There are brazen mob murders and there are audacious mob murders, but nothing quite compares to how Paul Castellano was killed in 1985. Prior to his death, Castellano was the reputed head of the Gambino Crime family, one of the most powerful American Mafia families in New York (via The New York Times). He was facing charges over a “racketeering indictment” and conspiracy to commit murder, and officials had held the family was responsible for at least 25 extracurricular killings over the past years.
Then, on December 16, 1985, Castellano and mobster associate Thomas Bilotti were both shot to death after exiting their limousine to eat at a restaurant in midtown Manhattan. The killers, who reportedly used semi-automatic weapons, immediately fled in a getaway car. According to History, the order was given by a subordinate member of the Gambino crime family, John Gotti, who would take over as the new Gambino family boss following Castellano’s death.
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The purported reason that Gotti ordered the hit on Castellano was over drug dealing. Gotti was distributing dangerous narcotics like heroin, even against Castellano’s wishes. Fearing Castellano was going to have them killed, Gotti and his mobster associates preemptively had him murdered first, with Gotti watching the whole thing from a nearby vantage point.
