Born in Kansas City, Gargotta joined the criminal organization of boss Johnny Lazia as a young man. Gargotta and his close associate, Charles Binaggio built a gambling ring that grossed as much as $34,500,000 a year on dice and card games, numbers racket, and bookmaking. Gargotta was arrested more than 40 times over a 30-year period for murder, illegal gambling, liquor law violations, carrying a concealed weapon, robbery, auto theft, extortion, attempted burglary, and vagrancy. However, due to Gargotta's political influence, all of these charges were eventually dropped.