Matt Stevens and Sarah Mervosh

Francesco Cali, the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family, was fatally shot outside his home on Staten Island on Wednesday night. Cali, 53, was shot six times, a police official has said, and there was a report of a blue pickup leaving the scene around the time of shooting.

Cali’s sudden, violent death potentially places him in a long line of mafia leaders who, have been targeted for assassination. Past mob figures have often been shot in moments of vulnerability — while eating out or relaxing at the barber. Their killers were rarely brought to justice. In fact, the slayings often led to more violence and, in some cases, the killers ended up being killed themselves.

Here’s a look at some other high-profile mob hits in New York.

Paul Castellano, 1985

Paul Castellano led the Gambino crime family for years, conducting business from a mansion in Todt Hill — the same Staten Island neighborhood where Cali was killed Wednesday.

In December 1985, Castellano, 70, and an associate stepped out of a limousine outside Sparks Steak House in midtown Manhattan when three men approached. The assassins drew semi-automatic weapons from under their trench coats and opened up a barrage of gunfire at close range, striking Castellano and his associate about six times. Bystanders were sent screaming and diving into doorways. The gunmen fled on foot and jumped into a waiting dark car that sped away.

Castellano and the associate fell dead beside the open doors of their black Lincoln limousine. Castellano was face up, his head slouched against the seat of the limousine, his feet sprawled on the pavement.

Carmine Galante, 1979

Carmine Galante, who had been described by police as the head of a 200‐member crime “family,” was considered to be one of the most powerful organized crime figures in the nation. He had been a target for a year or more because of his supposed aspirations to succeed Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family — the job given to Castellano instead.

In July 1979, Galante, 69, was slain in a hail of bullets fired by three ski‐masked gunmen, apparently on the orders of a rival crime family. He had been dining on the patio of a small Italian restaurant in Brooklyn.

Two other men — a bodyguard for Galante and the owner of the restaurant — also were killed. The owner’s 17‐year‐old son was seriously wounded in the attack.

All three of the slain men were unarmed and caught by surprise when they were shot at point‐blank range by the killers, who escaped the scene. A cigar Galante had been puffing was still clenched in his teeth when the police arrived.

Joseph Gallo, 1972

In April 1972, Joseph Gallo, a Mafia figure known as Crazy Joe, was assassinated as he celebrated his 43rd birthday at a restaurant in Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood.

Almost immediately, some sources said his slaying was a result of the wars between the Colombo and Gallo families. No one was convicted in his death.

As the story goes, Gallo and his associates were sitting in the back of the restaurant, drinking soda and eating Italian delicacies, when his assassin strode silently through the door.

As gunfire broke out, there were screams and customers hit the floor. Gallo, mortally wounded, staggered out of the front door and collapsed in the street. His killer hopped into a waiting car and escaped into the darkness. No one was convicted in the slaying.

Joseph A. Colombo Sr., 1971

In 1971, Joseph A. Colombo Sr., who was believed to be the head of a Brooklyn Mafia family, was shot three times in the head while he stood in Columbus Circle in Manhattan waiting for a rally of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, which he founded.

Seconds later, the man who the authorities said shot him, Jerome A. Johnson, was mysteriously shot to death with a stolen weapon.

The perplexing case led the police to believe that “rivals of Colombo” in the “Italian underworld community” had hired Johnson as an assassin, a police official said at the time, and then ordered the execution of Johnson to silence him.

No one was ever charged in Johnson’s death, and no one was indicted in Colombo’s shooting. But some believed that Gallo was involved and that his assassination the next year was retribution for the attack on Colombo.

Colombo, 48 at the time, did not die immediately but fell into a coma and was left almost totally paralyzed. The once robust leader, who dressed expensively and was known for seeking the spotlight, spent his remaining years incapacitated at his estate. He died seven years later, in 1978, from a condition stemming from his gunshot wounds.

Albert Anastasia, 1957

Albert Anastasia, a feared mob boss who was known as the head of Murder Inc., an execution squad accused of dozens of murders in the early 20th century, had managed to escape death by the electric chair.

But death found him in a barber’s chair, as he relaxed under a pile of hot towels.

Anastasia had been convicted of murder in 1921 and sentenced to death but was freed in a retrial. He was killed Oct. 25, 1957, when two men walked into the barbershop of the Park Sheraton Hotel and drew their guns. The men, wearing scarves to hide their faces, shot Anastasia five times.

No arrests were made. But the authorities believed that Carmine J. Persico, a mob boss who died this month in prison, had a strong hand in his and other killings. In a sentencing memorandum about Persico in 1986, federal prosecutors said he had admitted to a relative, “I killed Anastasia.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/nyregion/famous-mob-hits.html" id="accf4f91-3d26-3e77-a5af-735915633bb9">The New York Times</a>.

A Look at Five High-Profile Mob Hits Before the Frank Cali Slaying

NEW YORK — Organized crime leaders have long been shrouded in a layer of mystique that has made their deaths a matter of public intrigue and Mafia folklore. But it had been decades since a mafia boss was killed in New York City, until Wednesday.

<h1>A white police officer in Colorado has been placed on leave while authorities investigate why he detained a black man holding a trash clamp in front of the man’s home.</h1>

The man, who repeatedly told officers that he had been picking up trash in front of the building where he lives and works, was not taken into custody or booked on suspicion of a crime, the police said, but the episode late last week has caused anger and concern in the liberal and largely white city of Boulder, Colorado.

At a City Council meeting on Tuesday, residents reportedly clacked trash grabbers as Chief Greg Testa of the Boulder Police Department briefed officials on what had happened and announced that the officer had been placed on administrative leave.

“This is an extremely concerning issue and one we are taking very seriously,” Testa said.

The college town’s population is about 100,000 — 81 percent white and less than 2 percent black, according to census data. And at Tuesday’s meeting, city officials — most of them white — found themselves grappling with issues of structural racism, bias and restorative justice.

Video footage of the episode posted on social media begins when the situation is already underway and does not show the entire encounter. A police spokeswoman said on Thursday the footage is of the incident. In a statement on Monday, the police department said the encounter took place Friday around 8:30 a.m. in front of what the property owners call a “cohousing community.”

The police said one of their officers, whom they have not identified, “observed a man sitting in a partially enclosed patio area directly behind a ‘Private Property’ sign and initiated contact with the man to determine if he was allowed to be on the property.”

The man “gave the officer his school identification card,” the statement said. “The officer detained the man to investigate further and made a request over the radio for additional assistance to respond indicating that the person was uncooperative and unwilling to put down a blunt object. Several officers responded including a supervisor. The object the man was holding was used to pick up trash.”

The video footage, about 15 minutes long, shows a man, who also has not been publicly identified, exclaiming: “I don’t have a weapon! This is a bucket! This is a clamp!” Throughout the footage, an officer demands that he drop the “weapon,” and that he sit down; the man refuses, telling the officer that he is a university student.

“You have a gun in your hand!” the man yells at the officer.

“Yes I do, because you’re not listening,” the officer responds.

In a matter of minutes, several other officers — the man counts out eight — arrive.

“You said this is a weapon,” the man says, clacking the trash grabber in the air.

“It can be used as a weapon,” an officer replies.

“Do you feel like this is threatening?” the man asks.

Eventually, the voice of another man can be heard on the video footage telling officers “he works for us, he’s our work stay. He’s out here picking up trash.” The officers then gathered and appeared to be in discussion. Then the officer who first approached the man says, “We’ve decided that we’re going to end things at this point.” The officer appears to explain that the man had been “moving” the trash clamp “around” before handing the man a card and departing.

“Officers ultimately determined that the man had a legal right to be on the property and returned the man’s school identification card,” the police statement said. “All officers left the area and no further action was taken.”

The statement said the department opened an internal affairs investigation the morning of the episode that will result in a report to a panel and ultimately a recommendation to the chief of police. In an email on Thursday, Shannon Aulabaugh, a spokeswoman for the Police Department, reiterated that the department was “very concerned” about the episode, but declined to comment on it further until the investigation is complete.

At a City Council meeting days later, residents held signs that said “Doing Yard Work While Black” and “Black Lives Matter.” As part of the department’s investigation, Testa said officials would interview all of the officers involved and review body-camera footage.

That footage showed that one officer had revealed his handgun and it was “pointed to the ground,” the chief said.

“I am not making excuses,” he said. “I am just trying to add some needed context.”

In addition to asking the chief about issues of bias and racial profiling, members of the City Council pressed him on whether the man had been given an apology.

“My plan is to have a personal conversation with him when the time is right and hopefully sooner than later,” the chief said.

A man at the meeting identified by The Daily Camera as Sammie Lawrence told the Council that as a young black man from Sacramento, who has followed the case of Stephon Clark — who was fatally shot by police in his grandmother’s backyard — the confrontation in Boulder was “terrifying.”

“This is very scary,” he said. “I really hope we take this seriously, because I deserve a peace of mind as part of this community.”

A recent survey of Boulder residents found disparities in how residents viewed the city, including the quality of public safety services. Nonwhite residents viewed police and sheriff services as less positive than white people, according to survey results presented to the City Council this year.

This article originally appeared in <a id="029373ce-616f-40bb-b6d7-15f2bda04984" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/us/boulder-police-detain-black-man.html">The New York Times</a>.

White officer placed on leave after detaining black man picking up trash in front of his building

At a City Council meeting on Tuesday, residents reportedly clacked trash grabbers as Chief Greg Testa of the Boulder Police Department briefed officials on what had happened and announced that the officer had been placed on administrative leave.

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Matt Stevens and Sarah Mervosh

Articles written by the author

A Look at Five High-Profile Mob Hits Before the Frank Cali Slaying

White officer placed on leave after detaining black man picking up trash in front of his building