Louis Gigante

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Louis Gigante is a retired Catholic priest, former Bronx, New York City Council Member, the founder of the influential South East Bronx Community Organization (SEBCO), a Bronx community activist, and brother of two Genovese crime family members, family boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante and top capo/acting boss Mario Gigante. He was the parish priest of U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor[1] when she was a teenager.

Career[]

As a Catholic priest at St. Athanasius Church in the South Bronx neighborhood of Longwood, Gigante was one of the leading proponents of tenant rights reform in the late 1960s.[2] In the fall of 1968, he founded the South East Bronx Community Organization (SEBCO), with funds from the federal Section 8 housing program, through which tenants pay 30 percent of their income in rent and the federal government pays the difference, which was generally considered to be one of the organizations most responsible for the economic and civic rehabilitation of the depressed South Bronx area. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1970.[3] By 1981, Gigante had orchestrated the construction and rehabilitation of 1,100 federally subsidized apartments in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx.[4][5] Gigante himself has claimed credit for the rejuvenation of the Bronx, saying "I brought the neighborhood up from ashes to help the people in the South Bronx. There isn't one other organization that can take credit."[6] Though a great family man, recent poor management of SEBCO's buildings in the South Bronx have brought upon various accusations; ranging from Gigante being a slumlord to him being too old to manage such a large project.[6]

On July 30, 2021 it was reported that Gigante sexually abused a nine year old boy on multiple occasions while working at St. Athanasius Church.[7]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Sotomayor, Sonia (2013). My Beloved World. New York: Knopf. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-307-59488-4.
  2. ^ Village Voice January 23rd, 2007.
  3. ^ Bill Egbert (December 17, 2007). "Bronx organization leader hangs it up". The New York Daily News.
  4. ^ The New York Times July 15th, 1981.
  5. ^ "SEBCO celebrates 44th year of building in the Bronx and the creation of 100 jobs in the past year". New York Daily News. April 26, 2012.
  6. ^ a b "Sins of the Father". Village Voice. Jan 16, 2007.
  7. ^ McShane, Larry. "Priest brother of late Genovese crime family boss Vincent 'Chin' Gigante accused in Bronx sexual abuse lawsuit". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2021-09-18.

Further reading[]

  • Jonnes, Jill. South Bronx Rising: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City. New York: Fordham University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8232-2199-8.

External links[]

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