On this day in 1910 the former boss of the Lucchese Crime Family, Carmine Tramunti was born in New York. He took over the Lucchese family after the passing of Tommy Lucchese back in 1967, with a helping hand from Carlo Gambino who used his power to help Tramunti take the reins.

During the 70’s he was caught up in a number of indictments, some of which included stock fraud, criminal contempt and narcotics trafficking. Despite being acquitted on a number of these he was convicted for criminal contempt in 1972 and sent to jail for 3 years.

Just 6 years after he took over the family it would all come to an end in May 1973 when he was sentenced to 15 years behind bars as a result of the French Connection Case. Anthony Corallo would succeed him as the boss of the Lucchese Family.

“I may be a mobster and may have done bad things but I am not a drug dealer”.

Carmine Tramunti spent 5 years behind bars before he died from natural causes at the age of 68.

On this day in 1910, Carmine Tramunti was born in New York City, a man who would rise through the ranks of organised crime to lead one of the most powerful of the Five Families during one of the most turbulent periods in American mob history. Known on the streets as "Mr Gribbs," Tramunti was a product of the old school, a career criminal whose loyalty and connections would eventually carry him to the very top of the Lucchese Crime Family.

When longtime boss Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese passed away in July 1967, the family found itself in need of steady leadership. It was the enormously influential Carlo Gambino, boss of the Gambino Crime Family and arguably the most powerful figure in the American underworld at the time, who threw his considerable weight behind Tramunti, helping to secure his position as the new boss. It was a telling sign of the interconnected nature of the Five Families that such a transition required the blessing of a neighbouring don, but Tramunti's elevation was relatively smooth thanks to Gambino's endorsement.

His time at the helm was plagued by legal troubles almost from the outset. Throughout the early 1970s, Tramunti faced a succession of indictments covering stock fraud, criminal contempt, and narcotics trafficking. While he managed to secure acquittals on several charges, he was convicted of criminal contempt in 1972 and handed a three-year prison sentence. The walls, however, were closing in far more seriously than even that conviction suggested.

In May 1973, just six years after taking over the family, Tramunti was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in connection with the infamous French Connection case, one of the most high-profile heroin trafficking investigations of the era. Despite his defiant insistence — "I may be a mobster and may have done bad things but I am not a drug dealer" — the conviction effectively ended his reign. Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, a wily and experienced figure in his own right, stepped up to assume control of the Lucchese family in his absence.

Tramunti ultimately served five years before his deteriorating health led to his release, and he died from natural causes at the age of 68. Though his tenure as boss was brief and beset by legal catastrophe, his rise to power illustrated just how deeply the bonds of loyalty and political manoeuvring ran through the veins of New York's organised crime world in the post-war era.