Originally from Palermo, Sicily, Di Giorgio lived most of his life as a grocer in New Orleans, where he was also an active Black Hander.
He was acknowledged as a cousin and a friend to New York City Mafia boss Giuseppe Morello, and with this connection became a leading Black Hander.
Four years later Di Giorgio was alleged to have masterminded a robbery to some acquaintances that led to the death of Dallas Colmes, an Independence restaurant owner, on May 7, 1921.
Nevertheless, Di Giorgio continued to have enemies and was shot a second time, on July 18, 1921, after returning home from a trip to the beach with his family.
Apparently not long after this incident, Gentile (who noted Di Giorgio's leg injury) visited him in the home of Rosario DeSimone.
Before meeting Di Giorgio, Gentile transferred his membership from the Cola Schiro crime family in Brooklyn (Salvatore Maranzano's predecessor), to the San Francisco Mafia organization.
In the end, Gentile was successful in convincing Di Giorgio to drop the death sentence, and a letter of explanation was sent to the Kansas City leader Paolo DiGiovanni.
He and a friend from New Orleans, Vincenzo "James" Cammarata Lo Cascio, had been traveling the country, most recently in Buffalo, New York.
On May 13, Di Giorgio, Lo Cascio, and an unidentified third man, went to a barber shop and pool hall on Larabee Street.
While Di Giorgio was in a barber's chair for a shave and a haircut, and Lo Cascio was playing a game of billiards, two or three gunmen entered the shop, walked up to both men from behind and shot and killed them both.
Nick Gentile fled the country in 1937 to avoid prosecution for drug trafficking and remained in Italy for the rest of his life.