James Squillante
Encyclopedia
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
and was known as "king of the garbage collection racket". Squillante also worked as an assassin for mob boss Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia
Albert Anastasia
Albert Anastasia was boss of what is now called the Gambino crime family, one of New York City's Five Families, from 1951-1957. He also ran a gang of contract killers called Murder Inc. which enforced the decisions of the Commission, the ruling council of the American Mafia...
.
Vincent was born to Louis and Euthalia Alberti, one of two sons, the other being Nunzio and seven sisters. He stood at 5'2 and weighed 130 pounds. He married Theresa Scialabba in 1949 and fathered one child, Bedilla. He divorced Theresa in 1951 and married Olivia Hughes and fathered two daughters with her, Danna and Olivia. He is the uncle to mobster Jeremy Mancuso. In 1963, Government informant Joe Valachi
Joe Valachi
Joseph "Joe Cargo" Valachi , Italian American, also known as "Charles Chanbano" and "Anthony Sorge" was the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the existence of the Mafia. He is also the person who made Cosa Nostra a household name.-Career:Joseph Valachi was born in East Harlem, New York...
claimed that Squillante participated in the 1957 slaying of Anastasia underboss Frank "Don Cheech" Scalise. After the murder, Scalise's brother Joe publicly declared that he would avenge Frank's death. However, the Gambino family did not support Joe's declaration, possibly due to Anastasia's opposition. As a result, Joe was forced into hiding for several months until the family ostensibly forgave him. On September 7, 1957, according to Valachi, Squillante invited Joe to his house. Once Joe arrived, Squillante and several others murdered him, dismembered his body, loaded the remains onto one of Squillante's garbage trucks, and dumped them.
In fall 1960, Squillante was indicted on extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
charges. Reportedly, the Gambino family worried that Squillante could not handle the upcoming trial and probable prison sentence. So, to "put him out of his misery", the family ordered Squillante's murder. On September 23, 1960, http://www.nevadaobserver.com/Chronological%20History%20of%20La%20Cosa%20Nostra%20(1988).htm Squillante disappeared. According to some accounts, Squillante was shot in the head and loaded into a car trunk. The car allegedly went through an automobile crusher
Car crusher
A car crusher is an industrial device used to reduce the dimensions of derelict cars prior to transport for recycling.Car crushers are compactors and can be of two types: "pancake", where a scrap automobile is flattened by a huge descending hydraulically-powered plate, or the baling press type,...
and the salvaged metal was melted down in a open hearth furnace
Open hearth furnace
Open hearth furnaces are one of a number of kinds of furnace where excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of the pig iron to produce steel. Since steel is difficult to manufacture due to its high melting point, normal fuels and furnaces were insufficient and the open hearth furnace was...
. However, some newspaper accounts of that period claim that Squillante was actually seen on September 30 at 2 a.m. driving around the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
neighborhood in his brother-in-law's car. In any case, Squillante's body was never found and no murder suspects were ever arrested.
Further reading
- Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-02-864225-3
- Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
- Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8147-4247-1
- Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-312-30094-4
- Reuter, Peter. Racketeering in Legitimate Industries: A Study in the Economics of Intimidation. 1987.
- United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Inproper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor Or Management Field: Index to Hearings Before the Select Committee on Inproper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. 1959. http://books.google.com/books?vid=0F3aApN8X9eA9H-BMvbR84I&id=OnHIMGDkS38C&q=Vincent+Squillante&dq=Vincent+Squillante&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1988. http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC19099088&id=DQeMhDjHx58C&q=Vincent+Squillante&dq=Vincent+Squillante&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1
- United States. Congress. Senate. Government Operations Committee. Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics: Hearings before the Government Operations Committee. 1964. http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC17735988&id=yxJMaa3f3cEC&q=James+Squillante&dq=James+Squillante&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Profile of Organized Crime, Mid-Atlantic Region: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1983. http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC09806415&id=jiuq5-RUM1oC&q=Vincent+Squillante&dq=Vincent+Squillante&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1