November 19, 1986: The Mafia Commission Trial Verdict

Yes, kids, that young guy at the top is Rudy Giuliani.

Bottom row, left to right: John Savarese, Michael Chertoff and Gil Childers.

November 19, 1986: A verdict is handed down in Federal Court in New York City. It is the biggest blow ever dealt to organized crime in America.

A little background: In 1931, in order to keep the peace after the devastating civil war within American organized crime, known as the Castellammarese War, Charles "Lucky" Luciano formed "The Commission." It consisted of the bosses of what became known as "the Five Families" of New York City, the boss of "the Chicago Outfit," and the boss of the Buffalo crime family. Basically, it was meant to mediate disputes, a "League of Nations" for "the American Mafia" or "The Mob."

The names of the Five Families have changed over time, but, for most of their histories, have generally been considered to be, in alphabetical order (probably the safest way to, as they say, show the proper respect): 

* Bonanno: The holdings of the recent capo di tutti capi (boss of all bosses), Salvatore Maranzano, killed on Luciano's orders on September 10, 1931, were handed by Luciano to Joseph Bonanno, who led the family until 1968. By 1986, the boss was Philip "Rusty" Rastelli.

Rusty Rastelli

* Colombo: Founded in 1928 by Joe Profaci, and run by him until his death in 1962 (killed by cancer, an enemy more ruthless than any mobster), it was renamed for Joseph Colombo, who ran it from 1964 to 1971, when he had to give up leadership due to an assassination attempt failing to kill him, but succeeding in paralyzing him. In 1986, the boss was Carmine Persico, known as "Junior" and "The Snake."

Carmine Persico

* Gambino: Founded in 1931 by Vincent Mangano. He ran it until 1951, when he disappeared, allegedly killed on the order of his underboss, Albert Anastasia. Anastasia became the boss of all bosses, until he was killed in 1957, on the order of Carlo Gambino, whose name became attached to it, and ran it until his natural death in 1976. He was succeeded by "Big" Paul Castellano.

Paul Castellano

* Genovese: Possibly the most powerful of the Five Families, Luciano himself ran it until he was imprisoned in 1936. The next boss was Frank Costello, but he was scared into giving up power in 1957, when, on the order of Vito Genovese, he barely survived a hit by Vincent Gigante. (More about him later.) But Genovese, allegedly the basis for the character of Vito Corleone in The Godfather, was only in power for 2 years before going to prison, where he died. In 1986, the boss appeared to be Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno.

Tony Salerno

* Lucchese: Tommy Gagliano emerged as boss, retiring in 1951, and handing power over to Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese. Starting in 1973, the boss was Anthony Corallo, known as "Tony Ducks" for his ability to duck convictions.

Tony Corallo

It's important to note that an actual family boss cannot be killed without the permission of The Commission -- in other words, all the other bosses. In other words, the climax of the 1969 novel and the 1972 film The Godfather, Michael Corleone's "Baptism of Fire," could not have happened in real life.

Congress held hearings on organized crime in 1950, with Costello as a key witness, but he dodged questions as best he could. They held hearings again in 1963, with Genovese capo Joseph Valachi becoming the 1st mobster to publicly admit the existence of the American Mafia, The Commission, and many other things. 

Until then, no matter how much information had unofficially leaked out to the public, men in the Mafia had to claim that there's no such thing as the Mafia, to protect themselves and their superiors. This code of silence is part of a larger code of conduct and honor called Omertà.

Starting in 1982, the New York State Organized Crime Task Force began using wiretaps and the RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations). On February 25, 1985, the heads of four of the Five Families were arrested and indicted: Corallo, Castellano, Salerno and Rastelli. The fifth boss, Persico, followed soon after.

Castellano didn't make it to trial: On December 16, 1985, getting out of his car to have dinner at Sparks Steak House on East 45th Street in Midtown Manhattan, he was rubbed out. This was not authorized by The Commission. It was ordered by a man who felt he'd been passed over for a leadership post in the Gambino family, and was now, himself, its boss: John Gotti.

The trial was held under the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, at the Federal Courthouse now named for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, at 40 Centre Street in Lower Manhattan.

The U.S. Attorney overseeing the prosecution was a 41-year-old hotshot from Brooklyn named Rudolph W. Giuliani. However, he had a lot on his plate: He was determined to bring the Five Families down, but he was also prosecuting Wall Street insider traders and several corrupt New York City officials. So the actual lead prosecuting attorney in the Commission Trial would be Rudy's Number 2, Michael Chertoff.

The evidence was overwhelming, and the bosses' lawyers asked for plea deals. Giuliani said no. He showed them the same level of mercy they had shown to others: None. Chertoff presented the evidence. The defense was minimal: Basically, they admitted that the Mafia existed, but that simply being in the Mafia didn't mean that these men were guilty of the charges involved.

On November 19, 1986, following 5 days of deliberations, the jury decided otherwise. Salerno, Corallo and Persico were each sentenced to 100 years in prison and fined $240,000. Rastelli's case was separated from theirs, and he had already been convicted.

Soon, it was revealed that Salerno was just a front for the real Genovese boss, Vincent "the Chin" Gigante. Supposedly the man who killed Anastasia, he had ducked prosecution for many years by pretending to be mentally ill, wandering around Greenwich Village in a bathrobe, accompanied by 2 bodyguards. The New York media called him "The Oddfather."

Vincent Gigante

In spite of this image, he was the most powerful of the bosses. Nobody else in the New York Mob would even mention his name: They would just point to their chin. Even Gotti knew better than to "muscle in on his territory." It took until 1997 for him to finally be brought down. It took until 1992, 4 tries, to nail Gotti.

Rastelli was released in 1991, because he was dying of cancer. All dying in custody: Salerno in 1992, Corallo in 2000, Gotti in 2002, Gigante in 2005, and Persico in 2019.

This was not the only major Mob conviction in 1986: On January 21, Joey Aiuppa, boss of the Chicago Outfit, was convicted, and served 10 years in prison. He died in 1997.

Giuliani would ride his successful prosecutions -- for which he was the "show horse," and others, like Chertoff, were the "work horses" -- to being nominated for Mayor of New York by the Republican Party in 1989. He lost to the Democratic nominee, the Manhattan Borough President, David Dinkins, who became the City's 1st black Mayor. It was close: With each man running a mostly positive campaign based on his own record of public service, Dinkins won by 47,000 votes.

For the next 4 years, Giuliani used the City's rising crime -- which had actually begun to go down in 1991, but the perception was otherwise -- and institutional racism to build a 2nd run, in 1993. With Dinkins trying to run a high-road campaign, and Giuliani following the 1977 Ed Koch path of running a low-road campaign, Giuliani won by 54,340 votes. The big shift was liberals scared of crime, but also Orthodox Jews in Giuliani's native Brooklyn, angry at what they falsely called a "pogrom" perpetrated by black criminals in Crown Heights in the Summer of 1991.

Giuliani has been polarizing people ever since. Koch, Mayor from 1978 to 1989, originally supported him, but later wrote a book about him, titled Giuliani: Nasty Man. Giuliani was re-elected in 1997, because he had brought crime down by a lot (thanks in large measure to Democratic President Bill Clinton signing into law a crime bill written by then-Senator Joe Biden and then-Representative Chuck Schumer); but also because his opponent, Ruth Messinger, Dinkins' successor as Manhattan Borough President, ran her campaign as if she barely had a pulse.

Giuliani became "America's Mayor" after the terrorist attack on New York on September 11, 2001. But he tied himself to President George W. Bush's "Either you're with us, or you're with the terrorists" rhetoric, and began a slide from a man that liberals could, if not like, at least trust, to the aging, psychotic lawyer trying and failing to help Donald Trump in 2020 and 2021. He is now 78 years old.

When he ran for President in 2008, he spent over $80 million, and received no delegates. The previous record for Presidential futility had been former Governor John Connally of Texas: The former Democrat ran in the 1980 Republican Primaries, spending $50 million and winning one delegate.

Chertoff was named U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, serving from 1990 to 1994; U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, serving from 2001 to 2003; Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, serving from 2003 to 2005; and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, serving from 2005 to 2009. Now a few days away from his 69th birthday, he is senior of counsel at Covington & Burling, a Washington-based law firm, and runs the Chertoff Group, a risk-management and security consulting company.

Unlike Giuliani, Chertoff has no official or professional connection to Trump. Far from it: Though still a conservative Republican, in a July 2020 New York Times opinion piece, Chertoff wrote of his concerns that the Trump Administration was hijacking the Department of Homeland Security for political purposes.

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November 19, 1986 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 98-94 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Phoenix Suns, 111-101 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 111-107 at the Boston Garden.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 119-105 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 112-104 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 117-108 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 7 games played in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The Devils got goals from Jan Ludvig and Mark Johnson, but blew a 2-0 lead. Then they came back from 3-2 down, on goals by Pat Verbeek and, with 1:17 left in regulation, Doug Sulliman.

* The New York Rangers lost to the Edmonton Oilers, 5-4 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. Ordinarily, there would be no shame in losing to the Wayne Gretzky-era Oilers. But the Rangers were down 4-1 early in the 3rd period, and came back to tie it with 4:08 left in regulation, only to lose on a goal by Glenn Anderson, 1:05 into overtime. Of course, several Oilers, including Anderson and, of course, Mark Messier would help the Rangers win the Stanley Cup in 1994.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-1 at the Hartford Civic Center. (It's now named the PeoplesBank Arena.)

* The Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres played to a tie, 4-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Philadelphia Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs played to a tie, 2-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 4-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota North Stars, 7-5 at the St. Louis Arena.