Son of powerful mob family boss Carlo Gambino dies at age 94
NEW YORK — Philanthropist gangster Thomas Gambino, son of the legendary boss Carlo Gambino and partner with his brother in a lucrative Garment District mob monopoly, has died at age 94, according to multiple reports.
The courtly Mafia scion teamed with sibling Joseph to seize control of trucking business in the Manhattan neighborhood west of Seventh Avenue, imposing a 7% “mob tax” on goods manufactured and shipped from local businesses.
The two cut a deal with prosecutors in 1992 to avoid jail by paying $12 million in fines, selling off their trucks and agreeing to stay out of the trucking business, with authorities identifying Thomas as the head of the scam and Joseph as its top operating officer.
Authorities estimated the brothers grossed roughly $70 million and collected $22 million in profits, initially through violence and intimidation until the tax was accepted simply as the cost of doing business. Their corrupt operation assigned specific zones to drivers in the district to eliminate any competitive bidding in the busy neighborhood.
Gambino, who married the daughter of Lucchese family head Tommy Lucchese, was later convicted in a separate trial for running a Connecticut gambling and loan-sharking operation under the regime of family boss John Gotti at a trial highlighted by the testimony of turncoat underboss Sammy (The Bull) Gravano.
His Sicilian immigrant father ran the crime family for two decades while Thomas Gambino eventually ascended to mob capo, even as he and his sibling donated millions of dollars to charitable organizations and he worked as an usher at a church near his Lido Beach country home on Long Island.
According to reports, Thomas was inducted as a made member of the Gambinos after the death of his “Boss of All Bosses” father and the rise of his relative Paul Castellano, who was famously whacked by Gotti’s hitmen outside Sparks Steak House back in December 1985.
Gotti, on one of many conversations recorded by law enforcement, once described Thomas as a “sweetheart.” Recorded chats between Gotti and Thomas Gambino also captured him acknowledging his position as a captain and admitting to a loan-sharking business before serving four years behind bars.
In another infamous tale revealed in 1991, celebrity fashion designer Bob Mackie created a new wardrobe for Joseph Gambino’s wife and dresses for relatives before an upcoming family wedding to help pay off a loan from the Gambino brothers.
The siblings were also known for their philanthropy, giving more than $1 million toward the building of a state-of-the-art children’s cancer center on Long Island and making additional donations to another cancer foundation. Their father, who died of natural causes in 1976 at the age of 74, took over as head of the crime family after the barber chair slaying of Albert Anastasia inside the Park Sheraton Hotel, while sibling Joseph passed away in 2020 at age 84.
