Giuseppe (Pip the Blind) Gagliano

During a 1935 gambling raid and arrest, Giuseppe (Pip the Blind) Gagliano was listed as a former member of the notorious Dutch Schultz mob who was a top bootlegger and numbers racketeer of that era.

Giuseppe (Pip the Blind) Gagliano was born in 1903 in Corleone, Sicily. He immigrated as a baby in 1905 with his family to New York’s East Harlem. The family initially settled in at 219 East 107th Street, then moved across the street to # 220 on the same block.

The family eventually moved a few doors down to a walk-up apartment in another tenement building at 222 East 107th Street, where Pip would reside with his wife Grace and their children for the rest of his life.

This street was a notorious mob stronghold and the base headquarters for what would later become the Lucchese Family, the original “107th Street Mob.”

It was believed that Gagliano got his nickname of “Pip the Blind” from a blind spot in one eye.

He was related by marriage to future Lucchese consigliere Vincent and his brother Calogero Rao, nephew of mafioso Angelo Gagliano.

By his birthright of having been born in the notorious Corleone area, a town that spawned many future top Lucchese figures, he most certainly was affiliated with that borgata.

He also held close ties to future Genovese mob figures as well, having many friends in that particular group.

Very little is known of Gagliano’s early life in the mob. He grew up among, went to school with, and was a close pal and associate of many future top players in the East Harlem mob including:

Ciro (The Artichoke King) Terranova -- One of the early Harlem mob powers and brother of Giuseppe (The Clutch Hand) Morello.

Michael (Trigger Mike) Coppola -- A top Genovese Boss of the Harlem crew and a close personal friend.

Joseph (Joe Stutz) Tortorici - A key soldier in Trigger Mike’s crew.

Jack Dragna -- A Corleone native, close associate, and future boss of the Los Angeles Family.

Dominick (The Gap), Petrilli, Salvatore (Sally Shields), Shillitani, and Nick (The Thief) Capuzzi -- All three of these men were key Lucchese soldiers and burglary partners.

Joseph (Joe Cago) Valachi and Girolamo (Bobby Doyle) Santuccio -- Both early Harlem burglary partners of Pip who would both go on to become Genovese members.

The Dutch Schultz Mob

Gagliano probably played a part in the infamous “Castellammarese War” of 1929 to 1931. He was certainly around many of the key participants in that factional war for supremacy of the New York underworld.

During a 1935 gambling raid and arrest, he was listed as a former member of the notorious Dutch Schultz mob who was a top bootlegger and numbers racketeer of that era.

He was arrested with Bernard Stein for running a policy-numbers ring out in the Lindenhurst area of Suffolk County in Long Island. Also nabbed were several of Pip’s sisters (Mamie and Tessie,) several wives of other members, and Alfred Felice, and Charlie Buccieri.

Besides policy, Pip the Blind Gagliano was additionally charged with assault and weapons charges.

He is said to have gone into the plastering business with others.

This industry was dominated by the Lucchese Family and became a primary source of income and labor racketeering for them in future years.

Nearly the entire Gagliano household and extended family got involved in this business.

Arrest Record

He had an arrest record starting in the early 1920s that included robbery (3 years), burglary, policy-lottery, assault, possessing a dangerous weapon, narcotics (3 years), and eventually another narcotics case that would be his undoing.

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) had listed Gagliano as number 121 in their narcotics book dossier of the top narcotics peddlers in the nation.

Gagliano’s headquarters was said to be in the back of a bar on E. 107th Street.

His drug couriers were said to be smuggling raw opium in from Mexico back to a hidden factory in New York City where his chemists would convert the opium into heroin.

At that point, it’s alleged that he had men and women couriers fan out across the country delivering heroin to his various drug customers, many of whom were Cosa Nostra members of other borgatas strategically situated to receive the heroin for redistribution.

Considered extremely careful in his dealings, Pip the Blind never spoke to anyone related to drugs and never touched the stuff himself. He left all negotiations and deliveries to his minions.

This strategy protected him for years.

A Unique Strategy

Narcotics agents longed to take him down. And they thought of a unique strategy to do so. After spending months getting close to the gang, an undercover agent drove to their Harlem headquarters. He honked his car horn in front of the bar where Gagliano was known to stay in the back room.

When one of Pip’s henchman came to talk with him, the agent claimed he needed to speak to Pip but could not walk into the darkened bar because he had badly injured his foot and couldn’t walk on it, showing the hood his bandaged foot as proof.

Taking the bait, Pip the Blind walked outside to the auto to chat. Another agent was hiding in the trunk of the auto peeping through a hole cut out in the backseat.

More agents were observing from across the street in a specially designed van. What Pip would say in the next few minutes sealed his fate.

Remember, decades ago, law enforcement didn’t have the benefit of body recorders, so they needed a second eyewitness to a drug transaction.

Shortly thereafter, in 1946, Gagliano was arrested with eight others after making direct sales of heroin to undercover narcotics agents.

The Mastermind

D.A. Frank Hogan called Gagliano “the mastermind of one of the biggest opium rings in the country," the head of an East Harlem narcotics peddling combine. He was held on a whopping $150,000 bail - a huge amount in that era, equal to millions today.

Others arrested included Lucchese soldier Angelo (Pudgy) Loiacono - allegedly Gagliano’s chief lieutenant and aide and Anthony (Andy) Lucente, a drug delivery man.

Also named were Hector Robles, Felix Santana, Sonny Griffin, Armand Piragnoli, and Nicholas Gnazzo, who were all held on $15,000 bail as well as future Genovese bigwig Charles (Little Bullets) Albero who was laid up in the hospital with a shattered leg.

They were all later tried and convicted, with Gagliano being sentenced to a state term from 5 to 10 years in prison, to be served at Sing Sing in Upstate New York.

But Gagliano was being housed at Bronx County jail while authorities were said to be questioning him about his knowledge of the underworld.

Bad Food

Word soon got back to East Harlem about his potential “rat” status, and the boys were getting apprehensive. It was later alleged that his jail food may have been poisoned on several occasions.

Pip the Blind was later found hung in his jail cell approximately six weeks after his conviction.

He was said to have either been providing information on narcotics trafficking to authorities, his murder made to look like a suicide, or he took his own life after starting to inform and chose to kill himself as his only way out from becoming a rat.

Either way, Pip Gagliano was kaput by April, 10, 1947. He was only 44 years old.

Postscript: Many associates of his including future informant Joe Valachi, who’d known him very well all his life, never believed that Gagliano had taken his own life.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Giuseppe (Pip the Blind) Gagliano

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Giuseppe (Pip the Blind) Gagliano

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