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| Angelo Bruno | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Aliases | The Gentle Don |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | 21 May 1910 Villalba, Province of Caltanissetta, Sicily, Italy
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| Died | 21 March 1980 Philadelphia, New Jersey, America
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| Affiliation | Philly crime family |
| Title(s) | Don |
Angelo "The Gentle Don" Bruno was the boss of the Bruno crime family in Philadelphia from 1959 to 1980, succeeding Joseph Ida and preceding Philip Testa. He was known as a man who preferred negotiating to violence, and he became a powerful Don due to his alliance with Carlo Gambino of the Gambino crime family.
Biography[]
Angelo Annaloro was born in Villalba, Province of Caltanissetta, Sicily in Italy, but he immigrated to the United States while he was a teenager, settling in Philadelphia and changing his name to his paternal grandmother's surname "Bruno". He originally owned an extermination company, but after 1928 he had arrests for firearms violations, gambling, stealing, and owning an alcohol still. In 1959 he succeeded Joseph Ida as boss of the Philadelphia criminal organization that came to be known as the Bruno crime family due to his famous rule. He allied with Carlo Gambino, forming a powerful relationship with the Gambino crime family. Through negotiations, he avoided violence, and his longest jail term was two years for refusing to appear before a grand jury.
Bruno refused to get involved with the drug trade, instead preferring bookmaking and loansharking, which were more traditional American Mafia practices. His refusal angered elements of his family who wanted to get a part of the operation and make money off of it; they were further angry that Bruno allowed other gangs to profit from the trade on his territory, but he did not allow his family to join them. On 21 March 1980, his consigliere Antonio Caponigro shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun as he sat in his car on 10th Street and Snyder Avenue, killing him. Caponigro was killed soon after because he did not seek permission from The Commission to whack a Don.