Carmine Galante (1910-1979)

Galante was born into an Italian immigrant family in East Harlem, New York. His gained much gang experience at an early age by forming a juvenile street gang by the age of 11.

Galante became a leading enforcer for the mob during prohibition. In 1930 Galante was sentenced to 12 years in prison for shooting a cop and an innocent girl. He was released by 1939 and began carrying out hits for one of the most powerful mobsters of his time, Vito Genevese. Galante rose quickly through the ranks, after becoming Joe Bonanno’s personal chauffeur to underboss of the Bonanno crime family. He eventually gained control of the Bonanno family in 1974 after a 12 year prison sentence from 1962-1974.

During this time he organized some of the biggest hits in mob history, including 8 members of the Gambino family in order to gain control of the drug trafficking business. 1979 Galante’s reign as boss ended as he was assassinated by Anthony Indelicato. The hit was order by the other families in New York as they saw Galante’s attempts to gain control of the heroin trade as a threat to all their investments and businesses.