Joe Gallo

Joseph Gallo, known as "Crazy Joe," was born on April 7, 1929, and became a notorious figure in the world of organized crime as a captain in the Colombo crime family of New York City. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in his youth, Gallo's early life was marked by challenges that would shape his future in the criminal underworld. He began his career as an enforcer in the Profaci crime family, eventually forming his own crew alongside his brothers, Larry and Albert.

In 1957, Gallo's crew was allegedly tasked by Joe Profaci to eliminate Albert Anastasia, the head of what would later become the Gambino crime family. Anastasia was subsequently murdered in a barbershop in Midtown Manhattan. The following year, tensions escalated when the Gallo brothers kidnapped four of Profaci's top men, demanding a more favorable financial arrangement for their release. After weeks of negotiation, a deal was struck, leading to the First Colombo War.

Gallo's criminal activities caught up with him in 1961 when he was sentenced to seven to fourteen years in prison for conspiracy and extortion. During his time behind bars, the power dynamics within the Colombo family shifted, leading to a murder attempt against Carmine Persico by the Gallo brothers in 1963. Despite a peace agreement brokered by Patriarca family boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca, Gallo's refusal to comply with the terms due to his imprisonment further fueled the conflict.

Upon his release in 1971, Gallo's relationship with the Colombo family had soured. A peace offering of one thousand dollars from boss Joseph Colombo was rejected by Gallo, who demanded one hundred thousand dollars instead. The situation escalated dramatically when Colombo was shot at an Italian-American Civil Rights League rally, an act that many in the family attributed to Gallo, inciting the Second Colombo War.

Tragically, on April 7, 1972, Gallo was shot dead at Umbertos Clam House in New York's Little Italy while celebrating his forty-third birthday. The circumstances surrounding his murder remain shrouded in mystery, with various accounts of the assailant or assailants, leaving the case officially unsolved.