Sparks Steak House: The location where Paul Castellano was murdered

Crime Scene Location in Manhattan, New York

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This is the location where Gambino crime boss Paul Castellano was murdered.

It is called Sparks Steak House, and it is situated at 210 East 46th Street in Manhattan, New York.

On December 16th, 1985, the mob boss arrived at this restaurant for a meeting. However, he never made it inside.

While he was exiting his vehicle, three hitmen ambushed him and shot him multiple times.

Sparks Steak House in Manhattan — The gunmen were wearing disguises. They hung around the entrance to the restaurant until the car pulled up.

Castellano's killers were part of a "hit squad" that had been assembled by Gambino capo John Gotti.

Over the years, Gotti and other members of the family grew tired of Castellano's leadership.

In their eyes, he was an out-of-touch boss who lorded over them from his large mansion on Staten Island. While they were working on the streets, "Big Paul" was walking around his 10,000-square-foot home in his silk dressing gowns.

To make matters even worse, he had forbidden them from getting involved in the lucrative drug business.

Paul Castellano murder — Castellano was shot a few feet away from the entrance to Sparks Steak House.

However, Castellano's subordinates did not respect him. As a result, they ignored his orders and continued to sell drugs.

When their involvement in the heroin trade became public knowledge, they began to worry that their boss might retaliate or break up their crew.

At that stage, they realized that they needed to make the first move.

Consequently, Gotti and his associates decided to murder Castellano and take control of the family.

When "Big Paul" and his bodyguard, Thomas Bilotti, pulled up outside of Sparks Steak House, three gunmen wearing trench coats and fur hats were waiting at the door of the restaurant.

As Castellano and Bilotti were exiting the vehicle, the gunmen ran up to them and shot them both dead.

Meanwhile, Gotti sat in a nearby car and watched.

Sparks Steak House: Paul Castellano crime scene

The address and the GPS coordinates for this location are as follows:

Address

210 East 46th Street, Manhattan, New York, NY 10017, USA

Map

To view directions on how to get there, you can use the Google Maps shortcut below:

Google Maps

GPS coordinates

The latitude and longitude coordinates for the steakhouse are:

40.753036, -73.971998

Directions

The restaurant is situated in Midtown East in Manhattan. It is 50 yards east of the intersection between 3rd Avenue and East 46th Street. Castellano was shot dead beside the lamp post on the western side of the steak house, opposite the metal door.

Photos

Photos of the steakhouse and other related images.

Sparks Steak House

This is a Google Street View image of Sparks Steak House on East 46th Street in Manhattan. The red circle highlights the exact area where Castellano was shot dead.

The inset photograph on the left shows police at the crime scene. Castellano exited the vehicle from the passenger side. His body was slumped on the pavement, close to the streetlight.

Then and now

The location looks very similar to how it did back in 1985.

Castellano's underboss and bodyguard, Thomas Bilotti, was shot dead after he exited the driver's door.

His body was found lying on the street, roughly two yards from the sidewalk.

Castellano, Bilotti, and Gotti

In 1985, Castellano promoted his bodyguard and friend, Thomas Bilotti, to underboss. This angered members of the family, as Bilotti was a violent thug who lacked the skills for such a position.

Around the same time, Castellano failed to show up at the wake of Gotti's mentor, Aniello Dellacroce.

This infuriated Gotti and many of Dellacroce's followers. In their eyes, his absence was a blatant act of disrespect.

These two events exacerbated tensions that already existed between the two sides.

When Gotti learned that "Big Paul" and Bilotti had plans to dismantle his crew, he decided that it was time to act.

At that stage, Gotti and other capos in the Gambino family started making plans to "whack" their boss and his bodyguard.

Shortly afterwards, Gotti received a tip-off that the two men were due to attend a meeting at Sparks Steak House in Manhattan.

Sensing that it was the perfect opportunity to strike, he immediately set up a "hit squad" of six men.

That evening, three of the men stood at the door of the restaurant wearing disguise, while the other three hitmen waited further down the street.

At around 5.25 p.m., Castellano and Bilotti pulled up outside in a Lincoln Continental. However, as soon as they opened their doors, the three hitmen at the front of the steakhouse ran towards them and opened fire.

Hitmen

The main hit squad consisted of Salvatore Scala, Edward Lino, and John Carneglia. That evening, the three men disguised themselves in trench coats and fur hats. They then waited for Castellano near the entrance of the steakhouse.