Colombo Family
The Colombo Family is one of the five cosa nostra families in New York. The family was formed as one of the five families when Charles “lucky” Luciano reconstructed the american mafia at the end of the Castellammarese war in New York. The Colombo family was orginally known as the Profaci Family taken from its first official boss Joe Profaci. Joe Profaci was not the most favorable of boss’s to many of the family members as he ruled with an iron fist and heavily taxed members. He was an old sicilian style boss and held a powerful hold on the family.
But in the late 1950’s Profaci would face an uprising in his family and the tension would boil over. Profaci was long time friends with Joe Bonanno the head of the Bonanno family , and this alliance was a threat to the other mafia family heads. The Gallo brothers - Joey , Albert, and Larry were members of Profaci’s family and did not like the heavy taxes that were being demanded by the boss. With the urging of Gambino Family boss Carlo Gambino the Gallo brothers would begin to stir up conflicts within the Profaci Family. The tension grew even more when Profaci ordered the execution of a Gallo crew member named Frank Abbatemarco.
In 1961 the Gallo brothers would have enough and kidnapped high ranking members of the Profaci family including Joseph Magliocco the underboss and Joe Colombo. The Gallo brothers would use these members to force Profaci to change the way they taxed and treated. But Profaci negotiated with plans on later taking his revenge on the Gallo brothers for their actions. Once Colombo and Magliocco were released Profaci had Gallo crew member Joseph Gioelli killed and made an attempt to kill Larry Gallo but was not successfull. This prompted an all out war with in the Profaci Family.
After the internal war that left the family in a disrupted state the health of boss Joe Profaci was failing and the Mafia Commission were pressing for him to step down. Joe Profaci before being able to step aside died on June 6, 1962 from cancer. He was then replaced as boss of the family by his underboss Joseph Magliocco. Magliocco was in the same mold as Joe Profaci and his appointment as boss would ange the Gallo brothers prompted them to target murder attempts on two high ranking Magliocco enforcers Carmine “Junior” Persico and Hugh McIntosh but both men would survive the attacks. The Gallo attempts may have continued but the fed’s would step in and indict the Gallo crew and end the war.
Magliocco would remain boss until Joe Bonanno head of the Bonanno family would hatch a plan to take out the head’s of 3 mafia families in New York. Magliocco would go along with Bonanno’s plan and give Joe Colombo the task of making the hits on the mafia boss’s , but Colombo would instead alert the mafia to the Bonanno-Magliocco plans. Magliocco and Bonanno would be called infront of the commission to explain their action although Bonanno would go into hiding Magliocco would report as orders and was given a $50,000 fine by the commission and removed as boss.
For the loyalty shown by Joe Colombo to the Mafia commission he was appointed new boss of the Profaci family , and in hopes of moving the family foward from its troubled past and dispised previous boss’s the family would be renamed as the Colombo Family. Joe Colombo’s appointment was questioned by some and became even more questioned after his son’s arrest Colombo would form the “Italian-American Civil Rights League”. For American Mafia boss’s keeping a low profile was a must but the league Colombo formed and was a part of brought alot of unwelcomed attention to himself and his position. Colombo was found frequently on the news and in newspaper articles and most of the time willingly. This made many members of the mafia commission very unsettled.
In 1971 Joey Gallo would be released from prison after finishing his sentence from the previous war with the Profaci faction. Four months after he was relased from jail Joe Colombo was shot. Colombo attending a league rally in Manhattan was shot as he pushed through the crowd attempting to get to the stage , he was shot by a young black kid named Jerome Johnson. Gallo was suspected to have planned the hit because of his close relations with the black criminal fraternity of Harlem. Gallo fingered for the hit was never punished for the crime many believe because the commission seen it as a clean way out of the unwanted attention colombo was bringing on the mafia , but Gallo was not allowed to become boss. The family was taken over for a short time by Vincenzo Aloi as acting boss until the release of the new family boss from prison.
With the loss of colombo the family was in need of someone to step up and take over. Carmine “Junior” Persico had grown in power and stature within the family over the years and he was tagged to take over as boss. Persico’s problem was that he was in and out of jail on many occassions and it was unknown if he would be in any position to take over leadership. But with such a power-vacuum atop the family Persico would eventually take over from prison. Persico running the family from prison through his appointed street boss Gennaro “Jerry Lang” Langella until both men would be indicted on RICO charges and sentenced to 100 years each in 1987 during the Mafia Commission Trial. But this did not stop Persico from leading the family from his prison cell until he appointed his cousin Vittorio “Vic” Orena as street boss.
Orena however decided that he wanted to control the Colombo family as the boss on a permanent basis and with out Persico’s control. This would cause another war to breakout with in the Colombo family between loyalist of Persico and the Orena regime. A hit was put out on Orena by the Persico faction but Orena would survive and he would take his case to the mafia commission but so would Persico through his consigliere Carmine Sessa. But the commission would offer little help and make no consensus decision leaving the family in limbo. The fed’s would once again step in and settle the family differences there way by sending Orena and many of his loyal followers to prison. In 1993 Orena capo Pasquale Amato were sentenced to life in prison. Carmine Persico would claim victory and remain boss of the Colombo family from prison. Persico is still considered the Colombo Family boss still today , his son Alphonse ” Allie Boy” Persico was tabbed to take over the family from his dad but was convicted by the fed’s before he had his chance. Allie Boy Persico and high reguarded family underboss John “Jackie” DeRoss were convited of killing family rival William Cutolo in 1999. Bothe DeRoss and Persico face life in prison if not the death penalty.
The Colombo family is still in operation although it has been severly crippled. Over the last decade the war’s within the family along with effective indictments by the federal government have hit the family hard. Over the last 16 years over 80 members of the Colombo family have been convicted , jailed , or indicted. Many of the families current leadership are under indictment or jailed and it is unknown as to how the family will survive if the current members are all convicted.
Leadership history of Colombo Family
2007–2008 — Carmine “Junior” Persico (Boss, imprisoned), Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli (street boss), John “Sonny” Franzese (underboss) (imprisoned for violation of parole), Andrew “Andy Mush” Russo (acting underboss), Joel “Joe Waverly” Cacace (consigliere, imprisoned), Ralph “Ralphie” Lombardo (acting consigliere), Paul Bevacqua(top caporegime & aide to Gioelli), Benedetto “Benny” Aloi (capo, elder statesman and advisor)
Current leadership of Colombo Family
2007 - Current
Boss - Carmine “Junior” Persico (jailed)
Acting Boss - Andrew “Andy Mush” Russo
Underboss - John ” Sonny” Franzese
Consigliere - Ralph “Ralphie” Lombardo
Estimated Membership - under 100 Made Members