Anthony Colombo Dies

Another one bites the dust.

This time it is the son of Joseph Colombo, the original man the Colombo crime family is named after. The one time boss of the Colombo crime family brought a lot of unwanted attention to the Mafia by forming a civil rights group. His son Anthony was the vice president of the Italian American Civil Rights League, which rallied Italians to the streets to protest the unfair treatment of Italians.  They were group that bullied the producers of the Godfather to remove the words “mafia” and “La Cosa Nostra” from the movie.

That all ended when Joseph Colombo was shot in the head and neck by a man named Jerome Johnson during the Italian Unity Day Rally. Johnson was wrestled to the ground and shot, but nobody was ever convicted of his murder.  Joseph Colombo remained paralyzed for the next seven years, until his death in 1978.

Anthony Colombo was a made member of the Colombo crime family, and when the war between the Persico faction and Vic Orena broke out in 1991, he choose to side with the Orena faction.  Carmine Persico was the boss of the family and Vic Orena was an acting boss who did not want to step down for Allie Boy Persico, who had been locked up.  

The war in the streets of Brooklyn and Staten Island left 12 people dead.  A number of associates also went missing.  The Colombos were barred from the Mafia Commission and most of its leadership was sent to prison.

After the war, Anthony Colombo and Gerard Clemenza, both Made members of the family, were put on the shelf by the Persicos. Which means that although they were still members of the family, they were to have no business with the family and other members were told to ignore them.

So Anthony, Gerard and Christopher Colombo formed the Colombo Brothers Crew in Orange County, New York. It was basically a traditional mafia crew that operated on its own.

Philippe Dioguardi, also known as “Fat Philly,” was a man I knew from Palm Springs, California.  He used to be with Jimmy Caci, a capo in the Los Angeles family.  He was involved with Jimmy and the guys so we used to see him a lot at the club on Palm Canyon Drive.  He was a long time friend of the Colombo brothers and Gerard Clemenza.

One day I was with Jimmy at a bagel place in downtown Palm Springs and Fat Philly came to sit down with us.  Vince Lupo ended up at the table too.  Philly explained that he was going to move to Queens.

Fat Philly became part of the Colombo brothers crew.  He was called a “bagman” by the prosecutors in the case.  Fat Philly would pick up cash in Manhattan and bring it to Anthony Colombo’s home. The problem was the organised crime squad was watching and listening to the crew.

They all ended up being charged with racketeering in the Southern District Federal Court.

The Indictment was the usual: gambling, extortion, loan sharking, etc, but they were also charged with defrauding the internet advertiser Doubleclick.

Anthony Colombo plead guilty to, among other things, getting Fat Philly a no show construction job with EDP Enterprises.  

He received 14 years.

He died at his home in San Diego, California at the age of 71 from complications due to diabetes on January 6.

Colombo: The Unsolved Murder

Colombo: The Unsolved Murder

On June 28, 1971, just as Joe Colombo was about to speak in front of a large crowd gathered in support of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, he was shot three times. The man who shot him was a black man disguised as a photojournalist. He was issued press credentials by the  Italian-American Civil Rights League and in the weeks before the shooting, Jerome Johnson was trying to find camera operators to help him film Joe Colombo at the rally. There were thousands of people in the crowd at Columbus Circle that day and many saw Jerome walk up and fire two shots into Colombo’s head and one into his neck.  They watched as he was wrestled to the ground by policemen.

There were then two more shots as Jerome was shot twice in the back. He was shot twice after he was already in police custody in front of thousands of people, hundreds of police and dozens of FBI Agents.  There were TV crews there and many people with cameras -  yet not one person saw who shot Jerome.  The police recovered a small revolver at the scene.

I never read up much on the shooting, because I heard about it from a few guys in my past.  Then I saw a newspaper story on it a few weeks ago and I started to read up on it.

I came across a book Colombo: The Unsolved Murder and decided to give it a read.

I was not expecting much, but Anthony, a son of Joe Colombo, did a great job telling his father's story from his side without giving up a lot of his crimes.  I even had a good laugh when he brought up Fat Philly, who I knew and who had been around LA family street boss Jimmy Caci in Palm Springs.  He described Fat Philly perfectly.

In an age when we are aware that the government lies to us and commits criminal acts freely, we need to take a closer look at the Colombo murder.  Could the US Government take part in an assassination of an American citizen?  The time when Joe Colombo was shot was a turbulent time in America.  John F. Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman who somehow traveled to Russia with no money, lived there and then came home with a wife. Lee Harvey Oswald was then killed in custody by another lone gunman Jack Ruby who just happens to be friendly with Cosa Nostra guys and intelligence operatives.

Dr. Martin Luther King was gunned down by another lone gunman who was a petty thief but somehow managed to escape prison, get to Mexico and then California where he had plastic surgery.  Travel all across the country buying cars, guns and fake IDs.  This is a man who never hit any big scores or was a high roller.  He supposedly shoots Dr. King and then flees to Canada, gets another fake ID and ends up in England.

Robert Kennedy was murdered and 13 shots were fired from an 8 shot pistol, again by another lone gunman.

The FBI used Greg Scarpa, a Colombo family killer, to find the bodies of the 3 civil rights workers.  Greg Scarpa then killed other mobsters with information provided by a Rogue FBI Agent.

There were bombings in Arizona at Joe Bonanno’s ranch and others.   The three men arrested for them claimed an FBI Agent told them to carry them out.  The FBI Agent was never prosecuted and he was able to walk away.

Whitey Bulger murdered at will with the help of the FBI.

Did Carlo Gambino set up the hit? Why would he? He didn't need to pull off a hit in public.  All he would have to do is send for Colombo and have some men waiting.  It would be easy he was head of the Commissions.

Joey Gallo and his crew are the ones who get the blame.  Why and how would Joey get Jerome to do it in public? Then get some policemen to kill Jerome to keep him quit?  Too much credit is given to Joey Gallo.

In the years since Colombo was shot and later died, dozens of men in the Colombo family have flipped and yet not one knows a thing about the shooting.  Guys in Joey Gallo’s crew and the Gambino family have flipped and nothing has surfaced about it.

There seems to be more to the Colombo shooting than is known.

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