Vincent Gigante

Vincent Louis Gigante (/dʒɪˈɡænti/ jig-AN-tee, Italian: [dʒiˈɡante]; March 29, 1928 – December 19, 2005), also known as "Chin", was an American mobster who was boss of the Genovese crime family in New York City between 1981 to 2005.

Gigante started out as a professional boxer who fought in twenty-five matches between 1944 and 1947. He then started working as a Mafia enforcer for what was then the Luciano crime family, forerunner of the Genovese family. Three of Gigante's four brothers – Mario, Pasquale and Ralph – followed him into the Mafia. Only one brother, Louis, stayed out of organized crime, instead becoming a Catholic priest. In 1957, Gigante was the gunman in the failed assassination of longtime Luciano boss Frank Costello. Two years later he was sentenced to seven years in prison for drug trafficking, and after sharing a prison cell with Costello's rival, Vito Genovese, Gigante became a caporegime (captain) overseeing his own crew of Genovese soldiers and associates based in Greenwich Village.

Gigante quickly rose to power during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1981, he became the family's boss while Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno served as front boss during the first half of the 1980s. He also ordered the failed murder attempt of Gambino family boss John Gotti in 1986. With the arrest and conviction of Gotti and various Gambino family members in 1992, Gigante was recognized as the most powerful crime boss in the United States.

For almost thirty years, Gigante feigned insanity in an effort to thwart law enforcement. Dubbed "The Oddfather" and "The Enigma in the Bathrobe" by the media, he often wandered the streets of Greenwich Village in his bathrobe and slippers, mumbling incoherently to himself. Gigante was indicted on federal racketeering charges in 1990 but was determined to be mentally unfit to stand trial. In 1997 he was tried and convicted of racketeering and conspiracy, and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. Facing obstruction of justice charges in 2003, Gigante pleaded guilty and admitted that his supposed insanity was an elaborate effort to avoid prosecution, as he was sentenced to an additional three years in prison. Gigante died in the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners on December 19, 2005.