Vincent Mangano (born Vincenzo Giovanni Mangano; ; March 28, 1888 – disappeared April 19, 1951, declared dead October 30, 1961) was an Italian-born mobster also known as "Vincent The Executioner" as named in a Brooklyn newspaper, and the head of the Mangano crime family from 1931 to 1951. He was the brother of Philip Mangano.

Vince as head of the Gambino family

Mangano was named head of what was then the Mineo family in 1931, following the

Castellammarese War The Castellammarese War () was a bloody power struggle for control of the American Mafia between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano that took place in New York City from February 26, 1930, until April 15, 1931. The feu ...

. He was one of the original bosses of the modern

Five Families The Five Families refer to five American Mafia, Italian American Mafia Crime family, crime families that operate in New York City. In 1931, the five families were Organized crime, organized by Salvatore Maranzano following his victory in the C ...

, the others being

Joseph Bonanno Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; ; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family of New York City, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. ...

Lucky Luciano Charles "Lucky" Luciano ( ; ; born Salvatore Lucania ; November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was an Italian gangster who operated mainly in the United States. He started his criminal career in the Five Points Gang and was instrumental in the ...

Joe Profaci Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci (; October 2, 1897 – June 6, 1962) was an Italian-American Cosa Nostra boss who was the founder of what became the Colombo crime family of New York City. Established in 1928, this was the last of the Five Families to be o ...

and

Tommy Gagliano Thomas Gagliano (born Tommaso Gagliano, ; May 29, 1883 − February 16, 1951) was an Italian-born American mobster and boss of what U.S. federal authorities would later designate as the Lucchese crime family, one of the "Five Families" of New Y ...

Mangano made the waterfront his family's main income producer. He and his associates would threaten to prevent cargo from being loaded or unloaded if the shipping company refused to pay a

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of lands which the state con ...

. This effort was helped by the family's control of Brooklyn Local 1814 of the International Longshoremen's Association; its president, Anthony Anastasio, was a member of the family.

Feud with Anastasia

Despite being a mob power in his own right,

Albert Anastasia Umberto "Albert" Anastasia (, ; né Anastasio ; September 26, 1902 – October 25, 1957) was an Italian-American mobster, hitman and crime boss. One of the founders of the modern American Mafia, and a co-founder and later boss of the Murder, In ...

was nominally the underboss of the Mangano crime family, under Mangano. During his 20-year rule, Mangano had resented Anastasia's close ties to Luciano and Costello, particularly the fact that they had obtained Anastasia's services without first seeking Mangano's permission. This and other business disputes led to heated, almost physical fights between the two mobsters.Davis, pp. 62-64

Disappearance

Mangano's brother was found dead near

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. ...

on April 19, 1951. Vincent Mangano disappeared the same day. Both of them are believed to have been murdered on the orders of family

underboss Underboss () is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian Mafia, Sicilian and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the Crime boss, boss. The un ...

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 ...

as part of a coup in 1951.New York, Family - Gambino (Mangano)
/ref> Vincent Mangano's body was never found, and he was declared dead 10 years later on October 30, 1961, by the Surrogate's Court in Brooklyn. No one was ever arrested in the Mangano homicides, but it was widely assumed that Anastasia had them killed.

References

*Bonanno, Joseph. ''A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003. *Capeci, Jerry. ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia''. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. *Davis, John H. ''Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family''. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. *Jacobs, James B., Christopher Panarella and Jay Worthington. ''Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra''. New York: NYU Press, 1994. *Mannion, James. ''101 Things You Didn't Know About The Mafia: The Lowdown on Dons, Wiseguys, Squealers and Backstabbers''. Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media, 2005. *Milhorn, H. Thomas. ''Crime: Computer Viruses to Twin Towers''. Boca Raton, Florida: Universal Publishers, 2005. *Raab, Selwyn. ''Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires''. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. *Schatzberg, Rufus, Robert J. Kelly and Ko-lin Chin, ed. ''Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mangano, Vincent 1888 births 1950s missing person cases 1951 deaths People murdered in 1951 American gangsters of the interwar period Bosses of the Gambino crime family Gangsters from Palermo Italian emigrants to the United States Murdered American gangsters of Italian descent Murdered Gambino crime family members People of Sicilian descent Missing gangsters Missing person cases in New York City Murder, Inc. Unsolved murders in New York (state)

Vince as head of the Gambino family

Feud with Anastasia

Disappearance

See also

References

Further reading