As I've come to understand it Gravano was a Soldier on 12/16/1985. What then made him so important that he was approached by Ruggierio (spelling) to get him to support the move on Castellano?

It's true he was only a soldier at the time. I think he was approached because he was still quite close to castellano which may have worked to gotti's advantage. also he was a good earner and was a good hitman so he could help set up the hit

Good question, I've been wondering this too actually. I've understood that even he was just a soldier, he was pretty close to Castellano.

Gravano and Castellano were close, and it was a sure bet he would come to Gotti's aide. Why? It was a one sided friendship really. Castellano started more or less hitting on Sammy when he heard Gravano was moving in to construction. From then on Sammy accompanied Paul on important business trips with the obvious addition of Bilotti. That was one thing that made their relationship even more bizarre. Sammy absolutely HATED Bilotti, and Paul never went anywhere without him. So anyway, put all this together. John and Angelo Ruggiero, leaders of the dissident faction were people persons. I'm sure they observed how close Paul was to Sammy, yet how distant Sammy was to Paul, and knew it was an easy move to get a guy with a lot of reputation for keeping a loyal crew and having plenty of muscle. That's something people forget. Sammy had Huck Carbonaro and an assortment of loyalists. And here's my favorite line from Underboss to sum up how Sammy was feeling about Paul at the time (paraphrased)

Gravano was also close to Frank DeCicco, another close aide to Castellano. If Gotti could get to Sammy, he'd have a better shot at getting to DeCicco. Without Gravano and especially DeCicco, I don't think Gotti would have made a move.

Gotti, Gravano, DeCicco, DiBernardo, Armone = "the fist"

He was an earner who was, at the time, close to both Castellano (the boss) and Frank DeCicco, who was in with Gotti.

I know everyone else has already answered this question but I figured Id throw in my two razoo's.

Construction was Pauls favourite racket (according to Sammy) which is how they became "friends"
Oh and Most people hated Bilotti - LOL

This isnt the only example, some soldiers were the right hand man of the boss. If you earn good, you could be closer to the boss then a capo or anyone else, correct me if i am wrong

I also think that when Gravano agreed with the plot he expected that decicco would become boss since he was more qualified than gotti. Decicco told gravano that john'e ego was too big to be underboss so they agreed to give gotti 1 year to be a good boss or they would kill him.

Sammy actually became close with Frank DeCicco when his mentor, Toddo Aurello died and DeCicco took over Aurello's crew.

There were several incidents which took place over time that made Gravano turn on Castellano. One of them being that Sammy found out that Castellano had secretly ordered Frank DeCicco to kill him, Gravano, had he he opposed an ordered hit that had been taken out on his brother-in-law Nicky Scibetta.

After another incident Gravano learned that once again, for a second time, Big Paul was considering having him killed. And when Gravano began earning more and more from his businesses, Big Paul began to squeeze every last nickel out of him.

Meanwhile the Dellacroce crew were being treated like the red headed stepchildren of the gambino family. But in my opinion, the straw that broke the camel's back in pushing Gotti over the edge with Castellano was Casteallano's failure to both visit Mr. Neil, when he ws dying, or attend his funeral when he did die.

So now you had two factions of the Gambino family who were not happy with the boss, Big Paul. Throw in the fact that Big Paul was probably going to be put away, and that he would in all likelyhood pass over Frank DeCiccio in naming him acting boss had he been sent to prison...and you have all the ingredients to unite two crews to conspire to overthrow the head of the family.

It was really Robert 'DB' DeBernardo who brought Gotti, DeCicco and The Bull together to unite against Paul Castellano.

I agree. it's amazing that guys like Gravano, decicco, Armone, and DiBernardo were good candidates for being the boss and the gambinos ended up with a dumbass like Gotti. that turned out great lol

What makes you say DB? I don't remember him playing a significant role. Speaking of DB, what the hell really happened? You have Gravano who claims Angie Ruggiero set it up to avoid paying back a loan for a good amount of money. Although this story was kind of iffy, and when Gravano sounds iffy, it usually means he's lying. But then some others say Gravano organized it to shamelessly take over his construction deals, which would really make a lot of sense since Gravano is more or less a serial killer, and that's his M.O. Which was it really?

JCrusher, I agree with you, but an interesting note on Armone. Gravano and Gene Gotti both claimed Armone wasn't boss material at the time, Gravano claimed so because of his current interactions with Armone. From the way he told it, I think Armone was senile by then. Which is definitely something that could fly over a mobster's head. Armone suggested they divert heat away from the family by killing Oliver North. I'm 16 but I've been through a form of senility in Lyme Disease, and it really sounds like that was an issue at the time. I wonder how they could all be so clueless about parts of the human mental condition, and brilliant at reading others.

A minor point, but I thought that Toddo Aurello didn't die until the 1990's. The reason I say that is I found (what supposedly) is Gravano's debriefing of the F.B.I from 1991 and where he lists members of the family he lists Aurello as retired and that he would report to the administration in the event of a problem.

Pauls insane choice to allow the Genovese to whack one of the Gambino Captains somewhere in New England didnt go down well either

Gravano is/was short. I think he took steroids and pumped weights because he had a bit of the short man syndrome!

DiBernardo was part of the Gravano/DiCiccio faction of the Gambino family serving under Big Paul. DB was a HUGE earner for the family. Big Paul was also squeezing DB, as he was Gravano and DiCiccio, and DB like the others was tiring of Big Paul's greediness.

DB used to frequent many of the places that John Gotti hung out at and it makes sense that he and Gotti probably exchanged their unpleasant feelings about Castellano and his greed.

Also remember that it was no secret that Big Paul was unhappy with the Gotti faction...and that Gotti was unhappy with Big Paul.

Sammy, DiCiccio and DiBernardo probably had many discussions about their being unhappy with the current leadership....and from hanging around and talking with Gotti, DB probably told them that Gotti was also unhappy....hence DB becoming the guy who would become "the feeler" or "the Buffer" between one faction of the family and the other. DiCicco, already knowing that Gotti was unhappy with Big Paul, was NOT going to take a chance and immediately let Gotti know that he felt the same way. He had to distance himself, at first, just in case someone in the Gotti crew was not on the up and up and may go back to Big Paul and tell him that DiCiccio was talking against him. So in all likelihood he was cautious and used DB to feel things out before stepping forward himself to eventually align and plot with Gotti to take out Castellano.






If memory serves me correctly Aurello died sometime in the early 1980's because while still under Big Paul, DiCiccio was handed the teamster crew that was once run by Aurello.

Aurello has been one person that has been difficult to track down information on nevertheless. Perhaps Underboss by Peter Maas will tell me a little more about him when it arrives next week. Again, I don't know whether that's a true copy of Gravano's debriefing, but it suggests that Aurello was still alive as of 1991, but was retired from any active role in the family.

As for DiB, I found it interesting that in Gotti he was given a significant role played by Frank Vincent and in Witness to the Mob his role is limited with Vincent playing DeCicco. I guess two very different perspectives?

According to Gravano in december 1985 after Paul got killed Aurello retired and gravano took over the crew. I'm not sure when he died by I know that he was still alive when paul was killed

Where did you find information about Aurello that makes you so sure that he was still alive when Big Paul was killed? I am sncerely curious to know.

I may have my timeline mixed up....but DeCiccio did take over Aurello's teamster crew and he and Gravano became close allies.

The information was from Peter Maas' book. Apparently Gravano was told that after 12-16-1985 that he was going to be made a capo. However, he did not want to step on Aurello's toes so he went to Toddo and asked if it was OK, which Aurello said it was because he wanted to retire. Gravano was going to start a new crew anyways. So Toddo received permission from Gotti, DeCicco and Joe N. Gallo to retire.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/sammy-bull-gravano-fbi-debriefings?page=26

This is the link for Gravano's debriefing that I have mentioned where Aurello's name is mentioned.

Going back to the original question in this thread one thing that is the incident with Gravano threatening DiBono. Apparently it was Dellacroce who stood up for him at the sit-down and that obviously would've helped form a link between Gravano and the Dellacroce faction.

Sammy Gravano had a few guys in his crew to become rats, DiLeonard, Fappiano, and D'Amico, but they why guy he claimed would be quick to rat never did. That was his hated brother in law Eddie Garafola, who is doing a thirty year sentence. Anyone know if Eddie Garafola was ever made?

The Wikipedia article for him lists him as an associate, but who knows with Wiki?

As just mentioned in another thread, he is made.

Check out his 2002 indictment -

http://www.thelaborers.net/LOCALS/LU79/Junior_Campbell_indictment%29.htm

is gravano gona get out someday ? with his daughter doing that mob wives he cud come out n do talkshows in america for fuck sake imagine that .. him telling good morning america about his time in jail lol

Wikipedia make Graves disease sound survivable. Any thoughts?