[1] Umbertos became known for its "tasty dishes of calamari, scungilli, and mussels", but initially became prominent, weeks after opening, for being the site of the murder of gangster Joe Gallo.

[citation needed] As The Nevada Daily Mail reported: "the proprietor dove into the kitchen and lay on the tile floor with his hands over his eyes as soon as Sonny Pinto and two out-of-town torpedoes known only as Cisco and Benny came in the side door blasting.

The next thing he knew, Pete "The Greek" Diopoulis, a Gallo bodyguard, was pushing a gun in his face and pulling the trigger but only clicks came out because it had been emptied trying to save Joey.

[18] The Mafia hit and its locale were recalled in media coverage of the death of the actor Jerry Orbach, who became friends with "Crazy Joe" Gallo after playing a character who was modelled on him in the movie, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971), based on a novel by Jimmy Breslin.

In a 1989 interview, Jerry Garcia stated that he would try to eat at Umbertos every time he played in New York, chuckling "they try to get a picture of me up there with Frank Sinatra and The Pope!"