
00:44:30,333 --> 00:44:32,958
with a lot of the Black guys
in prison,

1047
00:44:33,042 --> 00:44:36,625
and that somehow they set up
this guy, Jerome Johnson,

1048
00:44:36,708 --> 00:44:37,875
to do the hit.

1049
00:44:37,958 --> 00:44:39,333
I mean, it kind of made sense.

1050
00:44:39,417 --> 00:44:40,542
That was the talk.

1051
00:44:40,625 --> 00:44:41,750
Nobody really knew.

1052
00:44:41,833 --> 00:44:43,333
But that was the talk.

1053
00:44:43,375 --> 00:44:45,708
And obviously
it had to be investigated,

1054
00:44:45,792 --> 00:44:48,042
but everybody
pointed to Joe Gallo.

1055
00:44:48,167 --> 00:44:49,125
Everybody.

1056
00:44:51,458 --> 00:44:54,208
NARRATOR: Joey Gallo
was suspect number one,

1057
00:44:54,208 --> 00:44:56,958
yet another theory
implicated a boss

1058
00:44:57,042 --> 00:44:58,833
from a different family.

1059
00:44:58,875 --> 00:45:01,125
Sure, Gallo
still helped orchestrate,

1060
00:45:01,208 --> 00:45:03,042
but the call
to kill Joe Colombo

1061
00:45:03,042 --> 00:45:05,875
came from even higher up
the food chain.

1062
00:45:05,958 --> 00:45:08,375
From the most respected boss,

1063
00:45:08,458 --> 00:45:10,125
Don Carlo Gambino.

1064
00:45:10,208 --> 00:45:11,833
REPORTER: Carlo Gambino,

1065
00:45:11,875 --> 00:45:13,500
regarded
by the Justice Department

1066
00:45:13,542 --> 00:45:15,667
as the boss of bosses.

1067
00:45:15,708 --> 00:45:19,500
Gambino was said to have been
Colombo's patron at one time,

1068
00:45:19,542 --> 00:45:21,333
but then, say police officials,

1069
00:45:21,458 --> 00:45:25,000
he and the Gallos became
disenchanted with Colombo.

1070
00:45:25,083 --> 00:45:28,083
♪

1071
00:45:32,250 --> 00:45:35,417
The theory
behind the whole thing

1072
00:45:35,500 --> 00:45:38,292
goes to an argument

1073
00:45:38,375 --> 00:45:42,375
that Carlo Gambino had
with Joe Colombo

1074
00:45:42,458 --> 00:45:44,083
a couple of weeks before.

1075
00:45:45,042 --> 00:45:46,875
And what the argument was

1076
00:45:46,958 --> 00:45:50,708
is that Gambino ordered Colombo
up on the carpet

1077
00:45:50,833 --> 00:45:53,500
and ordered him
to cease and desist

1078
00:45:53,583 --> 00:45:56,458
as far as the Italian-American
Civil Rights League.

1079
00:45:57,458 --> 00:45:59,625
He told him to stop it
because it was hurting

1080
00:45:59,708 --> 00:46:00,917
their mob business.

1081
00:46:02,042 --> 00:46:05,625
Colombo called Gambino
a traitor to the Italian cause.

1082
00:46:05,708 --> 00:46:08,833
Which, obviously,
Gambino, born in Sicily,

1083
00:46:08,875 --> 00:46:10,500
took great umbrage of.

1084
00:46:11,542 --> 00:46:14,250
It ended up--
Colombo stormed out of the room.

1085
00:46:14,333 --> 00:46:16,833
Before he did,
he spit on the floor

1086
00:46:16,917 --> 00:46:18,958
at the feet of Carlo Gambino.

1087
00:46:19,792 --> 00:46:22,250
An ultimate act of disrespect.

1088
00:46:23,042 --> 00:46:25,708
Carlo Gambino did not like

1089
00:46:25,792 --> 00:46:27,458
what Joe Colombo was doing.

1090
00:46:27,542 --> 00:46:30,292
And he knows

1091
00:46:30,375 --> 00:46:33,250
that Joey Gallo essentially
feels the same way about Colombo

1092
00:46:33,333 --> 00:46:34,458
that he does.

1093
00:46:34,542 --> 00:46:35,833
And so the story goes

1094
00:46:35,917 --> 00:46:39,500
that Gambino talks to Gallo,

1095
00:46:39,583 --> 00:46:42,375
sort of hires him for the hit.

1096
00:46:43,417 --> 00:46:47,792
SEAN: We believe
Carlo Gambino used Gallo before

1097
00:46:47,875 --> 00:46:50,667
in killings,
in the Anastasia killing.

1098
00:46:50,750 --> 00:46:52,292
So, it's logical.

1099
00:46:54,125 --> 00:46:57,167
CLAIRE: And the guy
that Gallo taps

1100
00:46:57,250 --> 00:46:59,167
is this guy Jerome Johnson.

1101
00:47:00,458 --> 00:47:03,375
And there's proof

1102
00:47:03,500 --> 00:47:05,125
that Johnson is,

1103
00:47:05,208 --> 00:47:07,333
you know,
connecting with Gambino guys.

1104
00:47:07,417 --> 00:47:10,667
♪

1105
00:47:10,750 --> 00:47:12,667
Shortly before

1106
00:47:12,750 --> 00:47:15,042
the second rally

1107
00:47:15,125 --> 00:47:16,875
at Columbus Circle,

1108
00:47:16,958 --> 00:47:19,917
Jerome Johnson was spotted
by the NYPD

1109
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:22,875
going into a social club
in Queens

1110
00:47:22,958 --> 00:47:25,000
run by the Gambino family.

1111
00:47:25,958 --> 00:47:29,667
And that again
is the potential tie-in

1112
00:47:29,750 --> 00:47:31,042
with Gambino.

1113
00:47:31,625 --> 00:47:33,750
NARRATOR: It seemed
unfathomable to some

1114
00:47:33,833 --> 00:47:37,667
that Carlo Gambino would order
the slaying of Joe Colombo

1115
00:47:37,708 --> 00:47:39,250
in such a public manner.

1116
00:47:39,333 --> 00:47:41,708
Broad daylight, Columbus Circle,

1117
00:47:41,875 --> 00:47:43,417
thousands of witnesses.

1118
00:47:44,208 --> 00:47:46,708
But it wasn't entirely
unprecedented.

1119
00:47:47,583 --> 00:47:50,083
Bosses had been whacked
in public before,

1120
00:47:50,083 --> 00:47:51,792
and it would surely
happen again.

1121
00:47:52,417 --> 00:47:56,083
Whether Gambino was in cahoots
with Gallo was never proven,

1122
00:47:56,167 --> 00:47:59,417
but on the street,
the word was that Crazy Joe

1123
00:47:59,500 --> 00:48:02,375
had put Jerome Johnson
up to the hit.

1124
00:48:02,458 --> 00:48:04,333
And for those seeking revenge,

1125
00:48:04,375 --> 00:48:07,208
there was never a doubt
of who was behind it,

1126
00:48:07,292 --> 00:48:08,625
and what would come next.

1127
00:48:15,167 --> 00:48:17,375
NARRATOR: April, 1972.

1128
00:48:17,500 --> 00:48:19,667
One month after The Godfather
premiered in theaters

1129
00:48:19,750 --> 00:48:22,667
and less than a year
after Joe Colombo was shot

1130
00:48:22,750 --> 00:48:24,625
in broad daylight,

1131
00:48:24,708 --> 00:48:26,833
Joey Gallo had a problem.

1132
00:48:26,875 --> 00:48:29,333
He knew what his perception was

1133
00:48:29,417 --> 00:48:31,208
among those
in the Five Families.

1134
00:48:31,875 --> 00:48:34,667
He was nuts, crazy, a liability,

1135
00:48:34,792 --> 00:48:36,167
and likely the man

1136
00:48:36,292 --> 00:48:38,125
behind the killing
of Joe Colombo.

1137
00:48:40,333 --> 00:48:42,542
FRANK: Joey was always
making trouble in that family.

1138
00:48:44,542 --> 00:48:47,292
It just escalated
after the Colombo shooting.

1139
00:48:48,917 --> 00:48:51,125
There's an open hit
out on Joey Gallo

1140
00:48:51,208 --> 00:48:53,208
after the Colombo hit.

1141
00:48:53,333 --> 00:48:55,042
The Colombo family's
gonna get revenge.

1142
00:48:56,375 --> 00:48:58,875
And the word was out
that Gallo was gonna get hit.

1143
00:48:58,958 --> 00:49:00,500
I mean, I heard that.

1144
00:49:00,542 --> 00:49:04,000
And that's why
they told me again afterwards,

1145
00:49:04,083 --> 00:49:06,458
um, not to go down
to Little Italy at all,

1146
00:49:06,542 --> 00:49:08,833
'cause he was known
to go down there quite a bit.

1147
00:49:08,875 --> 00:49:10,542
I should stay away
from everybody,

1148
00:49:10,708 --> 00:49:12,708
and matter of fact, don't come
into Brooklyn for a while,

1149
00:49:12,833 --> 00:49:15,042
'cause they didn't know
how far this was gonna go.

1150
00:49:15,167 --> 00:49:16,792
You're on the Columbo side.

1151
00:49:17,375 --> 00:49:21,333
And-- um, so whether he was
at fault or not, he was gone.

1152
00:49:22,625 --> 00:49:24,500
NARRATOR: He knew
that he was danger.

1153
00:49:24,625 --> 00:49:27,958
Revenge in one form or another
was imminent.

1154
00:49:28,042 --> 00:49:32,125
But at least on the surface,
Joey Gallo didn't seem to care.

1155
00:49:32,250 --> 00:49:34,750
Everybody was telling Joey
just to stay low,

1156
00:49:34,833 --> 00:49:37,208
not to walk around
so freely,

1157
00:49:37,333 --> 00:49:39,167
because we know
there's an open hit.

1158
00:49:39,292 --> 00:49:40,750
And Joey said, "No,

1159
00:49:40,833 --> 00:49:42,583
they ain't got the balls
to do it, [bleep] them."

1160
00:49:42,667 --> 00:49:44,375
That's exactly
what his expression was.

1161
00:49:44,375 --> 00:49:46,500
"[bleep] them, they ain't
got the balls to do it."

1162
00:49:46,583 --> 00:49:51,417
♪

1163
00:49:54,875 --> 00:49:56,667
So Joey Gallo's

1164
00:49:56,750 --> 00:49:59,333
basically walking around
the streets of New York.

1165
00:49:59,375 --> 00:50:00,833
He's kind of
the walking dead.

1166
00:50:02,958 --> 00:50:04,500
At the same time,

1167
00:50:04,583 --> 00:50:06,625
in the wake
of The Godfath movies,

1168
00:50:06,708 --> 00:50:09,708
he's become a celebrity,
because The Godfather is a hit,

1169
00:50:09,708 --> 00:50:12,125
and all of a sudden,
society types in New York City

1170
00:50:12,208 --> 00:50:14,583
wanna start hanging out
with the real gangsters,

1171
00:50:14,667 --> 00:50:17,250
especially a gangster
who's as erudite

1172
00:50:17,333 --> 00:50:19,542
and intelligent
as "Crazy Joe" Gallo.

1173
00:50:20,375 --> 00:50:22,333
"Wow, these guys
aren't really that bad.

1174
00:50:22,417 --> 00:50:24,667
They're just on
the other side of the system."

1175
00:50:24,750 --> 00:50:26,750
So there's this
sort of naïve thinking

1176
00:50:26,833 --> 00:50:28,417
in New York high society

1177
00:50:28,500 --> 00:50:31,542
that makes Joey Gallo
a bona fide celebrity.

1178
00:50:31,667 --> 00:50:35,208
♪

1179
00:50:35,333 --> 00:50:37,667
FRANK: Joey, you know,
would just disappear.

1180
00:50:37,708 --> 00:50:39,833
He was running
around the Village,

1181
00:50:39,917 --> 00:50:42,833
sightseeing, having coffee,
talking to people.

1182
00:50:42,917 --> 00:50:45,042
He would talk to anybody,
he would just go up to you,

1183
00:50:45,167 --> 00:50:46,417
"Hey, how are ya?
I'm Joey."

1184
00:50:47,667 --> 00:50:49,000
He was
very inquisitive that way,

1185
00:50:49,042 --> 00:50:50,417
and wanted to walk around

1186
00:50:50,500 --> 00:50:52,333
and smell the roses
and have a drink.

1187
00:50:52,458 --> 00:50:53,750
He walked around
doing what he wanted.

1188
00:50:53,750 --> 00:50:55,125
He wasn't afraid.

1189
00:50:56,417 --> 00:50:57,500
TOM: Now,
the problem is,

1190
00:50:57,583 --> 00:50:59,167
is that you can't really be

1191
00:50:59,208 --> 00:51:01,250
a media celebrity
like Joey Gallo

1192
00:51:01,375 --> 00:51:03,792
and still be
in the Mafia.

1193
00:51:03,875 --> 00:51:05,375
They don't like that.

1194
00:51:05,500 --> 00:51:07,333
He's gonna spill
all the Mafia secrets, this guy?

1195
00:51:07,375 --> 00:51:10,375
And he just put
a hit out on boss Colombo?

1196
00:51:11,083 --> 00:51:12,458
They're gonna get him
one way or another,

1197
00:51:12,542 --> 00:51:14,500
and I think Joey Gallo
starts to know this.

1198
00:51:16,792 --> 00:51:19,167
NARRATOR: April 7th, 1972.

1199
00:51:19,250 --> 00:51:21,500
Joe Gallo's 43rd birthday.

1200
00:51:22,375 --> 00:51:24,667
Against the advice
of his crew members,

1201
00:51:24,750 --> 00:51:28,542
Crazy Joe threw a party
for himself at the Copacabana,

1202
00:51:28,667 --> 00:51:31,333
a who's-who of entertainers
and socialites.

1203
00:51:32,167 --> 00:51:34,750
Gallo was traveling
with a party of five,

1204
00:51:34,833 --> 00:51:38,250
his wife, Sina,
his stepdaughter, Lisa,

1205
00:51:38,333 --> 00:51:41,500
his sister, Carmella,
his bodyguard, Pete the Greek,

1206
00:51:41,583 --> 00:51:43,458
and Pete's girlfriend, Edith.

1207
00:51:43,542 --> 00:51:45,792
It was a big party,

1208
00:51:45,875 --> 00:51:47,500
and news traveled fast

1209
00:51:47,542 --> 00:51:49,667
among the wise guys
out that night.

1210
00:51:49,708 --> 00:51:52,167
Joey Gallo
was a sitting duck.

1211
00:51:52,792 --> 00:51:55,167
Joey Gallo is celebrating
his birthday.

1212
00:51:55,250 --> 00:51:56,875
He's just recently married.

1213
00:51:57,000 --> 00:51:59,500
He's with his new wife,
his ten-year-old daughter,

1214
00:51:59,625 --> 00:52:02,458
and they've got
a huge night planned.

1215
00:52:02,542 --> 00:52:06,792
Any other mobster at this point,
with all of the heat on him,

1216
00:52:06,875 --> 00:52:08,500
is probably gonna lay low.

1217
00:52:08,583 --> 00:52:11,375
Celebrate quietly at home,
go out of town.

1218
00:52:11,458 --> 00:52:14,250
Not Gallo.
He goes to the Copacabana.

1219
00:52:14,375 --> 00:52:17,125
Very high-profile,
very easy to spot.

1220
00:52:17,208 --> 00:52:18,833
SEAN: They had seen a show,

1221
00:52:18,917 --> 00:52:23,250
and afterwards,
they went to Umberto's Clam Shop

1222
00:52:23,375 --> 00:52:26,500
in Little Italy
at 4:30 in the morning.

1223
00:52:26,542 --> 00:52:29,750
♪

1224
00:52:29,875 --> 00:52:33,167
A Colombo guy
had to get permission

1225
00:52:33,250 --> 00:52:35,167
to do something.

1226
00:52:35,250 --> 00:52:37,125
A high official
in the Colombo family

1227
00:52:37,208 --> 00:52:38,458
gave the okay...

1228
00:52:38,542 --> 00:52:40,708
♪

1229
00:52:40,792 --> 00:52:44,500
and they went through
the kitchen of the restaurant,

1230
00:52:44,625 --> 00:52:46,333
and they just started shooting.

1231
00:52:46,375 --> 00:52:48,542
[gunshots popping]

1232
00:52:48,625 --> 00:52:52,583
Gallo got up, tried
to get out of the Umberto's,

1233
00:52:52,667 --> 00:52:55,792
crawled to the door,
and got out to the street.

1234
00:52:56,708 --> 00:52:57,917
TOM: Staggers out...

1235
00:52:59,875 --> 00:53:01,417
and drops dead.

1236
00:53:03,167 --> 00:53:06,042
We got a call, maybe 7:30.

1237
00:53:06,208 --> 00:53:07,667
And he goes,
"They killed Joey."

1238
00:53:07,708 --> 00:53:12,667
♪

1239
00:53:20,708 --> 00:53:22,833
CAPT. ROBERT MCDERMOTT:
At about 5:30 this morning--

1240
00:53:22,875 --> 00:53:25,708
this is the best that we can
determine at this moment--

1241
00:53:25,792 --> 00:53:29,542
an unidentified male
walked in the side door,

1242
00:53:29,625 --> 00:53:32,167
fired some shots,

1243
00:53:32,250 --> 00:53:34,500
and then ran
from the premises.

1244
00:53:34,583 --> 00:53:39,083
Joe Gallo is dead, DOA,
at Beekman Downtown Hospital.

1245
00:53:40,250 --> 00:53:43,167
A man walked in
from the back door,

1246
00:53:43,292 --> 00:53:46,583
and he walked up
to the side of the table

1247
00:53:46,667 --> 00:53:48,958
and fired three shots,

1248
00:53:49,042 --> 00:53:51,042
and he hit Joe twice

1249
00:53:51,125 --> 00:53:54,333
and he hit his bodyguard
Pete the Greek one time.

1250
00:53:56,375 --> 00:53:57,833
FRANK: No one
knew really nothing

1251
00:53:57,917 --> 00:54:00,792
until Pete the Greek
got out of hospital.

1252
00:54:02,417 --> 00:54:04,667
Pete the Greek
was bodyguarding Joe that night,

1253
00:54:04,750 --> 00:54:08,667
and Pete got shot in the ass,
got arrested.

1254
00:54:08,708 --> 00:54:11,792
But he went to the hospital,
made bail,

1255
00:54:11,875 --> 00:54:14,167
and got called back down
to President Street.

1256
00:54:14,208 --> 00:54:15,708
"Who shot Joey?"

1257
00:54:15,792 --> 00:54:17,375
Pete the Greek
turned around and said,

1258
00:54:17,458 --> 00:54:18,875
"Sonny Pinto did."

1259
00:54:20,792 --> 00:54:23,208
CLAIRE:
When you have that breakdown

1260
00:54:23,333 --> 00:54:26,250
in the official rules
of the Mafia,

1261
00:54:26,333 --> 00:54:28,542
it's easier
to let anything slide.

1262
00:54:29,375 --> 00:54:31,542
Instead of
doing something in a way

1263
00:54:31,625 --> 00:54:33,750
that's not going
to affect the family,

1264
00:54:33,833 --> 00:54:36,208
this is now
just commonplace.

1265
00:54:36,292 --> 00:54:39,250
You can kill someone in front
of their wife and child,

1266
00:54:39,333 --> 00:54:42,917
and that's an accepted part
of doing business with the mob.

1267
00:54:44,417 --> 00:54:46,542
The period of the 1970s,

1268
00:54:46,625 --> 00:54:50,250
the continued violence
that we see in New York,

1269
00:54:50,333 --> 00:54:52,667
in a lot of ways
becomes the undoing

1270
00:54:52,750 --> 00:54:55,375
of these traditional
Mafia families.

1271
00:54:57,375 --> 00:54:59,500
It's quiet out here
on President Street,

1272
00:54:59,583 --> 00:55:01,167
Joey Gallo's turf.

1273
00:55:01,292 --> 00:55:02,875
In fact, it's too quiet.

1274
00:55:03,625 --> 00:55:05,833
Joey Gallo was a hero
out here.

1275
00:55:06,375 --> 00:55:08,833
Speculation has it
that his killing

1276
00:55:08,917 --> 00:55:11,792
may start a gang war,
if it hasn't already.

1277
00:55:12,958 --> 00:55:15,000
FRANK: There was
a sit-down afterwards,

1278
00:55:15,125 --> 00:55:16,667
but they couldn't blame nobody.

1279
00:55:16,750 --> 00:55:19,292
It was either go to war
with the whole world,

1280
00:55:19,375 --> 00:55:20,792
or you had
to take it on the chin.

1281
00:55:22,042 --> 00:55:24,125
[church bell chiming]

1282
00:55:24,208 --> 00:55:30,000
♪

1283
00:55:30,042 --> 00:55:32,958
SEAN: The funeral
for Joe Gallo was a scene.

1284
00:55:36,375 --> 00:55:40,792
The sister roared out
on the church steps

1285
00:55:40,875 --> 00:55:44,500
that New York City
would run red with blood

1286
00:55:44,542 --> 00:55:46,292
over what happened
to her brother.

1287
00:55:46,375 --> 00:55:49,333
♪

1288
00:55:49,375 --> 00:55:51,042
FRANK:
A lot of people were there.

1289
00:55:51,167 --> 00:55:53,708
A lot of people were hurting.
A lot of people were mad.

1290
00:55:53,792 --> 00:55:55,625
Joey was loved
in the neighborhood.

1291
00:55:55,708 --> 00:55:58,000
He was very generous.
He was liked, Joey.

1292
00:55:58,042 --> 00:56:02,792
♪

1293
00:56:07,417 --> 00:56:09,583
REPORTER: What did Joey Gallo
mean to this neighborhood?

1294
00:56:09,667 --> 00:56:10,708
He was a nice guy...

1295
00:56:11,583 --> 00:56:13,333
far as my point of view.

1296
00:56:13,417 --> 00:56:15,083
REPORTER: When you say
he was a nice guy,

1297
00:56:15,167 --> 00:56:16,917
did he do anything
to help the neighborhood?

1298
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:19,500
Oh, yeah, lots of it.
What I've seen of it.

1299
00:56:19,583 --> 00:56:21,375
- REPORTER: Did you like him?
- Sure.

1300
00:56:22,042 --> 00:56:24,167
- REPORTER: Why? Why?
- He was a good guy.

1301
00:56:24,875 --> 00:56:26,667
REPORTER: Why do you say
he was a good guy?

1302
00:56:26,708 --> 00:56:28,917
He tried
to help everybody around here.

1303
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:30,958
TOM: The public reaction
to the Joe Gallo murder,

1304
00:56:31,042 --> 00:56:33,583
it's legendary,
especially for a guy like him,

1305
00:56:33,667 --> 00:56:36,625
who lived his entire life
trying to be a movie gangster.

1306
00:56:38,917 --> 00:56:41,667
Joe Gallo becomes sort of a hero
to the younger generation.

1307
00:56:41,708 --> 00:56:44,708
You know, they tell
their dons to piss off

1308
00:56:44,875 --> 00:56:47,375
when they don't like
what they're being told.

1309
00:56:47,458 --> 00:56:49,000
It just was this thing

1310
00:56:49,083 --> 00:56:51,417
where there's no order
in the ranks anymore.

1311
00:56:51,542 --> 00:56:54,667
So in some ways,
I would say that's... [sighs]

1312
00:56:54,750 --> 00:56:57,875
...the beginning of the end
of-- of the Five Families.

1313
00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:00,000
NARRATOR: The killing
of Joey Gallo marked the end

1314
00:57:00,042 --> 00:57:02,292
of a chapter in the history
of New York's Five Families.

1315
00:57:02,875 --> 00:57:05,708
Gallo and Colombo
had both reimagined

1316
00:57:05,792 --> 00:57:07,750
what it meant to be
an American gangster,

1317
00:57:07,750 --> 00:57:09,500
and they were
both killed for it.

1318
00:57:10,583 --> 00:57:13,542
As much as a new wave
of American mafiosos

1319
00:57:13,542 --> 00:57:16,958
wanted to innovate and transform
their criminal operation,

1320
00:57:17,042 --> 00:57:20,625
they were still bound
to their original code,

1321
00:57:20,708 --> 00:57:24,542
a code that had no tolerance
for individualism.

1322
00:57:24,625 --> 00:57:28,250
A code that resisted
publicity and fanfare.

1323
00:57:28,333 --> 00:57:33,917
A code that continued to require
absolute and unwavering silence.

1324
00:57:34,000 --> 00:57:35,542
Omertà.

1325
00:57:39,167 --> 00:57:41,208
♪

1326
00:57:41,333 --> 00:57:44,000
NARRATOR: The 1970s
was a transformative time

1327
00:57:44,125 --> 00:57:45,708
for the Five Families.

1328
00:57:46,250 --> 00:57:47,875
By the middle of the decade,

1329
00:57:47,875 --> 00:57:49,917
all Five Families
would be led by men

1330
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:53,417
born not in Sicily,
but in America.

1331
00:57:53,917 --> 00:57:55,833
The old guard
was getting old.

1332
00:57:56,542 --> 00:58:00,500
Carlo Gambino, the most revered
godfather of the time,

1333
00:58:00,583 --> 00:58:03,792
died of natural causes in 1976.

1334
00:58:04,375 --> 00:58:08,542
His cousin from Bensonhurst,
Paul Castellano, became boss,

1335
00:58:08,667 --> 00:58:12,167
a promotion that was not
without controversy.

1336
00:58:12,208 --> 00:58:15,167
Vito Genovese died in prison
in 1969

1337
00:58:15,250 --> 00:58:18,875
and was succeeded by
Philip Lombardo of East Harlem.

1338
00:58:19,708 --> 00:58:21,375
After the shooting
of Joe Colombo,

1339
00:58:21,458 --> 00:58:23,750
the Colombo family
fell under the leadership

1340
00:58:23,833 --> 00:58:26,042
of Carmine Persico
of South Brooklyn.

1341
00:58:26,917 --> 00:58:29,500
The death of Tommy Lucchese
in 1967

1342
00:58:29,625 --> 00:58:31,917
led to Antonio
"Tony Ducks" Corallo

1343
00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:34,083
becoming boss
of the Lucchese crew.

1344
00:58:35,083 --> 00:58:36,667
And the Bonannos--

1345
00:58:36,708 --> 00:58:39,583
well, after their Don
fled to Arizona,

1346
00:58:39,708 --> 00:58:41,125
they'd been trying
to figure that out.

1347
00:58:42,208 --> 00:58:43,958
Another
East Harlem-bred gangster,

1348
00:58:44,042 --> 00:58:47,542
Carmine Galante,
had his eyes on the throne,

1349
00:58:47,625 --> 00:58:49,333
and the conditions
in New York City

1350
00:58:49,417 --> 00:58:52,958
could not have been more
accommodating for his rise.

1351
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:55,625
Certainly people talk
about the 1970s

1352
00:58:55,750 --> 00:58:58,875
as when New York
was going off the rails.

1353
00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:02,417
New York lost almost
a million people in the 1970s.

1354
00:59:02,500 --> 00:59:04,083
Huge population decline.

1355
00:59:04,167 --> 00:59:06,250
[sirens blaring]

1356
00:59:07,292 --> 00:59:08,875
ED: White New Yorkers

1357
00:59:08,875 --> 00:59:10,750
are leaving New York City
for the suburbs,

1358
00:59:10,833 --> 00:59:13,375
and they're taking with them
their purchasing power

1359
00:59:13,500 --> 00:59:15,542
and also their tax dollars.

1360
00:59:15,625 --> 00:59:18,708
So by the mid-1970s,
New York City,

1361
00:59:18,708 --> 00:59:20,500
still a very expensive city
to operate,

1362
00:59:20,625 --> 00:59:21,833
is running out of money.

1363
00:59:21,917 --> 00:59:23,917
The fiscal crisis
of the mid-70s

1364
00:59:24,000 --> 00:59:25,667
really puts New York City
in a bind,

1365
00:59:25,750 --> 00:59:27,333
and the city
almost goes bankrupt.

1366
00:59:27,417 --> 00:59:30,167
All that meant that
there was a lot of empty space

1367
00:59:30,250 --> 00:59:32,667
and a lot of sort of
general hopelessness.

1368
00:59:32,708 --> 00:59:36,000
If you walk around
the Lower East Side in that era,

1369
00:59:36,125 --> 00:59:38,583
the number of empty buildings
is amazing.

1370
00:59:38,708 --> 00:59:40,583
♪

1371
00:59:40,667 --> 00:59:44,000
You go look at a picture
from Avenue B, Avenue C,

1372
00:59:44,125 --> 00:59:47,292
and it's just entire streets
of empty buildings

1373
00:59:47,375 --> 00:59:49,875
with cinder blocks
in the windows, over and over.

1374
00:59:49,958 --> 00:59:52,167
Same in Harlem,
same in big swaths of Brooklyn.

1375
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:54,667
There were so many people
out of work,

1376
00:59:54,708 --> 00:59:56,458
so many people leaving,

1377
00:59:56,542 --> 00:59:58,125
that you ended up
with a city

1378
00:59:58,208 --> 01:00:00,750
that really felt like
its best days were behind it.

1379
01:00:01,375 --> 01:00:04,833
And inevitably,
that leads to opportunities

1380
01:00:04,917 --> 01:00:07,375
for predatory criminal behavior.

1381
01:00:09,083 --> 01:00:11,375
And the rise
of drug culture,

1382
01:00:11,458 --> 01:00:13,667
which was really destructive
to the city fabric.

1383
01:00:13,708 --> 01:00:16,417
[siren blaring]

1384
01:00:16,500 --> 01:00:19,167
NARRATOR: It was allegedly
against Commission rules

1385
01:00:19,208 --> 01:00:21,167
to be involved
in the drug trade.

1386
01:00:21,208 --> 01:00:23,375
♪

1387
01:00:23,458 --> 01:00:26,875
But since Joe Bonanno's
meeting in Palermo in 1957,

1388
01:00:26,958 --> 01:00:28,500
members of the Bonanno family

1389
01:00:28,667 --> 01:00:30,708
had doubled down
on the heroin trade.

1390
01:00:31,958 --> 01:00:35,000
Carmine Galante,
an associate of Bonanno

1391
01:00:35,083 --> 01:00:36,833
who was
at the infamous meeting,

1392
01:00:36,917 --> 01:00:38,917
had spent the years after

1393
01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:42,167
growing the family's
international drug operation,

1394
01:00:42,250 --> 01:00:45,375
and in the process,
had earned himself a reputation.

1395
01:00:46,792 --> 01:00:47,833
ANTHONY DESTEFANO:
Well, Carmine Galante

1396
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:49,250
was a drug dealer.

1397
01:00:49,833 --> 01:00:52,000
He was violent.

1398
01:00:52,125 --> 01:00:53,958
He had a volatile temper.

1399
01:00:55,208 --> 01:00:56,708
ALEX HORTIS:
Even by Mafia standards,

1400
01:00:56,875 --> 01:00:59,333
he was considered
particularly crazy,

1401
01:00:59,375 --> 01:01:01,042
particularly ruthless.

1402
01:01:01,167 --> 01:01:03,167
♪

1403
01:01:03,208 --> 01:01:06,292
He is really interested
in the drug trade.

1404
01:01:06,375 --> 01:01:10,000
Galante has long-standing
connections in Montreal.

1405
01:01:11,708 --> 01:01:13,042
Quebec was a much easier way

1406
01:01:13,125 --> 01:01:14,917
to move drugs
into the United States

1407
01:01:15,000 --> 01:01:16,583
than the New York ports,

1408
01:01:16,708 --> 01:01:18,667
and so
Carmine Galante sees that,

1409
01:01:18,708 --> 01:01:21,875
he ramps up
drug trafficking in a big way

1410
01:01:21,875 --> 01:01:25,083
through that particular route
in the '50s.

1411
01:01:25,208 --> 01:01:28,875
♪

1412
01:01:32,042 --> 01:01:34,375
SELWYN: It created
a lot of resentment

1413
01:01:34,458 --> 01:01:37,500
with other families who thought
he wasn't cutting them in,

1414
01:01:37,542 --> 01:01:38,750
and at the same time,

1415
01:01:38,875 --> 01:01:40,833
he was endangering the families

1416
01:01:40,917 --> 01:01:43,250
by getting arrested a lot.

1417
01:01:43,375 --> 01:01:45,167
He wasn't that careful.

1418
01:01:45,292 --> 01:01:48,333
So Galante was always
on the outside looking in.

1419
01:01:49,833 --> 01:01:53,583
NARRATOR: Galante was arrested
on narcotics charges in 1959

1420
01:01:53,667 --> 01:01:56,125
and convicted in 1962.

1421
01:01:56,208 --> 01:01:58,667
He served 12 years
of a 20-year sentence

1422
01:01:58,708 --> 01:02:01,000
and was paroled in 1974.

1423
01:02:01,083 --> 01:02:02,958
By the time he got out,

1424
01:02:03,042 --> 01:02:06,333
his mentor, Joe Bonanno,
had retired to Arizona,

1425
01:02:06,417 --> 01:02:09,667
and the Commission had chosen
Phillip "Rusty" Rastelli

1426
01:02:09,708 --> 01:02:11,167
as the new boss.

1427
01:02:11,833 --> 01:02:15,042
But Carmine Galante,
he had other ideas.

1428
01:02:15,458 --> 01:02:19,042
♪

1429
01:02:23,292 --> 01:02:25,000
EDWARD:
Galante became the subject

1430
01:02:25,042 --> 01:02:26,917
of a lot of media attention.

1431
01:02:27,000 --> 01:02:31,167
He had been incarcerated
since the 1950s

1432
01:02:31,208 --> 01:02:33,000
for the result of a major
narcotics investigation

1433
01:02:33,083 --> 01:02:36,000
involving the Bonanno faction
in Montreal.

1434
01:02:36,042 --> 01:02:38,042
And he came back
on the scene,

1435
01:02:38,125 --> 01:02:39,750
and it was sort of amazing

1436
01:02:39,833 --> 01:02:41,792
that he was able
to have all this clout,

1437
01:02:41,875 --> 01:02:43,583
spending almost 20 years
in prison.

1438
01:02:43,667 --> 01:02:45,875
♪

1439
01:02:46,000 --> 01:02:47,833
When he got out,
the story was

1440
01:02:47,917 --> 01:02:49,917
that he tried
to assert himself

1441
01:02:50,000 --> 01:02:52,958
as boss
of the Bonanno family.

1442
01:02:53,042 --> 01:02:55,375
He never really was boss,

1443
01:02:55,500 --> 01:02:59,333
but he was given wide berth
because people were wary of him,

1444
01:02:59,333 --> 01:03:01,833
'cause they knew
about his volatility.

1445
01:03:01,917 --> 01:03:03,500
EDWARD:
Galante came in and said,

1446
01:03:03,583 --> 01:03:05,500
"I'm taking over,"
throwing his weight around,

1447
01:03:05,583 --> 01:03:07,417
even though he technically
wasn't the boss of the family,

1448
01:03:07,542 --> 01:03:09,708
he started acting as if he were
the boss of the family.

1449
01:03:09,792 --> 01:03:11,333
And the newspapers don't know

1450
01:03:11,417 --> 01:03:13,125
who's the boss
or who isn't the boss,

1451
01:03:13,125 --> 01:03:15,333
but here's a guy
who's saying he's the boss.

1452
01:03:15,417 --> 01:03:17,125
REPORTER: The federal
investigators say Mr. Galante

1453
01:03:17,208 --> 01:03:18,958
is the boss of organized crime
in this country.

1454
01:03:19,042 --> 01:03:20,458
Would that be a correct
characterization,

1455
01:03:20,542 --> 01:03:21,792
the godfather
of the New York Mafia?

1456
01:03:21,875 --> 01:03:23,500
I don't think, uh--

1457
01:03:23,625 --> 01:03:25,042
From my experience,

1458
01:03:25,125 --> 01:03:26,708
practically everything
they've said

1459
01:03:26,792 --> 01:03:29,458
is totally incorrect
and inaccurate.

1460
01:03:29,917 --> 01:03:31,917
The Commission had said no,

1461
01:03:32,042 --> 01:03:34,375
that they had picked
Rusty Rastelli,

1462
01:03:34,500 --> 01:03:35,917
somebody they trusted

1463
01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:39,125
and somebody they thought
deserved the post.

1464
01:03:39,833 --> 01:03:42,292
Galante wouldn't stand
for this.

1465
01:03:42,375 --> 01:03:45,750
It was obvious he was determined
to create havoc.

1466
01:03:46,542 --> 01:03:48,917
NARRATOR: With little
local support in New York City,

1467
01:03:49,000 --> 01:03:51,667
after more
than a decade behind bars,

1468
01:03:51,750 --> 01:03:53,625
Galante needed reinforcements.

1469
01:03:54,167 --> 01:03:57,208
So he called on associates
back home in Sicily

1470
01:03:57,292 --> 01:04:00,333
to join him in New York,
work as foot soldiers,

1471
01:04:00,417 --> 01:04:02,000
help run his drug operation,

1472
01:04:02,125 --> 01:04:04,333
and serve
as bodyguards, henchmen.

1473
01:04:04,375 --> 01:04:06,333
They had
their own code name.

1474
01:04:07,375 --> 01:04:10,625
"Zips" is
the colloquial term

1475
01:04:10,708 --> 01:04:12,833
that the mobsters
in the US

1476
01:04:12,917 --> 01:04:16,333
called the Sicilian gangsters
for hire.

1477
01:04:17,417 --> 01:04:19,583
What was convenient
about the Zips

1478
01:04:19,667 --> 01:04:22,667
is they didn't really have
a profile in the United States.

1479
01:04:22,750 --> 01:04:27,000
They weren't really known
by the FBI or by the DEA.

1480
01:04:27,083 --> 01:04:31,042
So they were more easily
controlled in a lot of ways.

1481
01:04:31,125 --> 01:04:35,167
The Zips were hired hands
that were brought in from Sicily

1482
01:04:35,292 --> 01:04:39,375
to help with the dirtier aspects
of the drug trade.

1483
01:04:41,083 --> 01:04:44,292
Galante was bringing
in those so-called Zips,

1484
01:04:44,375 --> 01:04:46,500
these recruits from Sicily,

1485
01:04:46,583 --> 01:04:49,542
because he had
no real following in America

1486
01:04:49,625 --> 01:04:52,333
with the Five Families
in the New York area.

1487
01:04:52,375 --> 01:04:55,333
NEWS ANCHOR: Cesare Bonventre
and Baldo Amato,

1488
01:04:55,417 --> 01:04:57,083
who they describe as henchmen

1489
01:04:57,167 --> 01:04:59,167
for the crime family
Galante headed.

1490
01:04:59,250 --> 01:05:04,250
♪

1491
01:05:04,375 --> 01:05:08,000
FRANK: First time I met Galante,
he was very serious.

1492
01:05:08,042 --> 01:05:10,750
No big smiles,
no big hellos.

1493
01:05:10,833 --> 01:05:12,500
He had those two bodyguards
with him both times.

1494
01:05:13,917 --> 01:05:15,958
Greaseball,
old-style, old-school.

1495
01:05:16,583 --> 01:05:18,083
RUSS KUBIT:
His reputation is one

1496
01:05:18,167 --> 01:05:20,167
of being totally
ruthless and vicious.

1497
01:05:20,208 --> 01:05:22,208
Of course,
that is by reputation,

1498
01:05:22,292 --> 01:05:24,000
and it may
or may not be one

1499
01:05:24,083 --> 01:05:26,167
that he chooses
to embellish upon himself.

1500
01:05:26,250 --> 01:05:27,792
He may enjoy that reputation.

1501
01:05:27,875 --> 01:05:29,958
It may make, uh, dealing

1502
01:05:30,042 --> 01:05:32,083
with his competition
a lot easier.

1503
01:05:33,125 --> 01:05:34,583
FRANK: He wanted
to be the boss,

1504
01:05:34,583 --> 01:05:36,500
and he had
that old-school mentality.

1505
01:05:36,583 --> 01:05:38,542
He was making
tons of money in dope,

1506
01:05:38,625 --> 01:05:39,667
so he's powerful.

1507
01:05:39,750 --> 01:05:41,500
And he was a real tough guy.

1508
01:05:42,792 --> 01:05:45,250
NARRATOR: Carmine Galante's
return to New York City

1509
01:05:45,333 --> 01:05:49,208
and ruthless pursuit of power
took the underworld by storm.

1510
01:05:49,292 --> 01:05:51,458
He became a priority
for law enforcement

1511
01:05:51,542 --> 01:05:53,625
and a regular
on the nightly news,

1512
01:05:53,708 --> 01:05:56,083
often within an arm's
length of his lawyer.

1513
01:05:56,083 --> 01:05:58,042
ROY COHN: Sit down.

1514
01:05:58,167 --> 01:05:59,833
I'm gonna leave in the morning
go into the country.

1515
01:05:59,875 --> 01:06:02,042
ROY: What are you gonna do
when you get to the country?

1516
01:06:02,125 --> 01:06:03,792
Well, I mean,
I planted peppers last week.

1517
01:06:03,875 --> 01:06:05,250
Now I'm gonna plant tomatoes.

1518
01:06:05,333 --> 01:06:07,083
ROY: You think
that'd have any influence

1519
01:06:07,167 --> 01:06:09,042
on the federal judge
when he held that you were right

1520
01:06:09,125 --> 01:06:10,000
and the parole commission
was wrong?

1521
01:06:10,125 --> 01:06:11,708
CARMINE: I think so.

1522
01:06:11,792 --> 01:06:13,833
He thinks a farmer ought
to be able to seed, right?

1523
01:06:13,917 --> 01:06:15,500
I think so, I mean,

1524
01:06:15,542 --> 01:06:17,042
it's very well-known
that that's what I do.

1525
01:06:17,125 --> 01:06:18,333
NARRATOR: But most of all,

1526
01:06:18,417 --> 01:06:19,667
he was becoming a problem

1527
01:06:19,667 --> 01:06:21,000
for the Commission,

1528
01:06:21,125 --> 01:06:23,042
a problem that sooner or later

1529
01:06:23,125 --> 01:06:24,542
would have to be dealt with.

1530
01:06:30,000 --> 01:06:30,833
♪

1531
01:06:30,958 --> 01:06:32,375
The US government estimates

1532
01:06:32,458 --> 01:06:34,125
that there were
about 50,000 heroin addicts

1533
01:06:34,208 --> 01:06:36,333
in America in 1959.

1534
01:06:37,292 --> 01:06:40,958
By the 1970s, there are 500,000,
and the number is soaring.

1535
01:06:41,042 --> 01:06:45,042
♪

1536
01:06:45,042 --> 01:06:47,125
There's two things that happen

1537
01:06:47,208 --> 01:06:49,083
to make the heroin epidemic
a real problem.

1538
01:06:49,208 --> 01:06:51,250
One is the Vietnam War.

1539
01:06:52,417 --> 01:06:54,667
Hundreds of thousands
of American soldiers

1540
01:06:54,792 --> 01:06:56,167
are gonna go
over to Vietnam,

1541
01:06:56,292 --> 01:06:58,292
where heroin is cheap,
it's available,

1542
01:06:58,375 --> 01:07:00,083
and many of them
are gonna get hooked.

1543
01:07:00,208 --> 01:07:03,375
One study of the US military
from the early 1970s

1544
01:07:03,458 --> 01:07:06,708
estimated that 10-15%
of American soldiers

1545
01:07:06,792 --> 01:07:08,333
were hooked on heroin.

1546
01:07:09,708 --> 01:07:12,250
And the second thing
that happens is the supply,

1547
01:07:12,333 --> 01:07:13,917
through these Mafia connections,

1548
01:07:14,000 --> 01:07:15,500
flooding the streets
of New York City.

1549
01:07:16,542 --> 01:07:18,958
DENNIS SNYDER: My estimation
is that I am seizing

1550
01:07:19,042 --> 01:07:22,500
approximately 7-10%
of the heroin

1551
01:07:22,625 --> 01:07:24,750
that is smuggled through
the port of New York.

1552
01:07:24,833 --> 01:07:27,042
90-92% is getting by.

1553
01:07:27,167 --> 01:07:28,708
REPORTER:
The heroin trafficking,

1554
01:07:28,792 --> 01:07:30,000
which is attributed
to organized crime,

1555
01:07:30,083 --> 01:07:31,500
has a ready market

1556
01:07:31,583 --> 01:07:32,917
all over
the metropolitan area.

1557
01:07:33,750 --> 01:07:37,417
40% of all the addicts
in the United States

1558
01:07:37,500 --> 01:07:39,000
are heroin addicts,
are located here

1559
01:07:39,083 --> 01:07:40,542
right in the city
of New York,

1560
01:07:40,625 --> 01:07:43,375
which gives you 40%
of the consumer market.

1561
01:07:45,708 --> 01:07:48,458
NARRATOR: In public,
Mafia leaders fiercely denied

1562
01:07:48,542 --> 01:07:51,292
any involvement
in the drug trade.

1563
01:07:51,375 --> 01:07:54,333
Joe Bonanno would famously swear
years later

1564
01:07:54,417 --> 01:07:57,333
that he had no knowledge
of the family's drug operation.

1565
01:07:57,417 --> 01:07:58,417
MIKE WALLACE: Now,
let me understand.

1566
01:07:58,542 --> 01:08:00,167
If anybody dealt in narcotics

1567
01:08:00,208 --> 01:08:01,667
from the Bonanno family,

1568
01:08:01,750 --> 01:08:03,500
they did it
without your knowledge?

1569
01:08:03,583 --> 01:08:05,750
Without my knowledge.
No question about it.

1570
01:08:05,833 --> 01:08:09,083
- MIKE: You swear it?
- I swear it before God.

1571
01:08:09,167 --> 01:08:11,292
NARRATOR: But this was
far from the truth.

1572
01:08:12,667 --> 01:08:16,375
We have guys going on record
like Joe Bonanno saying,

1573
01:08:16,458 --> 01:08:19,500
"We don't deal drugs.
We're not a part of the trade."

1574
01:08:19,542 --> 01:08:24,208
The evidence points
to that being entirely false.

1575
01:08:24,292 --> 01:08:26,167
ANTHONY: The rule was

1576
01:08:26,250 --> 01:08:27,875
that you're not supposed
to get caught.

1577
01:08:28,458 --> 01:08:30,375
And if you got caught,
that was trouble.

1578
01:08:30,458 --> 01:08:33,833
But, you know, it was,
like, a question

1579
01:08:33,917 --> 01:08:36,792
of, uh, sculpted ignorance.

1580
01:08:36,875 --> 01:08:39,458
The bosses didn't wanna know
if you were involved.

1581
01:08:39,542 --> 01:08:40,833
They would take the money.

1582
01:08:40,917 --> 01:08:42,375
They could say, "Oh, well,

1583
01:08:42,500 --> 01:08:43,792
I didn't know
where it was from."

1584
01:08:43,875 --> 01:08:45,250
But everybody would know

1585
01:08:45,333 --> 01:08:47,958
that drugs
were a key feeder

1586
01:08:48,042 --> 01:08:49,708
for organized crime's coffers.

1587
01:08:50,792 --> 01:08:54,167
Half of them say,
"You can't do it,"

1588
01:08:54,292 --> 01:08:56,167
the other half say,
"You can't do it,"

1589
01:08:56,208 --> 01:08:58,875
and both halves
take the envelope.

1590
01:09:00,500 --> 01:09:02,833
So, I don't know.
Smoke and mirrors, man.

1591
01:09:03,917 --> 01:09:07,583
NARRATOR: Carmine Galante had
no problem breaking the rules.

1592
01:09:07,583 --> 01:09:09,833
He'd been trafficking heroin
for decades

1593
01:09:09,917 --> 01:09:13,542
and had paid the price for it
with lengthy prison sentences.

1594
01:09:13,625 --> 01:09:16,292
Now back in New York City
and under the microscope

1595
01:09:16,375 --> 01:09:18,333
of law enforcement
and the Commission,

1596
01:09:18,417 --> 01:09:21,833
Galante employed
his Sicilian muscle, Zips,

1597
01:09:21,875 --> 01:09:24,250
to run the bulk
of his operation.

1598
01:09:24,333 --> 01:09:27,542
He wasn't alone
in this kind of subterfuge.

1599
01:09:27,667 --> 01:09:31,167
Mob leaders throughout the Mafia
had taken it a step further,

1600
01:09:31,208 --> 01:09:33,958
frequently hiring
members of other gangs

1601
01:09:34,042 --> 01:09:35,667
to do their dirty work.

1602
01:09:36,458 --> 01:09:37,833
ALEX: The Italian Mafia,

1603
01:09:37,875 --> 01:09:40,500
after some very hard
lessons early

1604
01:09:40,583 --> 01:09:42,667
in which some of their members
were convicted,

1605
01:09:42,750 --> 01:09:45,875
they tried to do more
insulating practices.

1606
01:09:45,958 --> 01:09:49,750
So for the most part, the Mafia
wasn't doing street deals.

1607
01:09:49,833 --> 01:09:54,500
They instead were relying
on Black organized crime figures

1608
01:09:54,542 --> 01:09:56,333
for a number of reasons.

1609
01:09:56,417 --> 01:09:58,375
First of all,
reduce their exposure

1610
01:09:58,458 --> 01:10:00,333
to actually being caught.

1611
01:10:00,417 --> 01:10:02,917
If they could be caught,
it gave them some deniability.

1612
01:10:04,417 --> 01:10:07,042
And also, it wasn't easy
for some Italian guy

1613
01:10:07,042 --> 01:10:10,375
to walk into Black Harlem
and start dealing drugs.

1614
01:10:11,042 --> 01:10:13,500
You sort of had to be part
of the community in some ways

1615
01:10:13,625 --> 01:10:16,250
to get away with that,
and to not be reported.

1616
01:10:16,333 --> 01:10:19,167
♪

1617
01:10:19,208 --> 01:10:23,125
I was born May 31st, 1951,

1618
01:10:23,208 --> 01:10:24,625
in Harlem Hospital.

1619
01:10:26,500 --> 01:10:28,917
I went to Catholic school,
so I was with a lot of Italians.

1620
01:10:29,833 --> 01:10:31,417
I knew people...

1621
01:10:32,458 --> 01:10:34,458
that were seeing people,

1622
01:10:34,542 --> 01:10:37,292
and I wouldn't-- I wouldn't
be able to say their names.

1623
01:10:37,375 --> 01:10:38,917
I wouldn't be able to say

1624
01:10:39,000 --> 01:10:41,167
who I just knew
that people were seeing guys

1625
01:10:41,250 --> 01:10:43,750
considered organized crime,

1626
01:10:43,833 --> 01:10:47,208
that had access
to getting them

1627
01:10:47,292 --> 01:10:49,500
good quality drugs,

1628
01:10:49,625 --> 01:10:51,083
and they formed an alliance.

1629
01:10:51,167 --> 01:10:55,958
♪

1630
01:10:56,042 --> 01:10:57,667
You gotta realize,

1631
01:10:57,708 --> 01:11:00,000
they were
legitimately organized crime,

1632
01:11:00,083 --> 01:11:02,917
and they took over the docks,
and they had the truckers.

1633
01:11:03,042 --> 01:11:06,083
So they can move things around
at massive levels

1634
01:11:06,208 --> 01:11:07,667
that, you know,
most ethnic groups,

1635
01:11:07,750 --> 01:11:09,625
they didn't have
that kind of organization.

1636
01:11:10,958 --> 01:11:15,208
Organized crime had generations
to develop information

1637
01:11:15,292 --> 01:11:17,917
and instruction to pass down,

1638
01:11:18,000 --> 01:11:21,167
where in the inner communities
where I come from,

1639
01:11:21,250 --> 01:11:23,083
the heads
keep getting chopped off.

1640
01:11:23,208 --> 01:11:27,292
♪

1641
01:11:27,292 --> 01:11:29,000
When I was growing up in Harlem,

1642
01:11:29,042 --> 01:11:31,333
there was adults coming
from everywhere to buy drugs

1643
01:11:31,417 --> 01:11:33,000
so they could either use it,

1644
01:11:33,125 --> 01:11:35,833
and maybe come back to
their neighborhoods and sell it.

1645
01:11:35,958 --> 01:11:37,958
They could be
from Maryland, DC,

1646
01:11:38,042 --> 01:11:41,792
not just Long Island
or Connecticut or the Bronx--

1647
01:11:41,875 --> 01:11:44,583
That area in Harlem
was an open-air drug market

1648
01:11:44,667 --> 01:11:47,375
where the highest quality drugs
for the lowest price

1649
01:11:47,500 --> 01:11:49,042
was being distributed.

1650
01:11:51,167 --> 01:11:54,667
NARRATOR: Through the 1970s,
the Mafia made a fortune

1651
01:11:54,667 --> 01:11:57,208
moving mass amounts of heroin
into New York City.

1652
01:11:58,208 --> 01:12:01,875
At the top of the list
of earners was Carmine Galante.

1653
01:12:02,542 --> 01:12:04,583
But it wasn't
the drugs explicitly

1654
01:12:04,708 --> 01:12:06,167
that put him in danger.

1655
01:12:06,250 --> 01:12:07,458
It was greed.

1656
01:12:07,542 --> 01:12:09,792
If one were a mob boss,

1657
01:12:09,875 --> 01:12:13,292
I think high up on the list
of things not to do

1658
01:12:13,375 --> 01:12:15,917
was to be too greedy

1659
01:12:16,000 --> 01:12:19,500
in what you're collecting
from your underlings.

1660
01:12:19,583 --> 01:12:21,667
That would be
high on the list.

1661
01:12:21,792 --> 01:12:24,583
Talking to the media or becoming
a media figure is very bad,

1662
01:12:24,667 --> 01:12:27,042
that all of a sudden,
you get an expiration date

1663
01:12:27,125 --> 01:12:28,667
from the other gangsters then.

1664
01:12:29,542 --> 01:12:31,417
Above all,

1665
01:12:31,500 --> 01:12:34,292
don't make yourself vulnerable

1666
01:12:34,375 --> 01:12:36,625
to snakes in the family,

1667
01:12:36,708 --> 01:12:38,750
because they will come back
and bite you.

1668
01:12:38,875 --> 01:12:43,792
♪

1669
01:12:50,208 --> 01:12:52,458
♪

1670
01:12:52,542 --> 01:12:54,000
NARRATOR: In 1975,

1671
01:12:54,083 --> 01:12:56,833
Carmine Galante,
AKA "The Cigar,"

1672
01:12:56,917 --> 01:12:58,667
and his crew of Sicilians

1673
01:12:58,750 --> 01:13:01,000
had the Bonanno family
in disarray.

1674
01:13:02,917 --> 01:13:05,375
The rightful boss,
Rusty Rastelli,

1675
01:13:05,458 --> 01:13:06,750
had the backing
of the Commission...

1676
01:13:07,917 --> 01:13:10,083
but legal troubles
made it difficult for him

1677
01:13:10,167 --> 01:13:13,167
to run a family
with a disruptor in its ranks.

1678
01:13:13,708 --> 01:13:16,000
He needed
a solution, quickly.

1679
01:13:17,542 --> 01:13:19,708
Phil Rastelli
wasn't a very good boss

1680
01:13:19,792 --> 01:13:23,250
in the sense that he would
constantly get into trouble,

1681
01:13:23,333 --> 01:13:24,833
constantly get indicted,

1682
01:13:24,875 --> 01:13:27,167
and constantly
get sent to prison.

1683
01:13:28,042 --> 01:13:30,667
Prosecutors have filed
an unprecedented civil suit

1684
01:13:30,792 --> 01:13:33,708
against the Mafia family,
the Bonanno mob.

1685
01:13:33,792 --> 01:13:35,250
The Bonanno crime family,

1686
01:13:35,333 --> 01:13:38,000
which has existed
for some 50 years,

1687
01:13:38,042 --> 01:13:39,833
and engaged in everything
from bootlegging,

1688
01:13:39,917 --> 01:13:43,000
to loan sharking, to murder,
to robbery, to hijacking.

1689
01:13:43,042 --> 01:13:46,667
♪

1690
01:13:46,750 --> 01:13:48,667
ANTHONY: His time on the street
was rather limited.

1691
01:13:49,167 --> 01:13:52,667
So he had to work
as a boss through emissaries

1692
01:13:52,750 --> 01:13:54,833
who would communicate
with him in prison.

1693
01:13:56,083 --> 01:13:59,167
NARRATOR: In the mid-seventies,
one of Rastelli's closest

1694
01:13:59,250 --> 01:14:02,917
and most trusted confidants
emerges from a surprising place.

1695
01:14:04,417 --> 01:14:06,333
ANTHONY: Joe Massino
was a working man.

1696
01:14:06,375 --> 01:14:08,833
♪

1697
01:14:08,917 --> 01:14:11,750
He grew up
in a poor family environment.

1698
01:14:11,833 --> 01:14:16,333
♪

1699
01:14:16,417 --> 01:14:17,792
Nothing special.

1700
01:14:17,875 --> 01:14:20,208
Money became
always an object.

1701
01:14:21,875 --> 01:14:24,333
PAT: Joe Massino,
back in the early '70s,

1702
01:14:24,417 --> 01:14:26,333
ran a coffee truck.

1703
01:14:27,042 --> 01:14:29,333
He sold bagels,
he sold sandwiches.

1704
01:14:29,417 --> 01:14:31,000
And he was a legitimate guy.

1705
01:14:32,042 --> 01:14:36,333
But at the same time,
ran numbers and took bets

1706
01:14:36,458 --> 01:14:38,542
while he was
on his coffee delivery.

1707
01:14:39,250 --> 01:14:41,667
That's why he had the nickname
"Joey Bagels."

1708
01:14:41,708 --> 01:14:43,292
That's how he got started.

1709
01:14:44,208 --> 01:14:45,917
NARRATOR: Massino
had first met Rastelli

1710
01:14:46,042 --> 01:14:47,833
through his nephew
in the late '50s.

1711
01:14:48,792 --> 01:14:50,667
They were neighborhood guys.

1712
01:14:50,708 --> 01:14:52,583
And through Massino's
lunch wagon business,

1713
01:14:52,708 --> 01:14:53,917
the two grew closer.

1714
01:14:54,000 --> 01:14:55,792
♪

1715
01:14:55,875 --> 01:14:59,458
Rusty took a real liking
to Joe Massino,

1716
01:14:59,542 --> 01:15:02,750
as perhaps heir apparent
to himself

1717
01:15:02,875 --> 01:15:04,667
within the Bonanno family.

1718
01:15:04,750 --> 01:15:06,958
Joey became infamous,
so to speak.

1719
01:15:08,542 --> 01:15:10,500
ANTHONY: Joe Massino
would go to see Rastelli

1720
01:15:10,583 --> 01:15:12,000
wherever he was in prison,

1721
01:15:12,625 --> 01:15:14,458
Be it Lewisburg
or wherever else.

1722
01:15:14,542 --> 01:15:17,167
It was quite clear,
it was well known

1723
01:15:17,292 --> 01:15:19,125
in law enforcement
that he was visiting Rastelli.

1724
01:15:20,250 --> 01:15:22,875
SELWYN: They were very close,
very buddy-buddy.

1725
01:15:22,958 --> 01:15:26,208
And Rastelli, in effect,
used to pass out

1726
01:15:26,292 --> 01:15:29,042
whatever information
he wanted to run the family

1727
01:15:29,125 --> 01:15:32,667
when he was in prison
through Joe Massino.

1728
01:15:33,917 --> 01:15:36,125
NARRATOR: Information
would flow two ways,

1729
01:15:36,208 --> 01:15:38,583
Massino would send messages
to the street

1730
01:15:38,667 --> 01:15:40,083
on Rastelli's behalf

1731
01:15:40,167 --> 01:15:41,833
while keeping the boss informed

1732
01:15:41,917 --> 01:15:43,833
with the latest family news.

1733
01:15:43,917 --> 01:15:45,500
And there was a lot
to report.

1734
01:15:46,042 --> 01:15:48,875
Carmine Galante
was becoming a problem.

1735
01:15:49,875 --> 01:15:53,042
If you're not the boss,
you don't get to decide how much

1736
01:15:53,167 --> 01:15:55,833
of your individual earnings
you get.

1737
01:15:55,875 --> 01:15:59,667
It may even be, on paper,
your business,

1738
01:15:59,750 --> 01:16:01,500
but the earnings are split up.

1739
01:16:01,542 --> 01:16:04,250
You've got to pay
your tax up.

1740
01:16:04,708 --> 01:16:06,167
There's not a sense

1741
01:16:06,250 --> 01:16:07,958
that you hold onto
your individual money.

1742
01:16:08,083 --> 01:16:12,083
And a lot of Galante's
organizational challenges

1743
01:16:12,167 --> 01:16:13,625
come from the fact

1744
01:16:13,708 --> 01:16:16,125
that he was selfish
about his earnings.

1745
01:16:16,917 --> 01:16:19,125
NARRATOR: Rastelli knew
that in order to maintain

1746
01:16:19,208 --> 01:16:21,000
his position as boss
of the family,

1747
01:16:21,083 --> 01:16:22,417
he needed to make a move.

1748
01:16:22,958 --> 01:16:25,000
So with the help
of Joe Massino,

1749
01:16:25,083 --> 01:16:27,417
he sought approval
from the Commission to strike.

1750
01:16:29,292 --> 01:16:30,708
ANTHONY: Joe Massino's role

1751
01:16:30,792 --> 01:16:33,917
was transmitting word
and approval

1752
01:16:34,000 --> 01:16:36,875
from Rastelli to the street.

1753
01:16:37,542 --> 01:16:38,917
The Sicilian faction,

1754
01:16:39,042 --> 01:16:42,542
which had been loyal to Galante,

1755
01:16:42,625 --> 01:16:44,833
basically
was turned against him.

1756
01:16:46,542 --> 01:16:49,958
Joe played a role
to help set him up.

1757
01:16:50,708 --> 01:16:52,625
I just think that, uh,

1758
01:16:52,708 --> 01:16:55,417
Rusty had a little more guys

1759
01:16:55,500 --> 01:16:57,792
on his end of the crew,

1760
01:16:57,875 --> 01:16:59,167
and that basically
that was it.

1761
01:16:59,292 --> 01:17:01,292
They got his zip guys,
bodyguards,

1762
01:17:01,375 --> 01:17:03,458
they said to them, "Come on,"
and they grabbed them and said,

1763
01:17:03,542 --> 01:17:05,542
"If you don't walk away,
you're gonna die with him."

1764
01:17:05,625 --> 01:17:07,000
He knew
there was trouble already.

1765
01:17:07,042 --> 01:17:08,125
He knew
there was trouble already.

1766
01:17:09,375 --> 01:17:10,792
But he thought he was strong

1767
01:17:10,875 --> 01:17:12,375
because he had
the Zip guys with him,

1768
01:17:12,500 --> 01:17:14,792
and he thought
they were strong,

1769
01:17:14,875 --> 01:17:16,542
and they wound up
giving him up in a minute.

1770
01:17:16,625 --> 01:17:17,667
They gave him up.

1771
01:17:18,208 --> 01:17:19,917
There's an old saying
in the mob

1772
01:17:20,000 --> 01:17:22,708
that it's only your friends
who can hurt you.

1773
01:17:23,208 --> 01:17:25,667
And in this case of Galante,
that's what happened.

1774
01:17:25,708 --> 01:17:28,167
♪

1775
01:17:28,333 --> 01:17:30,250
[intense music plays]

1776
01:17:32,375 --> 01:17:35,292
[cars honking]

1777
01:17:39,500 --> 01:17:41,833
[indistinct chatter]

1778
01:17:44,833 --> 01:17:46,500
[gunshot bangs]

1779
01:17:46,542 --> 01:17:49,958
♪

1780
01:17:50,042 --> 01:17:51,625
I heard a job
come over the radio,

1781
01:17:51,708 --> 01:17:53,167
reports of shots fired.

1782
01:17:53,833 --> 01:17:56,000
205 Knickerbocker,
I think it was.

1783
01:17:56,000 --> 01:17:59,125
Possibly three people
wounded or killed.

1784
01:17:59,208 --> 01:18:00,750
[siren blaring]

1785
01:18:00,875 --> 01:18:02,667
So I take off,

1786
01:18:02,708 --> 01:18:04,292
and I was the first
detective getting there.

1787
01:18:05,417 --> 01:18:06,917
Speaking to the wife first.

1788
01:18:08,208 --> 01:18:10,625
She says,
"My husband hasn't come out.

1789
01:18:10,625 --> 01:18:12,167
Carmine."

1790
01:18:12,292 --> 01:18:13,625
"Carmine?"

1791
01:18:13,708 --> 01:18:15,000
She says,
"Yeah, Carmine Galante!"

1792
01:18:15,083 --> 01:18:16,875
So, then I walk back there

1793
01:18:16,958 --> 01:18:19,708
and I see Galante

1794
01:18:19,833 --> 01:18:21,875
with the cigar hanging
out of his mouth.

1795
01:18:22,958 --> 01:18:25,417
There was three people dead
and one other wounded.

1796
01:18:26,167 --> 01:18:28,667
[camera shutter clicking]

1797
01:18:28,708 --> 01:18:31,333
♪

1798
01:18:31,375 --> 01:18:34,083
When I pulled up, I was
the only cop car there at first.

1799
01:18:35,292 --> 01:18:38,833
An hour later,
the street was jammed with cars,

1800
01:18:38,875 --> 01:18:41,167
all kinds of
photographers and reporters.

1801
01:18:41,250 --> 01:18:43,542
Complete insanity, you know?

1802
01:18:43,625 --> 01:18:46,083
NEWS ANCHOR: The killers
came in two cars,

1803
01:18:46,167 --> 01:18:47,667
the three trigger men
rushing inside,

1804
01:18:47,750 --> 01:18:49,375
ski masks over their faces.

1805
01:18:49,458 --> 01:18:51,667
The owner's son
saw the killers advancing,

1806
01:18:51,708 --> 01:18:53,125
shouted a warning, "Watch out!"

1807
01:18:53,208 --> 01:18:55,125
But a second wave
of two gunman,

1808
01:18:55,208 --> 01:18:58,083
also masked, entered and shot
and wounded the son.

1809
01:18:58,167 --> 01:19:00,542
The two gentleman inside

1810
01:19:00,625 --> 01:19:04,833
died as a result of multiple
gunshot and shotgun wounds.

1811
01:19:08,375 --> 01:19:10,083
Because of television,

1812
01:19:10,167 --> 01:19:12,208
the information gets out
to the public right away,

1813
01:19:12,208 --> 01:19:14,000
but it also gets
out to all the wise guys.

1814
01:19:14,083 --> 01:19:17,000
So if you publicize
all the information

1815
01:19:17,083 --> 01:19:20,208
you know about the criminals,
everybody knows.

1816
01:19:20,292 --> 01:19:23,042
REPORTER: For the neighborhood,
the passing of Carmine Galante

1817
01:19:23,125 --> 01:19:24,792
meant a lot of excitement.

1818
01:19:24,875 --> 01:19:26,458
Hundreds of people
took to the streets

1819
01:19:26,542 --> 01:19:29,375
of this Brooklyn block
trying to catch a glimpse.

1820
01:19:29,458 --> 01:19:32,375
Yeah, when Galante, uh,
hit happened,

1821
01:19:32,458 --> 01:19:33,833
I was kind of shocked,

1822
01:19:33,917 --> 01:19:35,708
and so was a lot of people
on the street.

1823
01:19:35,792 --> 01:19:37,000
A lot of talk about it.

1824
01:19:37,083 --> 01:19:38,500
Again, not a lot of chatter,

1825
01:19:38,542 --> 01:19:39,792
but just, "Wow."

1826
01:19:39,875 --> 01:19:41,167
You know,
"That was unexpected.

1827
01:19:41,292 --> 01:19:42,708
Wonder what's going to
happen now."

1828
01:19:42,792 --> 01:19:44,333
REPORTER: For organized crime,

1829
01:19:44,375 --> 01:19:46,000
it means the beginning
of something new,

1830
01:19:46,042 --> 01:19:48,167
a new struggle for control

1831
01:19:48,250 --> 01:19:49,708
at the top
of New York's Five Families.

1832
01:19:49,833 --> 01:19:55,958
♪

1833
01:20:02,042 --> 01:20:03,500
NEWS ANCHOR: As one
police Mafia expert put it,

1834
01:20:03,583 --> 01:20:05,875
"A contract was fulfilled
this afternoon."

1835
01:20:06,000 --> 01:20:07,917
On the receiving end
of that contract

1836
01:20:08,000 --> 01:20:09,792
was one of the top
Mafia chiefs in the nation,

1837
01:20:09,875 --> 01:20:11,583
perhaps the boss
of all bosses,

1838
01:20:11,667 --> 01:20:13,250
Carmine Galante.

1839
01:20:13,375 --> 01:20:14,958
♪

1840
01:20:15,042 --> 01:20:17,083
NARRATOR: The murder
of Carmine Galante

1841
01:20:17,167 --> 01:20:19,167
temporarily restored order
in the Bonanno family.

1842
01:20:20,875 --> 01:20:23,292
Rusty Rastelli
kept his seat as boss.

1843
01:20:24,167 --> 01:20:25,792
The Commission was relieved.

1844
01:20:26,333 --> 01:20:28,375
The man to thank
was Joe Massino.

1845
01:20:28,375 --> 01:20:30,167
♪

1846
01:20:30,208 --> 01:20:32,583
Massino's orchestration
of the Galante murder

1847
01:20:32,667 --> 01:20:34,875
put him in the good graces
of the Commission.

1848
01:20:35,708 --> 01:20:39,708
And Joey Bagels began
making allies in other families.

1849
01:20:40,875 --> 01:20:42,833
One of the strongest families
at the time,

1850
01:20:42,917 --> 01:20:46,000
the Gambinos,
led by Paul Castellano,

1851
01:20:46,042 --> 01:20:47,833
had an up-and-comer
in their ranks...

1852
01:20:47,917 --> 01:20:49,792
♪

1853
01:20:49,875 --> 01:20:50,833
John Gotti.

1854
01:20:51,875 --> 01:20:54,458
In the early eighties,
Gotti and Massino both lived

1855
01:20:54,542 --> 01:20:57,167
in the Howard Beach section
of Queens.

1856
01:20:57,250 --> 01:21:00,500
They were around the same age,
and they'd help one another

1857
01:21:00,542 --> 01:21:03,667
when they could to keep order
in their respective families.

1858
01:21:03,750 --> 01:21:06,125
♪

1859
01:21:06,208 --> 01:21:08,042
ANTHONY: Well,
Gotti and Massino were friends.

1860
01:21:08,125 --> 01:21:10,375
They helped each other...

1861
01:21:11,917 --> 01:21:13,083
the way they could.

1862
01:21:13,167 --> 01:21:15,833
The one instance in particular,

1863
01:21:15,875 --> 01:21:18,500
about 1980, '81...

1864
01:21:19,583 --> 01:21:22,542
NARRATOR: Less than two years
after a power grab was squashed

1865
01:21:22,625 --> 01:21:25,500
in the Bonanno family,
another one was underway.

1866
01:21:26,458 --> 01:21:29,292
Three Bonanno captains
wanted Rastelli out.

1867
01:21:29,375 --> 01:21:31,250
They'd need
the Commission's approval,

1868
01:21:31,333 --> 01:21:33,875
however, and they'd never get it
without the support

1869
01:21:33,958 --> 01:21:35,500
of the family's powerful
underboss,

1870
01:21:35,583 --> 01:21:36,625
Joe Massino.

1871
01:21:37,208 --> 01:21:39,708
Massino remained
loyal to Rastelli,

1872
01:21:39,708 --> 01:21:43,500
loyal to his oath,
so he once again was tasked

1873
01:21:43,542 --> 01:21:46,042
with taking care
of an internal politics.

1874
01:21:46,792 --> 01:21:49,542
The three captains,
Indelicato,

1875
01:21:49,625 --> 01:21:53,000
Philip Giaccone
and Dominick Trinchera,

1876
01:21:53,083 --> 01:21:55,167
were buying guns and weapons,

1877
01:21:55,250 --> 01:21:57,917
and that was seen as a sign

1878
01:21:58,000 --> 01:22:00,292
that the three captains
were gonna make a move.

1879
01:22:01,292 --> 01:22:04,167
Massino put together
a countermove.

1880
01:22:04,958 --> 01:22:06,250
He went
to the other crime families

1881
01:22:06,333 --> 01:22:08,208
and they seemed to say,

1882
01:22:08,292 --> 01:22:10,000
"Look, you've got to do
what you've got to do

1883
01:22:10,042 --> 01:22:11,292
to protect yourself."

1884
01:22:12,042 --> 01:22:14,958
I heard
there was a fraction going on.

1885
01:22:15,042 --> 01:22:17,458
They wanted to
take over the family,

1886
01:22:17,542 --> 01:22:19,167
and they wound up
with a meeting,

1887
01:22:19,250 --> 01:22:21,750
and it was held,
if I remember correctly,

1888
01:22:21,875 --> 01:22:23,583
in Sammy Gravano's club.

1889
01:22:23,583 --> 01:22:25,333
NARRATOR:
Sammy "The Bull" Gravano

1890
01:22:25,417 --> 01:22:27,167
was a member
of John Gotti's crew.

1891
01:22:27,667 --> 01:22:31,000
He had a club on 13th Avenue
down in Brooklyn

1892
01:22:31,125 --> 01:22:33,458
in a neighborhood known
as Dyker Heights.

1893
01:22:33,958 --> 01:22:36,875
And for one evening
in May of 1981,

1894
01:22:37,042 --> 01:22:39,458
he lent it
to Gotti's friend Joe Massino,

1895
01:22:39,542 --> 01:22:42,042
who had some business
to take care of.

1896
01:22:43,500 --> 01:22:45,833
RICHARD: So these three guys,
when they walk in,

1897
01:22:45,875 --> 01:22:47,875
somebody--
I guess it was Joe--

1898
01:22:47,958 --> 01:22:49,167
but the signal was,

1899
01:22:49,250 --> 01:22:51,000
he put his hand
through his hair.

1900
01:22:51,708 --> 01:22:54,000
They came out of the closet
and started shooting.

1901
01:22:54,042 --> 01:22:56,000
[gunshots banging]

1902
01:22:56,000 --> 01:22:57,333
And they shot
the three of them.

1903
01:22:59,750 --> 01:23:02,792
And Massino's people
took care of the homicide.

1904
01:23:02,875 --> 01:23:05,250
Gotti-- Gotti's people

1905
01:23:05,333 --> 01:23:07,542
dumped the bodies
in the Hole,

1906
01:23:07,542 --> 01:23:09,625
that part
of Brooklyn and Queens

1907
01:23:09,708 --> 01:23:12,500
which became known
as a mob burial ground.

1908
01:23:13,875 --> 01:23:16,667
RICHARD: The Gambinos
wound up burying the three guys.

1909
01:23:16,750 --> 01:23:19,417
♪

1910
01:23:19,500 --> 01:23:21,833
And one guy's arm
was found out of the ground,

1911
01:23:21,917 --> 01:23:24,583
but that was done on purpose,
from my understanding.

1912
01:23:24,667 --> 01:23:26,417
♪

1913
01:23:26,500 --> 01:23:29,250
Paul Castellano
was the boss of the Gambinos.

1914
01:23:30,500 --> 01:23:34,042
Paul wanted people to know
that body would be found.

1915
01:23:34,042 --> 01:23:35,542
"This is what happens
to people

1916
01:23:35,625 --> 01:23:37,167
that look
to take over our family."

1917
01:23:38,542 --> 01:23:40,167
NARRATOR: The murder
of the three captains

1918
01:23:40,208 --> 01:23:42,750
sent a message
to the Five Families,

1919
01:23:42,750 --> 01:23:45,625
"This is how an unapproved coup
will be dealt with."

1920
01:23:46,458 --> 01:23:49,000
But word also got around
of who had pulled it off.

1921
01:23:49,750 --> 01:23:52,083
Joe Massino
was getting a reputation

1922
01:23:52,167 --> 01:23:53,667
in the criminal underworld.

1923
01:23:54,458 --> 01:23:57,542
He had successfully maneuvered
two power struggles

1924
01:23:57,667 --> 01:23:58,833
in his own family.

1925
01:23:59,667 --> 01:24:02,208
But internal power struggles
were nothing new.

1926
01:24:02,292 --> 01:24:03,958
The next threat to face
the Bonannos

1927
01:24:04,042 --> 01:24:06,000
would be something new entirely,

1928
01:24:06,083 --> 01:24:09,292
a threat that would strike fear
like never before

1929
01:24:09,375 --> 01:24:11,292
among the leaders
of New York's Five Families.

1930
01:24:12,708 --> 01:24:14,625
ANTHONY: After
the three captain murders,

1931
01:24:14,708 --> 01:24:18,000
it was revealed
that an FBI agent

1932
01:24:18,042 --> 01:24:20,833
had infiltrated
the Bonanno crime family.

1933
01:24:21,375 --> 01:24:23,000
REPORTER: This man,
known as Donnie Brasco,

1934
01:24:23,042 --> 01:24:24,667
small-time jewel thief,

1935
01:24:24,750 --> 01:24:27,458
now testifying
at a federal trial in New York.

1936
01:24:27,542 --> 01:24:29,958
Brasco has revealed
his true name,

1937
01:24:30,042 --> 01:24:33,333
Joseph Pistone,
agent of the FBI,

1938
01:24:33,417 --> 01:24:35,750
who went undercover
to infiltrate the mob

1939
01:24:35,875 --> 01:24:37,375
for six years.

1940
01:24:38,333 --> 01:24:41,167
LARRY: It was a disaster
for the Bonanno family.

1941
01:24:42,083 --> 01:24:44,083
Probably
the biggest thing was,

1942
01:24:44,167 --> 01:24:47,167
the Bonannos were forced
to forfeit their seat

1943
01:24:47,292 --> 01:24:49,333
on the Commission

1944
01:24:49,417 --> 01:24:51,875
for letting this guy
infiltrate the family.

1945
01:24:52,000 --> 01:24:54,167
♪

1946
01:24:54,250 --> 01:24:55,750
ANTHONY: Pistone
was dealing with...

1947
01:24:55,875 --> 01:24:57,417
the Bonanno family.

1948
01:24:57,500 --> 01:24:59,917
But he had information
about other families too.

1949
01:25:01,125 --> 01:25:04,083
The feeling is,
"What other shoe's gonna drop?"

1950
01:25:04,167 --> 01:25:09,375
♪

1951
01:25:09,500 --> 01:25:11,167
NARRATOR:
On the next episode

1952
01:25:11,208 --> 01:25:14,417
of American Godfathers:
The Five Families.

1953
01:25:14,500 --> 01:25:16,917
The US Government delivers
a blow like never before

1954
01:25:17,000 --> 01:25:18,667
to the American Mafia.

1955
01:25:18,708 --> 01:25:21,208
CLAIRE: The Commission Case
is a watershed moment

1956
01:25:21,292 --> 01:25:22,917
in battling organized crime.

1957
01:25:23,042 --> 01:25:25,250
All the bosses went to prison.

1958
01:25:25,250 --> 01:25:28,333
NARRATOR: And as the walls begin
to come in on the Five Families,

1959
01:25:28,417 --> 01:25:31,667
The Dapper Don takes to
the streets of New York City.

1960
01:25:31,750 --> 01:25:34,125
John Gotti showed up
at the right time in New York.

1961
01:25:34,208 --> 01:25:36,042
MCSHANE: He became a star.

1962
01:25:36,125 --> 01:25:37,500
NARRATOR: Joe Massino emerges

1963
01:25:37,583 --> 01:25:39,667
as public enemy number one.

1964
01:25:39,750 --> 01:25:42,500
EDWARD: The only true boss
of the Five Families

1965
01:25:42,583 --> 01:25:45,875
who's out on the street
with power is Joey Massino.

1966
01:25:45,958 --> 01:25:47,500
NARRATOR: But by this time,

1967
01:25:47,583 --> 01:25:50,042
the playing field
had changed entirely.

1968
01:25:50,167 --> 01:25:51,708
MIKE: If somebody
was in jail

1969
01:25:51,792 --> 01:25:54,208
and nobody knew
where that person was,

1970
01:25:54,292 --> 01:25:56,250
that person
was probably cooperating

1971
01:25:56,333 --> 01:25:57,708
and additional charges
were coming.

1972
01:26:02,333 --> 01:26:04,042
I think the guys do
the arithmetic,

1973
01:26:04,167 --> 01:26:05,375
and they realize
you're going to spend

1974
01:26:05,375 --> 01:26:06,958
the rest
of your days in jail,

1975
01:26:07,042 --> 01:26:08,000
what for?

1976
01:26:08,042 --> 01:26:10,500
♪

1977
01:26:10,583 --> 01:26:12,792
Omertà has eroded.