Carmine “Lilo” Galante

July 12, 1979

The French Connection

When Carmine “Lilo” Galante was sent to prison in 1931, a psychological evaluation of the time concluded the mobster had an IQ of only 90, the mental capacity of a fourteen year-old, and that he was emotionally “dull”. How such a profoundly inaccurate judgement could have been reached defies the imagination. With a career in the Mafia that spanned fifty-four years, Galante was one of the most effective hit-men ever in operation. His coordination and virtual control of the Mafia’s narcotics operations showed a superb mind with an aptitude for organization, and his flagrant takeover attempt of the Bonanno family is a classic example of Mafia realpolitik.

During the 1950s, “Lilo”—which is slang for “cigar” in Italian, and a nod to Galante’s habit of perpetually smoking them— was heavily involved in the Bonanno family’s drug affairs. In fact, drugs were his focus for much of his Mafia life, and he oversaw international operations that spanned from Sicily through Marseille (the French Connection), Canada and the United States.

In 1962, however, Galante was sent to prison for twenty years. This proved to be no set-back for him. He retained all of his narcotics contacts, keeping the lines of communication open and allowing him to remain a powerful force in the drug world.

The body of Carmine Galante is covered by New York police detectives at a Brooklyn restaurant on the 12th of July, 1979.

The Banana War

During Galante’s incarceration, big things were happening in the Bonanno family. Joseph Bonanno and Profaci family boss Joseph Magliocco were scheming to eradicate the bosses of the other families in a bid to take over the Commission. The fall-out from this attempted coup brought down the wrath of the Mafia and caused a wide division within the Bonanno family itself, splitting the gang in two. The conflict is referred to as the Banana War, and ultimately it led to Joe Bonanno’s forced retirement and exile from the mob.

The removal of Bonanno led to a power vacuum within the Bonannos which was eventually filled by Philip Rastelli, who assumed leadership in 1974. But he didn’t have much time to wield power. In 1976 Rastelli was sent to prison.

With the leadership of the Bonanno family still precarious, the stage was set when Galante was finally released from prison in January of 1974. Without skipping a beat, he set in motion a series of plans that he had been refining for years and that were designed to give him a monopoly over the Mafia’s drug operations as well as control of the Bonanno family.

Using mobsters and bodyguards—known as Zips—that he had imported from Sicily, Galante began to muscle out the other families from the drug business, concentrating specifically on the Gambino family, towards whom he held a great animosity. The Sicilian Zips were reputedly loyal and unquestioning and they owed their elevated status to Galante.

After Bonanno boss Rastelli was sent to prison, Galante declared himself de facto Don of the Bonanno family. With all the millions that Galante was raking in from his international drug operations (money that was not shared with the other families) and his Cossack-like Zips surrounding him, Galante carved out an unparalleled position for himself.

This would be his undoing. By 1979 the other families, and Rastelli from within his prison cell, voted for Galante’s elimination. On July 12, 1979, Carmine “Lilo” Galante entered Joe and Mary’s Restaurant in Brooklyn. After a pleasant meal with the restaurant’s owner—Giuseppe Turano, who was a cousin of his—Galante went outside with Giuseppe to enjoy the sunshine on the restaurant’s patio. They were shortly joined by mob capo Leonard Coppola and two Zips.

Just as Galante was about to light up one of his ubiquitous cigars, three men in ski masks burst their way out to the patio and began firing. Galante was blown backwards onto the cement, and Turano and Coppola went next. Pictures of the gruesome scene—legendary now in mob folklore—show Galante lying with his head propped against a curb, his right hand clutching a lighter, while his left hand lies limply across his chest. A cigar—a lilo—is clamped in his mouth. Interestingly, the two Zips were unharmed in the attack—a sign that they probably had inside information.

Though he would not be paroled until 1983, Joseph Rastelli was now able to secure his position as boss of the Bonanno family. Carmine “Lilo” Galante, the mafioso that even other mafiosi feared, had been neutralized.