Umberto's Clam House

Umberto's Clam House
Restaurant information
Established	1972
Current owner(s)	Robert Ianniello
Food type	Italian, seafood
Street address	132 Mulberry Street (between Grand Street and Hester Street) in Little Italy in Manhattan
City	New York City
State	New York
Postal/ZIP code	10013

Umberto's Clam House is an Italian seafood restaurant located at 132 Mulberry Street (at Broome Street) in Little Italy in Manhattan (New York City), New York, United States (two blocks north of its original site). Umberto's became known for its "tasty dishes of calamari, scungilli, and mussels", but initially became prominent, weeks after opening, for being the site of "one of the more sensational Mafia murders in New York City in recent history". The restaurant was founded and is owned by members of the Ianniello family.

In 1972, the establishment's founder, Umberto Ianniello, opened the restaurant at 129 Mulberry Street (at the northwest corner of Mulberry and Hester Streets). The restaurant was both the hangout of Umberto's son, reputed Mafia leader Matthew ("Matty the Horse") Ianniello and (according to Judge Edward Weinfeld of the Federal District Court in Manhattan) secretly owned by Matthew.

Two months after opening, on April 7, 1972, New York gangster Joe Gallo was shot and killed at the eatery, where his party of family and friends (including his daughter, wife, and bodyguard) had stopped for an early morning snack after celebrating his 43rd birthday at the Copacabana. A rival gangster spotted him and sent in hitmen shortly after Gallo was seated at a butcher block table in a back corner. After sustaining five shots, Gallo stumbled out into the street and died.

Matthew was at the cash register that night but fled to the kitchen and missed the entire attack; he later claimed no prior knowledge of the attack and was not charged in relation to it. As The Nevada Daily Mail reports: "the proprietor dove into the kitchen and lay on the tile floor with his hands over his eyes as soon as Sonny Pinto and two out-of-town torpedoes known only as Cisco and Benny came in the side door blasting. The next thing he knew, Pete "The Greek" Diopoulis, a Gallo bodyguard, was pushing a gun in his face and pulling the trigger but only clicks came out because it had been emptied trying to save Joey."

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Wikipedia