The Gambino crime family is one of the “Five Families” that control the inner workings of organised crime in New York within the infamous criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia or Cosa Nostra. The Gambino family is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963 when the structure of organised crime first gained public attention.

The Gambino family for a time was the most powerful crime family in the United States and it all began back in 1957 when Albert Anastasia, one of the most ruthless and feared Cosa Nostra mobsters in America was assassinated whilst sitting in a barbers chair in Manhattan. Experts believe that Carlo Gambino helped orchestrate the hit in order to take over the family and start his own crime empire. This is the story of how Carlo came to be one of the most powerful gangsters in US history and the family he founded.