NEW YORK -- The acting boss of the Colombo organized crime family, the under boss, and ten other members and associates of the crime family were named in a seventeen count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday, prosecutors say. FBI agents and investigators from several federal and state law enforcement agencies arrested Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli, identified by authorities as the Colombo crime family acting boss, and eight others in early morning raids Wednesday, investigators say.
The charges include racketeering, murder, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Benton J. Campbell said. Also named in the indictment is John "Sonny" Franzese, identified by authorities as under boss of the Colombo crime family, law enforcement officials say. Franzese is currently serving a prison sentence. According to court papers, the three-year investigation used hundreds of hours of conversations recorded by cooperators who infiltrated the Colombo family. Gioeli was charged in three of the four murders detailed in the indictment, including the 1992 murders of two men amid a bloody civil war for control of the family, prosecutors say. He faces life in prison if convicted. Dino Calabro, a Colombo captain, is accused of participating in the shooting and killing of an armored truck guard, also in 1992, while the victim was delivering money to a cash-checking store in Brooklyn, court documents say. Investigators say Carmine "Junior" Persico remains the boss of the Colombo crime family even while serving a lengthy prison sentence on racketeering charges. U.S. Attorney Campbell said, "The message could not be any clearer - we will not rest until the violent scourge of organized crime is eliminated."
