Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo (7 April 1929-7 April 1972) was a caporegime of the Colombo crime family who rebelled against the family, beginning one of the bloodiest mob wars since the Castellammarese War. Gallo rebelled against Don Joe Profaci in 1961, and he was imprisoned for his role in the war; he recruited several African-American prisoners into his crew before leaving. In 1971, after his release, he attempted to overthrow Don Joseph Colombo, and one of his hitmen failed to kill Colombo. After the failed hit attempt, Colombo had Gallo killed at Umberto's Clam House in Little Italy.
Biography[]
Joseph Gallo was born in 1929 in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of a Prohibition bootlegger. In 1950, Gallo was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but he managed to rise in the ranks of the Colombo crime family of the American Mafia; in 1957, Gallo and Carmine Persico were rumored to have taken part in the murder of Albert Anastasia at a barbershop. In 1961, Joe and his crew attempted to kidnap Joe Profaci and the other leaders of the family in order to seize power for themselves. Profaci wasn’t captured but the rest of the leaders were. Larry was saved from assassination due to the intervention of a policeman. However, Gallo was imprisoned, and he befriended African-American gangster Nicky Barnes while he was in prison, and he coached him on how to take over Harlem, sensing that the Mafia would lose control of Harlem to African-American gangs. Gallo would recruit black soldiers into his crew after leaving prison, having been paroled after saving a wounded corrections officer from rioting inmates. In 1971, Gallo returned home from prison, and Gambino crime family boss Carlo Gambino encouraged Gallo to challenge Joseph Colombo's control over the former Profaci family.
Colombo hit attempt and downfall[]
On 28 July 1971, African-American Gallo crew hitman Jerome Johnson shot Colombo in the head while posing as a reporter, and Johnson was shot dead by Colombo bodyguards. The Colombos believed that Johnson was one of Gallo's prison recruits, and they decided to assassinate him and put an end to his plots. On 7 April 1972, Gallo, his family, and a few bodyguards headed to Umberto's Clam House in the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan to celebrate his 43rd birthday, and four gunmen burst into the dining room, shooting at Gallo. Gallo overturned a butcher block table to give him cover, but he was hit in the back, elbow, and buttocks by bullets, and his face fell into his spaghetti. He staggered towards the door before collapsing on the main street, dying of his wounds.