Charles Carneglia (born August 10, 1946) is an American mobster in the

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. ...

. Carneglia was born in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

on August 10, 1946. Charles Carneglia and his brother John owned a junkyard in the East New York section of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

that was reportedly used for narcotics trafficking, disassembling of stolen cars, and burying mob murder victims. John would allegedly remove jewelry from corpses prior to dissolving them in

acid An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...

and then hang the baubles as trophies from the basement rafters. During the 1970s, John unofficially adopted Kevin McMahon, a 12-year-old boy he discovered sleeping in his pool house. John served as a surrogate father to McMahon until John's imprisonment in 1989. After that, Charles supervised McMahon's activities as a Gambino associate. In 2009, McMahon became a government witness and testified against Charles. Carneglia was allegedly involved in the 1976 murder of Albert Gelb, a court officer, four days before he was scheduled to testify in a gun case against Carneglia. During the 1970s, Carneglia became a trusted confidante of John Gotti, who was a rising star in the Gambino crime family. Brooklyn federal court papers filed by federal prosecutors contain allegations that Carneglia killed John Favara in 1980 and disposed of his body in acid after he accidentally hit and killed Gotti's son, Frank, with his car. On October 4, 1990, Carneglia and other Gambino crime family associates murdered Louis DiBono in his vehicle, at the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center. In return for the murder, he received an initiation into John Gotti's inner circle. Five years later, Carneglia and John Alite were involved in a major conspiracy to murder John A. Gotti. Alite agreed to testify in the trial of Carneglia in 2008–09. In 2009, Carneglia received a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are c ...

for four murders and Class-A drug dealing, amongst other crimes. As of May 2021, Carneglia is being held at high security prison USP Canaan located in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and has no release date. He is inmate number 08773-016 and is 78 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carneglia, Charles Living people 1946 births Gambino crime family American gangsters of Italian descent Incarcerated gangsters Mafia hitmen Gangsters sentenced to life imprisonment American people convicted of murder American people convicted of drug offenses American drug traffickers People convicted of murder under the RICO Act Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government