Joseph Colombo Sr. was shot three times at an Italian-American Civil Rights League rally in New York City on June 28, 1971, with one bullet striking him in the head. The shooting left him paralyzed until his death in 1978. Colombo was born on June 16, 1923, into an Italian-American family in Brooklyn.
His father, Anthony Colombo, was an early member of the Profaci crime family, which would eventually be renamed after his son. In 1938, Anthony was found strangled in a car with his mistress. The younger Colombo attended New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn for two years before dropping out to join the United States Coast Guard. He was diagnosed with neurosis and discharged in 1945.
His legal employment included ten years as a longshoreman and six years as a salesman for a meat company, with his last legitimate job in real estate. Colombo married Lucille Faiello, and the couple had five children, including sons Christopher, Joseph Jr. , and Anthony. He joined the Profaci family following in his father’s footsteps, quickly rising through the ranks as an enforcer and eventually becoming a capo.
The first Colombo War erupted in 1961, triggered by the kidnapping of four high-ranking Profaci family members by Joe Gallo and his brothers. On February 27, 1961, the Gallo brothers abducted the men, demanding a more favorable financial arrangement in exchange for their release. Crazy Joe Gallo wanted to kill one hostage and demand $100,000 before negotiations, but his brother Larry overruled him. Profaci reached an agreement with the Gallos after several weeks, with consigliere Charles LoCicero mediating the release of all hostages peacefully.
However, Profaci had no intention of honoring the peace treaty and ordered the murder of Gallo family members. On August 20, 1961, Joe Jelly Gioielli was allegedly murdered by gunmen after agreeing to go fishing with them. Larry Gallo survived a strangulation attempt by Carmine Persico and Salvatore D’Ambrosio at the East Flatbush Sahara Club when a police officer intervened. The Gallo brothers, who had previously sided with Persico against Profaci and his loyalists, began calling Persico “the snake” after his betrayal.
The conflict resulted in nine murders and three disappearances. Profaci died of cancer on June 6, 1962, and was succeeded by longtime underboss Joseph Magliocco. In 1963, Joseph Bonanno, head of the Bonanno crime family, plotted the assassination of several Mafia Commission rivals, including bosses Tommy Lucchese, Carlo Gambino, and Stefano Magaddino, as well as Frank DeSimone. Bonanno enlisted Magliocco’s help, and Magliocco readily agreed.
Bonanno was enraged at not being given a seat on the Commission, and he had been close allies with Profaci for over 30 years prior to his death. His goal was to seize control of the Commission and appoint Magliocco as his right-hand man. Magliocco assigned Colombo, one of his top hitmen, the task of assassinating Lucchese and Gambino. The opportunistic Colombo instead revealed the plot to his targets.
Because of Bonanno’s close relationship with Magliocco, as well as their marriage ties, the other bosses concluded that Bonanno was the true mastermind. The Commission summoned both Bonanno and Magliocco to explain themselves. Fearing for his life, Bonanno fled to Montreal, leaving Magliocco to face the Commission alone. Magliocco, badly shaken and in poor health, confessed to his role in the plot.
His life was spared, but he was forced to resign as Profaci family boss and pay a $50,000 fine. Colombo was given the Profaci family as a reward for betraying his boss. At age 41, he became one of the country’s youngest crime bosses and the first American-born boss of a New York crime family. The family became known as the Colombo Crime Family.
When NYPD Detective Albert Seedman summoned Colombo for questioning about the death of one of his soldiers, Colombo appeared without a lawyer. He told Seedman, “I am an American citizen, first class. I don’t have a badge that makes me an official good guy like you, but I work just as honest for a living. ”
On May 9, 1966, Colombo was sentenced to 30 days in jail for contempt for refusing to answer a grand jury’s questions about his financial affairs.
Colombo founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League in April 1970. The same month, his son, Joseph Colombo Jr. , was charged with melting down coins to sell as silver ingots. In response, Colombo Sr.
claimed FBI harassment of Italian-Americans and on April 30, 1970, sent 30 picketers outside FBI headquarters at Third Avenue and 69th Street to protest what he called federal persecution of Italians. The protest lasted several weeks. On June 29, 1970, 50,000 people gathered at Columbus Circle for the first Italian Unity Day rally. Colombo Jr.
was acquitted of the federal charge in February 1971 after the trial’s key witness was arrested on perjury charges. Unlike other mob leaders who avoided the spotlight, Colombo appeared on television interviews, at fundraisers, and at speaking engagements for the league. In 1971, he allied the league with Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Jewish Defense League, claiming that the federal government was harassing both organizations. At one point, Colombo posted bail for 11 JDL members who had been jailed.
With the help of Colombo and the league, Paramount Pictures began filming The Godfather in the spring of 1971. Italian-Americans had initially opposed filming in New York due to the film’s subject matter, but the league cooperated fully after producer Albert Ruddy met with Colombo and agreed to remove the terms “Mafia” and “Cosa Nostra” from the film. Joe Gallo was released from prison in early 1971. Colombo invited him to a peace meeting, offering $1,000 as a supposedly conciliatory gesture.
Gallo declined, claiming he wanted $100,000 to end the conflict, which Colombo refused to pay. On June 28, 1971, at the second Italian Unity Day rally in Columbus Circle, Colombo was shot three times by Jerome Johnson, with one bullet hitting him in the head. Johnson was immediately killed by Colombo’s bodyguards. Colombo was rendered paralyzed by the shooting.
After spending two months at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, he was transferred to his estate in Blooming Grove on August 28, 1971. A court-ordered examination in 1975 revealed that he could move his right thumb and forefinger, and there were reports in 1976 that he could recognize people and utter several words. Colombo died of cardiac arrest on May 22, 1978, at St.
Luke’s Hospital in Newburgh, New York.