Bio: Vincent Mangano

Vincent Mangano (Vincenzo Giovanni Mangano) was born on March 28, 1888, in Palermo, Sicily. 

In 1931, following the Castellammarese War, Mangano was named boss of what would later become the Gambino family.

The waterfront was his family’s main form of income. Shipping companies either paid a tribute or they’d face major problems loading or unloading their cargo. In addition to this, workers were made to pay a charge for each day they worked on the docks. 
Mangano tended to favor the old ways of doing things, and some of the new, younger breed began to resent this. This included Mangano’s underboss, Albert Anastasia, who preferred to be in the company of other bosses, such as Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano and Frank Costello. Sensing this, Mangano grew to resent and mistrust Anastasia. The two argued often and this almost led to physical fights, with the pair sometimes having to be pulled apart.

Albert Anastasia (mugshot)

This feud went on for the next twenty years, until finally, matters came to an unfortunate head.

On April 19, 1951, Phil Mangano, Vincent’s brother, right hand man and family consigliere, was found murdered in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Vincent also vanished the same day without trace. His body has never been found. Though Anastasia never admitted to being involved in the Mangano murders, he managed to convince the heads of the other families that Vincent Mangano had been plotting to have him killed – this claim was backed up by Frank Costello.  Anastasia was then named as the new boss of the family.

Philip Mangano

No one was ever arrested for either of the Mangano murders.

Vincent Mangano was legally declared dead 10 years later, on October 30, 1961, by the Surrogate’s Court in Brooklyn, New York.

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