Known in the press as "Sammy the Bull," Salvatore Gravano has confessed to killing or helping kill 19 people. His punishment for all that mayhem was five years in prison because of his testimony against the Mafia.
The wonder is that Gravano is still alive.
He began as "muscle" for the Colombo Mob family in New York and for the Gambino family in Brooklyn.
Called Sammy after an uncle, Gravano served two years in the Army in the 1960s thanks to the draft. In 1970, he began his string of murders, and he was inducted into the ranks of the mob in 1976. Smart and tough, he moved up the the criminal ranks and gained great influence in construction and trucking in the New York City area. He became the Gambino family's consigliere under family boss John Gotti, the publicity-hungry Teflon Don (also known as the Dapper Don).
In 1991, Gravano took an enormous chance by testifying against Gotti in exchange for a five-year term in prison. On his release, he entered the Witness Protection Program but dropped out after someone recognized him. He moved to Arizona and had some protective plastic surgery.
By the late 1990s, Gravano was into the ecstasy trade. He was convicted of this crime in 2000 and got 19 years. While in prison, he contracted Graves' Disease.
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