Aug. 14, 1963 - Raymond V. Martin, retired chief of detectives in Brooklyn South, the heart of that borough’s Cosa Nostra crime syndicate, said today that nearly 5 years of warfare had reduced the Gallo gang to a remnant of 8 or 10 men. He counted 11 murders in the Gallos’ vendetta with the syndicate “family” formerly headed by the late Joseph Profaci. Nine of the victims were Gallo henchmen, Mr. Martin said. As recently as two years ago, the Gallos might have counted 50 adherents. However, many of their members were lured back to the Profaci camp by promises of a larger share of loansharking, numbers, and bookmaking. The Profaci gang is now headed by his son-in-law, Joseph Magliocco. Mr. Martin said a desire for big money had caused the Gallo faction, led by the brothers Joseph (left), Albert, and Lawrence Gallo (right), to revolt against the Profaci leadership. The split became irreparable with the murder of Frank (Shots) Abbatemarco in November 1959. Abbatemarco, a numbers banker and close friend of the Gallos, had fallen behind in his payments to the Profaci syndicate. The prospects of the surviving Gallo hoodlums are dim, Mr. Martin believes. Joseph (Crazy Joe) Gallo is in prison. Lawrence and Albert and their allies are in hiding. Their sources of illegal revenue have dried up. If they turn to crimes such as robbery and hijacking to raise money, Mr. Martin believes, they will be venturing into a field in which the chance of arrest and conviction are much more likely than in the operation of rackets. But Mr. Martin says it is more likely that the sentence of death passed on them by the high council of the Mafia will be carried out. “I hear that a hit on Albert Gallo is worth $20,000,” he remarked.
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