Does anyone know what happened to his crew after the Castellano hit?

I read it somewhere he got knocked down to soldier after Johnny Boy took over the Gambino Borgata, since Nino was Big Paul's boy. Also, if my memory serves me right, Gaggi was in prison at the time.

Nino went to jail about the time gotti took over and he died in 88 so he reallydidn't answer to gotti much at all. Nino crew was paul's old crew and many of those guys were older gangsters. the only guys that were young were the demeo crew and by that time roy was dead, the others were in jail and joe and anthony defected to lucchese family

And he also had his nephew Dominick Montiglio, doing alot of the street work he used to do during that time. Colletions and the like, from Roy and those boys. Think Dom flipped eventually.

Hi JCrusher! Are there names to any of those old gangsters?

As for the Demeo crew, I know only Roy was a made guy. Before Joe and Anthony went over to the 19th hole, they had not got their stripes yet.

Yeah, he did. He is featured prominently in a lot of the mob documentaries along with other stool pigeons like Jimmy the Weasal. Dom's story is quite interesting as he offered a great insight into the "Brooklyn Faction" of the Gambino Family (along with Mike Scar's testimony). He has a lot contacts with Gambino wiseguys even though he was not made because of his uncle's closeness to Castellano and Carlo.

Although my question was aimed more towards guys who were made in Gaggi's crew, thank you for the reply nonetheless, AmericanCrime.

Ya i'm not sure of the names of those gangsters. I think the eppolitos were apart of his crew but they were gunned down by roy and nino in 79. Also you are right roy was the only made guy from the demeo crew

Yup, Eppolitos were in Gaggi's crew. (Although, wikipedia, such a "trusted" source, states otherwise). In fact, if I remembered correctly James Eppolito captained Castellano's old crew before Gaggi took it over after the murders of the Eppolitos.

I think Nino was promoted to capo in 1976 when Big Paul became boss. In fact the ceremony where paul was named boss took place in gaggi's home

You are probably right. I just remembered reading somewhere that James Eppolito Sr was a captain of Gaggi. Anyway, Gaggi had Roy and his crews who were massive earners, so it would have beat having ten "Pat Parisi". Haha.

Ya it was a little confusing to me too. There are som many members from that time that we may never know about. despite all the FBI intelligence and informers ther are many members that we dont know of that may have been good earning/tough wiseguys

I think a couple of guys from Gaggi's crew may be mentioned in Murder Machine. I always wondered what Gaggi thought after the hit on Castellano, he was pretty loyal to Paul. Interestingly for such a big figure in the family Gaggi barely gets a mention in Underboss.

True that.

Take for example, guys in the Valachi chart, like Louis "Babe" Milo. He was listed under Vincent Alo's regime in the Genovese Family. Milo were unheard of in the media and only became known because Joey Cago knew there was a wiseguy by that name who was with Jimmy Blue Eyes. I bet it would be quite a story if we just know a little bit about the life story of any one names from that list(excluding the relatively well-known guys like Fat Tony, Gyp Decaro, Mike Miranda...etc). In the movie, Goodfellas, Ray Liotta, who played Henry Hill, described the 50s as the golden age of the mob. It would be fascinating just to know more about the "unknown' of the mob. Part of the drive behind our obsession with this "secret society", eh? Hehe.

I guess Gaggi was kind of out of the picture by the time of Gotti taking the big chair. Firstly, he was in the can. Secondly, he lost his mentor and backer, Big Paul. Lastly, he lost his right hand man and protege, Roy Demeo, who commanded great respect on the street.

I guess if Nino was on the street when Gotti took over, he would either have to chuck a Joe Butch/Dan Marino/Jimmy Brown Fallia and kowtowed to Gotti or ended up dead. It happened before especially with this particular Borgata. Armand Rava and Vincent Squillante comes to mind. Interestingly, Squillante was Gaggi's first.

The way I understood it, when Nino was made Capo he inherited Pauls old crew of cigar chompers (old timers who were happy to run simple numbers and loan rackets).
Paul never had a strong crew - he didnt need to because he was so close to Carlo.
The DeMeo crew were Nino's biggest earner by far and his main piece of artillery.

According to old FBI documents, that can be found on the Mary Ferrell Foundation Site, in 1965 Carlo Gambino restructured his crime family a little bit.
Alfred "Big Freddy" Eppolito, who had been a capo and who had been indicted for drugdealing, was demoted to the rank of a soldier. He fell into a deep depression and eventually drunk himself to death. His old crew emerged with Paul Castellano´s.
In 1976, when Castellano took over the Gambino Family, Nino Gaggi inherited this crew.
According to books, FBI documents and sources on the internet these guys were members of the Castellano crew:
"Diamond" Louie Eppolito (died in 1975),
James "Jimmy Clam" Eppolito Sr (murdered in 1979),
Nino Gaggi (became capo in 1976),
Olympio "Lilo" Garafolo (became capo of a seperate crew later on; this crew was eventually led by Jackie "Nose" D´Amico and later by Mickey "Scar" DiLeonardo),
Albert Seru,
Luigi "Lulu" Marciano,
Peter "17" Piacenti (later moved to Ciccone crew),
Gandolfo Sciandra (an uncle of Castellano),
Paulie "Zack" Zaccaria.

In the 70s, these guys were made into Gaggi´s crew:
Greg DePalma (later moved to Zingaro crew),
Roy DeMeo (functiond briefly as an acting capo while Gaggi found himself in troubble with the law),
James "JimJim" Eppolito Jr (murdered in 1979).

Wow...Harry, cheers for the great find!

Now you mentioned it, I did recalled Greg Depalma was under Gaggi. Gaggi complained that Greg wouldn't shut his mouth or something. I guess every crew has a "Quack Quack". Haha.

If that is the case, did Louie Ricco inherited Gaggi's crew after Gotti became the boss? According to Mikey Scar's testimony, Greg was with Louie Ricco in the 90s.

Also, I did not know Paulie Zack, mentor to Michael Dileonardo, was in Castellano's crew. So I guess after Castellano became the boss, the crew got split up between Gaggi and Olympio "Lilo" Garafolo. I assume Jackie Nose would be in Castellano's crew before he was made.

Being somewhat of a memberchart freak, the question of what happened to Gaggi´s crew after his death in 1988, is annoyingly nagging me.
I really don´t know. I wish I did.

Hairy, do you have more information about Olympio Garafolo, Paulie Zack or Jackie Nose in pre-Gotti era?

Very hard to come over any solid info on these guys. Especially Garofalo and Zaccaria who managed to duck the radar. Like real oldtimers!

Olimpio GAROFALO
Birth Date: 13 Jun 1904
Death Date: Nov 1986
Social Security Number: 107-18-6348
State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: New York

Death Residence Localities
ZIP Code: 10003
Localities: Cooper, New York,

He doesn´t seem to have had a major rapsheet, so he was pretty much unkown to the authorities. Pretty much an old timer who made his money by bookmaking. In the 80s, FBI listed his address as 151 2nd Avenue, New York, NY.

Paul Robert ZACCARIA
Birth Date: 5 Jul 1924
Death Date: 10 Feb 2007
Social Security Number: 111-18-9416
State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: New York

Death Residence Localities
ZIP Code: 11224
Localities: Brooklyn, Kings, New York

As you said, Paulie Zack became mentor to Mickey Scars.
His father (Carlo Zaccaria), was also a mafiamember and close to the Castellano/Gambino clan. In the 80s, the FBI listed his address as 2268 National Drive, Brooklyn, NY.

When it comes to D´Amico, I doubt that I have more info on him than what´s already out on the internet.

i noticed something interesting on dominic montiglio..i have seen him give 2 different versions of things that happened on different shows ..On the hit that they killed the guy who broke nino gaggi's nose ..he once claimed that he was at a birthday party and roy demeo came over and said guess who's on the corner at such and such st. and they went out and killed him ..and then in another he claimed that he saw the guy ..still admitted to the crime, but it shows whatever he says should be taken with a grain of salt !!

Peter Piacenti was the guy Gaggi and Demeo used to set up the Eppolito's, Piacenti had no idea they were going to kill them. Diamond Louie Eppolito was Lou Eppolito's grand father, and the the "clam" and "jimjim" were his uncle and cousin. Was Alfred "Big Freddy" Eppolito a relative too? It's amazing how Louie Eppolito was able to become a cop, and later a dective coming from such up a "mobbed" up family, his father was a soldier too. Louie Eppolito must have some great stories, and he fancied himself as a screen writer before he was convicted, so he could probably make a fascianting book on himself, but I think he is too delusional in his "innocent" act to ever be truthful.

Wow, Guys this is a great post.

Gerry, I believed Louie was in Goodfellas too. He played a wiseguy called Fat Andy when the film introduced wiseguys who hung out at the Bamboo Lounge.

I believe alfred would have been Louie's uncle. Louie's father was Ralph"Fat The Gangster" Eppolito. I think Alfred may hve have been Ralph's brother.

Yeah, he was in Goodfellas, and supposedly had bit parts in a few other movies. He also fancied himself as a screenwriter, and ripped off some old lady of her life savings to write her life story.

That's right, Louie's old man was "fat the gangster," I forgot that for a minute. His cousin, Frank Santora was also a connected guy. Santora is the one who got him connected with Gaspipe, via Burt Kaplan.

I just want to confirm it. Yes, they were all brothers (Alfred, Jimmy Clam and Ralph). I´m kinda sure that Ralph never got made, even though some sources claim he was.

http://www.nysun.com/new-york/remembering-petey-17-gambler-nice-guy/51899/

Background on Piacenti.

DJ, Montiglio didn't lie- there were two different incidents where the victim was located and they then attempted to get him

Yes, obviously the cops were a bit carefree about who they recruited back in the day!