Mafia bosses flee to Australia, Sammy ‘The Bull’ Gravano claims

One of the biggest Mafia killers of all time planned to escape an American prison and make a new life in Australia because it had a reputation as a safe haven for Italian mobsters.

One of the biggest Mafia killers of all time, Salvatore “Sammy The Bull’’ Gravano has revealed that he planned to break out of an American federal prison and create a new life in Australia because it had a reputation around the world as a safe haven for Italian mobsters.

Gravano, the man who brought down John Gotti Jr by turning informant, said many Mafia figures used Australia as a place to hide when they were on the run.

Gravano told the Our Thing podcast that he once said to Gotti in the 1990s: “I got people on the street talking to people in Australia, you know, in Australia a lot of Italians from different countries on the lam (on the run) go there.”

His revelations come just weeks after the Australian ­Federal Police released a report saying the Ndrangheta, as the mafia is called, still has a strong presence in Australia, with 51 crime families operating across the country.

Considered the greatest supergrass in American criminal history, Gravano told John Gotti of his plan to escape to Australia in 1991 after the pair and several others of the Gambino crime family had been arrested by the FBI in New York.

Former Gambino crime family underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano.

Gravano, who confessed to 19 mob murders, told Gotti he believed the pair faced life in prison and they had only one option – run.

“I’m gonna break out,’’ he told his boss and said Australia was where he was heading.

“I’m gonna go there, (Australia) be accepted by them, and I’m gonna become one of them. “I’m never coming back. We gonna get life without parole, f--k prison …’’ he said.

Gotti, known as the Teflon Don stared at him like he was crazy.

“Sonny, we’re on the 11th floor and I’m on the other side of the building,’’ Gotti said.

But Sammy said he organised with a corrupt prison guard to bring in fishing line, climbing rope, glass cutters and a walkie-talkie and had an ­elaborate plan to abseil from the 11th floor of the building in Manhattan and said if they fell, they would die, which was ­better than life in prison.

Gravano being sworn in to testify before US Senate Committee.

And Gravano while in custody in Arizona.

Gotti walked out of the room and the pair never spoke about it again, but Gravano was still keen on the plan, which included having armed goons waiting for him outside the ­prison in a vehicle to take him to a port.

Gravano told two young prisoners who wanted to go with him, including one charged with killing a judge.

Gravano said he was going to live in Australia and had organised a shipping company to smuggle him there and “it’s going to cost a fortune”.

Gravano’s plan never came to fruition.

Gravano said the plot fell apart when authorities found out he was planning to escape.

In 1991, Gravano agreed to testify against Gotti after hearing him on wiretaps that ­implicated the pair in a number of murders.

Three years later, Gravano was sentenced to five years’ prison, but had already served four years and was released the next year into the witness protection program.

He lived in Arizona before he quit and went public with a best-selling book.

In 2000, he was back in ­prison, sentenced to 20 years, but was released in 2017.

Originally published as Mafia bosses flee to Australia, Sammy ‘The Bull’ Gravano claims