Joseph Gallo, known as Crazy Joe, was killed during his 43rd birthday celebration at Umbertos Clam House in Manhattan’s Little Italy in the early morning of April 7, 1972. A lone gunman described as a stocky, middle-aged man with receding dark hair walked into the restaurant at about 4:30 a.m. and fired roughly twenty shots. Gallo was hit multiple times in the back, elbow, and buttock; he staggered toward the front door, overturned a butcher block table, collapsed in the street, and was taken to Beekman-Downtown Hospital where he died around 5:30 a.m. His bodyguard, Peter Pete the Greek Diapoulas, was shot once in the hip and survived.

The killing occurred amid an internal Colombo crime family feud; leadership suspected Gallo had ordered a prior attempt on boss Joseph Colombo, a charge police did not substantiate. In the aftermath, retaliatory violence followed: a shooting at the Neapolitan Noodle, ordered by Joseph’s brother Albert Gallo, missed its intended targets and killed two innocent diners. Diapoulas was arrested for possessing a revolver after the Umbertos shooting, but no one has ever been officially charged or convicted for Joseph Gallo’s murder.

Are there verifiable leads or witnesses from 1972 who can shed further light on who entered Umbertos that night?