In 1973, the son of Gambino crime family underboss Neil Della Croce was rushed to a New York hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg—and the story he told about how it happened quickly unraveled. Armand “Buddy” Della Croce, then 18, arrived at St. Vincent’s Hospital at 5:46 a. m.
on June 16, 1973, seeking treatment for a gunshot wound to his right lower leg. He told police that he had been walking with a companion near the corner of East Houston Street and Mulberry Street when he heard a bang, felt his pants stick to his leg, and realized he had been shot. He added that several unknown people who had been walking behind him were gone by the time he looked around. At the time, his father, Aniello “Neil” Della Croce, had served as underboss to boss Carlo Gambino for several years, holding one of the most powerful positions in one of New York City’s most influential crime families.
Authorities initially explored the possibility that the shooting was linked to an altercation Buddy had been involved in months earlier. An FBI file from June 19, 1973, noted that a source had heard Buddy had been beaten up by a group of Puerto Ricans about six months before the shooting, and the incident could have been a follow-up. Another file dated June 21, 1973, suggested the shooting may have been carried out by neighborhood kids from around Mulberry Street, noting that Buddy had a reputation as a bully and that the incident appeared to be “strictly a local thing without any hoodlum connections. ”
Other accounts described Buddy as a “wise kid,” but the shooting was not believed to be a professional job.
Following the wounding, Buddy was sent away from New York City for the summer to stay with mobster Carmine Consalvo. An FBI file reported that Neil Della Croce felt his son would get into trouble if he remained in the city. By August 1973, two months after the shooting, federal agents received a cold reception from the underboss himself. During an initial contact with Bureau agents, Neil Della Croce displayed an uncooperative attitude, saying that as far as he was concerned, the shooting of his son was an accident and that the FBI should not worry about it.
He added that he had nothing further to discuss. The real explanation eventually emerged through an informant. According to an FBI file, Gambino soldier Guido “Dolls” Curto had visited Buddy after the shooting and claimed that the young man had actually shot himself in the leg while sitting in a car. Curto reportedly said Buddy dropped the gun in the car, crawled outside, and then claimed he had been shot by others.
Another FBI file noted that informed sources advised that Della Croce might have shot himself while fooling around with a loaded gun in a companion’s car. Police officers who interviewed Buddy and his companion separately at the hospital also received conflicting accounts of where the incident occurred. Despite the embarrassment of the incident, Buddy Della Croce was inducted into the Gambino crime family in 1978 at the age of just 23. Numerous sources indicated he was a known drug user, leading to widespread belief that his rapid rise was due to his father’s influence rather than his own standing.
After Neil Della Croce died of cancer in December 1985, Buddy—who had just taken a plea deal for a reduced prison sentence—went on the run, both from law enforcement and, allegedly, from his former mob associates. In 1988, while still a fugitive, Armand “Buddy” Della Croce died. An autopsy attributed his death to a cerebral hemorrhage caused by alcoholic cirrhosis, and tests on his body also came back positive for AIDS.