Aniello John "Neil" Dellacroce (15 March 1914 – 2 December 1985) was an underboss of the Gambino crime family under Carlo Gambino. He was a mentor to future Gambino boss John Gotti.
Biography[]
Aniello Dellacroce was born in New York City, New York on 15 March 1914, and he grew up in the Little Italy section of Manhattan. Work was scarce while he was a teenager, leading to him turning to a life of crime, being jailed once for petty theft. Dellacroce passed himself off as "Father O'Neil" on occasion, murdering one person while dressed as a priest; this confused the NYPD. During the 1930s, he joined the Gambino crime family, and he became a protege of underboss Albert Anastasia. After Vincent Mangano's disappearance and the rise of Anastasia to power, Dellacroce was made Anastasia's underboss. In 1957, Carlo Gambino, Tommy Lucchese, and Vito Genovese had Anastasia murdered, and Gambino took over the family. In 1965, Gambino removed the aging Joseph Biondo from his position as underboss and made Dellacroce his new underboss. In 1973, he was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to five years in prison, and he was kept as underboss when Paul Castellano took over as boss; Gambino knew that Dellacroce would be disappointed that he was passed over, so he forced Castellano to keep Dellacroce in a high position. Dellacroce refused to consider a move against Castellano until his death of lung cancer in 1985, upon which his subordinates, led by John Gotti, rebelled against Castellano.