Gerard Pappa - Rescuing Gravano and "Joe Vitale."

Rescuing Gravano and "Joe Vitale."

While a member of the Rampers with Gravano and others, he rescued Sammy Gravano and fellow Ramper "Joe V. (otherwise known as Joe Vitale)'s life, who was nearly fatally shot in the abdomen during a bungled car theft in Bensonhurst. He bandaged up Joe V. who was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the side and thought to be in critical condition. Sammy thought that he had been shot in the head. The two gang members had been shot by a distraught citizen who was attempting to pursue Pappa and the others for stealing his car. He drove Joe Vitale. to Coney Island Hospital where he dropped himself out front of the emergency ward. Afterward, he drove Gravano to a doctor who practiced in Upstate New York that could be relied upon for discretion. According to Gerard's doctor associate, he discovered that the bullet instead of entering his brain, had grazed Gravano's temple taking off a small shard of skull behind and slightly above his ear. In the hospital, due to Gerard's rescue efforts, Joe Vitale. miraculously survived his nearly fatal gunshot wound.