Staten Island Crowd Investigation: Gambino boss Frank Cali shakes hands with killer before firing

TODT HILL, Staten Island (WABC) – The details continue to be revealed as the investigation into the murder of a prominent Gambino family leader outside his home in Staten Island, the first incident of this type occurred in New York in three decades, advance.

Several police sources said that the one who shot Francesco "Frankie Boy" Cali had gone by car until the gangster house Hilltop Terrace, in the Todt Hill section, had been immobilized then had the engine exploded in the opposite direction, hitting the Cadillac SUV parked in Cali.

The force of the impact overturned the SUV registration plate and appeared to the investigators to have been made intentionally to attract Cali's attention.

Once Cali came out of the house, sources said, a video showed the two men talking and shaking hands. Apparently, Cali did not feel any danger, as he turned his back on his killer to place the license plate on the back of the SUV.

It was then that the shooter pulled out a 9mm handgun, held it in both hands – as if he had been trained, sources said – and opened fire.

The video is called granular and has not been published because the suspect's face can not be seen. The NYPD continues to probe the neighborhood for clearer videos.

The woman and Cali's child were at home at the time, which, according to some sources, is an extremely unusual circumstance in the tradition of organized crime – which, at its peak, followed certain rules that prevented targets from being beaten in front of their families.

Eyewitness News has obtained Cali's photo from 2008, when he pleaded guilty to an extortion ploy involving an unsuccessful attempt to build a NASCAR track on Staten Island. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison and released in 2009. He is believed to have taken the reins of the famed Gambino criminal family in 2015.

Crowd experts are wary of conflicts that could break out in the crime family, particularly after the recent release of the brother of Gambino's former boss, John Gotti. Gene Gotti is a famous captain.

They say that the type of shot – at home, without any real attempt to hide what happened – suggests it was a killing message. The question for detectives is what kind of message was sent.

It's the first time that a reputed mafia boss has been killed in New York for over 30 years.

The last mafia leader to be shot dead in New York was Gambino don Paul Castellano, murdered in front of a steakhouse in Manhattan in 1985 under the direction of Gotti, who then took over.

Cali kept a much lower profile than Gotti.

With his expensive double-breasted suits, his overcoats and his silver hair in his cleavage, Gotti was nicknamed the Don Dapper, his smiling face running through the tabloids. While the prosecutors tried to make him fall without success, he was nicknamed the Teflon Don.

In 1992, Gotti was convicted of the murder of Castellano and a host of other crimes. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died of cancer in 2002.

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