Paul John "Frankie" Carbo[1] (born Paolo Giovanni Carbo, Italian: [ˈpaːolo dʒoˈvanni ˈkarbo]; August 10, 1904[2] – November 9, 1976[3]) was an Italian-American New York City Mafia soldier in the Lucchese crime family who operated as a gunman with Murder, Inc. before transitioning into one of the most powerful promoters in professional boxing.

In 1939, Carbo allegedly participated in the murder of informant Harry "Big Greenie" Greenberg in California; he was arrested for it two years later.

[3] This time, former Murder Inc. members Abe "Kid Twist" Reles and Allie "Tick Tock" Tannenbaum agreed to testify against Carbo.

However, before the trial began, Reles, who was under police protection, fell to his death from a window of the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island.

Former Philadelphia crime family boss Ralph Natale has claimed that Carbo was responsible for murdering Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel in Beverly Hills, California, in 1947 at the behest of Meyer Lansky.

[4] During the 1940s, Carbo became a boxing promoter, working along with Ettore "Eddie" Coco, James "Jimmy Doyle" Plumeri, Frank "Blinky" Palermo, Harry "Champ" Segal and Felix Bocchicchio.

[5][6] In a 2002 interview with The Observer, Budd Schulberg talked about Carbo and his partner Palermo and their involvement in a 1954 welterweight championship fight.

After a three-month trial in which U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy served as prosecutor, Carbo was sentenced to 25 years in prison, serving his sentence at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in California, McNeil Island in Washington state and United States Penitentiary, Marion in Illinois.

[3] Character Tommy Como (Nicholas Colasanto) in the Martin Scorsese film Raging Bull, which stars Robert De Niro as boxer Jake LaMotta, is based on Carbo.

[14] Carbo is also the inspiration for boxing promoter Nick Benko, played by Rod Steiger in the 1956 film The Harder They Fall.