Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Scan of a one-page FBI office memorandum dated 29 November 1957 about Carlo Gambino and the Apalachin gathering, with redactions.
Open the full imageJPG, 1000 × 1271 px, 0.3 MB

FBI memorandum of 29 November 1957: INS refers to Carlo Gambino as a participant in the Apalachin gathering

One-page FBI memorandum reporting that the Immigration and Naturalization Service referred to Carlo Gambino as one of those who took part in the recent Apalachin gathering and planned to arrest him on a deportation warrant on 2 December 1957.

Date
1957-11-29
Kind
case-file
Source
FBI Records: The Vault
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Rights
A record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation released under FOIA through the FBI Vault. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Redactions on the page are the FBI's. The page scan is stored here.

Part 03 of the FBI Vault’s Carlo Gambino file, scan 4. A one-page office memorandum from R. R. Roach to A. H. Belmont. Parts of the page are redacted, and the Bureau file-number stamps are not legible enough to transcribe.

The memorandum states: “On November 29, 1957, [redacted] Investigations Division, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), referred to the subject as one of the individuals who participated in the recent gathering of hoodlums in Apalachin, New York. [redacted] advised on a confidential basis that INS plans to apprehend Gambino in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday, December 2, 1957. He will be arrested on a deportation warrant and INS plans to hold a hearing with the ultimate objective of deporting Gambino to his native country, Italy.”

“Gathering of hoodlums” is the memorandum’s own wording and is quoted, not adopted. A follow-up memorandum dated 2 December 1957 on the next scan is only partly legible; it says liaison had earlier reported that INS was taking steps to apprehend Gambino. Gambino’s presence is also recorded in the Second Circuit’s account of who was stopped.

itemUnited States v. Bufalino, 285 F.2d 408 (2d Cir. 1960)Second Circuit opinion reversing the convictions of Russell Bufalino and nineteen others for obstructing justice and perjury after the 14 November 1957 gathering at Apalachin, New York. The court says the government offered no evidence of the meeting's purpose.itemFBI New York report page (NY 92-657) quoting the New York Daily Mirror of 15 November 1957 on ApalachinPage of an FBI New York field-office report on Carlo Gambino. It relays a 15 November 1957 New York Daily Mirror article saying 62 men were "grabbed" at Apalachin on 14 November and that Gambino was present. The report's date is not on the page.itemFBI teletype page: request to interview Carlo Gambino in Miami about the Apalachin meetingSecond page of an FBI message from the New York office asking Bureau permission for the Miami office to interview Gambino, at an Assistant U.S. Attorney's request, about his attendance at the Apalachin meeting. Undated on this page.itemFBI New York report (NY 92-657): John T. Cusack's 9 January 1958 testimony on the Apalachin meetingReport pages quoting testimony of John T. Cusack, District Supervisor of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics, before a New York State legislative committee at Albany on 9 January 1958 that the Bureau became interested in Apalachin because at least three major narcotics violators were reported present.