Gaspare (Gasparino) DiGregorio: Bonanno Family Ties

Gaspare (Gasparino) DiGregorio was a capo in the Bonanno Family who was eventually selected by the Commission to head the Family during the infamous Bonanno War. He was a gunman during the Castellammarese War, a very close friend of boss Joe Bonanno, and had strong ties to Buffalo's Magaddino Family .

Gaspare (Gasparino) DiGregorio -- aka Gasper, Gaspero, Gaspori, and Gasporino -- was born on December 5, 1905, in Castellammare del Golfo (Trapani province), Sicily, to parents Leonardo Leo and Maria (nee Ciaravino) DiGregorio. He immigrated to this country illegally through Canada in 1921. (Authorities reported that he had listed his birthdate at various times as December 5, 1911. Other sources report his date of birth as October 4, 1905).

Gaspare (Gasparino) DiGregorio

He originally lived on Roebling Street in the heart of the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn until buying a home at 162 No. Forest Avenue in Rockville Centre in 1946.

In 1962, he relocated a bit further out on Long Island to a modest home at 737 5th Street in West Babylon into a home valued at $20,000 in 1966.

By the late 1960s, he sold his home and moved in with a daughter and son-in-law at their Smithtown, Long Island home, where he would live out his final years.

He had a wife and three children. One of his sons, Anthony DiGregorio , would later join his father in the life. Gaspare also had two brothers named Matteo and Antonio) who became mafiosi as well. The DiGregorio brothers operated in tandem for years. His daughters and son were all very close to him. After getting married, they all lived either on the same block or within a few blocks of each other.

Matteo DiGregorio

He stood approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 150 pounds. He wore glasses and had a quiet, low-key demeanor. His activities included bootlegging, gambling, extortion, shylocking, garment rackets, and strong-arm enforcement.

A Bonanno Sleeper

He was a boyhood friend and schoolmate of Joe Bonanno and many other future top American mafiosi back in Sicily. He was also related by marriage to Buffalo’s Steve Magaddino , Vincent Danna, James Genna , Salvatore and Dominick Sabella, Sereno Tartamella, and several other Bonanno and Buffalo members.

DiGregorio, Bonanno, and several other young men from Castellammare started as bootleggers during the early 1920s in Brooklyn. He was also known as an active gunman and shooter during the “Castellammarese War” of 1929 to 1931.

Gaspare had only been arrested once in his life. But it was a doozie. It was in 1934 that DiGregorio was arrested in connection with the strangling and shooting double-murder of two Brooklyn hoodlums, but the charges were later dismissed.

He was very close to the seat of power, namely Salvatore Maranzano, the supreme leader of all those who hailed from Castellammare del Golfo during that tumultuous time period and served as Maranzano's bodyguard.

Joe Bonanno and Gaspare were also the closest of friends. In fact, Gaspare became “compare” to Bonanno’s son Salvatore (to be named godfather to a friend's child is considered a very high honor and sacred thing to Italians, Sicilians in particular). Gaspare also served as best man at Bonanno’s wedding.

He was among a group of young Castellammarese mafiosi who (Bonanno included), because they had started with Maranzano from the very beginning, referred to one other as “The Boys of The First Day” -- a reference to the base seat of future power within this borgata.

In 1934, DiGregorio was arrested for the strangling and shooting of two Brooklyn-based hoodlums. The charges were later dismissed for a lack of evidence.

Gasparino held ownership in several garment factories over the years, including F & D Coat Co. of Brooklyn and the Nina Coat Co., 350 Marconi Blvd. in Copiague, Long Island.

He was officially “inducted” early to “The Life.” By the mid to late-1920s, he was already a “soldier” in the Castellammarese borgata of the Mafia. By the 1940s, he had been elevated to “capo di decina” status and was considered boss Joe Bonanno’s closest friend and sidekick. He held this exalted post for several decades until he was elevated to lead once the problems started within the family.

He had long been considered a “sleeper” within the mob. Until the Family turmoil of the mid-1960s, DiGregorio was a virtual unknown.

By 1965, informants were starting to talk about this little-known mafioso taking over the leadership of the entire Bonanno Family. Soon, law enforcement had identified Gaspare and were smothering him with surveillance and scrutiny as never before seen. And he didn’t like it one bit. He much preferred the shadows that he’d successfully lived in his whole life.

The FBI started trailing him night and day. Surveillance cameras were capturing his every move, and he was immediately subpoenaed to testify before several mob grand juries. He was able to largely avoid testifying by claiming a serious heart condition. The FBI, of course, wasn’t buying it (but it wasn’t a lie; he’d had four previous heart attacks).

After many Commission meetings with bosses nationwide, Gaspare was selected to lead the Family. But his reign was short-lived. He hated the exposure and became a largely ineffectual boss because of the 24/7 scrutiny by law enforcement. His heart condition also did not help his tenure as head of the borgata. He was a sick man and needed quiet and a doctor's care. That proved true shortly thereafter when he suffered another heart attack.

He was eventually replaced by a close associate and his previous aide, Paul Sciacca .

Lifelong Associates

DiGregorio numbered among his close, lifelong associates some of the most important mafiosi in both Italy and America, including the following:

Giuseppe (Joe Bananas) Bonanno -- A boyhood friend in Castellammare and lifelong associate of Gaspare, became Family Boss.

Stefano (Steve) Magaddino -- Another Castellammare native, Gaspare’s brother-in-law, and Buffalo Family Boss.

Paul Sciacca -- A lifelong associate, became “acting boss” after DiGregorio’s reign.

Salvatore Maranzano -- The original leader of the Castellammarese faction, former “boss of bosses,” murdered in 1931.

Salvatore Sabella -- A Castellammare native, became boss of the early Philadelphia borgata .

Carlo Gambino - Palermo native who would become boss of the Family named after him.

Vito (Don Vitone) Genovese -- Started as a camorrista , later rose to Boss of the Luciano borgata, a Bonanno adversary.

Gaspare Milazzo - Aboyhood pal from Castellammare, a murder suspect who fled to Detroit to become boss. Later murdered.

Francesco (Frankie Carroll) Garofalo -- Another Castellammare native who would rise to underboss, later retired back to Sicily, barber’s union president.

Giovanni (John) Tartamella -- Born in Castellammare, would rise to be consigliere under Bonanno.

Giovanni (John) Bonventre -- An original power both in Castellammare and America, top capo and mentor to nephew, Joe Bonanno.

Michael (Mikey Adams) Adamo -- Longtime power and capo under Bonanno, a key insurgent in later years.

He had many other close associates, especially various Castellammarese figures throughout the underworld. There were many interrelated mafiosi in the underworld, either by blood or marriage, or both, especially in the Bonanno Family.

DiGregorio would eventually die, but not from that weak “ticker” he always complained about.

On June 4, 1970, Gaspare (Gasparino) DiGregorio was admitted to the Smithtown General Hospital in Smithtown, New York. He died a week later, on June 11, of lung cancer. He was waked at the James Funeral Home in Massapequa, Long Island. His funeral services were held at St. Phillips and James Roman Catholic Church in Smithtown on June 15, 1970. He was interred at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York.

He was 65 years old.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Gaspare (Gasparino) DiGregorio: Bonanno Family Ties

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