Word: colombos
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...assassination attempt posed a cruel dilemma for Italian Americans, who regard the league as a voice for their frustrations and have attempted to overlook Colombo's Mafia life. Father Louis Gigante possesses a unique in sight into this moral tug of war: he is both the league chaplain and the younger brother of a man who was accused of trying to assassinate Frank Costello in 1957. Father Gigante was among those keeping vigil outside Roosevelt Hospital. Said he: "The league is definitely a positive thing, but all they talk about in the papers is the crime thing...
...Colombo's new celebrity status attracted attention to men who decidedly opposed public scrutiny?the bosses of the other New York families. A great deal of the scrutiny came from law-enforcement agencies. Mafia bosses, who had built careful layers of insulation around themselves?never dealing directly with button men, trusting only a few close lieutenants?found their protective covering being stripped away. Grand jury subpoenas were issued to men convinced they were safe from such summonses. The high-rolling lifestyle they enjoyed was sharply straitened by Internal Revenue Service agents, who carefully checked any discrepancies between reported income...
Moreover the five New York families are just emerging from a decade that left their tight paramilitary structure shaken and disorganized. The bitterness of past Mafia wars still lingers, especially between Colombo and Joseph Gallo, the volatile former Profaci triggerman whose defection sparked the 1961 war. He once kept a wildcat in his basement and, for luck, a dwarf on his payroll. Released last March after serving nine years for extortion, he returned to New York with a grudge against Colombo and heretical ideas about recruiting blacks into Mafia ranks. These have made him the subject of speculation regarding...
...five dons in power a decade ago, only one?Carlo Gambino?retains his position today. In the four other slots, the old bosses have not been officially replaced or the men who succeeded them?including Colombo?were not considered their equals. A measure of the scorn in which Colombo was held is revealed in the wiretap transcripts of a conversation between New Jersey Boss "Sam the Plumber" DeCavalcante and his underboss, Frank Majuri...
DeCavalcante: Joe Colombo. Where's a guy like that belong in the Commission? What experience...