On this day in 1925 the future capo of the Gambino Crime Family was born, Nino Gaggi made his fortune through loansharking operations as well as being a silent partner in many businesses in the New York area.

In 1960 Gaggi made his bones in the mob when he served on a hit-team that was contracted to take out mobster Vincent Squillante (who was allegedly the mobster who killed Frank Scalise in 1957).

According to Dominick Montiglio (Gaggi’s Nephew and FBI informant), Gaggi described the murder:

“We surprised him in the Bronx. We shot him in the head, stuffed him in the trunk, then dumped him for good.”

The hit team had hauled the body to the basement of a building, loaded it into a trash incinerator, and then cremated it. As the body was never found, nobody came to trial for the murder.

Gaggi was also the man who supervised Roy DeMeo and the famous DeMeo crew during the 70’s and 80’s. It was in the late 1970’s, Gambino captain James Eppolito told Paul Castellano that Gaggi and DeMeo were drug trafficking. Eppolito claimed that DeMeo had cheated Eppolito’s son, in a drug deal and that he was also working for the FBI.

Eppolito asked Castellano for permission to hit Gaggi and DeMeo. However, Castellano broke his own rules and sided with Gaggi and DeMeo and actually gave them permission to hit both Eppolito and his son.

While being held at the Correctional Center for trial, Gaggi died of a heart attack on April 17, 1988.

On this day in 1925, Anthony "Nino" Gaggi was born, a man who would rise through the ranks of organised crime to become one of the most feared and influential capos in the Gambino Crime Family. Operating during one of the most turbulent and violent eras in New York mob history, Gaggi built his reputation and his fortune through loansharking operations and a series of legitimate business ventures in which he maintained carefully concealed silent partnerships throughout the New York area.

Gaggi earned his bones in 1960 when he served on a hit-team contracted to eliminate mobster Vincent Squillante, the man widely believed to have been responsible for the murder of Frank Scalise three years earlier in 1957. Squillante's fate was particularly grim. According to Dominick Montiglio, Gaggi's nephew and later an FBI informant, Gaggi recalled the killing in chilling detail: "We surprised him in the Bronx. We shot him in the head, stuffed him in the trunk, then dumped him for good." The hit team transported the body to a building basement, fed it into a trash incinerator, and cremated it entirely. With no body ever recovered, no one was brought to trial for the murder.

Perhaps Gaggi's most significant role in the annals of organised crime was his supervision of Roy DeMeo and the infamous DeMeo crew throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The DeMeo crew became notorious for an almost industrial approach to murder, responsible for an estimated 75 to 200 killings, and it was Gaggi who operated as their senior oversight within the Gambino hierarchy under boss Paul Castellano. The relationship brought Gaggi considerable power, though it was not without its dangers.

In the late 1970s, Gambino captain James Eppolito approached Castellano with serious accusations, claiming that Gaggi and DeMeo were involved in drug trafficking and that DeMeo had cheated Eppolito's son in a narcotics deal. Eppolito further alleged that DeMeo was cooperating with the FBI and formally requested permission to have both Gaggi and DeMeo killed. In a striking deviation from his own strict rules against drug involvement, Castellano sided firmly with Gaggi and DeMeo, ultimately granting them authorisation to eliminate both James Eppolito and his son instead.

Gaggi never faced the full consequences of a courtroom verdict. Whilst being held at a federal correctional centre awaiting trial, he suffered a fatal heart attack on 17th April 1988. His legacy endures as a cautionary portrait of ambition, brutality, and the internal treachery that defined the Gambino family at its most powerful and most dangerous.