Free Republic

The bosses of New York's five Mafia families in the mid-1980s came a hair-trigger away from sanctioning a hit on then-federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani, according to bombshell FBI records made public today. Before cooler heads prevailed - the mob bosses decided by a razor-thin 3-to-2 margin not to try to whack the future mayor and presidential candidate - at least two of the dons argued fervently that the mob-busting U.S. attorney should sleep with the fishes. Bonanno boss Philip “Rusty" Rastelli, Genovese chief Vincent “The Chin" Gigante and Lucchese honcho Anthony “Tony Ducks" Corallo all cast votes to spare the...

NEW YORK — Mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, the powerful Mafioso who avoided jail for decades by wandering the Greenwich Village streets in a ratty bathrobe and slippers as part of an elaborate feigned mental illness, has died in prison, federal officials said on Monday. He was 77. Gigante died at the U.S. Medical Center for federal prisoners in Springfield, Mo., at 5:15 a.m., said prison spokesman Al Quintero. "The cause of death is currently unknown. He had a history of coronary disease." Dubbed the "Oddfather" for his bizarre behavior, the former Genovese crime family head, an ex-boxer whose...

Vincent 'The Chin' Gigante dies THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Mob boss Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, the powerful Mafioso who avoided jail for decades by wandering the Greenwich Village streets in a ratty bathrobe and slippers as part of an elaborate feigned mental illness, died Monday in prison, federal officials said. He was 77. Gigante died at the U.S. Medical Center for federal prisoners in Springfield, Mo., at 5:15 a.m., said prison spokesman Al Quintero. The cause of death was not immediately known, but Quintero added that Gigante had a history of heart disease.