Chin
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“So the port has been pretty good to the extended Gigante family, hasn’t it?” inquired commission lawyer Eric Fields at a 2010 hearing.
“Unions are always good for family,” replied Ralph Gigante, son of Chin’s brother Ralph.
In Las Vegas, there’s now an attraction devoted to the history of organized crime: the Mob Museum. Among the exhibits is a photo of Gigante, in his bathrobe, walking along Sullivan Street.
* * *
Father G. reflects back on Vincent one last time.
“You know why my brother went to jail?” the priest finally asks. “Because all of the underworld couldn’t keep their mouths shut. If they all just kept their mouths shut . . . you don’t rat on your own people.”
Gigante holds his glasses in his right hand and reaches across to squeeze a guest’s wrist.
“If he didn’t go to jail, he would have been alive today,” the priest declares before very pleasantly deciding that he’s said enough. “I hope I threw out a few things to you. I gotta really think about this, ’cause he is really sacred to me and I don’t see a purpose to this.”
A few minutes after this remark, Father Gigante gets up to leave. Before the check arrives, he takes care of one last bit of business: it’s his treat.
Vincent Gigante leaves the Federal Courthouse in December 1958, where he was on trial with sixteen others on narcotics charges.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
Olympia Gigante kisses her husband Vincent after his May 1958 acquittal in the attempted murder of mob big shot Frank Costello.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
A 1958 photo of Vincent Gigante during the trial for the attempted murder of Frank Costello.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
Frank Costello leaving Roosevelt Hospital, bearing blood stains on his jacket after a “mystery gunman” shot him in the lobby of his Central Park West apartment building, on May 3, 1957.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
Gigante, flanked by his parents, mother Yolanda and father Salvatore, on trial for the attempted murder of Frank Costello, May 13, 1958.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
Mafia boss Vito Genovese (in passenger seat) after being arrested by federal narcotics agents. Vincent Gigante was also arrested, July 8, 1958.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
Vinnie Gigante—not looking too concerned—after being arrested on drug charges, July 9, 1958.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
What, me worry? Gigante, accompanied by his attorney Maurice Edelbaum (center) on his way to traffic court, September 19, 1957.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
Vinnie “Chin” being booked for the shooting of Frank Costello at the West 54th Street police station, August 20, 1957.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
August 14, 1957: Mario Gigante, Vinnie’s brother (center) handcuffed to NYPD detectives as he enters court.
Vinnie was still on the lam at the time.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
“Vincent Gigante—where is he?” So read the caption on this mug shot dated July 18, 1957.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
Gigante strolling in Queens with Dominick “Quiet Dom” Cirillo, a high-ranking member of the Genovese crime family, who briefly served as acting boss for Vincent when he was in jail, April 10, 2005.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
Vinnie “Chin” Gigante, second right, huddles with his members of the Genovese crew: Frankie Condo, right; Bruce Palmeri, second left, and Dominick Canterino.
An undercover NYPD detective testified that Gigante, who claimed to be mentally ill, functioned normally when off his guard—dodging cars on a busy street and asking an impatient driver if he was “in a rush.”
(Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office)
The April 5, 1990 cover of the NY Daily News with a bathrobe-clad Gigante being led away in the $143 million windows scam. Peter Gotti, John Gotti’s brother, was also pinched.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
The robe makes the man: Gigante being placed under arrest in the multimillion-dollar windows scam, May 30, 1990.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)
A clean-shaven Vincent Gigante, with his son Vincent, leaves the Upper East Side home of his longtime mistress (or “goomare”) on June 27, 1997.
(Courtesy New York Daily News)