Mob Murder Scenes In New York City: Joe & Mary’s Italian-American Restaurant
Getty ImagesMorgue attendants carry the body of Carmine Galante out of Joe & Mary’s Restaurant on July 12, 1979.
Harmon LeonThe former site of Joe & Mary’s Italian-American Restaurant today.
On July 12, 1979, Bonanno family boss Carmine Galante was eating on the private back patio at Joe & Mary’s Italian-American Restaurant at 205 Knickerbocker Ave. in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
At the time of his final meal, Galante, who had been the head of the Bonanno family for five years, was embroiled in a tense series of power plays between the Five Families of the New York City Mafia.
The Brooklyn restaurant was a dining hotspot for mob members, but Galante wasn’t worried about a potential attack from a rival family. He was even quoted saying, “No one would ever kill me, they wouldn’t dare.”
A distant relative of Galante’s own Joe & Mary’s and he, and his two bodyguards, gathered at the restaurant to say goodbye to a relative who was going on vacation. The men had just finished eating their meal so Galante lit a cigar.
Suddenly, at roughly 2:45 PM, three men in ski masks rushed inside the restaurant and riddled Galante with bullets and shotgun blasts before fleeing the scene. Galante and two other men were killed in the barrage of bullets. His two bodyguards did nothing to protect him in the attack and afterward, they just left the restaurant.
The hit had been carried out so quickly and efficiently that Galante’s cigar was still clenched between his teeth when the police arrived on the murder scene. When reporters arrived, their cameras caught Galante’s body being removed from the restaurant under a sign that read, “We Give Special Attention to Outgoing Orders.”
After seeing the scenes of infamous mob murders in New York City, see more of the grisliest murder scenes in New York City history. Then, take a photographic tour of some of the most infamous mob hits of all time. Finally, learn the stories of the most infamous murders ever carried out.
