Ex - Mafia boss Vincent Gigante dies in prison
Vincent Gigante
ex mafia boss vincent gigante die prison
Ex - Mafia boss <m> Vincent Gigante </m> dies in prison
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Ex - Mafia boss <m> Vincent Gigante </m> dies in prison
He was known as the 'Oddfather' for faking mental illness to beat raps
updated 12 / 19 / 2005 2 : 48 : 40 PM ET
Mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante , the powerful Mafioso who avoided jail for decades by wandering the streets in a ratty bathrobe and slippers , feigning mental illness , died Monday in prison , officials said .
He was 77 .
Gigante , who had suffered from heart disease , died at the federal prison in Springfield , Mo . , said prison spokesman Al Quintero .
Gigante , head of the Genovese crime family , had scored a lengthy string of victories over prosecutors , but it ended with a July 1997 racketeering conviction .
After nearly a quarter - century of public craziness , he finally admitted his insanity ruse at an April 2003 federal hearing in which the man dubbed the "Oddfather" by tabloid newspapers calmly pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice .
At the height of his power , Gigante's empire stretched from Little Italy to the docks of Miami .
Denying he was a gangster , Gigante would wander the streets of the Greenwich Village neighborhood in nightclothes , muttering incoherently .
Relatives , including a brother was who a Roman Catholic priest , insisted Gigante suffered from paranoid schizophrenia , dementia and Alzheimer's disease .
Authorities charged it was a brazen act to avoid the law - although it wasn't until 1997 that a jury agreed , and it took another six years for Gigante to concede his subterfuge .
Born in the Bronx in 1928 , one of five sons of Italian immigrant parents , Gigante became a small - time boxer and drifted into the crime family founded in 1931 by legendary gangster Charles "Lucky" Luciano .
In 1957 , Gigante was the hitman in a botched attempt to assassinate then - boss Frank Costello .
After refusing to name his attacker in court , the shaken Costello retired , making Gigante's patron , Vito Genovese , kingpin of the family that still bears his name .
Over time , Gigante proved better at beating the law than John Gotti , the so - called "Teflon Don" who won two acquittals before tapes and turncoats sent him to prison for life .
Gotti died in 2002 at age 61 .
Before 1997 , Gigante had served only a five - year heroin rap in 1959 .