Aniello John "Neil" Dellacroce (March 15, 1914 – December 2, 1985) was an American mobster and underboss of the Gambino crime family of New York City. He rose to the position of underboss when Carlo Gambino moved Joseph Biondo aside. Dellacroce was a mentor to future Gambino boss John Gotti.

Early life

Dellacroce was born on March 15, 1914, in New York City to Francesco and Antoinette Dellacroce, first generation immigrants from Italy.

Aniello Dellacroce, which in Italian means "little lamb of the cross", was alleged to have taken pleasure in killing people. "He likes to peer into a victim's face, like some kind of dark angel, at the moment of death", according to a federal agent familiar with Dellacroce.

Career

right|180px|thumb|1930 mugshot of Dellacroce, sentenced to two and half years for store burglary conviction

In the late 1930s, Dellacroce joined the Mangano crime family, forerunner of the Gambino family, and soon became involved with underboss Albert Anastasia. After the disappearance of longtime boss Vincent Mangano, Anastasia became family boss and promoted Dellacroce to capo. Some Gambino members nicknamed him "the Polack", a nickname never used within his earshot. Carlo Gambino took over the family. In September 1966 he was arrested along with twelve others after attending the La Stella Restaurant meeting.

According to records from the Knapp Commission, which investigated police corruption in a number of industries beginning in 1970, Dellacroce and other mobsters were involved in after-hours bars that catered to homosexuals in the West Village, Manhattan.

In 1971, Dellacroce was sentenced to one year in state prison on contempt charges for refusing to answer grand jury questions about organized crime. In March 1973, Dellacroce was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to five years in prison and fined $15,000.

On October 15, 1976, Carlo Gambino died at home of natural causes. Against expectations, he had appointed Paul Castellano to succeed him over his underboss Dellacroce. Gambino appeared to believe that his crime family would benefit from Castellano's focus on white collar businesses. Dellacroce, at the time, was imprisoned for tax evasion and was unable to contest Castellano's succession.

Castellano's succession was confirmed at a meeting on November 24, with Dellacroce present. Castellano arranged for Dellacroce to remain as underboss while directly running traditional Cosa Nostra activities such as extortion, robbery, and loansharking. While Dellacroce accepted Castellano's succession, the deal effectively split the Gambino family into two rival factions. While on trial, Plate disappeared. The case ended in a mistrial.

On February 25, 1985, Dellacroce was indicted along with the leaders of the other New York Five Families as part of the Mafia Commission Trial. On March 28, 1985, Dellacroce, along with his son Armand and eight others, was indicted on federal racketeering charges regarding the activities of two crews in New York and Long Island. In June 1985, a Doonesbury comic featuring Frank Sinatra and Dellacroce together, and saying that Dellacroce was charged with the murder of Calise resulted in many papers not running the comic strip.

Death

On December 2, 1985, Dellacroce died of cancer, aged 71, at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens.

Posthumous

After Dellacroce's death in 1985, Castellano revised his succession plan, appointing Thomas Bilotti as underboss and making plans to break up Gotti's crew. Infuriated by both this and Castellano's failure to attend Dellacroce's wake, When the boss and underboss arrived that evening, they were ambushed and shot dead by assassins under Gotti's command. Gotti watched the hit from his car with Sammy Gravano.

In April 1988, Dellacroce's son, Armond, died while hiding in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He had been convicted of racketeering and had failed to appear for sentencing in March. The cause of death was listed as cirrhosis and a cocaine overdose.

Media portrayal

In the TV movie Getting Gotti (1994), Dellacroce is portrayed by Peter Boretski. In the TV movie Gotti (1996), Dellacroce is portrayed by Anthony Quinn. In the TV movie Boss of Bosses (2001), he is portrayed by Dayton Callie. Stacy Keach portrays Dellacroce in the John Gotti biopic Gotti (2018), directed by Kevin Connolly and starring John Travolta as Gotti. In perhaps the film's most memorable scene, Keach as Dellacroce teaches Travolta's Gotti the names of the five boroughs of New York City. In the 2018 television series Kingpin (2018), Dellacroce is portrayed by Ralph Bracco.

References

Further reading

  • Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002.
  • Jacobs, James B., Christopher Panarella and Jay Worthington. Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra. New York: NYU Press, 1994.
  • Maas, Peter. Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997.
  • Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005.
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs. 1988. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DQeMhDjHx58C&q=Aniello+Dellacroce]
  • http://www.thechicagosyndicate.com/2006/03/real-dons-steal-sopranos-limelight.html
  • http://www.thechicagosyndicate.com/2006/02/gottis-girl.html