At the turn of the century he made headline news again when members of his family were suspected of trying to get him a presidential pardon through bribery.
The brothers later joined the Gambino crime family and were made members of the criminal organization in 1975 by Paul Castellano, who is also a distant relative.
Still he was able to meet his living expenses, gamble in the casinos and pay $1,697.00 in cash to have fountain lights installed in front of his house during this time period.
[6] Despite an official ban on drug dealing by the American Mafia, the Italian Gambino brothers were heavily involved in international heroin trafficking out of Bensonhurst.
[7] The Cherry Hill Gambinos were the ultimate recipients of the heroin that was brought in by the Inzerillo-Gambino-Spatola-Di Maggio clan from Sicily.
When Sindona got in trouble and was indicted for the bankruptcy of the Franklin National Bank, John Gambino procured a false passport and helped to stage a bogus kidnap in August 1979, to conceal a mysterious 11-week trip to Sicily before his scheduled fraud trial.
The real purpose of the kidnapping was to issue sparsely disguised blackmail notes to Sindona's past political allies – among them Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti – to engineer the rescue of his banks and recuperate Cosa Nostra's money.
The brothers didn't go back to Italy and the United States did not grant extradition, so they went on trial and were convicted of drug trafficking in absentia.
In March 1980, Rosario and his brother Joseph were arrested by American authorities for alleged participation in an attempt to import 91 pounds of heroin from Milan, Italy.
Gambino was found guilty of selling heroin to undercover police officers and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
According to reports, in return Roger said he could guarantee Anna and Tommaso, Rosario's children,[13] a presidential pardon by President Clinton.
While in prison Gambino remained in good contact with the Los Angeles crime family members Jimmy Caci and his own son Tommaso.
[3] In 2006, Gambino was released from prison after serving 22 years and then transferred to an immigrant detention center in California to await expulsion to Italy.
[citation needed] In September 2007, an immigration judge in Los Angeles cited the United Nations Convention Against Torture in ruling that Gambino should not be deported.