Gambino Crime Family

The crime family run for 20 years by Carlo Gambino reached its peak of notoriety in the 1980s under the leadership of John J. Gotti (pictured left), the media-friendly Dapper Don. At its height, it was considered the most influential of the the "Five Families'' of the Mafia in New York City.

Investigators who succeeded in planting bugs in the homes and social clubs where Gambino leaders did business slowly chopped away at the gang. The effort gained in the 1990s with the defection of Mr. Gotti's underboss, Salvatore Gravano, and other high-level mob figures. Federal and state authorities focused on the mob's control of certain industries and corrupt unions. From garbage carting and construction to the garment center and the waterfront, the authorities improved their use of racketeering laws to loosen the mob's control.

After winning three acquittals on federal charges and a tabloid nickname of the Teflon Don, Mr. Gotti was convicted of murder and racketeering in 1992, and over the course of the next decade almost the entire family hierarchy was sent to jail. By the time of Mr. Gotti's death from cancer in prison in 2002, the authorities described the crime family as severely diminished.

But rumors of its death are just that. An indictment unsealed on April 21, 2010, against 14 members and associates of the Gambino family detailed a series of crimes, representing "literally decades of criminality," said Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. Some of the charges announced a day earlier — extortion, gambling, loan sharking, marijuana and cocaine trafficking — seemed routine, almost boilerplate in mob cases. There was even an attempted jury tampering charge related to the 1992 trial of Mr. Gotti.

In what Mr. Bharara said was a "new low" for the Gambino family, and perhaps a first in a case involving the Mafia, some defendants were charged with operating an interstate sex trafficking network, in which they recruited women to work as prostitutes in New York and New Jersey. All of the women were under 20 years old, and one was 15.

Prosecutors said that Daniel Marino, a "made member" of the family since at least the 1970s and a powerful captain, is now "a boss." They said that Mr. Marino, while serving a prison term in the 1990s, authorized the murder of his nephew, who was cooperating with the government.

The indictment said that the family is now run by a panel, a step taken "to protect and insulate" the leaders "from detection and scrutiny by law enforcement." Mr. Marino commands more than 200 Gambino family members and hundreds more associates.