Gambino was an enigma in some ways. Like the Godfather made famous by Marlon Brando, Gambino liked to play the role of the kindly benefactor. Though he was neck deep in the importation and distribution of heroin that found its way to teen-agers of both sexes and turned many of them into thieves and prostitutes in order to support the habit, he made a grand gesture.
The owner of a candy store in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn was selling drugs to young high school students. Many of these had become main-line addicts. Many of the parents complained to the police but nothing came of it. One anxious and deeply disturbed mother of a teen-aged son appealed to Gambino.
“Don Carlos, I beg you, my son is on heroin. He is going to get into very serious trouble unless something can be done. I am going crazy because of it. Please help me.”
“Where does he get it?” Gambino asked.
“From a candy store on Myrtle Avenue. The police have done nothing to put this man out of business. He is ruining many young lives. Please, Don Carlos, help us.”
Gambino nodded. “Go home, dear woman. I will take care of it. You have my promise.”
The woman grasped Gambino’s hand and kissed the back of it, bowed and went out, her heart easier.
The candy store was closed the next day and the owner had disappeared from the neighborhood. He was never heard from again. No one in the neighborhood knew what had happened to him.
The mother of the boy expressed her thanks to Don Carlo to everyone in the neighborhood. “God bless Don Carlo,” she said, “he saved our children.”
Gambino reveled in the role of the Godfather. It was, more or less, the traditional role of the Mafia man of respect. He was the one who settled many disputes, the benefactor of his people, bringing husband and wife together who were on the verge of separation or divorce, delivering food to the needy, staving off evictions, using his influence to save a boy or girl from prison and threatening them with harsh reprisals if they stepped out of line again.
He would find jobs for the unemployed, assisting those who needed money and then forgiving the loan. In this way he earned the gratitude and loyalty of hundreds of his countrymen.
Carlos Gambino played this dual role of destroyer and savior with ease. He gave off an aura of respectability and gentleness that earned him the respect of all the people in the neighborhood. He was a devoted husband and father, stayed clear of the nightspots and the gaudy saloons, and lived for forty years in the same neat, two-story brick house at 2230 Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn.
He also had a hundred-thousand dollar waterview ranch house at 34 Club Drive in Massapequa, Long Island, where he and his wife would host gatherings of fifty or more Mafioso and their wives on holiday occasions such as Fourth of July or Labor Day in which outdoor barbecues were the feature of the day. Like the Godfather in the movie, Gambino loved to putter in the garden, where he grew flowers and his favorite Italian tomatoes.
It was in this sumptuous home that he also entertained his lieutenant, Aniello Dellacroce. Here, too, he issued his orders to members of his family, the score or more of underbosses who ruled the soldiers in the organization, the thieves, dope peddlers, hijackers, the loan sharks, and the killers. He was, and is, the Godfather, merciful and merciless, the epitome of a pseudo grace and the devil incarnate of all that is evil.
While Vito Genovese was plotting to take over as boss of bosses, Carlo Gambino was building fences, security barriers that would in time thwart Genovese. Among the men Gambino courted and won over to his side was Thomas Marino known also as “Toddo” to his friends.
He was at the time the kingpin of Brooklyn’s underworld. A tall, six foot one inch, handsome figure of a man who dressed impeccably in subdued blues and greys, he was brought to the United States by his parents when he was four years old in 1907. In 1917, he was mixed up with a young gang of burglars, was busted on a job, convicted and sentenced to eighteen months in the reformatory. It was the only time he saw the inside of a prison cell.
Toddo’s break came in 1930. He met Little Augie Pisano, who was to become the big boss of the Miami Beach underworld operations in gambling, shy-locking, narcotics, and other bits of illegal business, all of it never proved.
Little Augie was then one of the shrewdest hoods in the underworld. Pisano took a liking to Toddo and introduced him to Joe Adonis. The two permitted Toddo to pal around with them because he listened more than he talked, was polite without being subservient, respectful and always conducted himself with the greatest propriety in public places.
Pisano and Adonis were involved heavily in smuggling booze into the country, as was Frank Costello. They needed a man they could trust in their Brooklyn operation. They chose Thomas “Toddo” Marino. That was all Marino needed.
Like most of the top hoods such as Lansky, Costello, and Gambino, Marino invested in legitimate businesses. He opened a bar and grill on Twenty-second Street and Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn. Three years later he opened a restaurant in the same neighborhood.
He gained prestige in Mafia circles and in the neighborhood where he lived. Like Gambino, he was always available when someone in the neighborhood was in trouble. Even today, he contributes to the church, attends services regularly, and is respectfully referred to by his neighbors as “Don Toddo”.
In 1941, he invested heavily in the bookmaking and gambling rackets. In addition, he opened up bars, restaurants, cleaning establishments, and laundries in Bay Ridge, on Fort Hamilton Parkway, and in South Brooklyn, all with the blessing of the Syndicate. He was a power.
This was the man that Carlo Gambino won as a friend.
At this time, Vito Genovese made his move to take over, and he sought out Carlo Gambino in the hope that Gambino would agree to the move.
Genovese knew that Gambino was Lucky Luciano’s man and so exerted a great deal of influence with the top members in the crime cartel.
Though Luciano was five thousand miles away in Italy, he sent his orders to Albert Anastasia, the Lord High Executioner of Murder, Incorporated, and closely aligned with Carlo Gambino. Genovese plotted to get rid of Anastasia.
However, Anastasia’s lieutenant, Frank “Don Cheech” Scalise, was extremely loyal to Anastasia. Kill Anastasia and you had to kill Scalise or reprisals would be swift and deadly. Scalise was also a close friend of Luciano and had visited him several times in Italy. Scalise was a power in his own right as the boss of the construction racket in the Bronx.
Genovese called Gambino and asked for a meeting.
“I think you will be very much interested in what I have to say, Carlo,” Genovese said.
“Yes, Vito, I am sure.” Gambino was certain that Genovese had a plan to eliminate some of the competition standing in his way as boss of bosses and wanted his help. “Where would you like to have this meeting, Vito?”
Genovese named a restaurant in Brooklyn.
“I know the place. What time?”
“Three o’clock tomorrow afternoon okay?”
“Sure, Vito. I’ll be there.”
Gambino called Don Toddo and told him about the meeting. Don Toddo warned Gambino.
“I do not trust Genovese, Carlo. He will use anyone he can in order to help him get what he wants. You know what he wants.”
“Sure, Toddo. But two can play at that game. I will listen to him. It won’t hurt.”
“Very well. I will have some of my boys check out the restaurant before you get there just to make sure.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary but go ahead anyway.”
“For your protection, Carlo.”
“I understand.”
Gambino met with Genovese. There was no one else in the place when Gambino walked in. Genovese was sitting at a table in the farthest corner of the restaurant. He rose when Gambino walked in and greeted him respectfully.