Carlo Gambino - Vincent and Philip Mangano

Vincent and Philip Mangano

Mangano led his family for 20 years, even though he and Anastasia never saw eye-to-eye. Mangano was displeased with Anastasia's friendship with Luciano and Frank Costello, especially since they frequently used Anastasia's services without his permission. Anastasia had been, since the 1930s, the operating head ("Lord High Executioner") of the syndicate's most notorious death squad, Murder, Inc., which was allegedly responsible for 900-1,000 murders. Mangano and his brother, Phil, supposedly confronted Anastasia several times, in front of Gambino. Eventually, Anastasia stopped asking permission for "every little thing", further angering the Manganos.

On April 19, 1951, Philip Mangano was found murdered and Vincent Mangano himself vanished the very same day and was never found. It is widely presumed that Anastasia killed them both. Though Anastasia never admitted to having a hand in the Mangano murders, he managed to convince the heads of the other families that Vincent Mangano had been plotting to have him killed, a claim backed up by Frank Costello, the acting boss of the Luciano crime family. Anastasia was named the new boss of the family, with Gambino as his underboss. Gambino was now one of the most powerful mobsters in the business, with a crew making profit of extortion, illegal gambling, hijacking, bootlegging and murder. Shortly afterward, Gambino's cousin and brother-in-law, Paul "Big Paul" Castellano (Giuseppe's son), took over as capo of Gambino's old crew.