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Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano (born March 12, 1945) is a former mobster and underboss of the Gambino crime family in the 1980s under John Gotti. Originally a soldier for the Brooklyn sector of the Gambinos, he was contacted by John Gotti once the plan to murder then-Gambino boss Paul Castellano was contrived. Gravano would play a key role in Gotti's bid to murder Castellano and become the new Gambino boss. Weighing his options, and seeing there was "something in it for him", he teamed with Gotti to kill Castellano in 1985. This dramatic murder would elevate Gravano's position in the family to underboss under the new Don, John Gotti. He is also known as "The King Rat" because of his testimony against John Gotti.

Contents 1 Childhood and early life 2 Spero and his first murder 3 Later life 4 In popular culture 4.1 Print 4.2 Television 4.3 Music 5 See also 6 External links

Born in Brooklyn, New York to Gerardo and Catarina Gravano, Salvatore was a small youngster, who was frequently mocked and teased by his peers. He was held back on two occasions in school. He began stealing when he was only 7 or 8 and would take two cupcakes from a corner store, in Bensonhurst every day on his way to school.

His father had a well-paying occupation. He ran a small dress-factory and could sustain a good standard of living for Salvatore. Sal sobbed when he was caught stealing from his corner shop at the age of 8 and was let off with a firm warning by the shop-keeper. He had little physical presence and asserted his power through violence as he grew up.

His father tried all possible methods of discipline and even forced Salvatore to attend a local church, yet while most of males in the neighborhood his age went into blue and White collar work, Salvatore remained incorrigible. He served a term in the United States Army during the 1960s. His Army enlistment was because he was charged with crimes as a teenager and his lawyer cut a deal with the prosecution that all charges would be suspended if Gravano would agree to enlist. The young Gravano was dead set against military service, especially in this type of situation. Gravano's lawyer originally said nothing would come out of it except a bunch of "feel good" talk; however he was wrong and the courts ordered Gravano into basic training shortly thereafter. While an enlisted soldier, Gravano mainly worked as a mess hall cook and later left the Army with an honorable discharge. Gravano was not deployed to the Vietnam War. It was a personal disappointment, as he believed his time as a street punk was excellent training for going to a combat zone. As he stated in an interview "Back home on the streets I could go to jail for hurting and killing guys; but in Vietnam they would have awarded me medals for doing what comes naturally to me."

He first became associated with the Mafia in 1968 through Thomas Spero, whose uncle was an associate of the Colombo crime family. Gravano was involved in petty crimes, as he almost always had been, such as larceny, hijacking, and armed robbery.

Gravano became a close associate of Gambinos Frank DeCicco, Robert DiBernardo, Liborio Milito, James Failla, and Paul Castellano, who would become boss after Carlo Gambino's death. Sometime in the late 1970s, Gravano was inducted into the Gambinos and was officially placed in the crew of Toddo Aurello, who supervised the Gambino family's control over Teamsters Local 282, which had jurisdiction over building materials to all NYC construction sites and could effectively shut down the city's construction industry.

Gravano had tremendous clout in the construction and trucking industries, and had become a multi-millionaire soldier in the family, which allowed him to build a mansion in New Jersey. Gravano would eventually become close to John Gotti, a Queens based Gambino captain who was a protege of underboss Aniello Dellacroce, and who had despised Paul Castellano. Gotti had reached out to Gravano, Frank DeCicco, Joseph Armone, and Frank LoCascio, forming the Fist of Five, which plotted the murder of their boss. On December 16, 1985, Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti were gunned down in midtown Manhattan outside of Sparks Steakhouse, while Gotti and Gravano watched from across the street.

Gotti was installed as the new boss of the family, and Gravano's importance quickly rose. Gotti named DeCicco his underboss, but just months after Castellano's murder, DeCicco was killed in a carbomb attack orchestrated by Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, the Don of the Genovese family, because the hit had been carried out without the consent of the commission (The 5 New York Dons). It was a standing mafia law that a Don could only be killed with the express consent of the commission, which Gotti had not sought. The car bomb was actually intended to kill Gotti but killed DeCicco by mistake. The hit took place outside of Castellano's former social club, which was then operated by captain James Failla. Frank LoCascio became the new underboss, and Gravano was upped to consigliere, his crew was taken over by Louis Vallario. With Gotti's permission, Gravano set up the murders of Liborio Milito, Robert DiBernardo, Tommy Sparrow, and several other Gambino wiseguys and friends. Eventually, Gotti would name Gravano his underboss, and move LoCascio to consigliere. Before their indictments, Gotti decided that if he was sent to prison, he wanted Gravano to take over as acting boss of the Gambinos.

In 1991, after he was arrested as a result of a major FBI operation against the Gambino Family, Gravano famously turned state's evidence and testified against Gotti in exchange for a reduced sentence. John Gotti received a sentence of life imprisonment. Gravano, who confessed to taking part in nineteen murders, was convicted of a token racketeering charge and sentenced to five years. As part of Gravano's cooperation agreement, he would never be forced to testify against his former crew, which included Louis Vallario, Michael DiLeonardo, Frank Fappiano, Edward Garafola, Thomas Carbonaro, Joseph DeAngelo, and many other career criminals and wiseguys.

Gravano was released early and then entered the U.S. federal Witness Protection Program, but he left it in 1995 and relocated to Arizona. In February 2000 he was arrested and charged as the ringleader of an ecstasy trafficking organization there. Gravano was convicted in October 2002 and is currently serving a 19-year sentence in Colorado at ADX Florence. [1] His son, was also imprisoned for his role in the drug ring, along with other gangsters. The mother and daughter were given charges but never were imprisoned. Ironically, Gravano's downfall was due to informers amongst his own associates.[2]

On February 24, 2003, New Jersey state prosecutors announced they would pursue murder charges against Gravano for allegedly ordering a hit on a police officer during the 1980s. The charges were later dropped, however, when the star witness, imprisoned hit man Richard Kuklinski, died of unknown causes before he could testify. Federal inmates who served time with Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano say the mob turncoat privately admitted to his role in the 1980 killing of a New York cop. Inmates claimed Gravano bragged about killing many more than 19 people. If proved that Gravano lied about how many people he killed, appeals by people he helped put in prison could follow.

Gravano has a book on his life out called Underboss under the HarperCollins Publishing company, the author is Peter Maas although Gravano gave him most of the information for the book.

• In the 2000 Tom Clancy novel The Bear And The Dragon, an FBI agent tells a detective of the Moscow Militia a story about Gravano being caught dealing drugs; he uses this to drive home his belief that all criminals are basically stupid.

• Gravano is portrayed by Nicholas Turturro in the 1998 television movie Witness to the Mob based on Gravano's memoirs.
• In the TV series Futurama episode Bender Gets Made, the "Donbot", boss of the Robot Mafia, refers to an associate known as "Sammy the Mechanical Bull Gravano".
• Gravano is portrayed by William Forsythe in the 1996 TV film Gotti.
• In season one of the The Sopranos TV series, boss "Tony Soprano" and consiglieri "Silvio Dante" contemplate whether or not soldier "Sal Bonpensiero is a rat. Silvio mentions that Sal, or 'Big Pussy', would not fear prison to the point that he would turn on his friends. Tony replies, "That's what they said about Gravano."
• Gravano is mentioned by captain "Christopher Moltisanti" in The Sopranos season 6B episode Walk Like a Man while rambling about the advantages of the Witness Protection Program.

• Gravano is mentioned in the song Welcome to New York City by rapper Cam'ron in regards to the murder of Paul Castellano: In front of Sparks, body of Castellano, block away watched by Gotti and Gravano, it's La Cosa Nostra....
• Rapper GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan references Gravano in his 1995 song Killer Hills 10304 with the lyric "look who’s on the witness stand singing, a well known soprano, a smash hit from Sammy Gravano." This linking of Gravano to the term "soprano" occurred several years before the HBO TV series The Sopranos first aired.
• In the McGruff song Dangerzone, Big L raps, "I'm not a soprano like that Italiano Sammy Gravano"
• The Proof song Sammy da Bull, featuring Nate Dogg & Swifty McVay, rails against Gravano and other such "snitchers".
• Rapper Obie Trice mentions Gravano in Akon's song Snitch; "Nowadays, Sammy the Bull's, got the game full. So he moved to a rural area to keep cool."
• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones song Mr. Moran describes Gravano's life, particularly his time in the Witness Protection Program. "Mr. Moran" was an alias used by Gravano.

• Underboss (book)

• Salvatore Gravano's Excluded Person card - is excluded from New Jersey casinos