Sammy Gravano

Salvatore Gravano was born on March 12, 1945, in Brooklyn, USA. His father, Giorlando Gravano, and his mother, Caterina Gravano, owned a dress factory that was financed by a dress manufacturer.

Salvatore’s family provided him with a good standard of living. Unfortunately, he couldn’t perform well at school as he suffered from dyslexia. He was not promoted to fourth grade due to poor scores, and that resulted in him developing a violent behavior.

He often got into fights with his peers, and also went into an altercation with his Junior High School Principal and ended up assaulting him. He had to leave the school as a result, but with the help of a teacher, he managed to graduate from high school.

He was then expelled from his high school as well and after a few days, he was finally sent to a school for incorrigible students. When one of his relatives pointed out the uncanny similarities between Salvatore and his uncle Sammy, he came to be known as Sammy.

He was first arrested when he assaulted a policeman. He was later involved in mobbing people, looting banks and robbing shops. He eventually became a regular offender and was finally sent to serve the U.S Army in 1964.

He started off with larceny, hijacking, racketeering, organizing illegal poker games in clubs, etc. He became a favorite of Colombo family and in 1970, he committed his first murder. He killed Joseph Colucci, an associate of Spero, who was plotting to murder Gravano and Spero.

Gravano then became a part of the Gambino family in order to avoid conflict with Colombo mobster Ralph Spero. He gradually became a close associate of Salvatore ‘Toddo’ Aurello, who then became his mentor.

Gravano also started a construction business to earn good income, but later, he was charged for double murder by a former associate. According to him, he had to go on a robbing rampage in order to pay his lawyers.

His rampage ended up impressing Aurello who then offered him a membership in the Gambino family. In 1976, Gravano finally became the member of the family, and he describes the day as the best of his life.

In 1978, Gravano faced a situation in which he was ordered to murder his own brother-in-law, Nicholas Scibetta, for the latter had insulted George DeCicco’s daughter. George DeCicco was the uncle of Frank DeCicco – one of the associates of Gambino family.

In 1997, Gravano wrote a book, titled ‘Underboss’ with the help of the author, Peter Maas.