Cosa Nostra News

Frank Cali had ascended to the role of street boss of the Gambino crime family, though now it appears that, yet again , there's uncertainty. Who's the boss? Frank Cali, maybe. Whether he's street boss or not, one thing seems clear: Francesco Paolo Augusto Calì would bring the New York-based crime family, one of the fabled five, back where it belongs: in the grip of a shrewd Sicilian who likely will strengthen its ranks and magnify its fortunes. Domenico (Italian Dom) Cefalu is Sicilian, but in terms of boss material, there are more suitable candidates, according to Michael "Mikie Scars" DiLeonardo , with whom we spoke for this story. His rise would also have an historical significance. It brings the Gambinos, once the largest and most powerful Mafia family in the country, full circle. If Cali is street boss, "the Gambino family is where it's supposed to be," DiLeonardo told me, "back in the hands of Sicilians. I...

You never would've heard of Frank Palmeri, a Gambino crime family mobster, if he wasn't incorrectly identified as an underboss by Italian officials. Francesco Palmeri US and Italian law enforcement officers arrested Palmeri, 61, in December 2014 in his Brooklyn apartment as part of a larger crackdown in Italy and Brooklyn. Two other alleged mobsters were arrested in the US and five in Italy. When Italian police identified tbe Sicilian-born Palmeri as the underboss of New York City’s Gambino family, the story was given instant global coverage. Who is Francesco Palmeri? In December 2014, there was no relevant information about a Gambino mobster named Palmeri. The arrests were said to be related to a Ndrangheta-Gambino ring that law enforcement previously smashed apart . Gambino crime family consiglieri Bartolomeo "Baboots" Vernace, was this year sentenced to life in prison for the 1981 "Shamrock murders," a double homicide. Jos...

Frank Cali, a mobster with strong Sicilian roots, has been named as the Gambino family's new underboss, according to Jerry Capeci's PPV column Ganglandnews.com. Frank Cali circa 2008. Cali, along with Gambino family boss Domenico "Italian Dom" Cefalu, who officially named Cali his number two, and Gambino capo Bartolomeo "Baboots" Vernace are believed to all have strong ties to Sicily. In fact, although all five New York crime families have ties to the old country, the Gambinos are believed by law enforcement to have the strongest. Cali had been on the Feds' radar. He has been considered to be the Gambino "ambassador to Sicilian mobsters" and he is linked to the Inzerillo Mafia family , from Palermo. "Cali is seen as a man of influence and power by organized crime members in Italy," according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Lipton. Salvatore Inzerillo (Palermo, 1944 – Palermo, May 11, 1981) was an Italian drug dealing...

Nature abhors a vacuum. So does organized crime. Scholars will tell you, correctly, that the U.S. Mafia was always independent of its Sicilian/Southern Italian counterpart, although the U.S. version did borrow some of the old country's trappings, such as the concept of "omerta," which basically means, don't talk, ever. But like rats fleeing a sinking ship (where do these rats go, by the way? I mean, a sinking ship is out at sea, isn't it?), made guys, including management, and associates have "flipped" and continue to "flip" on anyone and everyone. It is safe to say the U.S. mob has been decimated.