Charles Carneglia (born 1946) is an American mobster in 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 the Ame ...

. Carneglia was born 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 ...

in 1946. Charles Carneglia and his brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

owned a junkyard in the

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...

section of Brooklyn that was reportedly used for

narcotics trafficking The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

, disassembling of stolen cars, and burying mob murder victims. John would allegedly remove jewelry from corpses prior to dissolving them in

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

and then hang the baubles as trophies from the basement rafters. During the 1970s, John unofficially adopted Kevin McMahon, a 12-year-old boy he discovered sleeping in his pool house. John served as a surrogate father to McMahon until John's imprisonment in 1989. After that, Charles supervised McMahon's activities as a Gambino associate. In 2009, McMahon became a government witness and testified against Charles. Carneglia was allegedly involved in the 1976 murder of Albert Gelb, a court officer, four days before he was scheduled to testify in a gun case against Carneglia. During the 1970s, Carneglia became a trusted confidante of

John Gotti John Joseph Gotti Jr.Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 25–26 (, ; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American gangster and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino boss ...

, who was a rising star in the Gambino crime family. Brooklyn federal court papers filed by federal prosecutors contain allegations that Carneglia killed

John Favara John Favara (March 4, 1929 – disappeared July 28, 1980, later declared dead in 1983) was the backyard neighbor of Gambino crime family captain and later boss John Gotti, in Howard Beach, New York, United States, who disappeared on July 28, ...

in 1980 and disposed of his body in acid after he accidentally hit and killed Gotti's son, Frank, with his car. On October 4, 1990, Carneglia and other Gambino crime family associates murdered Louis DiBono in his vehicle, at the underground parking garage of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

. In return for the murder, he received an initiation into John Gotti's inner circle. Five years later, Carneglia and

John Alite John Edward Alite (born September 30, 1962) is an American former Gambino crime family associate and a government witness who testified against the crime family and John A. "Junior" Gotti in 2008. That year, Alite pleaded guilty to racketeerin ...

were involved in a major conspiracy to murder John A. Gotti. Alite agreed to testify in the trial of Carneglia in 2008–09. In 2009, Carneglia received a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

for four murders and Class-A drug dealing, amongst other crimes. As of May 2021, Carneglia is being held at high security prison

USP Canaan The United States Penitentiary, Canaan (USP Canaan) is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates, with a satellite prison camp for minimum-security male inmates. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of t ...

located in Pennsylvania and has no release date. He is inmate number 08773-016 and is 74 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carneglia, Charles Living people 1946 births Gambino crime family American gangsters of Italian descent Incarcerated gangsters Mafia hitmen Gangsters sentenced to life imprisonment American people convicted of murder American people convicted of drug offenses People convicted of racketeering American drug traffickers Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government