Retired Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins brings you the best in mob history with his unique perception of the mafia. In this segment, we delve into the life and influence of Angelo Bruno, the Philadelphia boss of the Mafia. We aim to fill in knowledge gaps and increase our understanding of the Mafia in the United States. Angelo Bruno, also known as the Gentle Don, stood out from others in the mob due to his preference for peace over violence. He was born in Italy and migrated to the United States as a child. One of his significant associations was with Carlo Gambino, the boss of the New York Gambino crime family. Bruno’s cousin, John Simone, connected him to the mob. To establish himself in the Philadelphia Mafia, Bruno changed his name from Antoloro to Bruno and was sponsored by Michael Maggio. Bruno married in 1931 and had two children. He owned various businesses, including an extermination company in New Jersey and an aluminum products company in Florida.

Additionally, he had a share in the Plaza Hotel in Havana, Cuba. Throughout his life, Bruno faced several arrests for offenses such as illegal alcohol sales and gambling. In 1959, there was a plot to assassinate him, but he emerged as the boss of the family after the conspiracy was revealed. Bruno successfully evaded media attention and lengthy prison sentences for the next two decades. He prohibited his family’s involvement in narcotics trafficking and focused on traditional Costa Nostra operations like bookmaking and loan sharking. Some family members were discontent with this decision and suspected Bruno of profiting from the narcotics business secretly. This will ultimately lead to his murder.

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Transcript

 

[0:00] Well, hey, guys, welcome back here in the studio of Gangland Wire.

Gary Jenkins here, retired Kansas City Police intelligence detective with one more of my little short bios, not a real in-depth bio, but a bio of the Philadelphia boss, Angelo Bruno.

You know, I’m doing these bios to kind of fill in any knowledge gaps because, you know, when you talk about to interview an author, for example, from a book and he’ll say something about, of course, Angelo Bruno was killed.

Well, you know, sometimes we go, well, who is Angelo Bruno? Well, I know he’s from Philadelphia.

Well, you know, what else about him? So I’m trying to help you all fill in your knowledge gaps and fill in my own too.

Lots of times, you know, I can’t remember all this stuff, but if I do a story, I can remember quite a little bit of it.

So I’m doing this story for me and for you and to increase my knowledge about the mafia in the United States.

 

[0:48] He was from Sicily. He’s going to rule the Philadelphia crime family for two decades AIDS until his assassination.

He was known as the Gentle Don. Now, we’ve all heard of the Gentle Don.

Well, this is the Gentle Don, because he had a preference for conciliation over violence, which was in a stark contrast to what happened later on after he left.

He was born in the Villababa province of Colton, Assetta, Italy.

Bruno came to the United States as a child, settled in South Philly with his brother Vito.

His father was a foundry worker. They opened a small grocery store at Fort North 6th Street in Philadelphia, in Feltonville, Philadelphia.

So you guys in Philadelphia will probably know where that is. I’m not sure.