Gigante died at the U . S . Medical Center for federal prisoners in Springfield , Mo . , said prison spokesman Al Quintero .
said
gigante die u s medical center federal prisoner springfield mo say prison spokesman al quintero
Gigante died at the U . S . Medical Center for federal prisoners in Springfield , Mo . , <m> said </m> prison spokesman Al Quintero .
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Mafia 'Oddfather , ' Vincent 'Chin' Gigante , dies in U . S . prison at 77
Tuesday , December 20 , 2005
Vincent "The Chin" Gigante , the powerful mob boss who avoided jail for decades by wandering the Greenwich Village streets in a ratty bathrobe and slippers as part of an elaborate feigned mental illness , died Monday in prison , federal officials said .
He was 77 .
Gigante died at the U . S . Medical Center for federal prisoners in Springfield , Mo . , <m> said </m> prison spokesman Al Quintero .
The cause of death was not immediately known , but Quintero said Gigante had a history of heart disease .
Dubbed the "Oddfather" for his bizarre behavior , the former Genovese crime family head , an ex - boxer whose lengthy string of victories over prosecutors ended with a July 1997 racketeering conviction , finally admitted his insanity ruse at an April 2003 court hearing .
After nearly a quarter - century of public craziness , Gigante calmly pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for his deception .
He then chatted amiably with his son , shook hands with defense lawyers and even laughed at one point .
"God bless you , " he told the judge , offering a broad wave goodbye before leaving the Brooklyn courtroom .
Gigante was jailed in the medical ward at the federal prison in Springfield - the same facility where rival mob boss John Gotti died .
Denying he was a gangster , Gigante would wander the streets of his native Greenwich Village 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 .
At the height of his power , Gigante's empire stretched from the booths at Little Italy's San Gennaro Festival to the docks of Miami .
"The looney tunes act served Gigante well - it kept him out of prison for 30 years - but in the end he was the victim of his own crazy act .
He never had a chance to enjoy the fruits of his plunder , and he told some people that if given the chance , he wouldn't do it that way again , " said Jerry Capeci , a Mafia expert and author of six books on organized crime .
For the man described by The New York Times Magazine as "the last great Mafioso of the century , " his admission was the final act in a 50 - year career spanning the era of the old - time , publicity - shy "Mustache Petes" and the modern - day Mafia of the swaggering Gotti .
Gigante looked the part , a stocky figure with a pugilist's face and 1940s Brylcreem pompadour .
Mob experts called him a traditional boss , trusted by others , who settled issues by whatever means - verbal or violent - were required .
His fall from power was sealed in a Brooklyn courtroom where a parade of six turncoat mobsters , led by ex - Gotti underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano , described "Chin's" power in the Genovese clan and the "Commission , " organized crime's ruling directorate .
The trial was a spectacle , with Gigante in a wheelchair , mumbling silently , seemingly oblivious to the proceedings .
His lawyers claimed they could not communicate in any "meaningful way" with a client who didn't know where he was , or why .
At one point the trial turned into a "battle of the wheelchairs , " with testimony from Peter Chiodo , a 300 - plus - pound mobster who had survived a ganglaand execution only because his fat stopped a dozen bullets .
None of that swayed jurors , who convicted Gigante of racketeering , extortion and plotting the murder - never carried out - of ex - mob associate Peter Savino .
"Defendant has been consistently feigning insanity for many years and is still doing so in a shrewd attempt to avoid punishment for his crimes , " U . S . District Judge Jack B . Weinstein said in sentencing Gigante to 12 years in prison .
"He is a shadow of his former self - an old man finally brought to bay in his declining years after decades of vicious criminal tyranny . "
The verdict was a major blow to a Mafia already reeling from defections and convictions under the federal racketeering statute .
Although Gigante allegedly ran the family from prison , the Genovese clan joined the city's four other mob families in disarray after he was jailed .
Lawyer Michael Marinaccio , who led Gigante's defense team , said Monday that "putting aside the mental stuff , " Gigante had suffered from "a multitude of medical issues relating to the heart , " and had undergone open heart surgery twice , in 1988 and 1996 .
Recently when he complained of breathing difficulties , his family obtained a court order to have him treated at a hospital outside the prison until about two weeks ago , Marinaccio said in a telephone interview .
"Vincent was very frail , and I have to say the prison medical care was substandard , no matter where he was , " Marinaccio said .
"The family is very close , they made regular visits , and I feel especially bad for them , " he added .
Born in the Bronx in 1928 , one of five sons of Italian immigrant parents , Gigante was nicknamed "Chin" - short for "Vincenzo" - by his mother .
He 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 Gotti , the so - called "Teflon Don" who won two acquittals before tapes and turncoats sent him to prison for life .
Prior to 1997 , Gigante had served only a five - year heroin rap in 1959 .
As boss , Gigante's watchword was secrecy .
A sign at his headquarters warned , "Don't talk .
This place is bugged . "
He held Commission meetings in his mother's apartment house .
Fellow mobsters , ordered never to say his name in public , referred to him by stroking their chins .
He also turned his claim of mental illness - first used to escape trial in a 1970 police - bribery case - into a full - time strategy , behaving weirdly in public , checking into psychiatric treatment clinics whenever the FBI turned up the heat .
There were comic - opera moments : Once , agents serving a subpoena found Gigante standing naked in the shower , holding an umbrella .
Another time , upon spotting agents watching him , he fell to the sidewalk and prayed .
Such maneuvers paid off .
In 1985 a federal crackdown on the Commission indicted 12 top hoodlums - but not Gigante , who some experts said was the actual leader .
Yet even "Chin's" ruses were not always airtight ; some mob cronies slipped up , and the FBI eventually obtained tapes of Gigante acting normally in private .
Later , prison psychologists also said he appeared rational at times .
Gigante had eight children by his wife and a mistress , both named Olympia .
Relatives , led by Rev . Louis Gigante , his priest - brother and most ardent defender , filled three rows at the 1997 trial .
Louis Gigante was in court when his brother finally admitted to faking his illness .