Joey Gallo’s toughness was unequaled in a period filled with tough, stone killers. But Gallo thought of himself as more than a thug. He thought of himself as an artist, a poet. He thought of himself as the boss of a multi-ethnic mafia family that ruled New York. The rest of the underworld just thought he was crazy. The Gallo Murder............. On April 7, 1972, Colombo family gunmen murdered Joe Gallo in a Manhattan restaurant. At 4:30 a.m. that day, Gallo and his family entered Umbertos Clam House in Little Italy, Manhattan. He was there to celebrate his 43rd birthday with sister Carmella, wife Sina Essary, her daughter Lisa, his bodyguard Peter Pete the Greek Diapoulas, and Diapoulas female companion. Earlier that evening, the Gallo party visited the Copacabana Club in Manhattan with Jerry and Marta Orbach to see a performance by comedian Don Rickles. Once at Umbertos, the Gallo party took two tables, with Gallo and Diapoulas facing the wall. Unknown to Gallo, Colombo associate Joseph Luparelli was sitting at the bar. When he saw Gallo, Luparelli immediately left Umbertos and walked two blocks to another restaurant that was a Colombo hangout. After contacting Yacovelli, Luparelli recruited Colombo associates Philip Gambino, Carmine DiBiase, and two other men to kill Gallo. On reaching Umbertos, Luparelli stayed in the car and the other four men went inside through the back door. Between seafood courses, the four gunmen burst into the dining room and opened fire with .32 and .38 caliber revolvers. Gallo swore and drew his handgun. Twenty shots were fired and Gallo was hit in the back, elbow, and buttock. After overturning a butcher block dining table, Gallo staggered to the front door. Witnesses claimed that Gallo was attempting to draw fire away from his family. Diapoulas was shot once in the buttocks as he dove for cover. The mortally wounded Gallo stumbled into the street and collapsed. He was taken in a police car to New York Downtown Hospital (then called Beekman-Downtown Hospital). Joe Gallo died in the emergency department. A differing account of the murder was offered by hitman and union activist Frank Sheeran in a series of confessions made before his 2003 death. Sheeran claimed that he was the lone triggerman in the Gallo hit . After Gallos murder, a frightened Yacovelli left town. The Colombo family was now led by the imprisoned Carmine Persico and his clan. The Second Colombo War lasted for several years until a 1974 agreement allowed Albert Gallo and his remaining crew to join the Genovese crime family. Gallos death was the subject of Bob Dylan and Jacques Levys song Joey, recorded by Dylan on his 1976 album Desire.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 03:00:20 +0000
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