Paul Castellano
| Paul Castellano | |
|---|---|
FBI mugshot, March 30, 1984
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| Born |
June 26, 1915 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | December 16, 1985 (aged 70) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Multiple gunshot wounds |
| Resting place | Moravian Cemetery, Staten Island |
| Residence | 177 Benedict Road, Staten Island, NY |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | "The Howard Hughes of the Mob", "Big Paul", "PC", "The Pope", "The Chicken Man" |
| Citizenship | American |
| Occupation | Crime boss, mobster, businessman, wholesale meat merchant, New York City construction tycoon |
| Known for | Boss of the Gambino crime family |
| Spouse(s) | Nina Manno (1937–1985) |
| Children | Paul, Jr., Philip, Joseph, Constance |
| Relatives | Richard S. Castellano (nephew) Kerri, Paul, Vito, Ronald, Ritchie, Carmine (grandchildren) |
Costantino Paul "Big Paul" Castellano (Italian pronunciation: [kastelano]; June 26, 1915 – December 16, 1985), also known as "The Howard Hughes of the Mob" and "Big Paulie" (or "PC" to his family), was an American mafia boss who succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family in New York, the nation's largest Cosa Nostra family at the time. The unsanctioned assassination of Castellano in 1985 by John Gotti sparked years of animosity between the Gambinos and the other New York crime families.
His nephew was actor Richard S. Castellano from The Godfather.
Constantino Paul Castellano was born in Brooklyn in 1915, to Giuseppe Castellano and Concetta (née Casatu). Giuseppe was a butcher and an early member of the Mangano crime family, the forerunner of the Gambino family. Paul Castellano dropped out of school in the eighth grade to learn butchering and collecting numbers game receipts, both from his father.
In July 1934, Castellano was arrested for the first time in Hartford, Connecticut for robbing a haberdasher. The 19-year-old Castellano refused to identify his two accomplices to the police and served a three-month prison sentence. By refusing to cooperate with authorities, Castellano enhanced his reputation for mob loyalty.
Castellano's sister Catherine had married one of their cousins, Carlo Gambino, in 1926; he was a future boss of the Gambino crime family. In 1937 Castellano married his childhood sweetheart Nina Manno; the couple had three sons (Paul, Philip, and Joseph Castellano) and a daughter, Constance Castellano.
(Note: Many sources state that Paul was married to Carlo Gambino's sister-in-law. While this statement is technically true, it is also misleading. Any woman married to Paul would be Gambino's sister-in-law, as Paul's sister Catherine had married Carlo Gambino in 1926. Nina Manno was not related to Gambino prior to her marriage to Paul.)
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