Aniello Joseph "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce (March 15, 1914 — December 2, 1985) was an American mobster and the underboss of the Gambino Crime Family from 1965 to 1985. A longtime, respected gangster, Dellacroce served as the main confidant to Carlo Gambino and Paul Castellano and was the mentor to future Gambino leader John Gotti. Having operated his businesses from Mulberry Street in Little Italy since the start of his criminal career, Dellacroce managed the famous Ravenite Social Club, a frequent hangout for Five Families mobsters. His rise to power in the Family came after the murder of previous boss Albert Anastasia in 1957, gaining Gambino's trust and being named his second-in-command shortly afterwards. During his final years, Dellacroce was forced to deal with the aspirations of his protégé Gotti, standing up for him when Castellano demanded he hand over tapes confirming Gotti's brother and associates were involved in the drug business, which was forbidden in their organization. He died of natural causes in 1985 while under indictment on racketeering charges, paving the way for Gotti and his subordinates to kill Castellano and take control of the Family.
Early life[]
Dellacroce's mugshot after his first arrest for burglary, 1930.
Aniello Dellacroce was born in Little Italy, Manhattan on March 15, 1914, the son of Francesco Dellacroce and Antoinette Vecchione, Neapolitan immigrants from San Paolo Bel Sito in Campania. He had two siblings, Carmine, who would later become part of the Gambino Family, and Lucy. Dellacroce and his family lived in a tenement building across the street from the site where his Ravenite Social Club would later be established. In his teenage years, he was employed as a butcher's apprentice, but the Mafia influence in his area was too enticing for young Dellacroce to ignore, so he instead turned to a life of crime. His first arrest occurred on June 26, 1930, when he was 16 and busted while robbing a store, being sentenced to two and a half years in prison at the Elmira Correctional Facility in Chemung County.
Gambino Family[]
Beginnings[]
Dellacroce was notorious for his cold, haunting stare.
Shortly after his release for his first conviction, Dellacroce attracted the attention of the Mangano Crime Family led by Vincent Mangano, a founding member of the Commission. By the early 1940s, he had become a made man and grew to have a good reputation within the syndicate. As part of Mangano's family, he also partook in the dealings of Albert Anastasia's Murder, Inc. hit team, becoming lethally effective during his time under Anastasia. His direct superior in the Family, Armand "Tommy" Rava, was one of his closest friends and associates, and he would later support him during a power struggle in the family. Standing at 5'10" and nicknamed "The Tall Guy", Dellacroce was intimidating in appearance and was notorious for his cold stare and piercing blue eyes; according to veteran NYPD Officer Ralph Salerno, he was one of only two mobsters he met to have ever scared him; "You look at Dellacroce's eyes and you could see how frightening they were, he possessed the frigid glare of a killer." Other monikers included "The Polack", for his glum-looking face and appearance which contrasted with that of a traditional Italian, and "Father O'Neil", as both a diminutive of his first name and a reference to his apparent tendency to dress like a priest when he committed murder.
Dellacroce married his longtime wife, Lucille Riccardi, at a young age, and had two children with her, Armand, apparently named in honor of his friend Rava and who followed in his father's criminal line of work, and Nanny. However, Dellacroce was also known as a womanizer, bearing multiple illegitimate children with some of his mistresses.
Murder of Anastasia and new regime[]
Dellacroce (third from the left) and his capo Armand Rava (second from the left) at the Copacabana nightclub, c. 1950s.
During the 1950s, a period of change in the Mangano Family would also represent a turning point in Dellacroce's life. Around this time, he met a young associate and protégé of capo Carmine Fatico, John Gotti, who took to Dellacroce as another mentor. By 1956, promising capo Carlo Gambino opened a Mulberry Street social club he dubbed the Ravenite, which would ultimately end under Dellacroce's management. A year later, Gambino plotted the murder of then-Family boss Albert Anastasia, who was receiving a haircut and shave in the barbershop of the Park-Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan when he was shot to death by masked gunmen on October 25, 1957. Following the murder, the Family was split into two factions vying for power, one headed by Gambino and another sympathetic to Anastasia led by Tommy Rava; Dellacroce sided with his capo and became Rava's right-hand man during the struggle along with John Robilotto. However, as the Gambino movement gained traction, Robilotto distanced himself from Dellacroce and Rava, joining the rival side. Feeling betrayed by their close friend, Dellacroce and Rava had Robilotto killed on September 7, 1958, and his bullet-riddled body was found on a street corner in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
When the popular Robilotto was killed, Gambino realized Rava was willing to use violent measures during the conflict, which up until that point had been relatively strife-free aside from the murder of Anastasia, so he decided to act swiftly and decisively to quash the opposition definitively; in late 1958, Rava went on a trip to Florida to reconvene with his followers and discuss their next moves on Gambino and he disappeared, never to be seen again. It was believed that members of Gambino's faction or former Rava loyalists who had turned on him, with suspects including Salvatore Aurello, Joseph Indelicato, Thomas Altamura and even Dellacroce himself, had killed Rava to prevent him from causing Gambino any further complications. Shortly after his disappearance, Gambino held a meeting with Dellacroce where he assured him he would be spared if he joined Gambino's side and made no further attempts to take power away from him. Dellacroce agreed and he was soon rewarded with a capo's position over Rava's former crew, which he split with fellow captain Anthony Rizzo. As part of their agreement, Gambino also offered the Ravenite Club to Dellacroce as a base of operations, which he would use for nearly three decades. In his new position, Dellacroce gained even more respect than in his prior career, and he would come to be known as one of the Gambino Family's most integral members.