Nicholas Scibetta, also known as "Little Nicky" (died 1978), was a

Sicilian American Sicilian Americans (Sicilian language, Sicilian: ''Sìculu-miricani; Italian language, Italian: Siculoamericani'') are Americans of Italian people, Italian Sicilians, Sicilian birth or ancestry. They are a large ethnic group in the United States. ...

mobster who was the nephew of Joseph and John Zicarelli, the brother-in-law of mobster

Sammy Gravano Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano (born March 12, 1945) is an American former mobster who became underboss of the Gambino crime family. Gravano played a major role in prosecuting John Gotti, the crime family's boss, by agreeing to testify as a ...

and uncle of Gerard Gravano, who was a

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 ...

mob associate who was later marked as an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

by fellow crime family members.

Early life

Scibetta was born and raised in

Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...

, like his future brother-in-law Gravano. He was the only son born to first-generation immigrants, his father from

Cammarata Cammarata is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about north of Agrigento on the eponymous mountain, which has an elevation above sea level in a territory ...

in the

province of Agrigento The Province of Agrigento ( it, Provincia di Agrigento; scn, Pruvincia di Girgenti; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Agrigento'') is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy, situated on its south-western coast. Follo ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, and his

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

mother from

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...

. Scibetta had two older sisters, Debra and Diane. His mother was a housewife and their father was "a terrific father, but very strict" man who was a certified

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

who worked the night shift for

Western Electric The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...

(now

AT&T Technologies AT&T Technologies, Inc., was created by AT&T in 1983 in preparation for the breakup of the Bell System, which became effective as of January 1, 1984. It assumed the corporate charter of Western Electric Co., Inc. History Creation AT&T (orig ...

) putting together circuit boards for the telephone company. In 1971, Gravano married Debra.

Falling out with the Gambino crime family and murder

In 1978, Castellano allegedly ordered the murder of Gambino associate Scibetta. A

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

and

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

user, Scibetta participated in several public fights and insulted the daughter of George DeCicco. Since Scibetta was Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano's brother-in-law, Castellano asked

Frank DeCicco Frank DeCicco (November 5, 1935 – April 13, 1986), also known as Frankie D and Frankie Cheech, was an American mobster consigliere and eventual underboss for the Gambino crime family in New York City. Background DeCicco was the son of Vincent ...

to first notify Gravano of the impending hit. When advised of Scibetta's fate, a furious Gravano said he would kill Castellano first. However, Gravano was eventually calmed by DeCicco and accepted Scibetta's death as the punishment earned by his behavior. Another part of the motive for the murder was that Scibetta was suspected of being gay. Gravano later said, "I chose against Nicky. I took an oath that Cosa Nostra came before everything." Scibetta was dismembered and his body was never found other than an arm.

In popular culture

In the made-for-television HBO movie '' Gotti'', Scibetta is portrayed as "Nicky Scibetta" by actor Frank Crudele. In the film ''

Witness to the Mob ''Witness to the Mob'' is a made-for-TV film which premiered on Sunday, May 10, and concluded on Monday, May 11, 1998. Plot Based on a true story, the film follows the rise of Sammy Gravano in ranks in the Gambino crime family, one of the "Five F ...

'', Nicky is portrayed by actor

Kirk Acevedo Kirk M. Acevedo (born November 27, 1971) is an American actor. He is primarily known for his work on television for the portrayals of Miguel Alvarez in the HBO series '' Oz'', Joe Toye in '' Band of Brothers'', and FBI Agent Charlie Francis i ...

. He is allegedly a real-life inspiration for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

prison drama series '' Oz'' characters father and son

Nino Schibetta The characters of '' Oz'', fictional characters on the television series about prison life, are a diverse mixture of inmates from various gangs and prison staff. Main inmates Key Other inmates The Aryans The Aryans are a f ...

and Peter Schibetta.

Discrepancies in film

In the television movie ''Gotti'',

, portrayed by William Forsythe, murders Nicholas by himself in a construction supply warehouse, while in his autobiography ''Underboss'' he states that members his own crew, allegedly Liborio Milito, Joseph D'Angelo and

, carried out the murder contract for

Paul Castellano Constantino Paul Castellano (; June 26, 1915 – December 16, 1985), was an American crime boss who succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family. Castellano was killed in an unsanctioned hit on December 16, 1985. Early life Cast ...

and not Gravano. The Gravano character also states that his wife Debra, the sister of Nicholas, would be divorcing him after he testified in court about being an accomplice in both before and after the fact of Nicholas' gangland execution. Debra did not.

References

External links