All language subtitles for Very Scary People s04e05 Sammy The Bull Gravano 1.eng

??

Gravano: I'm loyal to anybody.

Unless you [bleep] with me or
betray me or do something crazy,

then I could become
your worst nightmare.

And I admit it.

I want to eat you alive.

??

Welcome to "Very Scary People."

I'm Donnie Wahlberg.

Sammy "The Bull" Gravano

was one of America's
most feared mobsters.

He was also the highest-ranking
crime family member in New York

to turn government witness.

In 1992, he testified against
his former boss, John Gotti,

and spilled secrets of his life
in organized crime.

Sounded like a thriller
straight out of the movies,

but Gravano lived the life
and lived to tell.

He calls himself a loyal soldier
who believed in the brotherhood.

But, to many, he is nothing more
than a cunning,

cold-blooded murderer.

This is Sammy the Bull.

??

Destefano: There's an old saying
in the Mafia,

that only a friend can hurt you.

??

Gravano:
Joe Colucci was a bricklayer.

He was a hunter, a tough guy.

I really liked him.

Schumacher: Gravano and Colucci
were friends.

They worked well together.
They respected each other.

Joe Colucci was actually
part of a crew

within the Colombo crime family.

Colucci: One of my mother's
friends used to call him

the male Elizabeth Taylor.
[Laughs]

That he was so handsome,

he was so ...
and beautiful,

with his black hair
and blue eyes.

He was a great father.

He loved his kids to death.

??

Gravano:
One night, we went out drinking.

We went to an after-hour club.

It was about four o'clock
in the morning.

Destefano: They get Colucci
to go out with them,

carouse around,
drinking in clubs

and hitting various nightspots.

They get in a car,

and Colucci doesn't want
anybody sitting behind him,

so he sits in the backseat.

And at some point
as the night works on,

Colucci gets his guard down
and sits in the front seat.

Hunter:
The Beatles were on the radio.

Sammy's sitting, you know,
catty corner from him.

Gravano:
The car took off.

The windows were rolled up.

I went in my waistband
and pulled out a .38.

I put the gun to the back of his
head, and I pulled the trigger.

And then they ultimately
dump the body,

and at that point, Sammy fires,

he said, a few more shots
into the body.

This is his first hit.

Gravano:
The order came down to kill him.

When it comes from the top
and you have to do it,

that's part
of the code of the Mafia.

If you refuse,
you can be killed.

In most cases, you will be.

Destefano:
Sammy felt good about it ...

good in a strange way,
because he felt empowered.

He didn't feel remorse.
He didn't feel sad.

He said afterwards, "The easiest
thing was pulling the trigger."

Gabriel: Sammy's first murder

was a little bit of
an awakening.

He wasn't as bothered by it as
he probably thought he might be.

I slept like a baby
the entire night.

Why don't I feel guilt, remorse?

Why don't I feel anything?

I did feel something.

I thought I had power
over life and death.

I know one thing ...

that night I became
a professional killer.

Destefano: Sammy Gravano grew up
in Bensonhurst,

and that was
an Italian-American enclave

for New York City
at that time.

Colucci:
Everybody was friends.

Like, if somebody got married,
everybody went to the wedding.

If somebody died,
everybody went to the funeral.

Hunter: Anyone who's seen
the movie "Goodfellas,"

that will give you
a pretty good idea of the world

that Sammy Gravano
grew up in.

Where'd you get
those cigarettes?

It's all right.
Get him out of here.

It was the neighborhood
in Brooklyn ... Italian,

working class, tight-knit,
where everybody knew everybody,

and among the people
that everybody knew

was mobsters
in the neighborhood.

Sammy related that his early
impression from his father

was that these were bad people

and that they were really
to be avoided.

His father told him,
"Look. There's these guys

in the neighborhood.
They're bad guys,

but they're our bad guys."

Destefano: Of course,
that created an extra aura

or attraction to a young guy
growing up in Bensonhurst.

These were people who had
some stature in the community.

They were powerful,

they had influence, and you
didn't want to cross their path.

Hunter: Now, Sammy's parents,
Kay and Gerry,

they were complete
straight arrows.

They owned a dress factory,

and Sammy worked for them,
and he adored them.

Destefano:
Sammy had trouble in school

because it turned out
he was dyslexic

and, at that point,
wasn't diagnosed,

and he became the butt of jokes

because of his seemingly
slow learning ability.

Hunter: He was treated like he
was some kind of dummy,

and the other kids would laugh,

and he'd start hitting them
outside in the school yard

because he was humiliated.

Destefano: So, at an early age,
he was known to be able

to defend himself
and wasn't shy

about getting into fist fights.

Papa:
He was also smaller in stature.

And I think, to overcompensate,

he probably had to learn
to be a tough guy.

Hunter:
When he was 10 years old,

his parents got him a bike
for his 10th birthday,

and these kids stole it,

and he eventually
tracked them down.

They were a few years older.
They were bigger.

And across from the local bar
where a lot of these wise guys

hung out, he confronted
these guys and he went wild.

He was getting beat up,
but he kept on slugging at them.

Destefano:
Sammy was quick with his fists

and was able to do a number
on the thieves.

Hunter:
Until the wise guys came over

and told these guys,
"This is his bike.

You kids take off."

And one of the guys said,
"Oh, look at Sammy.

What a little bull."

And that's how the name
supposedly started.

??

McShane: He couldn't find a home
in the classroom,

but he found a home
on the streets.

Hunter: Sammy saw the heft the
local wise guys actually had ...

that they could
make problems go away.

A lot of people will tell you
that in old New York,

you know, if you got
a mob neighborhood,

you didn't have to worry
about grandma

getting hit over the head
getting off the bus.

It was a very ordered world.

Destefano: Sammy ultimately
joined a group

called the Rampers.

They were low-level, unofficial
wise guys in the neighborhood

who could carry out robberies,
heists,

break-ins, among other things.

That made them an unofficial
secondary farm team

for organized crime.

Hunter:
The Rampers did spot talent.

If a kid kept his mouth shut,
knew what he was doing,

showed a certain amount
of respect,

there might be a chance
to sort of move up to the bigs.

And Shorty Sparrow,

who is a member of the Colombo
crime family, saw this in Sammy.

He says, "Listen. I hear
a lot of good things about you.

I know a lot of things
about you.

You're going to get killed."
He said,

"You're too [bleep] tough.
You don't want to listen.

You've got to hook up
with people.

I would like you to be with me.

I will never lie to you.

I will never backstab.

Whatever I ask you to do,
I already did."

It was music to my ear.

He was being recognized
for something

that he could do and do well.

The attraction for Sammy Gravano
was just the fact

that he wanted
to make something of himself.

There was sort of power
and swagger and money.

??

??

Schumacher: Gravano,
he's a young guy.

This is his first hit.

When Gravano woke up the next
morning and he was

in an apartment
and there was a lot of commotion

about the murder of Joe Colucci.

People coming in, girls, guys.

"Oh, my God. Joe Colucci
was killed last night.

It's in the newspapers."

And I said, "Did they catch
who did it?"

It was early morning,
and I was feeding my daughter,

and the bell rang, and it was
detectives to come and tell me

that they found my brother's
body and that he was shot.

It was devastating.

It was horrible.

He was my big brother.

He was my best friend.

And then the next thing
you know,

Tommy and Sammy showed up
at our house

that day
that the detectives came,

that they "found out
that Joey got murdered."

"We're going to find out
who did this to him,"

and hugging everybody,

and they're going to work along
with the cops

and help them try to find out
what happened to Joey.

Brevetti: And that takes
a certain type of person

to do that, right?

So this is the warped mind
of people who were in the life.

??

Destefano: Cosa Nostra is the
American version of the Mafia,

which is ...
originates in Italy and Sicily.

To be considered for membership,
you have to show

that you're capable of killing
for the family

or making a lot of money
for the family.

If you have either or both of
those two things going for you

and politically, you know,
you play the game,

you'll be considered
for membership.

According to Sammy, they had
a meeting with Carmine Persico,

and others in the Colombo
crime family about

the Colucci homicide,

and they were questioned
about how this went down.

And after they gave
their summary,

Persico indicated that you know,
Sammy had done a good job.

That put him on the radar
of the top people

in the crime family
in a big way.

Gabriel: As an associate,
it's a good sign

because you've done
the one thing

you need to convince everybody
you could do to become a member,

so that elevates your status.

It engenders you with the boss.

It's not just how you did it,

but how you conducted yourself
afterwards.

It all speaks
to his mafia character,

and they see the kinda traits
they really like in a guy.

Destefano: If you can kill,
it takes a certain person

to do that,
you know, dispassionately,

professionally,
with no deep remorse.

That's a valuable commodity
in organized crime.

??

In the late '20s, early '30s,
there was a big war in which,

when all was said and done,
five families emerged,

and those are the five families
that are still there today.

They were the Genovese, Gambino,
Lucchese, Banano,

and Colombo crime families.

??

The Gambino family at the time
was probably the most powerful

and largest organized
crime family.

Destefano: After Carlo Gambino
died in about 1976,

the leadership of the crime
family went to Paul Castellano.

Castellano
was of a different cut.

He was not a street gangster.

He was a businessman who had
successful poultry businesses,

meat businesses.

So Sammy early on gets
very tightly aligned

to Frankie DeCicco.

Brevetti: Frankie DeCicco
was a capo ... a big earner.

Very, very influential.

Gabriel:
Very close to Paul Castellano.

So, as Sammy is getting closer
to Frankie,

he's brought
into that circle.

Sammy also began to gravitate
to the construction business.

Raab: And he was very good in
drywall and excavation,

and he started
his own companies.

Gabriel: Paul was earning
a lot of money

through Sammy's involvement
in the construction stuff,

and he kept Sammy close

because that was big dollars
coming to Paul.

So Sammy had access to the boss,
which not every soldier does.

??

About 1976, Sammy is inducted
in a very secret location,

and it's the proudest day
of his life.

To be invited to be a member
of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra

was really the pinnacle
of achievement

for that kind of life.

Hunter: He went into a basement
of a house

in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn,
and he was called.

It was his turn.

Gabriel: So, guys like Sammy,
from the minute

they start
their criminal activity,

their goal, their aspiration ...

it's more than a kid's dream

who wants to be
an astronaut, right?

They just admire the life
around the mobster

that they've grown up
seeing on the street.

Papa: He's introduced to the
various people sitting there.

At the head of the table was
Gambino boss Paul Castellano.

Destefano: You're asked if you
know why you're there,

and you have to lie and say "No,
I don't know why I'm there."

Hunter: And he was told it
was an honored society,

it was a secret society,

and that family came
before his own family

and anything else in his life.

McShane: Castellano told him
there is no God anymore for you.

We are your God.
The family is your God.

Papa: And what they do
is they bring a holy card.

They prick your finger,
and you have to take an oath

that you swear to be
loyal to the family.

The blood runs onto the
holy card and you vow omert�,

which means that you will
never speak

against anybody in the family.

You will not cooperate
with law enforcement.

They burn a picture of a saint
in your hands.

That signified that,
if he betrayed the organization,

that the saint burning
represented his soul burning.

And then you're given code
of conduct.

You're told the rules.

Hunter: He took it very, very,
very serious.

He believed 1,000%
in La Casa Nostra.

??

Sammy met,
almost by happenstance,

Debbie Scibetta.

She was a sweet kid and really
didn't know much

about the life on the street.

She wasn't connected to it
in any way.

He clearly adores her.
You get the sense

that he has always been
able to rely upon her.

Destefano:
Sammy ultimately proposed

and they marry in April of 1971.

Sammy and Debbie had two kids.

There was Karen and Gerard.

And Debbie was very devout
and devoted to the family,

and Sammy was out there
earning money any way he could.

Hunter:
She has understood his life,

which isn't always
easiest thing to understand.

I think that he has also drew
two lines between his life.

There was the life
as a gangster,

and then there was the life
as daddy and hubby.

Brevetti: Sammy's ability
to compartmentalize

and rationalize
has no limit.

He was a master of deception.

He was very good at it.

??

Brevetti:
Sammy took an oath that said,

"Our family
comes before your family."

??

And he swore to that.

And, of course, that became
the conundrum

or the problem
that Gravano faced.

Nick Scibetta
was his wife's brother.

Gabriel: He was probably
a half of an associate.

He actually hung around,
thanks to the reputation

of his brother-in-law,
Sammy, and enjoyed privileges

that he otherwise
would not have enjoyed.

So Scibetta's around
a lot of wise guys,

and he becomes a drug addict.

He becomes a cocaine head.

And he was becoming
a nuisance ... flamboyant,

bringing attention to himself.

Grabiel: And word makes it
to Paul's ears,

which is never a good thing.

The concern obviously is
he's been around so many guys

and conversations potentially ...
he gets pinched

and is strung out,
he could say stupid things.

They were worried he could
be talking or leaking

or that he'd be vulnerable
to an investigation.

So Castellano authorized
the hit on Nicholas Scibetta.

And so Sammy can't do
anything about it.

He knew that if he had warned
Nick Scibetta

what was about to happen,

it would end up with a bullet
behind the ear

for Sammy as well.

And so he understood
that this kid had to go.

Destefano: He made that choice
and that became his code,

and he was gonna live it.

In the end, he went with the mob
family over his wife's family.

And they take Nick Scibetta
for a ride, and he is murdered.

Sammy says that his involvement

was that
he allowed it to happen.

Gabriel:
And to make matters worse,

the guys chopped up his body,
put it in garbage bags,

and scattered it in different
garbage disposals

around Brooklyn.

A dog was being walked

and came across
one of the body parts,

pulled it out of the garbage,

and they eventually identify him
as Nick Scibetta.

The only thing that
was recovered was his hand,

and they knew from a ring
on his hand that it was him.

Gabriel: News gets out,
obviously, to Debbie.

She's distraught as all can be,

and, of course, now Sammy's
got to play the loving husband.

"We're going to look into this.
We'll get whoever did this.

Can't imagine what happened."

Sammy Gravano knew
how to play the part.

So you go to the wake.

You go to the funeral,
and you play the part.

And Sammy Gravano knew
how to do that job.

??

Brevetti: Organized crime,
its purpose was only one,

and that was to make money ...

to make money in the easiest
possible way.

Papa: La Cosa Nostra was
big business in New York City.

You were doing it illegally,
but it was big business.

The Concrete Club is probably
the best example of that.

Gabriel: The Gambino family
as well as the Genovese

and Colombo family
collectively controlled

just about every union
in New York.

So, in essence, they earned off
of every yard of cement

that got poured in Manhattan.

And for those who have been to
Manhattan, it's a lot of cement.

McShane: The mob families were
all getting a piece

of every concrete-pouring
contract over $2 million.

I believe they got 2% of that.

That's a lot of money.

Bottom line is, the economy
of Manhattan

was controlled by the mob.

Papa: Sammy Gravano on his own
was making a lot of money

in the construction industry.

He actually amassed
many companies,

and he was friendly with people.

He would, you know,
befriend somebody.

They went into
business together.

Destefano: He was a guy who was,
to some extent,

reasonable to talk to,

so he had the best
of both worlds.

He could be a diplomat.

He could also be a tough guy
and a killer.

Gravano: I was making $45,000
a week in cash

plus these
legitimate businesses.

So my money was astronomical,
myself.

I could only imagine what
Paul Castellano were making.

The money was enormous.

??

??

Welcome back
to "Very Scary People."

By the mid-1970s,
Sammy Gravano

became a made man
in La Cosa Nostra

and pledged loyalty to the
crime family above all else.

Now he had his own crew,
a team of men who helped him

carry out
whatever the boss demanded,

without question or hesitation,

even if it meant
killing family and friends.

Sammy would often leave
the actual killing to others,

but he was the one to plan it
with ruthless precision.

??

McShane: In 1980, the head of
the Philadelphia mob,

Angelo Bruno, who was known
as The Docile Don,

is executed ... shotgun ...
outside his home.

And this sets off
a huge shockwave

that went all the way up to
the five families in New York.

Hunter: Philadelphia
splits into two factions.

One is Nicky Scarfo,
one of the underbosses,

and the other
is by Johnny Keys.

Gabriel: Johnny "Keys" Simone
was a prominent member

in the Philadelphia family

that's looking to get
control of the family.

Hunter: So they're fighting
in Philadelphia

and Commission, the ruling body
of organized crime,

decides that Johnny Keys
has to go.

They're going to back
Nicky Scarfo

as the new boss in Philly.

Gabriel: So Paul calls Sammy in
and gives him the hit.

This, for Paul Castellano,
is a high-visibility hit

because they're taking out

a significant person
of another family,

and other bosses know
this is all happening,

so it can't go wrong.

So the fact that they give that
to Sammy says something.

It shows you how much
you respected this guy,

trusted this guy.

Hunter: Now, Johnny Keys
is a very smart man,

longtime mobster,
and very cautious.

Gabriel: Basically, Paul was
going to have Sammy

send word down to say,
"Hey, listen.

Paul's willing to back you.

He thinks you're the right guy."

Hunter: He's telling
Johnny Keys that Castellano

is going to back him
for leadership in Philly.

That's not the case.

He's being set up
to be murdered.

??

Sammy's telling Johnny Keys

that he's going to meet
Castellano,

but at a place
that Johnny Keys wants to go

because, that way,
he will be safe.

So they agree that they can meet
at a country club

that Johnny Keys belongs to.

Raab:
Gravano was persuasive enough

that Johnny Keys agrees
to go into a car with him.

Hunter: When they get to
the country club,

Johnny Keys sees
a van running,

and he makes note
of it the Sammy,

and that's when Sammy
grabbed him from behind,

and he was taken
into the van.

Raab:
Three other hoods jump in.

They grab Johnny Keys.

They disarm him.

Keys knew when he got
picked up what was coming.

Hunter: They drive him to a
remote corner of Staten Island.

But they had to wait some time
before they could kill this guy.

McShane: They were waiting like
10 or 12 hours for a phone call

from somebody
to tell them what to do.

Gabriel: So while Sammy and his
crew are waiting for word back,

they kept filling
Johnny Keys' head with,

"Hey, you know what?
There's meetings going on.

The decision
hasn't really been made

with what's gonna
happen to you."

So, Keys knew that he's
probably getting killed,

was hopeful
it wasn't gonna happen,

but Sammy knew all along
it was going to.

But the more he gets to know
Johnny Keys,

the more he likes him.

Gabriel: So the guy,
as an extremely stand-up guy,

very La Cosa Nostra,
and that kind of respect

means more than
anything else in their world.

McShane: In Gravano's view,
he took it like a man.

He took it like a believer
in their life,

and he never whimpered
or whined.

Gabriel:
When Sammy felt comfortable,

he gave the words, "Alright.
It's going to go."

"John, I just ... on the call,
you lost the decision, bro."

I got to take you out.
I'm going to treat you right,

like a man,
right up until the last second.

There'll be no pain.
There'll be no suffering.

I have the utmost respect
for you.

McShane: Gravano just was
so impressed by the way

this guy just accepted his death
and just made two requests.

One was that he could die
with his shoes off

because he had always
promised his wife

that that's how he would go.

In other words, that he would
presumably live a long life

and die in the comfort
of his home.

And the second was that
he insisted he be killed

by a made man.

And Louie Milito was that man.

Gravano: Louie Milito
with a .357 Magnum,

he hit him in the head.

Everybody gets in the van.

We're all sick.

We killed the epitome
of our life.

Gabriel: Sammy had remorse
after this hit.

Johnny Keys wasn't
a Gambino guy ...

not part of
a Gambino beef, right?

And then spending hours,
literally, with the guy

before they killed him
and seeing how the guy behaved,

the kind of wise guy
he really was,

it bothered Sammy that they had
to take this guy out.

??

These are very,
very dangerous people ...

some of the most
dangerous people

we've ever encountered
in law enforcement.

The FBI really got serious
about cracking down

on the Mafia
in the '70s and '80s.

It was a very aggressive effort
on the part of the FBI

using surveillance techniques,
wiretaps, bugs.

McShane: The FBI decided
to create five squads,

one for each of
the five families,

to follow them
and see what they could do

as far as putting together
prosecutions against them.

The FBI's embrace of technology,

combined with its formation
of these specific squads,

was a real two-fisted shot
at the mob.

Brevetti:
I didn't know the kind of impact

it would have
in Costa Nostra circles.

I knew it'd be a problem
for them,

but I didn't realize
how big of a problem it was.

??

??

Gabriel: Sammy had ownership
of a very successful disco

in Brooklyn, and this guy,
Frank Fiala

comes out of nowhere.

He was Eastern European,
a lot of money,

in the drug business.

Frank Fiala had rented out
Sammy's club, The Plaza Suite.

They clash a bit.

Sammy finds the guy to be
a bit of a pain in the neck.

In Sammy's world,
it's respect, right?

And when you don't show
that respect,

that's a very personal affront.

And this guy Fiala
didn't get that or didn't care.

Hunter: Fiala decides he likes
The Plaza Suite so much

that he wants to buy it.

He offers Sammy
a million bucks for it.

Gabriel:
So they negotiate the deal.

McShane: But Sammy is just
getting more and more aggravated

by this guy,
and, finally ...

this is before
the club has been sold ...

Sammy shows up and Fiala's
sitting in his office.

He's acting like
he owns the place.

He's mistreating people,
his feet up on Sammy's desk,

and acting like, "This is mine.
What are you doing here?

Get out."

And this just enrages Sammy.

Not only that,
he opens an attach� case.

Inside the attach� case
is a submachine gun.

Hunter: Fiala starts pointing an
Uzi submachine gun at Gravano.

Now, this sends Sammy
through the roof.

Sammy leaves and basically,
at that point,

decided this guy is going.

??

Hunter: Sammy calls out,
"Frank, turn around,"

out on the street
outside of The Plaza.

That's when Louie Milito
shoots him once in each eye.

[Gunshots]

And Sammy spits on his body
for good measure.

Reporter: The shooting took
place outside a disco

at 86th Street
and McDonald Avenue in Brooklyn.

McShane:
It was an unsanctioned hit,

which is a violation
of mob policy.

Gabriel: If you're going to kill
somebody,

the boss has got to know
what's happening,

but Sammy never went to the boss
to get permission.

Word kind of gets back to
Paul Castellano what happened,

and Sammy's petrified
because, by rights,

Paul should take him out.

Hunter: But Sammy, ever the
smooth talker and mob politician

that he is,
talks himself out of trouble.

??

Gabriel: So the Gambino family,
from the day Paul Castellano

was given the position of boss,

there were a lot of disgruntled
people.

Paul was considered
a white collar wise guy.

Paul dressed in a suit to go
to work and portray himself

as a businessman.

But Paul was respected because,
as the boss,

he had to be respected,
not because they liked them.

Paul Castellano
was called the Pope.

He had a regal bearing.

He lived in this huge house
on Staten Island.

They called it the White House.

He's got a legitimate business,
the poultry business.

And there's a feeling
among the rank and file

that he's kind of
out of touch with them.

Destefano: He looked down upon
the blue collar members

of the family.

He was above the fray.

Castellano not only was wealthy
from his legitimate businesses,

but also was getting hand over
fist money from the rackets.

Even members of
the other crime families

would complain
about his greediness.

Gabriel: Paul was all about
the money for himself.

So, people weren't satisfied
with that.

??

Mouw: In the summer of 1985,

there's a big dispute
in the Gambino family.

Gabriel: It involved the capo
by the name of John Gotti.

McShane: Castellano, the boss,
suspected Gotti's crew

of dealing narcotics,
particularly heroin trafficking.

With Castellano,
that was supposed to be

a death penalty event

if you were caught
dealing drugs.

Schumacher: That wasn't some
kind of moral decision that,

oh, drugs are wrong.

It was that drugs opened up

the possibility
of getting caught.

Gabriel: John Gotti at this
point was a captain in Queens,

and his buddy,
Angelo Ruggiero,

had taken over
his brother's heroin operations.

Though Ruggiero's nickname
was Quack Quack,

and part of the reason
was because

the guy could never shut up.

And the FBI got in,
and they bugged this house,

and all this information
was coming out on the tapes.

I didn't indict John, but I did
indict his crew members.

A portion of the indictment was
regular organized crime stuff,

but, more importantly, a larger
portion of it was narcotics.

And so now they have
a real problem.

McShane: The FBI was able to use
the information gleaned

from the Ruggiero bug

to bug Paul Castellano's house
on Staten Island.

And so this is kind of a double
faux pas by the Gotti crew

because, one, one of their guys
has been caught discussing

this business that they are
not allowed to conduct;

and, two,
it allowed the prosecutors

to get inside the house on
Staten Island and bug that too.

Paul had an interest
in those tapes, personally,

because he was being
prosecuted in multiple cases.

Castellano was asking
repeatedly for the tapes,

and if he heard the tapes,

it would have been
perfectly clear

that his orders
had been violated.

Raab: And the one person that
Castellano would go after

and probably kill
was John Gotti.

But, instead, Gotti made
the first move.

??

Hunter: So they decide that
they're going to take out

Paul Castellano,

but things have to be in place
for this to happen.

Gabriel: John knows, if he tries
to do this by himself,

he's dead.

So John cleverly
understood that,

if there was that much
dissatisfaction in the family

and he can get
the key people,

getting them means you got
a lot less to worry about.

The first person they approach
is Sammy Gravano.

Gabriel: John's a Queens guy,

Sammy is a Brooklyn guy,
Staten Island guy.

These guys don't go that far
outside of their territories.

But Sammy knows
John's reputation.

And Sammy's got a reputation.

McShane: Sammy is known in
the family for two things ...

he makes money
and he murders people,

and he's very good at both.

Gabriel:
Sammy was skeptical ...

Why should we risk our lives
for this John Gotti?

He's got his problems.

We may not be happy,
but Sammy's not stupid.

This is a big chance
we're taking.

You're breaking one of the most
sacred rules, taking out a boss.

He said, "Look. I'm going to go
talk to Frank DeCicco."

Papa: Frankie DeCicco was
a good friend of Sammy

and a good friend of Gotti.

Gabriel:
Sammy really respects Frankie,

much more than Paul Castellano.

So if Frankie ever turned
his back on Paul,

Sammy would be like, "Okay.
I'm with you. Forget this guy."

Sammy Gravano, he went to talk
to DeCicco at DeCicco's house.

I said, if we do this,

John doesn't deserve
to be the boss.

I think you should be the boss.

??

You deserve it.

You did nothing wrong.
I did nothing wrong.

He did everything wrong.

Gabriel: And Frankie understood
things well.

His retort to Sammy was,
"I can be his number two,

he can never be mine."

Understanding that Gotti's ego
could never be number two.

And Frankie was, he says,

"We could accomplish
what we want to accomplish."

Me and you will be the power
behind the throne.

And I give you my word.

If he doesn't pay attention
and act the fool, like he does,

we'll kill him.

The two of them decide

that they're going to
go forward with this.

Hunter: Gotti was called to
defer to Sammy in the plotting

because he had done
this sort of work before.

This was an extremely
risky endeavor.

For starters, they hadn't gone
to the Commission,

the ruling body
of organized crime,

to get the okay to hit him.

Destefano: It was done in a way
that was outside

the rules of organized crime.

That's why it was
a very big deal.

And there were going to be
consequences.

There was going to be
some blow-back.

??

Cardinale: On December 16, 1985,
Paul Castellano,

having left his attorney's
office in midtown Manhattan,

he and Tommy Bilotti,
his driver,

drove to 46th between
First and Second

to a place called
Sparks Steakhouse.

Destefano:
Frank DeCicco told people

where Castellano was going to be

at a certain time
on that December day

and who he was going
to have dinner with.

Hunter: Sammy planned it.

He figured that the streets
would be crowded

with Christmas shoppers,

and the chaos would make it
impossible for the police

to get on their tail.

We implemented the plan.

We took 11 people on the hit.

Every one of them
was a real pro.

Many of the shooters
didn't even know

they were there
to kill Paul.

They were just told
we're going to hit somebody.

They're going to come out,
and you're going to shoot.

It was a very tightly-held
conspiracy, no doubt.

There was a great attention
to detail.

The four shooters all wore
matching trench coats

and Russian fur hats.

So if anybody was going to
try to be identified,

there are about four of them
that dressed the same.

Sammy was sort of like the floor
manager for the assassination.

Hunter: Sammy watched
the whole thing go down

from a Lincoln Continental
across the street from Sparks.

Destefano: He was there in a car
with John Gotti.

He tipped off the assassins
at the very moment

that Castellano pulled up
to the restaurant.

I tell the team
"The light just turned green.

The first car out is them.

They're going to pull right
in front of Sparks.

Get ready."

Destefano:
If anybody got in the way,

they were prepared
to start shooting people.

??

Hunter: The guys came up wearing
their Russian fur hats

and their white trench coats,
and bang, bang, bang.

[Gunfire]

Papa: I don't think
Paul Castellano even made it

to stepping up to the curb
onto the sidewalk.

??

...This evening,
right at this location,

two people
were shot numerous times.

Tentative identification is that

it's Paul Castellano
and Tom Bilotti.

Reporter: Mafia kingpin
"Big" Paul Castellano

was gunned down gangland style
in midtown Manhattan.

The 70-year-old reputed head
of the largest

and most powerful crime family
in the country

was killed along with his driver
and friend, Thomas Bilotti.

McShane: It really went off
without a hitch.

They got out before anybody
really knew what had happened.

Papa: Amidst the chaos,
they were going to disappear,

and that's exactly
what happened.

After the shooting, the three
men, dressed in trench coats

and hats, made their way
through the rush hour crowd

to the end of the block.

There, a dark automobile
met them, and they sped off.

A movie script couldn't have
been written better,

and it was mind boggling.

It was shocking.

It was how did this happen?
Who did it?

Who was behind it?

Man:
Where were they hit?

They were hit in the head
and in the body.

??

Destefano: The murder of
Castellano and his driver,

Tommy Bilotti, was one of
the signature moments

in the history
of organized crime.

Hunter: The media reaction
to Christmas hit

on Paul Castellano
was spectacular.

It was front page
in the papers for days.

??

Everybody was taken off guard
by this.

The Mafia has a flair
for the dramatic,

and this certainly was dramatic.

You're now thinking,
"This is war.

There are going to be
other people that will be dead.

There will be other prices
to pay."

Gabriel: We were expecting
a shooting war

right after the hit,

thinking the Frankie DeCiccos
and the Sammy Gravanos

are going to be looking
for whoever the heck did this.

Hunter:
Even to the FBI, Sammy was,

you know, a figure
on the peripheral.

They didn't understand
how much respect, power,

or juice he actually had.

So he had done a very good job
his whole life,

playing it quiet,

which is very much
according to the rules.

That is how you're supposed
to live your life as a gangster.

??

Papa: Sammy Gravano
moved up the ranks.

He became a member of the inner
sanctum of the family.

Raab: Gravano thought
Gotti was such an egomaniac.

He was attracting
so much attention.

He's waving red flags
screaming,

"Catch me, catch me, catch me."

And that's eventually
what they did.

Reporter:
This night, federal FBI agents

arrested the leadership
of the Gambino crime family.

Sammy knew that Gotti was
going to be asking him

to take the fall
for John Gotti.

He saw the writing on the wall.

Now there's bad blood.

Reporter:
But it is Gravano who is poised

to have the last laugh
at Gotti's expense.

He betrayed everybody.

We didn't know how many murders
he was responsible for

till he told us.

Everybody sat in that courtroom
holding their breath.

Colucci: To get John Gotti,
they had to make a deal

with the devil.

I couldn't believe it.

I still can't believe it.

??

Sammy "The Bull" Gravano
had participated

in at least eight murders
by the time Paul Castellano

and Tommy Bilotti
were gunned down in Manhattan.

While the FBI knew
he was a member

of the Gambino crime family,

they had no idea
how lethal he was.

Sammy continued to operate
in the shadows,

but it wouldn't be long before
history would know his name,

and the Mafia as we know it
would never be the same,

in Part 2 of "Sammy the Bull."

I'm Donnie Wahlberg.

Thanks for watching.

Good night.

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