Career
In the 1970s, DePalma became friends with numerous celebrities after he built the Westchester Premiere Theatre in Tarrytown, New New York In 1976, DePalma appeared in a famous group picture at the Theatre with Sinatra, then Gambino boss Carlo Gambino, future boss Paul Castellano, and other Gambino mobsters. In 1977, DePalma became a made man in the Gambino crime family.
On June 6, 1978, DePalma was indicted on state charges regarding the theatre"s financial collapse.
However, the first trial ended in a hung jury. Later in 1979, before the second trial, DePalma pleaded guilty bankruptcy fraud.
One piece of evidence that helped the prosecution case was the picture with Sinatra. DePalma was sentenced to four years in prison.
In the 1990s, DePalma was named a caporegime (captain).
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he also visited imprisoned boss John Gotti while Gotti was incarcerated in 2001. The charges were based on the Gambino takeover and extortion of Scores, a famous strip club in Manhattan. On June 13, 1999, a federal judge sentenced DePalma to 70 months in federal prison, a light sentence due to DePalma"s claims of poor health.
The sentencing took place in DePalma"s hospital room at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New New York
Later that day, the same judge sentenced Craig in court to 87 months in federal prison. In 2002, while still in prison, Craig attempted to hang himself and was left in a persistent vegetative state.
He died in December 2010. Over the next year, Falcone provided DePalma with a steady stream of excellent quality stolen goods.
By August 2004, Garcia claims DePalma considered nominating him, as Falcone, for induction into the Gambino family.
DePalma didn"t realize was that Falcone was actually Joaquin "Jack" Garcia, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was providing the goods. Foreign two years, Garcia listened in (wearing a recording device) on conversations DePalma had with many mobsters in the Gambino family. On February 21, 2005, DePalma, Garcia, and Gambino mobster Robert Vaccaro were meeting another mobster, Peter "Petey Chops" Vicini in the Housewares section of a Bloomingdales department store in Westchester County.
When Vicini failed to show them proper respect, Vaccaro grabbed a solid crystal candleholder and began beating him on the head
Garcia convinced DePalma to stop Vaccaro and leave Bloomingdale"s quickly. On March 9, 2005, Garcia"s undercover assignment ended as Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested DePalma and 32 other Gambino mobsters on racketeering charges.
By May 2006, DePalma"s health was again in decline. He had spent most of the past year in the hospital, had a cancerous lung removed, and had suffered a heart attack.
DePalma was morbidly obese and taking 20 medications a day.
However, the judge ruled that he was healthy enough to stand trial. On November 18, 2009, DePalma died at age 78 in the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina.