Joseph Colombo

Infobox Person
name=Joe Colombo

frame|right
caption=Joe Colombo on March 6, 1970.
birth_date=birth date|1914|12|14|mf=y
birth_place=New York City, New York, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1978|10|1|1914|12|14|mf=y
death_place=New Jersey, U.S.:"For the Italian industrial designer see Joe Cesare Colombo."Joseph "Joe" Colombo Sr. (December 14, 1914 - October 1, 1978) was leader of the Colombo crime family, one of the "Five Families" considered the most important in the American Mafia.

Background

Joseph was born into an Italian American family. His father Anthony Colombo was a Colombo family soldier who was found garroted in his car along with his girlfriend. Though he lived a life of crime, as a Catholic he did not tolerate offenses against the church. When a jewel-studded crown was stolen from a Brooklyn church, Colombo ordered the thief to return it. The thief complied, but kept three diamonds from the crown. Soon afterwards, the body of the thief was found with a rosary wrapped around his neck.

Colombo was originally part of what was called the Profaci family in New York. In 1961, a gang war broke out in the family between the family leadership and the renegade Gallo brothers. During this conflict, boss Joe Profaci died and his supporter, Joseph Magliocco, succeeded him. Later in the conflict, Magliocco decided to murder Tommy Lucchese from the Lucchese crime family and Carlo Gambino of the Gambino crime family for their support of the Gallos. Magliocco gave the job to Colombo, who promptly notified the intended victims. With their support, Colombo became family boss after Magliocco died of a heart attack.

Italian-American Civil Rights League

In the late 60's, Colombo aligned his movement with Rabbi Meir Kahane's JDL in order to attract Jewish support for his cause. When 13 JDL members were on trial, Colombo paid their bail without being asked. For years the Colombo family supplied arms to Kahane who armed Jewish militant groups in Israel and the US.

In the spring of 1970, Colombo responded to increasing FBI scrutiny of his activities. Claiming that the FBI was harassing Italian-Americans, he picketed FBI offices in New York City. Colombo's activities led to the formation of the Italian-American Civil Rights League. On June 29, 1970, 50,000 people showed up in Columbus Circle in New York City for an "Italian-American Unity Day" rally. Among the participants were five U.S. Representatives and several prominent entertainers.

Under Colombo's guidance, the League quickly grew in numbers and soon developed a national presence. The League drew further publicity when in November 1970 Frank Sinatra headlined a benefit for the League at Madison Square Garden. Colombo became increasingly public in his attempts to portray FBI anti-Mafia activities as "harassment" of Italian-Americans. Unlike other mob leaders at the time who tried to shun the spotlight, Colombo began to appear in television interviews and make other speaking appearances on behalf of the League.

Colombo planned to follow up on the League's early successes by planning a second Italian Unity Day rally in Columbus Circle to be held June 28, 1971. Other Mafia leaders were quite displeased with Colombo's public activities. Prior to the rally, Colombo's position became more difficult with the release from prison of Joey Gallo. Gallo had previously battled for control of the Profaci/Colombo organization during the "Gallo-Profaci War." Gallo used his time in prison to build alliances with other ethnic criminals (most particularly African-American criminals in Harlem and the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn), and was using these contacts to disrupt Colombo's activities in Brooklyn.

Shooting and Death

On June 28, 1971, the morning of the second Italian Unity Day rally, Joe Colombo was approaching the podium to address the crowd. An African American street hustler had somehow managed to obtain press credentials from the league. Disguised as a photojournalist, the gunman approached Colombo and fired three shots from an automatic pistol into his head.

Colombo's son and several others wrestled the gunman to the ground. At that point, a second man stepped out of the crowd and shot the gunman dead. The second assailant managed to escape and was never identified. The dead gunman was positively identified as Jerome Johnson.

The crowd in attendance quickly dispersed, although some made a feeble attempt to continue the festival. Colombo was seriously wounded, but survived the shooting. He lingered in a coma without regaining consciousness for nearly seven years (he was "vegetabled", in the words of Joe Gallo). On May 22, 1978, Joe Colombo died at his New Jersey estate.

Aftermath

Joe Colombo's murder was never solved. The prime suspect was Joe Gallo because he had alliances with African American criminals and the killer, Johnson, was African American. Also, Gallo really hated Colombo due to Colombo's role in the earlier gang war. Carlo Gambino also was considered a suspect. Gambino was angered over the increasing publicity generated by Colombo's League activities. On one occasion, it is alleged that Colombo addressed Gambino's concerns by literally spitting in his face. In addition, the assassin Johnson had connections with the Gambinos.

Another unsubstantiated theory is that the U.S. government set up Colombo's assassination to destroy the League. Some believed that Colombo was a target of the FBI COINTELPRO program. Colombo is also mentioned on an assassination victims list in Volume IX part II of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Organized Crime report of Ralph Salerno, consultant to the Select Committee on Assassinations.

Colombo was replaced as head of the Colombo family by Vincenzo "Vincent" Aloi, and his assassination touched off a second intra-family war with the Gallo forces.

In a 2005 HBO TV special, Chris Colombo, son of Joe Colombo, aired film footage of his father's civil rights work for Italian-Americans and stated that he was assassinated.

Further reading

Reppetto, Thomas. Bringing Down the Mob. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006. ISBN 0-8050-7802-9

Moore, Robin and Barbara Fuca. Mafia Wife. New York: MacMillan, 1977, ISBN 0-02-586180-8

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5906 Find-A-Grave profile for Joe Colombo]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/blog/organizedcrime/colombo/colombo.html American Organized Crime - Colombo Crime Family - Joseph "Joe C" Colombo]