Mafia-linked priest’s secret son inherits secret fortune

“It was just like another quirky thing,” the son says of his father’s priesthood

Following his death earlier this year, Reverend Louis Gigante left his secret fortune to his son that few knew he had.

The Bronx Roman Catholic Priest was the son of immigrants from Italy and the brother of a mafia boss. He ran a development company that built homes for those in need while vocally defending his criminal family.

It wasn’t until his 19 October death that his will revealed that he had a 32-year-old son, going against the Catholic requirement that priests remain celibate, and a fortune worth $7m.

Former New York Daily News reporter Salvatore Arena first reported the story.

“I almost fell out of my chair,” the reporter told The New York Times.

Unlike other priests, Father Gigante didn’t attempt to hide his son, whose existence was an open secret among those close to the religious leader.

The Times suggested that he “may have evaded church scrutiny of his personal life through sheer force of personality”.

Luigino Gigante, born in 1990, grew up in Somers, Westchester County, about an hour from his father’s parish – the St. Athanasius Roman Catholic Church. Father Gigante and his son lived with the child’s mother.

“We had a quiet life,” Mr Gigante, now 32, told The Times. “He was proud of me. We did everything together.”

Of his father’s priesthood, the younger Mr Gigante said: “It was just like another quirky thing,”

Archdiocese of New York spokesperson Joseph Zwilling told The Times that the church wasn’t aware of Father Gigante’s child “beyond rumours”.

“While each case would be evaluated and addressed on its own merits, a priest who fathers a child would be expected to provide support for the child and mother. In general, though, priests who have children leave the priesthood, usually voluntarily,” Mr Zwilling told the paper.

Mr Gigante said that he had been told that the archdiocese knew Father Gigante had a son but decided to ignore the situation.

Father Gigante led several companies focused on building new properties, amassing a $7m fortune that’s been placed in a trust until his son turns 40.

“I didn’t take a vow of poverty,” he told The Times in 1981. “People think I don’t get paid and that I’m a saint for doing it. That’s their problem.”

After losing a primary in a race for congress in 1970, Father Gigante won a leadership position in the local Democratic district. Between 1973 and 1977, he served on the New York City Council.

“At first there were those who felt it was wrong for a priest to be a politician,” he told The Times in 1972. “But then when I did a few favours for them, these same people changed their minds.”

His brother, Vincent Gigante, was the boss of the Genovese mafia family. Father Gigante supported his brother through what appeared to be an act lasting years. The mob boss walked around Greenwich Village wearing slippers and a bathrobe, reportedly in an attempt to appear mentally ill and avoid being prosecuted.

Mr Gigante said his father’s job working as a priest wasn’t hidden in his family life, adding that his father would introduce his child to friends with a few words from the Bible – “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased”.

“I was no secret,” Mr Gigante told The Times.

Peter Cantillo, who worked with Father Gigante at the South East Bronx Community Organization (SEBCO), told The Times that “it was common knowledge” that the priest had a child.

“No one really blinked about it. People felt he was just such a great guy, he did so much for the community,” he added. “He was a man, he had a child. The Frank Sinatra song — ‘I did it my way’ — embodies him. He did everything the way he wanted to.”

Father Gigante resigned from the Archdiocese of New York in 2002 at the age of 70, 12 years after the birth of his son.

Two lawsuits were filed last year against Father Gigante, claiming that he sexually abused a girl, about 10 years old, in the 1960s, and a boy in the 1970s around the same age. The suits were made under the Child Victims Act, hundreds of which have been filed against priests in New York state.

The cases against Father Gigante were pending when he passed away. His son told the paper that he strongly rejected the claims.

“You may have people asking about me,” Father Gigante told his son before he attended the City College of New York.

“I said, ‘Yes, if they ask about you, I’m just going to say you’re my father,’” Mr Gigante told the paper. “To be honest with you, I didn’t really care.”

“Your name doesn’t define who you are, your actions do,” Mr Gigante quoted his father as saying. “He always wanted me to be who I wanted to be.”

At Father Gigante’s funeral, a friend told Mr Gigante that “after you were born, your father was called down” to the archdiocese headquarters.

Mr Gigante was later told that his father had come back from that meeting, saying that “they asked me if I had a son, and I said, ‘Yeah,’ and left. And that’s that”.