Paul Castellano's house

This is Paul Castellano's former house.

It is located at 177 Benedict Road on Staten Island, New York.

Castellano built this 10,000-square-foot mansion in Todt Hill in 1980. He lived here during the height of his power.

Longtime crime boss Carlo Gambino named "Big Paul" as his successor shortly before he passed away in October 1976. Castellano officially took control of the family one month later.

However, his succession came as an unwelcome surprise to some of the other members. At the time, many of them expected the current underboss, Aniello Dellacroce, to step up and take the reins.

As a result, two factions formed inside the family.

On one side, there were Castellano and his loyalists. On the other side were Dellacroce and his protege, John Gotti.

When Dellacroce died of cancer in 1985, Castellano did not go to his wake. This angered Gotti and the rest of Dellacroce's followers. In their eyes, his refusal to attend was a slap in the face.

By that point, tensions between the two sides had been simmering for some time.

Castellano had recently learned that Gotti and his crew were disobeying his orders by selling heroin. There was also an ongoing dispute between the two parties over money.

During his reign as boss, Castellano seldom left his luxury mansion in Todt Hill. Instead, he would summon his capos to the house and give them orders.

Eventually, his reclusive nature started to isolate him from the rest of the family. As time went on, the other members started to view him as greedy and out of touch.

While they were out making money on the street, he was walking around his mansion in expensive dressing gowns and velvet slippers. Due to his lavish lifestyle, he also started demanding more money from his capos.

Following Dellacroce's death, Castellano made the unpopular decision to promote his own bodyguard, Thomas Bilotti, to the position of underboss. He also started making plans to break up Gotti's crew.

However, Gotti caught wind of these plans and decided to strike first. Roughly two weeks later, Castellano and his new underboss were gunned down outside of Sparks Steak House in Manhattan.

Photos

Photos of the house and other related images.

177 Benedict Road

This is an aerial image of Paul Castellano's former house on Staten Island. The mob boss lived here until his assassination in December 1985.

Both the FBI and the mob referred to it as the "White House" because the exterior design was heavily based on it.

Zillow states that it has 8 bedrooms and 17 baths. It is 33,000 square feet in size, and it sits on a 1.58-acre lot. The grounds contain a large garden and a swimming pool.

The current owner is Salmar Properties CEO Sal Rusi, who purchased it in 2000 for $3.1 million. In June 2023, Rusi put the mansion up for sale for $16,800,000.

Castellano's house

This Google Street View image of the house was taken in June 2018.

Inside

Image source: Staten Island Multiple Listing Service

These photographs of the inside were taken in 2023.

Castellano had expensive tastes. The foyer and dining room are lined with Carrara marble.

To fund this lavish lifestyle, the Gambino boss pressured his capos to kick up more money.

The White House

Image source: Google Maps

The residence was aptly nicknamed the White House by mobsters and law enforcement alike.

This Google Street View image of the northern entrance was captured in October 2021.

Surveillance

The FBI put the mansion under surveillance after they learned that "Big Paul" regularly held meetings in his dining room.

After interfering with his cable TV connection, an undercover agent disguised himself as a technician and visited the house to "fix" the problem.

Once inside, he opened up the television and began to diagnose the "technical issue."

While the agent was fiddling around with the TV, he asked Castellano's violent bodyguard, Thomas Bilotti, to assist him by holding a flashlight.

Bilotti agreed and proceeded to shine the flashlight into the back of the TV, completely unaware that the "technician" was actually installing a listening device right in front of him.