Nicholas Mormando

In November 1998, a wrongful death suit was filed by the surviving relatives of Nicholas, Michael DeBatt and Joseph Colucci. According to court documents Sammy Gravano admitted to playing a direct or indirect role in their murders in the plea agreement that he made with the government when agreeing to become a stool pigeon. Along with Gravano, Mormando's family and the others filed suits against the author of Gravano's autobiography, Peter Maas; Maas' literary agency I.C.M.; the publisher of the autobiography, HarperCollins; and 20th Century Fox that was allegedly preparing a film adaptation of the book. These complaints sought relief for the plaintiffs in the form of "monetary and punitive damages from all defendants for their intentional failure to comply with New York's Son of Sam Law ... and their deliberate scheme to circumvent same." Previously during the spring of 1997, the State Crime Victims Board and State Attorney General Dennis Vacco had launched a similar lawsuit against Sammy Gravano and many of the same co-defendants during their criminal trial.

It is unknown how Michael DeBatt dealt with the murder of his friend or if he attended Nicholas' funeral. Michael continued to serve in the crew of Sammy Gravano after Mormando's murder. It is also unknown if Michael associated his friend's killing with Gravano or thought of it as a drug transaction gone bad. Michael DeBatt was murdered in 1987 on the orders of Sammy Gravano. Unlike the time when he would order the murder of DeBatt, Sammy Gravano shows no remorse in ordering the execution of Mormando.

Nicholas Mormando was the son of Italian-American emigrants from Morimondo in Milan, Italy. Upon arriving to New York City their surname was changed to "Mormando". Unlike Sammy Gravano, Gerard Pappa, Ralph Ronga, James Emma and other notorious budding mobsters, Nicholas was born in Schenectady, New York. He was a close childhood friend of fellow Gambino crime family mob associate Michael DeBatt who was only two years older than himself. He was considered a "key man" in Sammy Gravano's crew with Joseph (Stymie) D'Angelo, Liborio (Louie) Milito, Joseph Paruta, Thomas (Huck) Carbonero. Unlike crew members Joseph D'Angelo Sr., Liborio Milito, Joseph Paruta and Michael DeBatt, Gravano does not mention having a close relationship with him or Mormando's relatives. Sammy Gravano later said, "For one week he (himself) would be flush with cash, but two weeks later he would be broke. He never saved any money. He shopped for clothes, picked up tabs at restaurants and night clubs, handed out huge tips and dined on champagne and filet mignon at the Copacabana." Sammy later said of himself, Michael and his young aspiring mob associates, "Fucking kids, all dressed up like jerk-offs, running around, doing a little gambling, doing a little this and that "and then broke again and it's "macaroni and ricotta at home or spaghetti, past e olio, with the oil and garlic." By 1984 he had become exiled from the Gambino crime family and "put on the shelf" being excluded from all criminal activities with the crime family.

He took an oath with the other Rampers, "... be together forever. Fuck the world. Fuck everybody, even the mob" and was said by Gravano to be full of "piss and vinegar." Later on, this would change but that was the attitude they held at that point in their lives. In the early 1960s, during the Profaci-Gallo civil war in the Colombo crime family he had an encounter with Gerard, Sammy Gravano, James Emma, Joe Vitale, Tommy Snake and Lenny the Mole including a bunch of other gang members. They were hanging around in a bar at 79th Street and Utrecht Avenue. In the bar were several Gallo loyalists. They were a lot older than the Rampers and had an outstanding argument with associate James Emma. They were heavily armed so Nicholas and the others loaded up with firearms and headed back to the bar. Sammy later recounted the brutal gun battle in his autobiography,

Nicholas Mormando, also known as "Nicky Cowboy" (October 28, 1944 Brooklyn, New York – January 1985 Bensonhurst, Brooklyn), was a Gambino crime family mob associate who was involved in the murder of Frank Fiala and member of Sammy Gravano's Bensonhurst, Brooklyn crew.