Dellacroce spent decades in the Mafia and was a faithful follower of the murderous
Albert Anastasia and, later,
Carlo Gambino. When Gambino took over the Anastasia family, Dellacroce stepped up to the position of underboss and seemed to be in line eventually to succeed Gambino. He had all the prerequisites, including the cool toughness and mercilessness the job demanded. However, when Gambino was dying in 1976, he tapped his brother in law
Paul Castellano as his successor. To placate Dellacroce he offered him essential control of all the family's lucrative Manhattan activities. Compromises rarely stayed glued in the Mafia: except for the fact that Dellacroce was in ill health, it seemed he would eventually take over. Certainly the young Turks aligned with Dellacroce favored expansion into more violent types of crime, such as armored car robberies and hijackings as well as narcotics. Police experts indicated that only Dellacroce could hold the Young Turks back, especially
John Gotti, a dapper and deadly capo in the organization, described as having patterned himself after his idol, Albert Anastasia. Gotti held back because of his fear and respect for Dellacroce. Then on December 2, 1985, Dellacroce, who was suffering from cancer, died in New York hospital. The one thing that was certain was that Aniello Dellacroce remained the quintessential Mafia Don throughout his career.
