Former Gambino Underboss Sammy The Bull Seen in Arizona Eatery He Once Owned

Former Gambino crime family underboss Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano was seen last month at an Italian restaurant in Arizona. He went in to pick up some takeout, and his son was reportedly with him.

Gambino crime famil y underboss Sammy The Bull
Sammy Gravano at Uncle Sal's, a familiar place. (Source: TMZ)

It’s difficult to imagine a more ignoble end for the once-feared former underboss of the Gambino crime family Once upon a time, Gravano owned Uncle Sal's (get the name?), and his wife kept the place running a few years after he was busted for dealing "Molly," Ecstasy pills. Once upon a time, the FBI lauded him as their prize witness, a sterling example of the moral authority of federal law enforcement after he flipped on a man he himself had chosen to follow to the top of a criminal hierarchy.




With hindsight, one  can safely assume that Sammy Gravano chose to flip on John Gotti using the same cold-blooded calculating mercenary determination he used to join The Fist, the informal name of what was initially a five-man crew behind the plotting and murder of Paul Castellano and his underboss outside Sparks steakhouse in midtown Manhattan Christmas week 1985.

He was seen and photographed at Uncle Sal's restaurant in Scottsdale on October 9, "a few weeks after his release from prison," as TMZ noted in an exclusive story.

This is the big news about Sammy the Bull these days. One wonders if he has any regrets. Possibly not. It’s difficult to believe he ever imagined fate would bring him to where he is now. Somehow the rumors about a reality show seem farther from the realm of the possible than previously.

TMZ also noted: "Despite his new sleeve of tattoos and shaved head, we're told patrons recognized the former mobster."

Uncle Sal's was the same restaurant where another infamous high-profile personage recently dined. Harvey Weinstein had dinner at the restaurant the night before he went into rehab (rehab for what, exactly?).

"The fallen mogul broke bread with 3 guys and a woman -- who we're told are part of his medical team -- and eyewitnesses say you would never know Weinstein was in the eye of a ferocious storm. One witness said, "He was acting normal, fine like he didn't have a care."

TMZ noted that the Bull showed up two days later. (Weinstein is by far the more despicable, you ask me.)

Gravano, 72, the former Gambino underboss who flipped against one of the most infamous mob bosses ever, John Gotti, was released from an Arizona prison in September.

He'd served nearly 18 years after his 2000 arrest for distributing and possessing Ecstasy after departing the witness protection program.

Next year, John Carneglia and Gene Gotti are also due to be released from prison. Both were identified by Gravano as part of the hit team that pulled off the storied Castellano hit in December 1985. Gravano was a mastermind of the hit and testified he and Gotti were both on the scene watching from a car. Some sources ardently disagree with that, and Gotti's attorney's cross-examination of Gravano appears to bolster that claim.

So after decades, three key participants in one of the most notorious Mafia rubouts of the 20th century will all be free next year.....



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