No. 2 Man in Top N.Y. Mafia Family Dies : Aniello Dellacroce, 71, of Gambino Clan Was Under Indictment

Aniello Dellacroce, identified by authorities as the No. 2 man in the largest of New York’s five Mafia families, the Gambino family, has died at 71.

His lawyer, Barry Slotnick, said Dellacroce died late Monday at a hospital which he did not identify. Dellacroce had been suffering from cancer and heart disease, he said.

Dellacroce was one of nine Mafia leaders under indictment on racketeering and conspiracy charges in connection with alleged membership in a “commission” that settles disputes and determines relationships in New York’s underworld.

Dellacroce was scheduled to go on trial in federal court in Manhattan in March. He also was to be tried on a separate charge of tax evasion.

Dellacroce also faced charges in federal court in Brooklyn of supervising Gambino family “crews” responsible for murder, loan sharking and hijacking.

In the late 1970s a federal investigator said Dellacroce provided the family’s “muscle” through his contacts with underworld hit-men.

A 1983 report by the New Jersey State Police intelligence bureau referred to Dellacroce’s “proclivity toward violence” and accused him of ordering the 1979 slaying of Carmine Galente, then a leader of the Bonanno crime family.

Dellacroce and other Gambino family members also were believed by authorities to have sanctioned the 1980 slaying of Angelo Bruno, the reputed head of the Mafia family in Philadelphia.

The Gambino family, which in recent years has exercised increased influence over the city’s other four Mafia families, is said to have about 250 members. The FBI says each member has as many as 10 close criminal associates who are not members of the crime group.