Vincent Gigante

Vincent Louis Gigante, nicknamed “Chin,” ran the Genovese crime family in New York City from 1981 until his death in 2005. He began his adult life as a professional light heavyweight boxer, competing in 25 bouts between 1944 and 1947. After that, he became an enforcer for the Luciano crime family, which later became the Genovese family. For nearly three decades, Gigante pretended to be insane to dodge law enforcement.

Gigante was born in New York City on March 29, 1928, to Salvatore and Yolanda Gigante, Italian immigrants from Naples. His father worked as a watchmaker, his mother as a seamstress. He had four brothers. Three—Mario, Pasquale, and Ralph—joined him in the Mafia. The fourth, Louis, became a Catholic priest at St. Athanasius Church in the South Bronx and later served on the New York City Council. According to Louis, their mother called Vincent “Chinzeeno” as a child, a nickname that stuck as “Chin.” Gigante attended Public School 3 in Manhattan’s West Village and later Textile High School, but he dropped out.

His boxing career spanned 25 matches, with four losses and 117 rounds fought. He debuted on July 18, 1944, in Union City, New Jersey, losing to Vic Chambers. He beat Chambers in a rematch at St. Nicholas Arena on October 6, 1944, and again at Madison Square Garden on June 29, 1945. His final fight was on May 17, 1947, at Ridgewood Grove Arena in Brooklyn, where Jimmy Slade knocked him out.

Gigante married Olympia Grippa in 1950, and they lived in Old Tappan, New Jersey, raising five children: Andrew, Salvatore, Yolanda, Roseanne, and Rita. He also maintained a second household on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with his longtime mistress and common-law wife, Olympia Esposito, with whom he had three children: Vincent, Lucia, and Carmella. He often stayed at his mother’s apartment in Greenwich Village.

As a teenager, Gigante became a protégé of Vito Genovese, then a captain in the Luciano family, who had helped pay for Gigante’s mother’s surgery. Between ages 17 and 25, Gigante was arrested seven times on charges including receiving stolen goods, carrying an unlicensed handgun, and illegal gambling. Most charges were dismissed or settled with fines, except for a 60-day jail term for gambling. During this period, he listed his occupation as a tailor.

In early 1957, Genovese decided to oust Luciano family boss Frank Costello and chose Gigante as his shooter. On May 2, 1957, Gigante shot and wounded Costello outside his apartment. The wound was minor, but it convinced Costello to retire, handing power to Genovese. A doorman identified Gigante as the gunman, but Costello later testified he could not recognize his attacker, and Gigante was acquitted of attempted murder.

In 1959, Gigante was convicted alongside Genovese for heroin trafficking and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was paroled after five. Shortly after his release, he was promoted from soldier to captain, taking charge of the Greenwich Village Crew, which operated out of the Triangle Civic Improvement Association. He earned a reputation as a tough, smart, and powerful captain.

Starting in the 1960s, Gigante began wandering his neighborhood in a bathrobe, pajamas, and slippers, mumbling to himself. Law enforcement, prosecutors, and Mafia defectors later said this was an act to avoid prosecution. The media called him “the Oddfather” and “the Enigma in the Bathrobe.” He rose to become the Genovese family’s de facto boss in the 1960s and 1970s, while Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno acted as front boss in the early 1980s. In 1986, Gigante ordered a failed hit on Gambino family boss John Gotti. After Gotti’s conviction in 1992, Gigante was seen as the most powerful crime boss in the United States.

Indicted on federal racketeering charges in 1990, Gigante was found mentally unfit for trial. In 1997, he was tried and convicted of racketeering and conspiracy, receiving a 12-year prison sentence. Facing obstruction of justice charges in 2003, he pleaded guilty and admitted his supposed insanity was a ruse to avoid prosecution, earning an additional three years. Gigante died on December 19, 2005, at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners.