The American Mafia - Nick Gentile

Nicola Gentile
June 12, 1884, to c. 1970.
"Zu Cola," "Nick"

Nicola Gentile was a Sicilian Mafioso who traveled the United States as a sort of underworld handyman.

Born in the southern Sicilian community of Siculiana in 1884, he arrived in the U.S. at age 19. Much of his time in the U.S. was spent in western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri.

He was a trusted confidant of New York Mafiosi from the early 1900s through the Castellammarese War. He was called upon to mediate a dispute between the Morello-Lupo clan and boss of bosses Salvatore D'Aquila in the 1920s. He aided Charlie Luciano in the administration of his New York empire in the 1930s.(1)

He made a number of trips across the national criminal network and briefly served in leadership roles Kansas City, Cleveland and Pittsburgh Mafia families. He was on intimate terms with Pittsburgh bosses Gregorio Conti and John Bazzano, and Cleveland bosses Joe Lonardo and Frank Milano. He served as a capodecina and counselor in the Pittsburgh Mafia.(2)

Gentile experienced several close calls. The most dramatic occurred when he was called to the underworld coronation of Salvatore Maranzano at the conclusion of the Castellammarese War. Then Pittsburgh boss Giuseppe Siragusa had made some accusations against Gentile, and Gentile was summoned for a disciplinary hearing. In a face-to-face meeting with Al Capone, Gentile denied the charges and threatened to behead any person making them. Capone, who recalled meeting Gentile in the days of Mafia boss Mike Merlo, was impressed by Gentile's courage. Siragusa backed off.(3)

In 1937, facing narcotics charges from a federal arrest in New Orleans, LA, he returned to Sicily. After World War II, when Luciano was deported to Italy, the two men teamed up to arrange drug smuggling into the U.S.(4)

In his later years, Gentile decided to record his Mafia experiences in a book cowritten with journalist Felice Chilante. U.S. law enforcement officials extracted much information from the literary endeavor and later used it as corroboration for the tales told by Mafia informant Joe Valachi.(5) (It is likely that bits of Gentile's work were provided to Valachi to fill the considerable gaps in his personal underworld knowledge.)

Gentile received an underworld death sentence for his violation of the Mafia's code of silence. However, his assigned killers took no action against him, allowing him to die of old age.(6) Gentile's passing was not noted by the American press.(7)

Notes:

Gentile, Nick, Vita di Capomafia, Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1963.
Ibid. Gentile's leadership of an American Mafia crew is also noted in Gage, Nicholas, "Mafioso's memoirs support Valachi's testimony...," New York Times, Sunday, April 11, 1971, p. 51. His work as a traveling troubleshooter is noted in Messick, Hank, Lansky, New York: Berkley, 1971.
Gentile, op. cit.
Hinton, Harold B., "Luciano rules U.S. narcotics from Sicily, senators hear," New York Times, Thursday, June 28, 1951, p. 1.
Gage, op. cit.
Blickman, Tom, "The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba," Transnational Organized Crime, Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer 1997, Transnational Institute website: http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?page=archives_tblick_aruba .
In 1971, Gage, op. cit, closes with, "Nothing has been heard about him in recent years, but he is believed to be still alive."