On this day in 1940 the former acting boss of the Gambino Crime Family, Nicholas Corozzo was born. Little Nick was a rival of John Gotti during the 1980’s but because Corozzo was a good earner for the family, Gotti didn’t get rid of him by the time he became boss in the mid-80’s. By the mid-1990’s with Gotti behind bars, Corozzo stood in as acting boss but was then jailed in 1997, and then spent the next 11-12 years in and out of jail.

His expected release was March 2, 2020.

Born on this day, the 17th of March 1940, Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo would go on to become one of the most powerful and enduring figures within the Gambino Crime Family, one of New York's legendary Five Families whose roots stretch back to the era of Lucky Luciano and the formation of the American Mob's Commission in 1931. Corozzo's rise through the ranks of organised crime is a story of cunning survival, fierce loyalty to the family over any single individual, and an instinct for making money that kept him alive when lesser men might have found themselves at the bottom of a river.

Corozzo built his reputation as a formidable earner and a respected capo, commanding the loyalty of his crew in Brooklyn with an iron hand. During the 1980s, he found himself at odds with the flamboyant John Gotti, whose ambitions were impossible to ignore within the Gambino hierarchy. The tension between the two men was genuine, yet Corozzo's value as a earner was simply too great to discard. When Gotti seized control of the family following the murder of Paul Castellano outside Sparks Steak House in December 1985, he made the pragmatic decision to keep Corozzo close rather than eliminate a rival who was producing results on the street.

It was a calculation that would ultimately serve the family well. When Gotti was convicted in 1992 and handed a life sentence, the Gambinos required steady, experienced leadership to navigate an increasingly hostile environment of federal prosecution and internal pressure. By the mid-1990s, Corozzo had stepped into the role of acting boss, steering the family through turbulent waters. However, his time at the helm was cut short when he was jailed in 1997, beginning a frustrating cycle of incarceration and brief periods of freedom that would consume the better part of a decade and a half of his life.

In 2008, Corozzo was indicted on racketeering charges alongside several other Gambino members in one of the more significant federal sweeps against the family in years. He pleaded guilty and received a sentence that saw his expected release date set for the 2nd of March 2020, a date he is believed to have met.

Nicholas Corozzo's story reflects the relentless attrition that federal law enforcement waged against the Five Families from the 1980s onwards, yet his longevity within that world speaks to a shrewd and adaptable criminal intelligence. He remains a significant, if understated, chapter in the post-Gotti Gambino narrative.