Vince As Head of The Gambino Family
Mangano was named head of what was then the Mineo family in 1931, following the Castellammarese War. He was one of the original bosses of the modern Five Families, the others being Joe Bonanno, Lucky Luciano, Joe Profaci and Tommy Gagliano.
Mangano was an older mafioso who was very much steeped in the Old World ideals of "honor," "tradition," "respect" and "dignity." While he was still in many ways a Mustache Pete, he was more forward-looking than Maranzano and Joe Masseria, and was thus allowed to stay in power after Luciano and the other "Young Turks" eliminated Maranzano.
Mangano and Camarda established the City Democratic Club, which promoted bedrock American values in the front room, while illegal activities were planned in the backroom. It became a regular meeting place for the members of Murder, Inc., the infamous gang of assassins who, for a price, did the bidding of syndicate mobsters. Vincent's underboss, Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia, was also operating head of Murder, Inc. and was a frequent patron of the club, as was Phillip Mangano.
Mangano made the waterfront his family's main income producer. He and his associates would threaten to prevent cargo from being loaded or unloaded if the shipping company refused to pay a tribute. This effort was helped by the family's control of Brooklyn Local 1814 of the International Longshoremen's Association; its president, Anthony Anastasio (Albert's brother; he kept the original spelling of his last name) was a member of the family. Mangano would force workers to pay a fee for every day they worked on the docks - because of this, the mob knew exactly what was on each ship and could choose what to steal.
Other prominent members during Mangano's time were Carlo Gambino, Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce and Paul Castellano.
Read more about this topic: Vincent Mangano
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