Mafia Commission Trial

The Mafia Commission Trial (February 25, 1985–November 19, 1986) was a criminal trial in New York City, USA. Using evidence obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, eleven organized crime figures, including the heads of New York's so-called "Five Families," were indicted by United States Attorney Rudolph Giuliani under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) on charges including extortion, labor racketeering, and murder for hire. The case struck a blow against "The Commission," a loose organization of the New York Mafia organizations that met to resolve disputes or discuss criminal activities, sometimes likened to organized crime's board of directors. Time Magazine called this "Case of Cases" possibly "the most significant assault on the infrastructure of organized crime since the high command of the Chicago Mafia was swept away in 1943," and quoted Giuliani's stated intention: "Our approach... is to wipe out the five families."

The initial defendants included:

• Paul "Big Paul" Castellano, Boss of the Gambino crime family
• Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, Boss of the Genovese crime family
• Carmine "Junior" Persico, Boss of the Colombo Family
• Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, Boss of the Lucchese crime family
• Philip "Rusty" Rastelli, Boss of the Bonanno family,

as well as their subordinates,

• Aniello "The Lamb" Dellacroce, (a.k.a. "Mr. Neil") Gambino Family Underboss
• Gennaro "Gerry Lang" Langella, Colombo Family Acting Boss/Underboss
• Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro, Lucchese Family Underboss
• Christopher "Christy Tick" Furnari, Lucchese Family Consigliere
• Ralph "Ralphie" Scopo, Colombo Family soldier,
• Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato, Bonanno Family soldier.

Philip Rastelli was granted a separate trial, Aniello Dellacroce died of cancer on December 2, 1985, and Paul Castellano was murdered two weeks later. The remaining eight defendants were found guilty on all 151 counts on November 19, 1986, and were sentenced on January 13, 1987.