David Duke. Duke describes himself as a "racial realist", asserting that "all people have a basic human right to preserve their own heritage. "[7] He opposes what he considers to be Jewish control of the Federal Reserve Bank, the federal government and the media. Duke supports the preservation of what he labels Western culture and traditionalist Christian "family values", strict Constitutionalism, abolition of the Internal Revenue Service, voluntary racial segregation, ardent anti-communism and white separatism.[8][9][10] The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Duke as "the most recognizable figure on the American radical right" and "a neo-Nazi".[11] His views are characterized by racism, antisemitism, and Holocaust denial.[12][13][14][15][16] Youth and early adulthood Duke studied at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, and in 1970, he formed a white student group called the White Youth Alliance; it was affiliated with the National Socialist White People's Party.
Political activities. Blackbeard. Edward Teach (also Edward Thatch, c.1680—22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies. Although little is known about his early life, he was probably born in Bristol, England. He may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War before settling on the Bahamian island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined sometime around 1716.
Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet, but toward the end of 1717 Hornigold retired from piracy, taking two vessels with him. Teach captured a French merchant vessel, renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge, and equipped her with 40 guns. Early life Little is known about Blackbeard's early life. New Providence. Paul Castellano. Costantino Paul "Big Paul" Castellano (pronounced cas-TAY-llah-noh) (June 26, 1915 – December 16, 1985), also known as "The Howard Hughes of the Mob" and "Big Paulie" (or "PC" to his family), succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family, the nation's largest Cosa Nostra family at the time.
The unsanctioned assassination of Castellano by John Gotti would spark years of animosity between the Gambinos and the other New York crime families. His nephew was actor Richard S. Castellano from The Godfather.[2] Biography[edit] Background[edit] Castellano was born in Brooklyn in 1915, to Giuseppe Castellano and Concetta (née Casatu). Castellano's sister Catherine was married to Carlo Gambino, his cousin and a future boss of the Gambino crime family. Many sources state that Paul was married to Carlo Gambino's sister-in-law. Castellano often signed his name as "C. Early life[edit] In the 1940s, Castellano became a member of the Mangano family.
Rise in The Gambino family[edit] In film[edit] John Gotti. John Joseph Gotti, Jr. (October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti and his brothers grew up in poverty and turned to a life of crime at an early age. Operating out of the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, Gotti quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the crime family's biggest earners and a protégé of Gambino family underboss Aniello Dellacroce.
After the FBI indicted members of Gotti's crew for selling narcotics, Gotti took advantage of growing dissent over the leadership of the crime family. Fearing he and his men would be killed by Gambino crime family Boss Paul Castellano for selling drugs, Gotti organized the murder of Castellano in December 1985 and took over the family shortly thereafter. One of the key details was waiting for the moment after the death of Aniello Dellacroce, who died a few weeks earlier from natural causes. Early life[edit] Gambino crime family[edit] Associate[edit]
Gambino crime family. The rise of what for a time was the most powerful crime family in America began in 1957, the day Albert Anastasia was assassinated while sitting in a barber chair at the Park-Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan. Experts believe Carlo Gambino helped orchestrate the hit to take over the family. Gambino partnered with Meyer Lansky to control gambling interests in Cuba.
The family's fortunes grew through 1976, when Gambino appointed his brother-in-law, Paul Castellano, as boss. Castellano infuriated upstart capo John Gotti, who orchestrated Castellano's murder in 1985. Gotti's downfall came in 1992, when his underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano decided to cooperate with the FBI. Gravano's cooperation brought down Gotti, along with most of the top members of the Gambino family. The family is now run by Domenico Cefalu. History[edit] Origins[edit] D'Aquila gang[edit] The origins of the Gambino crime family can be traced back to the D'Aquila gang of Manhattan. New York gangs[edit] Five Families. Charles "Lucky" Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime and is responsible for splitting New York into five different families The Five Families are the five original Italian American Mafia crime families of New York City which have dominated organized crime in the United States since 1931.
The families are: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese. History[edit] Names[edit] The Five Families were publicly named in the 1963 Valachi hearings based on their bosses at the time: Tommy Lucchese, Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joseph Bonanno and the recently deceased Joseph Profaci. For the most part the names stuck, but the "Profaci family" would be renamed the "Colombo family", as a reference to boss Joseph Colombo.[1][2] Mafia boss succession[edit] Bonanno Family: Profaci/Colombo Family: Mangano/Gambino Family: Luciano/Genovese Family: Lucchese Family: Current bosses[edit] Territories[edit] Popular culture[edit] See also[edit] References[edit] Raab, Selwyn.