Shortly thereafter, the realty partnership received final authorization from HUD to begin renovation on 96 apartments. Luigino Gigante was born in 1990 and raised in Somers, N.Y., in Westchester County, an hour drive from Father Gigantes parish, St. Athanasius Roman Catholic Church in the South Bronx. Vincent (The Chin) Gigante (right) is escorted by his son Vincent Esposito as they leave Gigante's New York residence in June 1997. As with Faile Street, the Brooklyn limited partnership-Rochester Associates-also received a multimillion mortgage guaranteed by HUD. When Vito Genovese went to prison, he picked Gigante to run the Genovese crime family in his absence. Arena said. Despite the successful takeover of the Luciano Family, it would be a bad year Gigante. NEW YORK The turncoat nephew of Vincent "The Chin" Gigante was sentenced Tuesday to time served thanks to his cooperation with the government against his half-uncle and other Genovese gangsters. (MICHAEL SCHMELLING/AP). He would die in the same penitentiary as his mentor Genovese. Louis R. Gigante was always larger-than-life. Gigante, also known as "Chin," was an Italian-American mobster and the boss of the Genovese crime family from 1981 until his death in 2005, one of the Five Families that control organized crime activity in NYC. Vincent Gigante, who feigned mental illness for decades to camouflage his position as one of the nation's most influential and dangerous Mafia leaders, died yesterday at the United States. Gigante surely knew that if either city or federal housing officials were apprised of the DiNapolis role in the Faile Street project, the renovation would never have been approved. However, the flesh wound paid off and Costello retired from the rackets (Click to read the full story). Denying that he was a gangster, Gigante wandered the streets of Greenwich Village in nightclothes, muttering incoherently. Authorities charged that it was a brazen act to avoid the law -- although it wasnt until 1997 that a jury agreed, and it took six years for Gigante to concede his subterfuge. Her father, notorious Mafia boss Vincent "the Chin" Gigante, was the leader of the Genovese crime clan and the head of all five New York crime families for decades. There may have been people who said, Well, look at all the good hes done lets take a breath, she said. Just as the former bootlegger was ready to climb into the seat of respectability, things began to unravel. Vincent Gigante famously wandered Greenwich Village in his bathrobe, passing himself off as a paranoid schizophrenic to fool the Feds. Father Gigante, a towering figure in the Bronx, left a $7 million fortune entirely to the son he had while he was a priest. He had an open umbrella over his headSelwyn Raab, The Five Families. Sammy the Bull Gravano later reminisced to Peter Maas. The jury was deadlocked on whether he ordered four other murders. They regularly communicate with their deceased fathers, both of whom have blessed the same-sex union, Gigante says. Last years campaign by Philip foglia for Bronx district attorney got $1000 from the District Council of Carpenters, which state investigators say is involved in racketeering. Vmcent Tolentino, Local 530s secretary and a Moscatiello business partner, donated $150; and a real estate partner of Crea and Vincent DiNapolis gave $500. GROWING UP on the lower West Side, Louis and Vincent Gigante, from early on, took different career tracks. If you use this loop please leave your comments. There were comic moments: In one instance, agents serving a subpoena found Gigante standing naked in the shower, holding an umbrella. What Colombia plans for their descendants, Messy storms roll eastward after slamming Texas, Louisiana. You can also send . Vincent Gigante was also known by many other names, including 'The Oddfather', 'The Robe', 'The Enigma in the Bathrobe', 'The Real Boss of New York' and 'Chin'. A year later Vito Genovese fled to Italy fearing murder charges, leaving Frank Costello boss of the Luciano Crime Family. Rita Gigante (left), daughter of 'The Oddfather,' will marry her partner since 2007, Bobbi Sterchele. Crazy Joe Gallo, Playing the Godfather Game, A Profile in Corruption: The Double Life of Donald Manes, How To Win Contracts and Influence People, New Yorks Other Mafia: Young Warriors in Chinatown, The Dirty Deal That Helped Make Donald Trump, The Women at the Table: Writers, Artists, and Photographers in the Early Days of the Voice, A Freedom of Choice Revolution Is Roiling Iran. Mr. Gigante now operates an e-sports cafe on the Lower East Side, and has made no secret of who his father was. Gigante faced trial in a federal court on multiple. As Costello walked into the Majestics zinc and marble lobby, Genoveses chief bully-boy, Vincent The Chin Gigante, pulled a revolver and screamed: Just as Gigante fired a single round, Costello spun around, and because of some quirk of physics, geometry, and the hand of God almighty, the bullet grazed Costellos scalp, riding around the rim of his borsalino hat. He said a friend of his fathers from SEBCO told him a story that sounds like the blend of truth and legend that surrounded Father Gigante throughout his life. You may wish to switch to the. Frank Costello Lived Here at the Majestic Apartments. His family name was more widely associated with one of his brothers, Vincent (the Chin) Gigante, boss of the powerful Genovese family of the New York Mafia. They are getting hitched in Rockland County on May 26. For the undisputed king of Manhattan nightlife, Costello was an early riser. advertisement. The homes that Gigante's parishioners live in senior citizen projects, one- and two-family houses, large and small apartment buildings have been built, to a large extent, by companies owned by or affiliated with top-ranking members of the Genovese organized crime family.". He then started working as a Mafia enforcer for . People think I dont get paid and that Im a saint for doing it. Although Gigante allegedly ran the family from prison, the Genovese clan joined the citys four other mob families in disarray after he was jailed. Only after Gotti survived the assassination attempt did Gigante relent. Costello would live in the Majestic until his death in 1973, By the early 1980s, the mafias last generation of godfathers were in serious trouble. Mr. Gigante went on to open a popular e-sports and internet cafe and coffee shop on Manhattans Lower East Side, Waypoint Cafe, in 2017. Mr. Gigante said his father wanted to spend more time with him as he became a teenager. Vincent (The Chin) Gigante, dubbed 'The Oddfather' for always wearing a bathrobe, is take into custody and under arrest in 1995. He . Mob Boss Vincent Gigante's House (former). Vincent Gigante was born in 1928 in the Lower East Side of New York. Veteran boxing manager, Lou Duva would reminisce in Jacobs Beach, The Mob, The Garden & The Golden Age of Boxing: When you boxed in the Garden, you got the recognition. Just tell it like it is and was. THE PRIEST AND THE HOOD . In the 1940s, Vincent Gigante was a professional light heavyweight boxing professional. Gigante, also known as "Chin," was an Italian-American mobster and the boss of the Genovese crime family from 1981 until his death in 2005, one of the Five Families that control organized crime activity in NYC. Maybe Vincent Gigante was kind of a weird guy who also was really good at running a large crime family, as his second nickname, "The Oddfather," insinuates, but the courts don't take eccentricities into account when deciding if a person can be held accountable for the crimes of which they're accused. 4 Comments . The Gigante boys' parents immigrated in 1921. Vinny "The Chin" Gigante's love child, who is a reputed high-level wiseguy in the Genovese crime family, was handed a two-year prison sentence on Friday for what prosecutors described as a. Vincent Gigante was convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder on July 25, 1997, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Tony Ducks Corallo and Tom Mix Santoro represented the Lucchese Family, while Vincent the Chin Gigante and Fat Tony Salerno represented the Genovese Family. It is difficult to overstate Father Gigantes prominence by the time Luigino was born. 29 March 1928 in New York City; d. 19 December 2005 in Springfield, Missouri), alleged organized crime boss who long avoided prosecution by virtue of his demonstrable mental instability.As the third of five sons born to Salvatore and Yolanda Gigante, who were immigrants from Naples, Italy, Gigante grew up in Little Italy, a neighborhood near Greenwich Village. On a financial disclosure statement filed last year with the U.S. Parole Office, Louis DiNapoli also reported having a $109,500 stake in Rochester Associates, but his partnership interest is not reflected on any of the groups corporate papers. Such maneuvers paid off. In the past, when asked about his wealth, he shrugged. Huddled among the pizza ovens and industrial mixing bowls, the leaders of the Five Families gathered to discuss the business of crime. In 1947 Gigante began his mob life as an enforcer in the Luciano Crime Family, and a protg of future family leader, Vito Genovese and the ultra-quiet boss Philip Lombardo who retired in 1981 but supported Gigante's takeover as . Chin was standing in the bathtub, under a closed shower head, wearing a bathrobe. Chin's Townhouse By the 1980s, Chin grew even more eccentric. Vincent GIGANTE, Defendant. All rights reserved. The legendary mafioso, who breathed his last in 2006, will be there in spirit, says his daughter, Rita Gigante. Sentenced to 12 years, he died in jail in 2005. By Michael Powell. Read the loops section of the help area and our terms and conditions for more information on copyright and how you can use loops. He never had a chance to enjoy the fruits of his plunder, and he told some people that, if given the chance, he wouldnt do it that way again, said Jerry Capeci, a Mafia expert and author of six books on organized crime. "He's fine with it. As one would expect, The Oddfather and Sterchele will be at the big table during the reception, to be held at a Rockland County restaurant on May 26. Note: VirtualGlobetrotting is an entertainment website is and is not associated He became a small-time boxer and drifted into the crime family founded in 1931 by gangster Charles Lucky Luciano. In 1951 Senator Estes Kefauvers travelling committee rolled into town and hauled Costello in front of television cameras, forcing Costello to answer several difficult questions such as if he kept $50,000 in a safe in his apartment. Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. The Times described Gigante as "gaunt" and staring into space as he sat in a wheelchair. Godfather's Daughter by Rita & Natasha Gigante, published by Hay House Publishing, 9.99 (RRP 10.99) with free P&P. Please call 0871 988 8451 or visit www.expressbooks.co.uk. Prior to 1997, Gigante had only been sentenced to a five-year term for heroin in 1959. A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, said Sunday that several individuals he had spoken to in the church knew nothing about Father Gigantes son beyond rumors.. But it was clear as a bell that he was the boss. Discover Vincent Gigante's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. For his part, Father Louis denied being involved in organized crime in any way, denied his family had any involvement in organized crime, and denied the mafia even existed, saying it was an Italian stereotype, per the Village Voice. What can you do when times running out on your office wife? Notorious Mafioso who headed the Genovese crime family for years, at times while in prison. While some stories say that Gigante got his nickname, "Chin," during his early years when he was a boxer because he had a "glass jaw" meaning, a vulnerable place for his opponent to strike National Crime Syndicate and What New York report that the name was a derivative of his given name, which would be spelled in Italian asVincenzo, pronounced with a "ch" sound where the letter C is, and his mom shortened it, as moms do, toCinzino which would sound like "Ch-inzino" or even shorter, "Chin.". May 15, 1996. . Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, the powerful New York mob boss who avoided prison for decades by wandering Greenwich Village's streets in a ratty bathrobe and slippers as part of an elaborate. Perfect_Gas 4 yr. ago. Mr. Gigante worked for a time at SEBCO, where everyone knew him as the bosss son. ", Details You Didn't Know About Mobster Vincent Gigante. Louis Gigante was in court when his brother finally admitted to faking his illness. (Richard Harbus/for NY Daily News). Rita Gigante grew up in a world swirling with secrets, lies, and multiple sins. A hoard of FBI agents and NYPD detectives nearly caught a clandestine Mafia Commission meeting at the Bari Restaurant supply company. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. His father attended the grand opening, he said. Costello, being a principled gangster, refused to squeal, and Gigante got more street cred. He had a controlling interest in every slot machine from New York to New Orleans. The Triangle Social Club, long the de facto headquarters of the Genovese crime family, recently vacated its storefront at 208 Sullivan Street, a six-story tenement in New York's Greenwich Village.. United States District Court, E.D. observed Gigante nightly inside the town house at 67 East 77th Street, Manhattan, where Olympia Esposito, the mother of some of his children, lived. Renata is owned by builder Samuel Pompa. But Gigante wasn't just another mob stereotype. Vincent Gigante was born in New York in 1928, one of five boys whose parents immigrated from Naples, Italy in 1921, according to the Village Voice. At the same time, he charged into politics, and, undeterred by his loss in the congressional primary in 1970, he went on to win a leadership role in the local Democratic district and also served briefly as a city councilman. Last Days of The Mafia Commission: Bari Restaurant Supply Company, 234Bowery, The World of Vincent The Chin Gigante: Apartment, Social Club andTownhouse, Frank Costellos Home @ The Majestic Apartments 115 Central ParkWest, Mob Speak Institue: Mouthpiece Marconi Puppet Gangster, Follow Infamous New York on WordPress.com. Gigante liked being married to a woman named Olympia so much that he took a mistress by the same name who would become a lifelong companion, and had three children with that Olympia (Esposito), per the New York Times. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics(FBN) had The Chin and Genoveses global narcotics operation in their sites. Vincent the Chin Gigante's posh townhouse just off of Park Avenue. "We're putting out chairs at a table for both of them," Sterchele, 47, said. He was a kingmaker, the puppeteer who made Manhattan dance, but more than anything else, Frank Costello wanted to be a legitimate businessman; and by the time the Great Depression hit, Uncle Frank, as his mob pals called him, was ready to buy his way into high society. Gigante faced trial in a federal court on multiple murder and racketeering charges. First Name Sam #29. But around the 12th century, celibacy became a condition of joining the priesthood, in letter if not always in practice. Gigante quipped. As part of the HUD package, the federal agency guaranteed a $4.5 million mortgage granted to the limited partnership, Faile Street Associates. Mafia turncoat Fish Cafaro later recalled in a Senate hearing: Mafia Commission members present at the meeting at Bari. I believe I had a little strongbox I keep forty-fifty thousand. Reverend Louis R. Gigante was recently revealed to have had a son in 1990 despite having taken a vow of celibacy. He maintained his second family in a town house located at 67 East 77th Street, near Park Avenue in the Upper East Side, Manhattan with his . Relatives, including a brother who is a Roman Catholic priest, insisted Gigante suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and Alzheimers disease. It was at this time-with the project safely approved-that Gigante secretly brought Genovese family operatives into the deal, including Vincent and Joseph DiNapoli-two convicted felons-and their brother Louis. But then when I did a few favors for them, these same people changed their minds.. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our. Mafia boss Paul Castellano, lies in the street after he and Castellano were shot and killed outside a W. 46th St. steak house. His modus operandi was to feign mental illness publicly by doing things like walking around the Greenwich Village streets he called home in pajamas and a bathrobe, muttering to himself in what some believed was a grand scheme, while those on team Gigante/Genovese insisted his behavior was proof there was no way "Chin" could be running a multi-million dollar crime organization. After refusing to name his attacker in court, the shaken Costello retired, making Gigantes patron, Vito Genovese, kingpin of the family that still bears his name. The honeymoon will be in Sicily and Naples, where the newlyweds will explore their family roots. "Not the kind of construction my father was in!" Mr. Gigante said his father vehemently denied the accusations. He ran rum, bootlegged scotch, and controlled the appointments of Supreme Court judges and Tammany Hall politicians. Throughout college, only once did a professor ask about Mr. Gigantes family and it was in regards to his famous uncle Chin, he said. Anthony DiLorenzo aka Hickey (1923-1988) was a soldier in the Genovese family. Fish Cafaro reminisced. Mob Boss Vincent Gigante's House (former) Old Tappan, New Jersey (NJ), US Like Tweet Share Pin Gigante, also known as "Chin," was an Italian-American mobster and the boss of the Genovese crime family from 1981 until his death in 2005, one of the Five Families that control organized crime activity in NYC. Right from how to watch it to details regarding its date and time. This year. The Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, and Colombo families would divide all profits on all projects over $2 million. He has also competed in boxing matches. Soon the IRS was on his tail, and INS wanted to revoke his citizenship. Climbing The Mob Ladder. Gigante married Olympia Grippa in 1950 when he was 22 years old. According to Al D'Arco, D'Arco and Anthony "Hickey" Dilorenzo had been incarcerated together in Raybrook Prison in 1985. By the 1980s, Chin grew even more eccentric. Next, he placed a gold plated grand piano in the living room and ringed it with slot machines manufactured by Costellos True Mint Novelty Company, a firm that reportedly earned the mob mogul $500,000 a day. Simultaneously, Gigante was regularly spotted in the streets, bumbling around in his pajamas, slippers and a bathrobe (pictured above), per What New York,who also reported that from about 1970 to 1990Gigante was admitted to 22 psychiatric hospitals. 2.6M Followers. Judge Weinstein said of Gigante, "He is a shadow of his former self, an old man finally brought to bay in his declining years after decades of vicious criminal tyranny. He was murdered in 1988 because the family feared he had become an informant. With little more than a nod of his aquiline head, Castellano could shut down a jobsite by having drivers refuse to pour cement, letting it solidify in the trucks. His lawyers said they could not communicate in any meaningful way with a client who didnt know where he was, or why. Chin's star kept rising throughout the 1970s as he became deeply involved in "labor racketeering, loansharking, extortion and bookmaking," perNational Crime Syndicate. The wide variety of roles he has played and the quality of his work have earned him a reputation as a versatile talent. But in the guidelines released in 2019, the church expressed more flexibility in cases in which the priest recommitted to celibacy and openly acknowledged his child (assuming neither parent wished to marry). He has more than 2.1 million followers on the platform. On June 14, a horde of investigators and a hovering helicopter, tailed Avallino, Corallo, and underboss Tom Mix Santoro through the back streets of Manhattan. Gigante ended up serving five years in prison after a 1960 narcotics conspiracy charge stuck, the New York Times reported. Gigante was jailed in the medical ward at the federal prison in Springfield -- the same facility where rival mob boss John Gotti died. Vincent (The Chin) Gigante (right) is escorted by his son Vincent Esposito as they leave Gigante's New York residence in June 1997. In the 1980s Gigante was named head of the Genovese family when then-boss Philip Lombardo retired while serving a prison sentence. Following HUD and HPD background investigations, which include a check of federal debarment lists, as well as an examination of the projects corporate papers, both housing agencies signed off on the deal. This true crime biography chronicles the life of the so-called "Oddfather" who ran a powerful NYC crime family while playing crazy to avoid prosecution.Vincent "Chin" Gigante was a professional boxer before discovering his true calling as a ruthless contract killer. Posted in Five Families, Frank Costello, Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous, Lucky Luciano, Mafia, Prohibition, Vincent The Chin Gigante, tagged 115 Central Park West, Bill ODwyer, Copacabana nightclub, Estes Kefauver, Frank Costello, Frank Hogan, James Mont, Kefauver Commission, Kefauver Committee, Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous, Lucky Luciano, The Majestic Apartments, True Mint Novelty Company, Vincent The Chin Gigante, Vito Genovese, Walter WInchell on February 27, 2014| When Vincent Gigante was arrested and convicted, Father Louis Gigante was spotted regularly by his brother's side. Priests have fathered children since the churchs earliest days indeed, clergymen once had wives and children. Led by Gigante's son-in-law Joseph Colonna and his nephew Ralph Gigante - they each "earn" $400,000 a year as shop stewards - there are 11 members of the Gigante family currently working for New Jersey waterfront companies at annual salaries that average about $175,000. An F.B.I. In Godfather of Harlem, Vincent "Chin" Gigante (Vincent D'onofrio) is Johnson's main antagonist upon his return from prisonconstantly undermining Johnson's attempts to regain control of. Well, kind of, Video shows Memphis jailers beating Black inmate before his death, Skin lesion removed from President Bidens chest last month was cancerous, doctor says, CPAC shows the GOP has deep divisions heading into 2024, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits. Hand-picked by Vito Genovese to run the Genovese Family when Vito was sent to prison, Chin raked in more than $100 million for the Genovese family and routinely ordered the murders of mobsters who violated the Mafia codeincluding John Gotti. Before his election to Congress last fall, Eliot Engel, a former Bronx assemblyman, got donations from Moscatiello, Crestwood Carting-the DiNapoli family garbage companyand Molat Homes, a firm that gave its address as the New Rochelle home of Vmcent DiNapolis brother Joseph, a convicted heroin trafficker. Outside, the FBI, NYPD and New York State Organized Crime Task Force prowled around the restaurant depot. St. Athanasius Church on Tiffany Street in the Bronx erected a statue of Father Gigante after his retirement. 0:00 / 42:30 This Is How NY Mobster Vincent Gigante Evaded The FBI For Years | Our History Our History 313K subscribers Subscribe 921K views 1 year ago Under the disguise of mental illness. According to Gigante's son Vincent Esposito, his condition was worsening, but this was ignored by Missouri prison officials. In return, the new investors would each receive 9.9 per cent of the partnerships profits. Before his 30th birthday had become a trusted associate of Vito Genovese, a major player in the mafia scene in the late 1950s. Gigante is also known for nonprofit housing developments in Hunt's Point neighborhood in the 1980s. Mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, the powerful Mafioso who avoided jail for decades by wandering the streets in a ratty bathrobe and slippers, feigning mental illness, died Monday in prison. For most of his life, Vincent Gigante lived at 225 Sullivan Street with his Ma, Yolanda. Father Gigante, right, was a staunch defender of his brother, Vincente (the Chin) Gigante, who for years walked around Greenwich Village in a bathrobe in what some said was a ruse to appear mentally ill and avoid prosecution. Because of the buildings unique cantilevered construction, there were no columns to block Costellos view of the park and the breathtaking full morning sunlight that the mobster rarely tasted during his youth in the slums of East Harlem. He was 90. According to the Baltimore Sun, Brafman said, "Anyone who has gotten to know this individual and who is completely honest will tell you that the issue of competency is one thing, the issue of whether someone is or is not mentally ill is an entirely separate issue.". From there, Vincent, whose mother called him Vincenzo, fought bouts in St. Nicks Arena and Madison Square Garden transforming his mas nickname into a gangland moniker, The Chin. The reverends personal life had been the subject of decades of whispering in the Bronx and was an open secret among those closest to him. , the old but wiley mob bosses relied on an elaborate system of clandestine meetings and secret conferences to manage their elicit kingdoms. When he was 10, his older brother Willie was accused of killing a white man. -- It turns out the Oddfather isn't. Vincent "the Chin" Gigante dropped his three decade-long ruse today and acknowledged . Born in the Bronx in 1928, one of five sons of Italian immigrant parents, Gigante was nicknamed Chin -- short for Vincenzo -- by his mother. This Place Is Bugged. He held Commission meetings in his mothers apartment house. He was proud of me. Construction Corp. ($750); AlAn Elevator Maintenance ($750); and DiNapolis wife ($1500). For his bid for legitimacy, he targeted the newly constructed 32 story Majestic Apartments, a twin towered, brick and steel framed art deco masterpiece. Born on March 26 #36. Vincent "Chin" Gigante ran New York's Genovese crime family for nearly a quarter-century. Rita Gigante (left), daughter of 'The Oddfather,' will marry her partner since 2007, Bobbi Sterchele. TikTok star Vincent Gigante is set to make his boxing debut, and we have got all the details regarding his fight. Indeed, his friends believe the priests good will outweighed whatever outrage might have arisen. He was born in . NEW YORK, May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Notorious crime boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante was not your "average" mobster; he was, in fact, the Capo di tutti capi -- the head of all five New York . Vincent D'Onofrio is known as an "actor's actor". And SEBCO would have lost more than $100,000 in sponsorship fees. Vincent Gigante (@vincentgiganteee) on TikTok | 74.6M Likes. With a record of 20 wins and 4 losses, what caused the Chin to quit the fights and become a full time mobster? With over 300 Special Agents, 100 NYPD organized crime detectives and the New York State Organized Crime Task Force, chasing the Commission often got chaotic. The DiNapoli brothers purchased 29.7 per cent of Faile Street Associates, which holds the deed to the two five-story buildings. The couple hired James Mont, the mobs top interior decorator, to deck the apartment out in mafia glitz. Gigante, 45, and fianc Bobbi Sterchele are crazy-in-love partners in spiritual healing. Vincent Louis Gigante (/dnti/; March 29, 1928 - December 19, 2005), also known as "the Chin", was an American mobster who was boss of the Genovese crime family from 1981 to 2005 in New York City. This includes being a subcontractor as well as being the recipient of a HUD-insured mortgage. Byrd said that debarred individuals are certainly not supposed to be limited partners in any HUD-in sured ventures.. Gigante's malingering days were over. On June 13, 1983, The Bari Restaurant Supply company hosted a mafia Commission meeting. Mob boss, Vincent Gigante, used to wander around New York in his bathrobe to convince the police he was insane and avoid capture. Father Gigante, who founded the South East Bronx Community Organization, was instrumental in rebuilding Hunts Point. Vincent (The Chin) Gigante, dubbed 'The Oddfather' for always wearing a bathrobe, is take into custody and under arrest in 1995. Chin's Townhouse By the 1980s, Chin grew even more eccentric. He then chatted amiably with his son, shook hands with defense lawyers and even laughed at one point. He also turned his claim of mental illness -- first used to escape trial in a 1970 police bribery case -- into a full-time strategy, behaving weirdly in public and checking into psychiatric clinics whenever the FBI turned up the heat.