The Mafia Boss Who Pretended to Be Crazy for 30 Years
put on an act: to pretend or behave in a way that is not real, often to fool other people
For almost thirty years, a man shuffled around New York in pajamas and slippers. He muttered to himself and talked to parking meters. People in his neighborhood thought he was just a sad, confused old man.
His name was Vincent Gigante, and he was the most powerful mafia boss in America.
Gigante ran the Genovese crime family. At its peak, his empire made about one hundred million dollars a year from construction contracts, gambling, and loans. He gave orders that ended people’s lives. But every morning, he put on an act.
It started in 1969, when prosecutors began investigating him. To avoid trial, he started pretending to be mentally ill. He wore a bathrobe and slippers in public and even urinated in the street. Once, detectives found him naked in the shower, under an umbrella, with the water running. His brother, a Catholic priest, told the courts that Vincent saw things that were not there. Doctors checked him into mental hospitals more than two dozen times.
For decades, the FBI knew the truth, but doctors kept saying he was too sick to stand trial. Even the press mocked his fake illness, calling him “The Oddfather” instead of the godfather. Finally, in 1996, a federal judge ruled that Gigante was sane and fit for trial. A year later, a court convicted him of serious crimes, and he was sent to prison. Six years later, in 2003, he stopped pretending. His lawyer explained it simply. “You get to a point in life… where you become too old and too sick and too tired to fight.”
Sample sentences
On our first date, he put on an act pretending to love hiking. Three months later, I learned he hated being outside.
My five-year-old puts on an act every morning before school. Suddenly his stomach hurts, his head hurts, and he can barely walk.
Politicians always put on an act during election season. Once they win, you never see them again.
Origin
The phrase comes from the theater. An “act” is a section of a play, and “putting on” a performance means presenting it for an audience. Today, we use it for any kind of pretending in real life.
