Joe Colombo & Carlo Gambino

[Pierino1978]

Colombo was supposed to have been appointed to boss of the then profaci family after alerting Gambino to the hit put on him and other commission members.

I thought it was protocol for captains to vote in a boss similar to the sham vote for Gotti after he hit Castellano. So how did this go down ? Did Carlo have that much power that he could force the entire columbo family upper echolons to accept Colombo even tho there where far better candidates to take over after magliccho died ?!?

[Grouchy Sinatra]

I would guess considering how much turmoil the Profaci/Colombo family had been in, it wasn't hard for Carlo to do. A divided group is easier to infiltrate than a united one. Makes you wonder what Carlo's role was in the whole Gallo situation, considering his "wily" history.

[Pierino1978]

Does Scarpa's 302's from the period shine any light on how Gambino achieved it ?!

[don-shunter]

I wonder if any of the older capos/members opposed Joe's ascension or if they were made promises of more autonomy with their crews if they accepted him as boss?

[Pierino1978]

I wonder if any of the older capos/members opposed Joe's ascension or if they were made promises of more autonomy with their crews if they accepted him as boss?

Some deal must have been done - if my memory serves me right there was no murders around the time of any of the big players...

[MichaelGiovanni]

I wonder if any of the older capos/members opposed Joe's ascension or if they were made promises of more autonomy with their crews if they accepted him as boss?

Someone was recorded on a bug saying that Colombo was nothing more than a bust out guy. Was it on the Gyp Dicarlo tapes? Not sure exactly who said it but I think it was from someone in another family.

[chin_gigante]

In the Scarpa material available on the FBI vault he says that Colombo was formally announced as the new Profaci boss at a meeting in 1964 attended by all of the Profaci family captains and representatives from I think seven other LCN families, including Detroit

[moneyman]

Around this time wasn’t Joe Bonnano causing a stir with the commission trying to set up rackets in California and Toronto? Perhaps Gambino and the commission wanted a safe pick for the Profaci family boss given how much trouble Bonnano was causing them.

[Frank]

Besides Colombo being close to Gambino, he was being backed up by The Commission for exposing the plot. No matter who the Profaci Captains wanted to vote for, they would never go against The Commission. That is if they wanted to live.

[Benandjosh]

What role did Tommy Lucchese play in all of this. He was Gambinos key ally on the commission. After discovering on here Gambino wasn't officially named Head of the family until a couple of years after Anastasia was killed, he probably needed Lucchese's influence to be named top dog. Seems to me Lucchese had a lot of power and influence behind the scenes for decades. Maybe Gambino was his puppet lol.

[Pogo The Clown]

Seems to me Lucchese had a lot of power and influence behind the scenes for decades. Maybe Gambino was his puppet lol.

Joe Bonanno actually alludes to that in his book.


Pogo

[Frank]

Its been written that Lucchese was the most powerful and or influential NY Boss in that time period.

[Benandjosh]

After reading all the information on this site, I just dont buy that Gambino was the king maker. All the books used to state as fact that Gambino picked Colombo as boss of that family and Funzi as boss of the Genovese. Now i think we can rule out any influence he had on the Genovese and that they sorted their boss situation internally. I still find the story of Gambino rewarding Colombo for basically betraying his boss, somewhat unbelievable. Wouldn't the Profaci capos have rebuffed this.

[Villain]

Its been written that Lucchese was the most powerful and or influential NY Boss in that time period.

For what its worth...the Outfit also respected him a lot

[don-shunter]

I've always viewed Lucchese and Gambino as a partnership with Lucchese the senior partner and Gambino the junior. Both powerful and respected but Lucchese had longevity as a boss whereas Gambino was new to the leadership. With Luccheses death Gambino is the top guy.