This mob boss and boxer led an interesting life with many ups and downs. Here are some facts about this Italian-American gangster.
- Vincent Louis Gigante was born in Manhattan, New York, on December 19, 1928.
- Gigante was the boss of the Genovese crime family between 1981 and 2005.
- He had many nicknames, including ‘Chin’, ‘The Robe’, ‘The Enigma in the Bathrobe’, ‘The Oddfather’, and ‘The Real Boss of New York’.
- From 1944 to 1947 he was a professional boxer who fought in 25 bouts and lost only four fights.
- Vinnie Gigante was one of five brothers. Three of his brothers, Mario, Pasquale, and Ralph, also became mobsters. His other brother, Louis, became a priest.
- He was seen regularly by a psychiatrist between 1973 and 1989 and was told he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.
- At the failed assassination of Frank Costello, the Luciano boss, in 1957, Gigante was the shooter.
- For this crime, Gigante was sentenced to prison and he shared a cell with Vito Genovese, Costello’s rival. On his release, he became the boss of a small crew of Genovese soldiers.
- Gigante climbed the ranks in the Genovese crime family and became the family boss in 1981. Anthony ‘Fat Tony’ Salerno was the front boss at this time.
- When Gigante ordered for the failed assassination of John Gotti, the boss of the Gambino crime family, in 1986, Gigante became recognized as the most powerful crime boss anywhere in the United States.
- Vincent Gigante was well-known for wandering the streets in his bathrobe and muttering to himself and this was how he earned two of his nicknames. He later admitted that this was all an act to avoid prosecution.
- In 1997, Gigante was sentenced to 12 years in prison for racketeering.
- His wife was Olympia Gigante and they married in 1950. Together they had five children; Andrew, Salvatore, Roseanne, Yolande, and Rita.
- He also had a mistress with whom he had two daughters; Lucia and Carmella.
- Gigante died in prison on December 19, 2005, at the age of 77 in Springfield Missouri.
