Louis Robert Gigante (March 19, 1932October 19, 2022) was an American priest of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and a Bronx community activist, serving as one of the borough's

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members. He founded the South East Bronx Community Organization (SEBCO).

Early life

Gigante was born in

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on March 19, 1932. His father, Salvatore, was employed as a watchmaker; his mother, Yolanda (Santasilia), worked as a seamstress. Both

immigrated to the United States Immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than any other country in the world, ...

from Naples and did not speak English. He was the brother of two

Genovese crime family The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American M ...

members, family boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante and top capo/acting boss

Mario Gigante Mario "the shadow" Gigante (November 4, 1923 – March 10, 2022) was an American mobster in New York City who served as caporegime for the Genovese crime family. He was the elder brother of late family boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante. Biography ...

. Gigante was raised in

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and attended Cardinal Hayes High School in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. He played for its basketball team that won the Catholic schools city championship in 1949, before graduating the following year. He was awarded an athletic scholarship by

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, where he was a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

and co-captain of the

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. After graduating in 1954, he attended

St. Joseph's Seminary and College St. Joseph's Seminary and College, sometimes referred to as Dunwoodie after the Yonkers, New York neighborhood it is located in, is the major seminary of the Archdiocese of New York.Remigius Lafort, S.T.D., Censor, The Catholic Church in the Uni ...

and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1959.

Presbyteral ministry

As a Catholic priest at St. Athanasius Church in the South Bronx neighborhood of Longwood, Gigante was one of the leading proponents of

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reform in the late 1960s. As the parish priest, members of his congregation included future

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Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor when she was a teenager. In the fall of 1968, he founded the South East Bronx Community Organization (SEBCO), with funds from the federal Section 8 housing program, through which tenants pay 30 percent of their income in rent and the federal government pays the difference. SEBCO was generally considered to be one of the organizations most responsible for the economic and civic rehabilitation of the depressed South Bronx area. Gigante ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1970. By 1981, he had orchestrated the construction and rehabilitation of 1,100 federally subsidized apartments in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx. He claimed credit for the rejuvenation of the Bronx, saying "I brought the neighborhood up from ashes to help the people in the South Bronx. There isn't one other organization that can take credit." Later investigation revealed that SEBCO and other construction projects in the Bronx enriched both Gigante – who died with at least three homes and a $7 million fortune – and members of the Genovese crime syndicate, including Gigante's brothers. Other accusations range from Gigante being a slumlord to him being too old to manage such a large project.

Political career

In November 1973, Gigante was elected to the

and represented the 8th City Council district until 1977, when he opted not to run for re-election.

Later life

On July 30, 2021, it was reported that Gigante sexually abused a nine-year-old boy on multiple occasions during the mid-1970s while working at St. Athanasius Church. Another lawsuit filed the same year alleged that he sexually assaulted a girl in the early 1960s. Both cases were at the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

(the state's trial court) and not yet decided at the time of his death. Gigante died on October 19, 2022, at age 90.

Personal life

After he died, his will revealed he was a multimillionaire with a fortune of $7 million and he left nearly all his fortune to a single beneficiary, to the son he had while he was a priest, Gino Gigante.

Notes

External links

"Murphy's Flaw"
''City Limits'', February 1997. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gigante, Louis 1932 births 2022 deaths American people of Italian descent American Roman Catholic priests Genovese crime family Politicians from the Bronx New York City Council members People of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York New York (state) Democrats