JOE COLOMBO

Joe Colombo at only 40 years old became the youngest mob ever boss in 1963, when he took over the old Profaci organization, in New York. Although Colombo was unanimously voted in, he had the backing of the boss of bosses, Don Carlo Gambino. Before Colombo began climbing the ladder in the Profaci crime family, Colombo had a stint as a coast guard. Colombo though, got into too much trouble to ever really consider being a full time coast guard. So after the war he left the coast guard and stared climbing the ladder of the New York Mafia.

By the late 50's Joe Colombo became a fully-fledged member of the Profaci family. He impressed many as he grew in stature. He was always dressed smart and had bags of flair and charisma. He was also very well spoken and articulate with his speech, and he also managed to adopt an air of respectability. But Colombo wasn't without a temper, and was often referred to as a raging bull. All of these are very important when meeting new mobster of higher rank.

In 1962 Joe Profaci died in hospital of cancer. His brother in-law Guiseppe Magliocco took over the family, or at least for the time being. A close friend and ally of Profaci, Joe Bonanno, boss of his own the family bearing his name, saw an opportunity to dominate the mob and become the most powerful crime boss in the country. His scheme revolved around the demise and exit of three powerful opponents. Carlo Gambino, and Thomas Lucchese of New York, and his cousin Stefano Magaddino of Buffalo. He wanted Magliocco and his family's support to help carry out the assassinations and, in due course, Magliocco brought in one of his younger more aggressive capo's to organize the hits.

His name was Joseph Colombo. Although Colombo was eminently qualified for this triple-header of a hit, and although Magliocco considered him to be one of his most capable captains, there was one thing he didn't know about Joe. Before he joined the Profaci family, he had worked for the Pride Meat Co., a company controlled by Paul Gambino, brother of Carlo. Gambino had taken a fatherly interest in the young Colombo, and it was ultimately through his auspices that Colombo found a place in the Profaci family. Although Joe had served Profaci well, he owed no loyalty to Magliocco or Bonanno. When the plan was unveiled to him, Joe went straight to Carlo Gambino and spilt the beans. Gambino immediately called a meeting of the Commission, the ruling body of the mob, which at that time consisted of himself, Vito Genovese (in prison on drug charges), Tommy Lucchese, Joe Bonanno, Sam Giancana of Chicago, Stefano Magaddino of Buffalo, Angelo Bruno of Philadelphia, John Scalish of Cleveland, Joe Zerilli of Detroit and Raymonde Patriarca of New England.

The Commission ordered Bonanno and Magliocco to appear for a hearing. Joe Bonanno went into hiding and Magliocco showed up, confessed to his sins, accepted a fine of $50,000 and retired from mob life. Several months later on Dec 28, 1963, he died on his Long Island estate of a heart attack. These events left the Profaci family without a leader, but not without candidates for the top job. Larry Gallo and Carmine Persico were two men who were well regarded in the Profaci family. But the commission and Carlo Gambino decreed that it would be Colombo who would take over the reigns in 1963.

Joe Colombo ran the family without too many problems at first. However when Columbo tried to retake some of his old rackets it was met with much resistance from Larry Gallo, who was now running the old rackets that Colombo wanted back. For the time being Colombo let things lie, as he would soon be putting his efforts into a new project. The new project got started in 1970, when Joe Colombo's son Joe jnr. was arrested. Following this Joe snr. came up with the idea that the Italian-Americans were forever being harassed by the FBI and in turn got started organizing a rally for Italian-Americans civil rights league, and started rallying in front of the FBI field office in New York. The rallies were met with much resistance from Carlo Gambino, who despised bringing any type of publicity to the Mafia. But Colombo wouldn't listen and carried on with his now successful demonstrations. Colombo became obsessed with his efforts and even started appearing on TV shows talking about his future ambitions and so forth. By now Gambino was fuming, and other New York mob bosses were too becoming uneasy with the unnecessary publicity that was now surrounding the New York Mafia.

On June 29th 1971, Joe Colombo was ready for the next rally of the Italian-American civil rights league. But on this day there would be a sad end for Joe Colombo. Just as the demonstration was getting into full swing, Joe Colombo made his way to the platform to deliver a speech. About three feet away was a black man holding a camera. Just as Columbo began to read out his speech the black man threw down the camera and pulled out a pistol and shot Colombo three times in the back of the head and neck. The black man was apprehended immediately but whilst the police wrestled with him on the floor another man came and shot the black man dead, and managed to escape through the crowd. The black man was identified as Jerome Johnson, the man who killed him was never identified, however whilst this was going on Colombo was taken to Roosevelt hospital New York.

Although Colombo survived the shooting, he was in a coma. Colombo would remain that way for the next seven years, and although this didn't bring about the end of Colombo it did bring an end to the Italian-American civil rights league. Many rumours surfaced as to who and why Colombo was to be hit, but I think the most obvious answer is to understand the fact that by continuing with the civil rights league he went against the wishes of Carlo Gambino, and by doing this Colombo signed his own death warrant. However to this day, the family that Joe Colombo took over is known as the Colombo crime family.

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