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When the Gambino family's suspected head, Francesco "Frank," Cali was shot in front of his car outside his home on Staten Island earlier this month, many people were stunned. It was the first badbadination of a New York mafia boss for over 30 years. Gambino family president Paul Castellano was shot dead in front of Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan. Many began to wonder if Cali's death meant the resurgence of a new internal power struggle within the Gambino family.
However, these concerns were immediately resolved when police arrested Anthony Anthony Comello on Monday, who was formally charged with the murder of Cali in the Staten Island Criminal Court. When Comello appeared for the first time at a New Jersey court hearing last week, he displayed erratic behavior, sporting the words "MAGA" and a symbol of QAnon, a popular theory of conspiracy on Internet, on his palms.
It was later reported that Comello had no connection with the Mafia, but had shot Cali because he had wanted to go out with his niece and Cali disapproved of that relationship. Cali's lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, said his client would "unequivocally argue the culprit," adding that the online conspiracy theories had led his client to commit murder: "At the end of the day, after all is known, to show that the hatred thrown on the Internet by QAnon and other sites of right-wing conspiracy is a hatred that has been uttered by citizens, including politicians, including at the White House, "he said. -he declares Rolling stone. "Words count. Hate words matter.
"It was an isolated and isolated success. He had no mark of success from Mob. "
Nevertheless, there were still theories in some corners of the Internet that Comello was simply defending the real aggressor within the Gambino family. To give some background, we contacted Selwyn Raab, the author of Five families: the rise, decline and resurgence of the most powerful American mafia empires, a mbadive book retracing the last five decades of the crowd.
In an interview with Rolling stone, Raab confirmed that he thought that the alleged murderer of Cali had no connection with organized crime. "It was an isolated and erratic stroke," says Raab Rolling stone, adding, "There was no brand of Mob in the family or anything else. Someone goes back and knocks your car and rings at your door? Normally, mafia shots are a bullet in the back of the head when you do not be wary of you, or a very carefully planned execution … it sounds like an ad hoc shot of a kid from the ball.
As for Comello's adherence to right-wing conspiracy theories, Raab says he has never heard of Maf members sharing such extremist political views. "It has no connection with Trump and the White House. My only experience, when I spoke to some members of the low-level mafia, is that they are rather conservative and vote Republican, "he said. But their political tendencies have little in common with Comello's apparent radical views: "You ask them why [they vote Republican]they do not want taxes and do not like immigrants, "says Raab.
That said, Raab knows Cali's reputation well, describing him as a leader of the first-generation Sicilian-born immigrant mob born in the United States, a man who "has long kept the Mafia in his DNA," says Raab. "Many parents in Sicily and the United States were mobsters." Cali took power during a transitional period, when the Sicilian wing took over the Gambino family, and Raab describes him as a "mountaineer." "Some people told me in the 80s, Nineties, when he was a child, he was a real aspirant. He gave them all the favors, he was a faithful member, "says Raab. At the time of his death, however, "he was known. Quiet, but well known in the circles on the right. "
"Quiet" is the key word here: in recent decades, the mafia has largely existed under the radar, no internal power struggle attracting the attention of the media, explains Raab. After being seriously affected by law enforcement in the 1980s and 1990s, the Mob group experienced a quiet resurgence in early September 11, when the FBI began to focus its attention on the fight against terrorism. Nevertheless, they continued to fly under the radar: "They are not like John Gotti. They are not flamboyant. They do not give TV interviews. They do not sign to the crowds. "
"[Mob bosses are] not like John Gotti. They are not flamboyant. They do not sign to the crowds. "
And this strategy has worked well: before Cali's death, there had been no murder linked to the high-profile crowd since the death of Castellano in 1985. The circumstances in which Cali was murdered also reflect the degree of safety that he felt in his position no bodyguards around him, he did not travel with a suite of morons, "Raab said. "The worst thing about [the shooting] it's that he has drawn attention to the mafia, "Raab said. "You have not seen headlines for a long time. Everyone resurrects history, its past, that it still exists. "
In addition to attracting the attention of the press, the death of Cali will inevitably leave a power vacuum within the Gambino family. "The worst that happened with the murder of Cali is that there will be a redesign of the family, which is always embarrbading. The boss has been deleted. There could be more than one candidate for the post of next boss, "says Raab.
Raab is not optimistic about Comello's future in prison (and his lawyer has asked that Comello be placed in pre-trial detention for fear of becoming a target). "His big problem now is to be in isolation. The big problem will be that the prison authorities are trying to keep him safe. The crowd does not like anyone hitting their own people and pulling them out as it should. "
"It's ironic here," Raab said. "Cali [was] in the shelter of the mafia, but not in the shelter of a screw ball. "
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