He Took More Than His Share — The Mafia Executed Him

Описание: July twelfth, nineteen seventy-nine. Two forty-five PM. Joe and Mary's Italian-American Restaurant, Brooklyn. Carmine "The Cigar" Galante sat finishing lunch when three masked gunmen burst into the garden patio. Shotgun blasts and automatic pistol fire erupted. Galante, age sixty-nine, was hit in the chest and left eye. He died instantly. When police arrived, his signature cigar was still clenched between his teeth. The photograph appeared on front pages worldwide—the most feared mob boss in America, executed in broad daylight at his cousin's restaurant.
This is the true story of how greed and arrogance got a Mafia boss killed by his own family.
What You'll Discover:

How Carmine Galante rose from East Harlem street thug to Bonanno family underboss
Why prison psychiatrists diagnosed him with a psychopathic personality, mental age of fourteen, and IQ of ninety
His role running the French Connection heroin pipeline through Montreal for decades
How he ignored Philip Rastelli's appointment as boss and declared himself "boss of bosses"
Why he murdered at least eight Gambino family members trying to corner the entire drug trade
The Commission meeting where even retired Joe Bonanno approved killing his former protégé
How Galante's own bodyguards, Cesare Bonventre and Baldo Amato, sold him out for promotions
The iconic crime scene photo with his cigar still in his mouth that shocked the world

The Facts:
Born February twenty-first, nineteen ten, in East Harlem to Sicilian immigrants. Sent to reform school at age ten. First conviction at fifteen. Diagnosed psychopathic in prison at twenty-one. Released in nineteen thirty-nine and began killing for Vito Genovese. Suspected of over eighty murders. Married Helen Marulli in nineteen forty-five, had three children, later lived with mistress Ann Acquavella for twenty years.
Rose to Bonanno underboss by nineteen fifty-three. Ran Montreal heroin operations. Attended Apalachin Meeting in nineteen fifty-seven. Sentenced to twenty years for drug trafficking in nineteen sixty-two. Paroled nineteen seventy-four and immediately seized control of Bonanno family, ignoring official boss Philip Rastelli.
Murdered Gambino members to corner narcotics trade. Declared himself boss of bosses. Commission, including Joe Bonanno, approved his execution. Capos Sonny Red Indelicato and Sonny Black Napolitano coordinated the hit. Bodyguards Bonventre and Amato were bought off with promises of promotion.
July twelfth, nineteen seventy-nine, Galante ate lunch at Joe and Mary's, owned by cousin Giuseppe Turano. At two forty-five PM, three gunmen killed Galante, Turano, and associate Leonard Coppola. Bonventre and Amato stood by, unharmed. Only Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato was ever convicted (nineteen eighty-six, served nineteen years).
Why This Matters:
Galante's execution proves that in the Mafia, greed has limits. Controlling one family's drug trade wasn't enough—he wanted everything. The Commission exists precisely to prevent any boss from becoming too powerful. When Galante tried to become boss of bosses, they eliminated him. His own bodyguards sold him out. The iconic cigar photo became a symbol: no matter how feared you are, the system is stronger.
Primary Sources:

Crime scene photos and NYPD reports (July 12, 1979)
Mafia Commission trial testimony (1986)
The Mob Museum historical archives
FOX 5 New York "The Tape Room" documentary
New York Post and Daily News coverage (July 13, 1979)

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👇 Comment: Was the Commission right to kill Galante?
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