Joe Gallo Biography

Crazy Joe Gallo was a member of a New York City organized crime family which was mythologized in a novel by Jimmy Breslin and a song by Bob Dylan. The funny and heroic person described in these tales bears little resemblance, however, to a mobster who has been described as psychopathic. Gallo, who worked for Mafia boss Carlo Gambino, lived a life of violence. He was gunned down in an Italian restaurant in 1972.

Gallo was born on April 7, 1929, in Brooklyn, New York. As a young man he became involved in organized crime and soon made an impression with his superiors with his violent disposition. He became a "made" man at the age of seventeen and worked for the Joseph Profaci family. Rival Mafia figures nicknamed Gallo "Crazy Joe" because of his unpredictable, ruthless nature. It has been alleged that Gallo killed crime boss Albert Anastasia as he sat in a barber's chair in Manhattan in 1957.

Profaci, who ruled his crime empire from an estate in Long Island, had a falling out with Gallo and his brothers, Albert and Larry, in the early 1960s. Profaci ordered Gallo and his brothers to kill a gambler who had refused to give Profaci $50,000 in tribute to Profaci. The brothers, who knew and liked the gambler, agreed, with the assurance from Profaci that they would split the gambler's rackets with Profaci. After the killing Profaci reneged on his promise. The Gallo brothers then killed some of Profaci's people and kidnapped several of his top bosses. However, the war came to a sudden end in 1969 when Profaci died of natural causes and Crazy Joe Gallo was convicted of extortion and sentenced to prison.

While Gallo served his time in prison, Joseph Colombo took over the crime organization. When Gallo was released in 1971, he came back to New York City with a different perspective. As a prisoner he had taken up oil painting and had read literature and philosophy. His frequent quotations from these works made him a peculiar figure in organized crime circles. His notoriety was enhanced by New York City newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin, who had published a humorous novel in the late 1960s entitledThe Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Breslin had based his lead character on Gallo, who did not appreciate the way Breslin had made the characters look foolish. A 1971 movie based on the novel was poorly received by critics and the public, though it did feature Robert DeNiro in the first of many Mafia roles.

Gallo, who socialized with the actor who portrayed him in the movie, sought to take power from Joseph Colombo. It is alleged that he arranged the 1971 killing of Colombo at an Italian American event in New York City. After the Colombo killing, Gallo began to assert control over certain mob operations, in the process upsetting a number of organized crime members. On April 7, 1972, his birthday, he was shot and killed in a New York restaurant by an unknown assailant. Three years later Bob Dylan recorded the song, "Joey," that portrayed Gallo in sympathetic terms.