For years Genovese crime boss Vincent “the Chin” Gigante walked the streets of New York’s Greenwich Village in pajamas or bathrobe mumbling to himself and passing himself off as nothing short of feeble-minded.
It was revealed in 2003 that the Chin, from 1990 until his racketeering conviction and jailing in 1997, was on the dole from the government for his “disability,” while at the same time the government was trying to prove in court that he was faking. In all, the “Oddfather” was being awarded $900 a month for his alleged disabilities. In 2003 the Social Security Administration announced it was demanding that he return the money since he was “not entitled” to the benefits.
It was a matter of conjecture if the government would be able to get the money back. At least, however, the septuagenarian Chin had been cut off from his Social Security awards after he was incarcerated, the agency explained, because “the government’s already paying food, clothing and shelter” for him.
    |
As it was, the Chin was a piker among big league mafiosi at putting fingers in the public till. Peter Gotti, the reputed successor of his brother John as head of the Gambino crime family, as of 2003 had raked in something like $5,000 a month in disability from Social Security and New York City for 14 years.
The exact amount was never revealed because of privacy laws. Gotti was listed as working as a “sanitation man” until he was injured after claiming he’d fallen off a sanitation truck and wrenched his back. City pensions may be paid to inmates and apparently have never been stopped to Gotti.
Many wise guys learn how to get on the pension bandwagon. Primo Cassarino, who was convicted along with Peter Gotti in March 2003 for shaking down action film star Steven Seagal, worked as a city garbage collector for 10 years, became fully vested in 1992 at $36,877 and then also claimed to have fallen off a truck and filed for disability.
Wise guys just seem to have real trouble staying on trucks. In this case Cassarino ended up with egg and whatever on his face when an FBI wiretap caught him discussing how he needed phony documents to renew the disability benefits.
All these disclosures had the potential of perhaps salvaging some of the public’s tax dollars. With Gotti in jail after his conviction but still not sentenced, a gimmick in the law might take away his loot if he—and other wise guys—were not only given prison time but fined as well.
The fine would allow the city to garnish Gotti’s pension. It remained possible that many wise guys will find that unsympathetic judges might very well slap on a fine to plug the pension loophole.
