Mafia Boss of New York's Gambino Crime Family Shot To Death

Francesco "Franky Boy" Cali was the head of the infamous Gambino crime family from 2015 until his death two days ago. He was shot outside of his house in Staten Island. He reportedly came out of his house to look into an accident out front of his house involving a pickup truck and his own SUV, parked out front. The individual in the pickup truck ended up shooting 12 shots out the window of he truck, hitting Cali multiple times and leaving him to die after he dove for cover under his SUV.

Sounds like the truck has been found ditched elsewhere. No one has claimed responsibility for the murder, and police/FBI aren't hinting at any immediate suspicions. They are officially stating that they aren't sure if the shooting was even Mafia related. I guess that leaves the (not very likely) possibility that this just happened to be a case of someone hitting a parked car and getting into an argument with the owner of the parked car (who just happened to be the boss of one of the infamous "Five Families of New York"), and ending up shooting the guy and killing him.

This is the first US murder of a mob boss since Gambino boss "Big Paul" Castellano was assassinated in 1985 on the orders of one of his own caporegimes John Gotti. Gotti "The Teflon Don" famously took over as Gambino boss after assassinating his boss.

Same day that the head of the Bonnano family was acquitted of racketeering charges. A Bonnano underboss was killed last year and there has never been an arrest. The NY Times makes that connection and it seems a pretty sensible one to me.

Six of the 11 known bosses of the Gambino crime family in the last century have met violent ends -- most famously, Albert Anastasia, the "founder" of Murder, Inc., who was gunned down in the barber shop of the Park Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan in 1957.

I've always been fascinated by mafia/cosa nostra/mob "stuff".

So apparently, for his era, Frank Cali was really fast moving up the ranks in the Gambino Family after first becoming a 'made man' in 1997 at 31 years old. He has been connected to organized crime since the 80s, and what makes him particularly interesting is that the FBI has reported that he is actively 'made' in both US and Sicilian crime families due to ties through his wife, who has close family ties with high-ranking Sicilian mafiosos in Palermo. The FBI apparently doesn't have knowledge of any individuals who have ever had transcontinental mob relations like Cali did.

Cali was also very conscious of how he conducted business after becoming an underboss and later boss within the family. He didn't own a cell phone. He rarely spoke on the phone in his house. If you wanted to talk to him, or if he wanted to talk to you, it was always done in person. That enabled him to avoid any wiretapping. His meetings also were reported to have always taken place at a randomly selected location with very few locations that were repeated often, if at all.

___________________________________________________

Gambino boss Paul Castellano was in charge from 1976-1985 when he was whacked by John Gotti, due largely to being too much of a "straight businessman" and not directing the organization that pursued enough of the money to be made in the underground and illegal activities usually associated with the mafia.

John Gotti took over as boss in 1985. He was arrested in 1990 and charged with racketeering, with five counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to murder, loansharking, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice, bribery and tax evasion. He was convicted on all charges in 1992 and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility for parole. Gotti continued to act as Don until 1999 when his older brother, Peter "One Eyed Pete" Gotti took over as acting boss.

Peter Gotti moved from acting boss to the official Don of the Gambino family in 2001 when John Gotti's imminent death from throat cancer became obvious in 2001. Peter was arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder, racketeering, extortion, attempted extortion, and money laundering less than a week before John's died of his cancer in prison. Peter wold be convicted in 2002 to life in prison, with earliest chance of parole in 2032, at which point Peter will be 93 years old.

With Peter Gotti in prison, Arnold "Squiggy" Squitieri would take over as acting boss of the Gambinos in 2002. He lasted until early 2005 when he was arrested on charges of extortion, conducting an illegal gambling operation and tax evasion. He was convicted to 7 years in prison in mid-2006.

When Squitieri was arrested in 2005, he was promptly replaced as the acting boss of the Gambino family by Jon "Jackie" D'Amico, who had recently been released from prison himself. D'Amico was arrested in 2008 and charged with drug trafficking, racketeering and extortion. He made a deal to plead guilty on one charge of extortion in exchange for a lighter prison sentence. He was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

After D'Amico went to prison, there was no known acting boss of the Gambino family for almost 3 years, with the official Gambino boss, Peter Gotti still in prison himself and close to 80 years old. It's unclear whether or not Peter Gotti formally stepped down as official boss, or if he was just superseded due to age and his imprisonment, but by mid-2011, reports surfaced that D'Amico's underboss, Domenico "Italian Dom" Cefalù, had been named the official boss of the Gambino crime family. Cefalù had a reputation as being an old-school mobster, and ran the family until 2015 at which point he stepped down as Don.

Francesco "Franky Boy" Cali, who had reportedly been D'Amico's initial choice to replace him as boss upon his arrest in 2011, had turned down the role and instead became Cefalù's underboss once Cefalù became Don. When Cefalù' stepped down as the Gambino family boss in 2015, Cali officially became Don.

I've really been keeping up with this...kinda surreal in that I just completed the complete run of the Sopranos again last week.

It is amazing that it has been this long since a "Boss" was "whacked!"

Known mafia crime boss...in the movies and on TV, his house would've been under surveillance. They'd have this case wrapped up in an hour or two.

If you're going to do a hit. The middle of the day when everyone is relaxed is the time to do it. Pretty much guaranteed the truck was stolen, probably from an impound. Highly likely whoever did the hit is already dead.

Don't know if it has been mentioned, but the house that Frankie Boy lived in, is the house from the opening scene of the Godfather. Where the undertaker is talking to the Don about avenging his daughter.

He rarely spoke on the phone in his house. If you wanted to talk to him, or if he wanted to talk to you, it was always done in person. That enabled him to avoid any wiretapping.

Same reason I don't text.

Same reason I don't text.

That's funny, I never took you for a big organized crime guy.

That's funny, I never took you for a big organized crime guy.

Got my start because of Getslow.

GMA reported today that the "hit" may not be mob related. The guy has been caught and the motive could be that he was dating a relative of Cali and the mob boss, for whatever reason, told him to stop seeing the girl.

:idunno: