Aniello John "Neil" Dellacroce (March 15, 1914 – December 2, 1985) was an American mobster and underboss of the

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as th ...

. He rose to the position of underboss when

Carlo Gambino Carlo Gambino (; August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was an Italian-American crime boss of the Gambino crime family. After the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese in 1959, Gambino took over the Commission o ...

moved Joseph Biondo aside. Dellacroce was a mentor to future Gambino boss John Gotti.Raab, p. 354.

Early life

Dellacroce was born on March 15, 1914, in New York City to Francesco and Antoinette Dellacroce, first generation immigrants from Italy. He grew up in the Little Italy section of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. His nickname "Neil" was an Americanization of "Aniello". Dellacroce had one brother, Carmine. Aniello was married to Lucille Riccardi. They had four children. As a teenager, Dellacroce became a butcher's assistant, but work was scarce and he took to crime. He was jailed once for petty theft. Dellacroce sometimes walked around

dressed as a priest and called himself "Father O'Neil" to confuse both the police and rival mobsters. Dellacroce allegedly committed a murder dressed as a priest. He also allegedly used a body double for some public events."Aniello 'Mr. Neil' Dellacroce"
Aniello Dellacroce, which in Italian means "little lamb of the cross", took 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

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. Due to his square-shaped face, some Gambino members nicknamed him " the Polack", a nickname never used within his earshot. Dellacroce later became mentor to John Gotti. Dellacroce bought the Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy, which soon became a popular Gambino social club and Dellacroce's headquarters. On October 25, 1957, gunmen murdered Anastasia in a Manhattan hotel barbershop.

took over the family. In 1965, Gambino removed the aging Joseph Biondo from his underboss position and appointed Dellacroce to replace him."Aniello Dellacroce"
La Cosa Nostra Database 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 A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a p ...

questions about organized crime. On May 2, 1972, Dellacroce was indicted on federal tax evasion charges. In return for labor peace, the Yankee Plastics Company of New York gave Dellacroce 22,500 stock shares worth $112,500. He was indicted on a failure to pay federal

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Ta ...

on these stocks. 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.O'Brien, Kurins, pp. 106–108 While Dellacroce accepted Castellano's succession, the deal effectively split the Gambino family into two rival factions. In 1979, he along with Anthony Plate, were arrested for the 1974 murder of a New York City bookmaker named Charles Calise. The FBI believed Dellacroce had ordered Plate to murder Calise because he was an informant. 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 ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, ...

comic featuring

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

and Dellacroce together, and saying that Dellacroce was charged with the murder of Calise resulted in many papers not running the comic strip. On July 1, 1985, Dellacroce and the other New York Mafia leaders, pleaded not guilty to a second set of racketeering charges as part of the trial.

Death

On December 2, 1985, Dellacroce died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, aged 71, at Mary Immaculate Hospital in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. He was buried in Saint John's Cemetery, 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.Davis, pp. 263–266Capeci, Mustain (1996), p. 97 Infuriated by both this and Castellano's failure to attend Dellacroce's wake, Gotti resolved to kill his boss. When Frank DeCicco tipped Gotti off that he, DeCicco, would be having a meeting with Castellano and several other Gambino mobsters at Sparks Steak House on December 16, 1985, Gotti chose to take the opportunity. The evening of the meeting, when the boss and underboss arrived, 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 Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He had been convicted of racketeering and had failed to appear for sentencing in March. The cause of death was listed as

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue rep ...

and a

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

overdose."Fugitive in a Mafia Case Turns Up Dead"
New York Times April 7, 1988 In the TV movie ''

Getting Gotti ''Getting Gotti'' is a 1994 TV film centered on an Assistant United States Attorney named Diane Giacalone, and her attempts to build a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case against John Gotti and the Gambino crime family ...

'' (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 Dayton Callie (born 1946) is an American actor, best known for playing Charlie Utter on HBO's '' Deadwood'', former Police Chief Wayne Unser on ''Sons of Anarchy'', and Jeremiah Otto on AMC's '' Fear the Walking Dead''. He has also voiced W ...

. Stacy Keach portrays Dellacroce in the John Gotti biopic '' Gotti'' (2018), directed by Kevin Connolly and starring

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom '' Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes '' Carrie'' ( ...

as Gotti. In the 2018 television series '' Kingpin'' (2018), he is portrayed by Ralph Bracco.

References

External links