The Ravenite Social Club

This is the former Ravenite Social Club.

It is located at 247 Mulberry Street in Manhattan, New York.

The club was used as a headquarters by the Gambino crime family during the 1970s and 1980s. At the time, it was common to see senior mob figures such as John Gotti hanging around outside the building.

Gotti seized control of the Gambino family in 1985 after he orchestrated the murder of his boss, Paul Castellano. When the FBI learned that he had assassinated Castellano, they immediately made him their prime target.

The Ravenite in particular became the subject of a heavy surveillance operation, as the authorities were aware that it served as a command post for the organization.

Gotti summoned his capos and their associates to the club every Wednesday night. This weekly meeting at the Ravenite proved to be a treasure trove for the FBI. Using surveillance footage, they were able to identify the most senior-ranking members and determine the structure of the Gambino family.

In February 1988, the FBI set up a video camera with a telephoto lens and pointed it at the front door. By doing this, they were able to capture photographs of mob figures and union officials coming and going.

Around the same time, agents managed to bug the inside of the club. However, the tapes proved to be worthless, as the Gambinos were so paranoid about being recorded that they seldom spoke business and kept the radio volume up at all times.

In July 1988, members of Gotti's crew discovered a listening device at the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club in Queens. Realizing that the FBI may have done something similar to the Ravenite, they decided to install a white noise machine.

As the investigation wore on, the surveillance team started to become suspicious about the fact that Gotti kept disappearing for lengthy periods of time.

After questioning their informants about these unexplained absences, they eventually learned that he was using a back door to sneak up to apartment 10, which was on the third floor.

The apartment was being rented by the widow of a former Gambino associate named Michael Cirelli, who had passed away earlier that year.

Sensing that they had struck gold, the FBI bugged Cirelli's apartment.

The operation proved to be a huge success, as the Teflon Don was recorded talking about a litany of crimes, including murder and extortion.

During one conversation, he talked to "Sammy the Bull" Gravano about Castellano's murder. In another, he spoke about the killing of an associate named Robert DiBernardo:

"I was in jail when I whacked him. I knew why it was being done. I done it anyway. I allowed it to be done anyway. I took Sammy's word that he talked behind my back."

On December 11th, 1990, the FBI raided the Ravenite and arrested Gotti, Gravano, and Frank "Frankie Loc" LoCascio.

While they were in prison awaiting trial together, Gotti forbade Gravano from listening to the tapes.

This set off alarm bells in Gravano's head, as he was Gotti's consigliere and right-hand man. Immediately, he began to suspect that his boss had said something extremely negative about him.

When the FBI offered Gravano a chance to listen to a portion of the tapes, he eagerly picked up the headphones. At that point, the agents played a recording of a conversation in which Gotti made a series of bitter remarks about him.

The comments were so negative that Gravano quickly realized that his boss had been laying the groundwork for his murder.

This was a key moment in the case, as it convinced Gravano to turn state witness and testify against Gotti.

During the trial, "Sammy the Bull" implicated his former boss in four murders.

In April 1992, Gotti was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering. Two months later, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In 2002, Gotti died from throat cancer at the age of 61.

Photos

Photos of the club and other related images.

247 Mulberry Street

This Google Street View image of 247 Mulberry Street was taken in November 2017.

The Ravenite Social Club closed its doors in 1997. By that stage, the FBI had all but decimated the mob's influence.

Since then, numerous shoe and clothing companies have leased the unit.

At the time of writing, it was home to an indie menswear store called Descendant of Thieves.

Although the club is often associated with John Gotti (pictured right) and his downfall, its history stretches back much further than that.

Since the 1950s, the Ravenite has been the headquarters of famous mob figures such as Albert Anastasia, Carlo Gambino, and Aniello Dellacroce. Gotti didn't take over until 1985, after Dellacroce died of cancer and Paul Castellano was assassinated.

A number of sources state that it was originally founded as the Alto Knights Social Club in 1926. However, this is incorrect. Newspaper archives indicate that the Alto Knights Social Club was actually two blocks south of this location. Furthermore, that club was run by the Genovese family, not the Gambinos.

The Wikipedia article on the topic claims that Carlo Gambino renamed it the Ravenite after he rose to power in 1957. This is also incorrect, as newspaper reports from 1956 show that the name was already in place.

The Ravenite

A popular story is that Carlo Gambino renamed it the Ravenite after he orchestrated the murder of Albert Anastasia in 1957.

However, this is false.

The newspaper article above appeared in Newsday on September 1st, 1956, which was 13 months before Anastasia's death.

Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano

Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano turned on Gotti and the Gambino family after he heard the tapes and realized that his boss had been laying the groundwork for his death.

Gravano confessed to 19 murders. However, he was only sentenced to five years in prison because of his testimony.

Although he entered the Witness Protection Program and moved to Arizona after his release, he left the program shortly afterwards because he didn't like the rules that it placed upon him.

A few years later, he became involved in criminal activity again.

In 2002, Gravano was sentenced to twenty years in prison after he was found guilty of trafficking ecstasy.

In September 2017, he was released from the ADX Florence Supermax prison in Colorado.

Nowadays, he runs a YouTube channel called Our Thing. Relatives have stated that he remains in Arizona because New York is still too dangerous for him.

Then and now

This is a "then and now" image of the Ravenite Social Club.

The writing on the windows read, "Members only."

The building looks different in photographs from Gotti's era because he bricked it up when he became boss.