 Welcome to the original gangsters podcast. I'm your host Scott Bernstein along with my co-conspirator partner in crime the doctor Jimmy butchilato. Hi everyone. Hey now we're going to do a quick hitter episode right now some breaking news out of the New York underworld. The quintessential mafia prince of New York City. In the 20th century. Thomas Gambino is no longer with us he passed away. For natural causes. October 3 this week 2023 at the age of 94. His father was the boss of bosses, Carlo Gambino. The namesake of the Gambino crime family. Until he passed away 1976. And Tommy Gambino, although not what you would know was not the, not out of central casting, when you're talking about mob figures. Not someone that I think if you encountered him, you might not even know he was a mob guy, but he was a big earner. But who his father was, he was always in very good standing. And it's father in law, his father in law was was three finger Tommy Brown, Tommy Lucchese, the boss of the Lucchese crime family so just for a couple minutes me and Jimmy want to just kind of talk a little bit about Tommy Gambino and how he was able to survive through the eras I mean you think once God he took over, he could have because you know he kills Castellano Castellano is related to Tommy Gambino is his uncle, I believe. And God he could have put Tommy Gambino on the shelf but recognize that he was somebody that he could still benefit from and kept them in a capital spot. Even though he was a couple without a crew. Yeah he was involved in the garment industry and I knew someone who knew him and said he was a perfect gentleman to Scott's point of he wasn't the usual suspect that he was a really articulate guy and was you know did not come off as a kind of a ruffian mobster. When the chickens finally came home to roost for him with the government he had to go do I think seven years in federal prison he kept his mouth shut. Even though he wasn't someone that you would think would be well equipped for a prison stay but I guess if you're down Carlos son even if down Carlos dead you're still going to be afforded a level of respect in there even if you're not a tough guy. But the government when they were in the process of trying to put him in prison they estimated his worth 30 years ago at almost $100 million. Yeah well so you can imagine how wealthy he is when he passed away in 2023 and he hasn't been active in 25 years plus. Yeah a couple of things to add to that I think one reason why Gotti didn't have an issue with him was it reminds me of the scene from the line from the godfather we know Tom we know you're not the muscle end of the family. I think he like I mean because there's surveillance footage right after the not long after the Custolano hit of Gotti and Tommy Gambino walking together. And so and Gotti we know from those wire tabs he spoke highly of Tommy Gambino he liked him he didn't he genuinely liked him didn't have a problem with him. And I think that went back to Gotti didn't view it as about being related to Custolano he viewed it as Don Carlos son. You understand what you understand what I'm saying like yeah there was the reverence was because of the connection to Carlo. And I think there's a there's a tape recording of Gotti where where he's talking to his guys I think Locacio and Gervano where he says conventional wisdom would say we we take Tommy Gambino down in power he's like I'm going the opposite direction I'm going to beef up his crew because he can be an asset for us and we don't have to worry about him. Like you said taking revenge for Paul Castellano we're going to give him more resources to make more money for us. And which which he did and just one other thing I'll add was I always thought this was funny was I'm interested in the Cherry Hill Gambino's and their cousins with each other. The Cherry Hill Gambino's father Tomaso Gambino and Carlo Gambino were Secanda Cogini second cousins and when the Cherry Hill Gambino's were in the news about the heroin trafficking and things like that. I believe it was in the 90s because they ended up getting busted for and they were on the run and they ended up getting busted or they turned themselves in cocaine and heroin distribution. Somebody in the media asked the person we're talking about Tom Tommy Gambino about that and he denied he denied even knowing them he said well I'm not related to them I have no idea who they are. He was being he was being disingenuous I mean they would have been third cousins so they were distant cousins but he of course he knew who he of course he knew who they were I always thought that was amusing. So he walked out of prison in the spring of 2000 and really has not been active since then but RIP to Tommy Gambino for Jimmy Bucciolato and Ben behind the glass og pod out.