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...