James "Jimmy Brown" Failla (January 22, 1919 – August 5, 1999) was an American mobster who was a high ranking caporegime with the Gambino crime family and a major power in the garbage-hauling industry in New York City.

Failla was raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, a neighborhood dominated by New York's La Cosa Nostra families.

After the 1957 murder of Anastasia, the new boss Carlo Gambino appointed Failla as his point man in the waste-hauling industry.

During 1983, when the FBI was bugging the home of Gambino boss Paul Castellano, Failla was present for hundreds of hours of meetings.

Failla and others in power both recognized and respected Martoccia for his negotiating prowess in facilitating the large majority of the family's legitimate waste hauling contracts.

During the winter months, Failla and Martoccia, along with their wives and children, stayed at the beachfront Diplomat Resort near Fort Lauderdale in South Florida.

While Failla was feared by many, as his reputation was of a fierce and vicious operator and handler of his trade, he did in fact conduct the majority of his business in a lawful manner, which for many years saved him from tangling with the criminal judicial system.

Nevertheless, after many years of unsuccessful efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to indict Failla, he was eventually incarcerated and then soon after passed while serving a sentence in prison for conspiracy to commit murder, a conviction the District Attorney's Office obtained with much help from mobster-turned-informant Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.

In February of that year, a company executive found a dog's severed head on his doorstep in Rockland County, New York.

John Gotti, after taking control of the Gambino family, was recorded on Federal surveillance saying: "Jimmy Brown, he took the garbage industry and turned it into a candy store."

On December 16, 1985, Failla was waiting for Castellano at the Sparks Steak House in Midtown Manhattan to discuss family matters.

When Castellano arrived outside the restaurant, gunmen allied with Gambino capo John Gotti assassinated him on the street.

During the sentencing phase, Failla appeared in court on crutches and his lawyer pleaded for leniency based on his client's heart problems and hypertension.