Aniello John "Neil" Dellacroce (March 15, 1914 – December 2, 1985) was an American mobster and underboss of the Gambino crime family. He rose to the position of underboss when Carlo Gambino moved Joseph Biondo aside. Dellacroce was a mentor to future Gambino boss John Gotti. Early life Dellacroce was born on March 15, 1914, in New York City to Francesco and Antoinette Dellacroce, first generation immigrants from Italy. He grew up in the Little Italy section of Manhattan. His nickname "Neil" was an Americanization of "Aniello". Dellacroce had one brother, Carmine. Aniello was married to Lucille Riccardi. They had four children. As a teenager, Dellacroce became a butcher's assistant, but work was scarce and he took to crime. He was jailed once for petty theft. Dellacroce sometimes walked around Manhattan dressed as a priest and called himself "Father O'Neil" to confuse both the police and rival mobsters. Dellacroce allegedly committed a murder dressed as a priest. He also allegedly used a body double for some public events. Aniello Dellacroce, which in Italian means "little lamb of the cross", took pleasure in killing people. "He likes to peer into a victim's face, like some kind of dark angel, at the moment of death", according to a federal agent familiar with Dellacroce. Career In the late 1930s, Dellacroce joined the Mangano crime family, forerunner of the Gambino family, and soon became involved with underboss Albert Anastasia. After the disappearance of longtime boss Vincent Mangano, Anastasia became family boss and promoted Dellacroce to capo. Due to his square-shaped face, some Gambino members nicknamed him "the Polack", a nickname never used within his earshot. Dellacroce later became mentor to John Gotti. Dellacroce bought the Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy, which soon became a popular Gambino social club and Dellacroce's headquarters. On October 25, 1957, gunmen murdered Anastasia in a Manhattan hotel barbershop. Carlo Gambino took over the family. In 1965, Gambino removed the aging Joseph Biondo from his underboss position and appointed Dellacroce to replace him. According to records from the Knapp Commission, which investigated police corruption in a number of industries beginning in 1970, Dellacroce and other mobsters were involved in after-hours bars that catered to homosexuals in the West Village, Manhattan. In 1971, Dellacroce was sentenced to one year in state prison on contempt charges for refusing to answer grand jury questions about organized crime. On May 2, 1972, Dellacroce