Teddy Jr’s upcoming release

[slimshady_007]

Colombo capo Teddy Persico Jr is set to be released in a little over a year. I give it four years until the feds hit Teddy with another indictment. He’s a high priority for the fbi since he’s violent, doesn’t care about prison, and has the respect of a lot of people. What are the odds that the Colombo’s choose not to elect Teddy as boss since he is too high profile? Any chance that a power struggle occurs within the family?

[Frank]

Colombo capo Teddy Persico Jr is set to be released in a little over a year. I give it four years until the feds hit Teddy with another indictment. He’s a high priority for the fbi since he’s violent, doesn’t care about prison, and has the respect of a lot of people. What are the odds that the Colombo’s choose not to elect Teddy as boss since he is too high profile? Any chance that a power struggle occurs within the family?

I don't think there will be a power struggle or is one now. Don't know the exact figures, but I wonder what percentage of made men are Persico relatives and in addition to non Persico relatives that are known Persico loyalist. Also at this point there really hasn't been any known split in the Colombo Family. Is there even any anti Persico members in this day and age. I thought that Allie was suppose to be Carmines successor? I guess nobody knows yet if that is for sure. Andy Russo is getting pretty old. There could have been changes already in a few positions already that LE has to catch up with. I've always been led to believe that the Persicos still have the power in the family and have the leadership positions locked up for themselves

[eboli]

Gohn might have the exact numbers. but probably close to half of that family is related to the Persicos in one way or another. There will be no power struggle. Probably Ally Boy becomes official until he dies in prison too.

[maxiestern11]

Colombo capo Teddy Persico Jr is set to be released in a little over a year. I give it four years until the feds hit Teddy with another indictment. He’s a high priority for the fbi since he’s violent, doesn’t care about prison, and has the respect of a lot of people. What are the odds that the Colombo’s choose not to elect Teddy as boss since he is too high profile? Any chance that a power struggle occurs within the family?

I don't think there will be a power struggle or is one now. Don't know the exact figures, but I wonder what percentage of made men are Persico relatives and in addition to non Persico relatives that are known Persico loyalist. Also at this point there really hasn't been any known split in the Colombo Family. Is there even any anti Persico members in this day and age. I thought that Allie was suppose to be Carmines successor? I guess nobody knows yet if that is for sure. Andy Russo is getting pretty old. There could have been changes already in a few positions already that LE has to catch up with. I've always been led to believe that the Persicos still have the power in the family and have the leadership positions locked up for themselves

There's really nobody left to fight, one way or the other..... it's a shell of its former self! (and thats the truth) IMO

[gohnjotti]

Gohn might have the exact numbers. but probably close to half of that family is related to the Persicos in one way or another. There will be no power struggle. Probably Ally Boy becomes official until he dies in prison too.

If we're talking actual blood relatives of the Persicos? By my count, there are roughly 14-16 made members in the family, with Michael Persico on the side as an influential associate who essentially acted as an administration member during the late 2000s/early 2010s.
We've got;
Acting Boss Alphonse 'Little Allie Boy' Persico (IP/L)
Street Boss Andrew 'Andy Mush' Russo
Capo and Heir Apparent Theodore 'Skinny Teddy' Persico Jr. (IP-2020)
Capo Thomas 'Tom Mix' Farese
Capo William 'Billy' Russo
Acting Capo Anthony Stropoli
Former Capo Anthony 'Chucky' Russo (IP-L)
Influential Soldier Thomas Petrizzo
Soldier Andre D'Apice
Soldier Angelo 'Little Angelo' Spata Jr.
Soldier(?) Alphonse Cirillo
Proposed Member Edward 'the Tall Guy' Garofalo Jr. (Proposed by Theodore Persico Jr., but was a suspected informer in the mid-2000s so presumably was put on the backburner. He was eventually indicted and served a considerable amount of prison time, so he may well be back in the Persico Jr.'s good graces).
Proposed Member Angelo Spata Sr. (Probably not made, but was proposed for a brief period of time during the mid-2000s)
Influential Associate Michael Persico (IP-2021)

Renegade Acting Boss Victor 'Little Vic' Orena (IP-L)
Shelved Soldier Victor Orena Jr.
Shelved Soldier John Orena

[Cheech]

I’ll be honest Gohn. I have never been particularly interested in the Colombos but your writings and knowledge have changed that. I appreciate your contributions to the board.

[eboli]

I remember a few years back someone (might have been Pogo) posted a list with all relatives of the Persicos (both by blood and through marriage) and amounted to something crazy like 30+ people involved with the family in one way or another.

[gohnjotti]

Regarding the possibility of a power struggle;
We've seen both the Bonannos and the Luccheses go through power struggles in the last couple of years that almost led to bloodshed, so we shouldn't discount the fact that there may be very ambitious people in the Colombo family that are still willing to fight for the top slot. Even today, there's a lot of money that flows into Persico family's hands, according to Angelo Spata's 2011 court papers.

Over the years, the Persicos have definitely made it their top priority to keep the family as loyal and short-leashed as possible. The majority of the recent inductees for the family were Persico loyalists during the Third Colombo War, despite that faction being only a quarter of the size of the Orena camp. This is clearly intentional. Administration changes have also tended to favor the Persico faction; Andrew Russo, Tommy Gioeli, and Ralph DeLeo as street bosses, as well as Theodore Persico Jr., Reynold Maragni, Thomas Farese, Anthony Russo, Dino Calabro, Michael Catapano, and Anthony Stropoli all being given capo/acting capo titles.

Nevertheless, the Orena faction's presence is still unavoidable, given that they were three times the size of the Persico camp during the war. Of the five known capos in the Colombo family today, two of them supported Orena. Joey Amato is the most dangerous of those two. He was a devout Orena supporter during the war and was instrumental in organizing murders against the Persico side. He was arrested in 1993 as a disgraced enemy of the borgata, but somehow came out after serving sixteen years and jumped back to the top. He was released in 2009. By around 2012/13, he was a capo and had a top associate of his - John Cerbone - attending sitdowns on his behalf (according to Cerbone's own taped conversations cited in his 2015 case). Then, Amato was able to get Cerbone inducted, even though Cerbone was another Orena faction supporter involved in murder conspiracies against the Persicos, and later became a member of the Cutolo crew later in the '90s. During this time frame, Amato was the so-called "boss of Staten Island," according to Gang Land News. It's up to interpretation what Capeci meant by that. He might have been citing court papers, or he might have just been pumping up Amato's status as capo. Still very intriguing, given that Amato accomplished all of this in three short years.

The only problem is, Joey's most likely on borrowed time. When the overworked and undermanned Bonanno/Colombo/Genovese FBI squad finally refocus their limited manpower on the Colombos, they probably don't have to try very hard to nab Amato on a racketeering/extortion pinch. One of the tapes released in John Cerbone's 2015 trial was one in which he bragged about being recently inducted into the family and attending various sitdowns on Joey Amato's behalf. The only reason that recording was cited was to prove Cerbone's own induction, so one can only imagine what other tapes the informant in that case (who hasn't been publicly revealed, but was apparently the grandson of a Genovese wiseguy) collected from Cerbone regarding Amato's criminal activities and status. More recently, Colombo associate Anthony Preza has flipped and told the feds all about how he paid protection money to Joey Amato, specifically to prevent him getting attacked by Bonanno capo Joe Sabella That's extortion, and Sabella has already pleaded guilty to his role in the Preza shakedown. In fact, when Preza stopped paying Amato's protection fee, Joey gave Sabella the green light to do whatever he pleased to Preza. That's a criminal case that writes itself, especially with Preza willing to take the stand. Let's be honest, extortion cases have been made out of much less than that. Gambino acting capo Anthony Licata was charged with extortion last year even after he told the so-called victim "that no one was going to hurt him and that he did not have to pay the money if he did not want to," according to Gang Land News. Better yet, the so-called victim was only being "extorted" after he stole $50,000 from the widow of a former business partner. Go figure.

Ralphie Lombardo is the second known family capo that was an Orena supporter. He's 86, so he's probably not much to worry about and he's proven himself to be far too low-key to seek the limelight. He even uses an acting capo as an intermediary for his own crew. Gang Land News, in one article from 2012 IIRC, reported that Lombardo was neutral during the Colombo war. Court testimony from Dino Calabro disproves that; apparently, Lombardo was targeted for assassination during the war. Then, Lombardo was targeted for assassination again by Allie Persico in the late '90s/early '00s, due to fears he was an informer. He might be 86, but it would probably be fair to say he's got a lot of animosity towards Allie, Tommy Gioeli, Joel Cacace, and the rest of the top Colombo honchos who planned to whack him.

The biggest threat to the Persico administration, in my eyes, is probably Ben Castellazzo, the family's official underboss. I know it's 2019, but I can't imagine that Castellazzo sleeps well knowing what happened to the Colombo Family's last Orena-supporting underboss. It's not as if he has nothing to worry about; he was stalked and targeted for death by Tommy Gioeli's crew during the war. Castellazzo's no spring chicken (he's just hit 80), but he's been incredibly active in recent years with a fast-growing crew, and I can't imagine he's endeared himself to the Persicos. For starters, Castellazzo seized the acting boss position after Tommy Gioeli's June 2008 imprisonment. Gang Land News reported in late 2008 that Gioeli didn't have a clear successor, because nobody wanted the job, but recently-unearthed court papers (from yours truly) have disproved that. Then, Gang Land News reported that, from prison, Allie Persico handpicked a relatively-unknown Massachusetts soldier, Ralph DeLeo, to serve as street boss in order to prevent the elements of the family loyal to Vic Orena taking control of the family, according to law enforcement sources. Piecing those two facts together, it seems DeLeo got the job specifically to thwart Castellazzo.

Benji was then demoted to acting underboss, but continued to throw his weight around. He inducted two of his top associates in one 2009 ceremony, Manny Favuzza and Sally Castagno, and began taking over rackets that formerly belonged to Tommy Gioeli, including the annual shakedown of bookmakers and card game operators. This wasn't done peacefully. Castellazzo and Joel Cacace's sons apparently showed up at a card game ran by John Azzarelli demanding money, according to wiretap transcripts introduced in Tommy Gioeli's 2012 trial, and Castellazzo was charged in 2011 with squeezing Gioeli associate Roger Califano for a $10,000 annual Christmas tribute, which was double Califano's amount he paid to Gioeli.

That being said, do I think there will be a power struggle in the Colombo family? No, not really. A Massachusetts-based soldier with essentially zero ties to New York was promoted to street boss purely because an imprisoned Allie Persico said so, and he wasn't met with any resistance. Following Andy Russo's 2011 imprisonment and detention without bail, a long-retired soldier in Los Angeles and a Florida-based soldier were called in to run the family and, again, there doesn't seem to have been any resistance. Finally, and most importantly, money has continued to flow into the Persico family's hands, even when they were almost all behind bars. There are are lot of examples of that in recent court papers, mostly pointing to Angelo Spata, who dispensed money from Joker-Poker operations to the imprisoned Persicos, sent $5000 of Califano's shakedown to the imprisoned Persicos, and demanded that acting capo Anthony Russo collect money owed by associate Richie Cappa as part of the Persico family's Christmas tribute, which indicates that associates far-and-wide are obliged to kick up Christmastime tributes to the imprisoned leadership.

[gohnjotti]

I’ll be honest Gohn. I have never been particularly interested in the Colombos but your writings and knowledge have changed that. I appreciate your contributions to the board.

Thank you Cheech, that means a lot. I figure it's better to go balls-deep in research on one family then spreading myself thin by trying to be an expert on all Five.

[eboli]

That being said, do I think there will be a power struggle in the Colombo family? No, not really. A Massachusetts-based soldier with essentially zero ties to New York was promoted to street boss purely because an imprisoned Allie Persico said so, and he wasn't met with any resistance. Following Andy Russo's 2011 imprisonment and detention without bail, a long-retired soldier in Los Angeles and a Florida-based soldier were called in to run the family and, again, there doesn't seem to have been any resistance. Finally, and most importantly, money has continued to flow into the Persico family's hands, even when they were almost all behind bars. There are are lot of examples of that in recent court papers, mostly pointing to Angelo Spata, who dispensed money from Joker-Poker operations to the imprisoned Persicos, sent $5000 of Califano's shakedown to the imprisoned Persicos, and demanded that acting capo Anthony Russo collect money owed by associate Richie Cappa as part of the Persico family's Christmas tribute, which indicates that associates far-and-wide are obliged to kick up Christmastime tributes to the imprisoned leadership.

Very nicely put, Gohn. I think the times of somebody willing to challenge their authority are long gone and the Colombos will most likely burn in flames before a non-Persico gets to steer the ship to the bottom.

[gohnjotti]

That being said, do I think there will be a power struggle in the Colombo family? No, not really. A Massachusetts-based soldier with essentially zero ties to New York was promoted to street boss purely because an imprisoned Allie Persico said so, and he wasn't met with any resistance. Following Andy Russo's 2011 imprisonment and detention without bail, a long-retired soldier in Los Angeles and a Florida-based soldier were called in to run the family and, again, there doesn't seem to have been any resistance. Finally, and most importantly, money has continued to flow into the Persico family's hands, even when they were almost all behind bars. There are are lot of examples of that in recent court papers, mostly pointing to Angelo Spata, who dispensed money from Joker-Poker operations to the imprisoned Persicos, sent $5000 of Califano's shakedown to the imprisoned Persicos, and demanded that acting capo Anthony Russo collect money owed by associate Richie Cappa as part of the Persico family's Christmas tribute, which indicates that associates far-and-wide are obliged to kick up Christmastime tributes to the imprisoned leadership.

Very nicely put, Gohn. I think the times of somebody willing to challenge their authority are long gone and the Colombos will most likely burn in flames before a non-Persico gets to steer the ship to the bottom.

Agreed. And even though the family has a lot of violent people, Joey Amato included, I don't think going toe-to-toe with Teddy Persico Jr. would end well. I'm not trying to hype him up into anything he's not, but from law enforcementtapes alone it is clear that Teddy is willing - if not downright eager - to murder people. He was a bloodthirsty motherfucker back when he was selling coke in the 1980s (responsible for at least one murder during this timeframe, and even conspired to murder capo Joel Cacace). When he finally got out of prison in 2004, he was very close to murdering associate George Fanelli and supposedly made a list of suspected cooperators whom he would murder before he was incarcerated.

[Frank]

Regarding the possibility of a power struggle;
We've seen both the Bonannos and the Luccheses go through power struggles in the last couple of years that almost led to bloodshed, so we shouldn't discount the fact that there may be very ambitious people in the Colombo family that are still willing to fight for the top slot. Even today, there's a lot of money that flows into Persico family's hands, according to Angelo Spata's 2011 court papers.

Over the years, the Persicos have definitely made it their top priority to keep the family as loyal and short-leashed as possible. The majority of the recent inductees for the family were Persico loyalists during the Third Colombo War, despite that faction being only a quarter of the size of the Orena camp. This is clearly intentional. Administration changes have also tended to favor the Persico faction; Andrew Russo, Tommy Gioeli, and Ralph DeLeo as street bosses, as well as Theodore Persico Jr., Reynold Maragni, Thomas Farese, Anthony Russo, Dino Calabro, Michael Catapano, and Anthony Stropoli all being given capo/acting capo titles.

Nevertheless, the Orena faction's presence is still unavoidable, given that they were three times the size of the Persico camp during the war. Of the five known capos in the Colombo family today, two of them supported Orena. Joey Amato is the most dangerous of those two. He was a devout Orena supporter during the war and was instrumental in organizing murders against the Persico side. He was arrested in 1993 as a disgraced enemy of the borgata, but somehow came out after serving sixteen years and jumped back to the top. He was released in 2009. By around 2012/13, he was a capo and had a top associate of his - John Cerbone - attending sitdowns on his behalf (according to Cerbone's own taped conversations cited in his 2015 case). Then, Amato was able to get Cerbone inducted, even though Cerbone was another Orena faction supporter involved in murder conspiracies against the Persicos, and later became a member of the Cutolo crew later in the '90s. During this time frame, Amato was the so-called "boss of Staten Island," according to Gang Land News. It's up to interpretation what Capeci meant by that. He might have been citing court papers, or he might have just been pumping up Amato's status as capo. Still very intriguing, given that Amato accomplished all of this in three short years.

The only problem is, Joey's most likely on borrowed time. When the overworked and undermanned Bonanno/Colombo/Genovese FBI squad finally refocus their limited manpower on the Colombos, they probably don't have to try very hard to nab Amato on a racketeering/extortion pinch. One of the tapes released in John Cerbone's 2015 trial was one in which he bragged about being recently inducted into the family and attending various sitdowns on Joey Amato's behalf. The only reason that recording was cited was to prove Cerbone's own induction, so one can only imagine what other tapes the informant in that case (who hasn't been publicly revealed, but was apparently the grandson of a Genovese wiseguy) collected from Cerbone regarding Amato's criminal activities and status. More recently, Colombo associate Anthony Preza has flipped and told the feds all about how he paid protection money to Joey Amato, specifically to prevent him getting attacked by Bonanno capo Joe Sabella That's extortion, and Sabella has already pleaded guilty to his role in the Preza shakedown. In fact, when Preza stopped paying Amato's protection fee, Joey gave Sabella the green light to do whatever he pleased to Preza. That's a criminal case that writes itself, especially with Preza willing to take the stand. Let's be honest, extortion cases have been made out of much less than that. Gambino acting capo Anthony Licata was charged with extortion last year even after he told the so-called victim "that no one was going to hurt him and that he did not have to pay the money if he did not want to," according to Gang Land News. Better yet, the so-called victim was only being "extorted" after he stole $50,000 from the widow of a former business partner. Go figure.

Ralphie Lombardo is the second known family capo that was an Orena supporter. He's 86, so he's probably not much to worry about and he's proven himself to be far too low-key to seek the limelight. He even uses an acting capo as an intermediary for his own crew. Gang Land News, in one article from 2012 IIRC, reported that Lombardo was neutral during the Colombo war. Court testimony from Dino Calabro disproves that; apparently, Lombardo was targeted for assassination during the war. Then, Lombardo was targeted for assassination again by Allie Persico in the late '90s/early '00s, due to fears he was an informer. He might be 86, but it would probably be fair to say he's got a lot of animosity towards Allie, Tommy Gioeli, Joel Cacace, and the rest of the top Colombo honchos who planned to whack him.

The biggest threat to the Persico administration, in my eyes, is probably Ben Castellazzo, the family's official underboss. I know it's 2019, but I can't imagine that Castellazzo sleeps well knowing what happened to the Colombo Family's last Orena-supporting underboss. It's not as if he has nothing to worry about; he was stalked and targeted for death by Tommy Gioeli's crew during the war. Castellazzo's no spring chicken (he's just hit 80), but he's been incredibly active in recent years with a fast-growing crew, and I can't imagine he's endeared himself to the Persicos. For starters, Castellazzo seized the acting boss position after Tommy Gioeli's June 2008 imprisonment. Gang Land News reported in late 2008 that Gioeli didn't have a clear successor, because nobody wanted the job, but recently-unearthed court papers (from yours truly) have disproved that. Then, Gang Land News reported that, from prison, Allie Persico handpicked a relatively-unknown Massachusetts soldier, Ralph DeLeo, to serve as street boss in order to prevent the elements of the family loyal to Vic Orena taking control of the family, according to law enforcement sources. Piecing those two facts together, it seems DeLeo got the job specifically to thwart Castellazzo.

Benji was then demoted to acting underboss, but continued to throw his weight around. He inducted two of his top associates in one 2009 ceremony, Manny Favuzza and Sally Castagno, and began taking over rackets that formerly belonged to Tommy Gioeli, including the annual shakedown of bookmakers and card game operators. This wasn't done peacefully. Castellazzo and Joel Cacace's sons apparently showed up at a card game ran by John Azzarelli demanding money, according to wiretap transcripts introduced in Tommy Gioeli's 2012 trial, and Castellazzo was charged in 2011 with squeezing Gioeli associate Roger Califano for a $10,000 annual Christmas tribute, which was double Califano's amount he paid to Gioeli.

That being said, do I think there will be a power struggle in the Colombo family? No, not really. A Massachusetts-based soldier with essentially zero ties to New York was promoted to street boss purely because an imprisoned Allie Persico said so, and he wasn't met with any resistance. Following Andy Russo's 2011 imprisonment and detention without bail, a long-retired soldier in Los Angeles and a Florida-based soldier were called in to run the family and, again, there doesn't seem to have been any resistance. Finally, and most importantly, money has continued to flow into the Persico family's hands, even when they were almost all behind bars. There are are lot of examples of that in recent court papers, mostly pointing to Angelo Spata, who dispensed money from Joker-Poker operations to the imprisoned Persicos, sent $5000 of Califano's shakedown to the imprisoned Persicos, and demanded that acting capo Anthony Russo collect money owed by associate Richie Cappa as part of the Persico family's Christmas tribute, which indicates that associates far-and-wide are obliged to kick up Christmastime tributes to the imprisoned leadership.

Thanks, great insight about the current and past situations. It sounds like there is still friction between the 2 sides, but that there is enough money being spread around that it keeps everybody peaceful. Castellazzo, how long was he a capo, and was it that he just took the acting boss position because there was not any communication yet from the Persicos who were in prison. Kind of a situation were somebody had to be boss on the streets, till the Persicos got word out about who will be street boss. Then the Persicos basically gave him the Underboss position to appease the Orena faction? Also where did Joel Cacace fit in, I always thought he was a Persico loyalist? You mentioned that his sons were with Castellazzo. Also what do you think about Cacace getting out pretty soon.

[Frank]

Regarding the possibility of a power struggle;
We've seen both the Bonannos and the Luccheses go through power struggles in the last couple of years that almost led to bloodshed, so we shouldn't discount the fact that there may be very ambitious people in the Colombo family that are still willing to fight for the top slot. Even today, there's a lot of money that flows into Persico family's hands, according to Angelo Spata's 2011 court papers.

Over the years, the Persicos have definitely made it their top priority to keep the family as loyal and short-leashed as possible. The majority of the recent inductees for the family were Persico loyalists during the Third Colombo War, despite that faction being only a quarter of the size of the Orena camp. This is clearly intentional. Administration changes have also tended to favor the Persico faction; Andrew Russo, Tommy Gioeli, and Ralph DeLeo as street bosses, as well as Theodore Persico Jr., Reynold Maragni, Thomas Farese, Anthony Russo, Dino Calabro, Michael Catapano, and Anthony Stropoli all being given capo/acting capo titles.

Nevertheless, the Orena faction's presence is still unavoidable, given that they were three times the size of the Persico camp during the war. Of the five known capos in the Colombo family today, two of them supported Orena. Joey Amato is the most dangerous of those two. He was a devout Orena supporter during the war and was instrumental in organizing murders against the Persico side. He was arrested in 1993 as a disgraced enemy of the borgata, but somehow came out after serving sixteen years and jumped back to the top. He was released in 2009. By around 2012/13, he was a capo and had a top associate of his - John Cerbone - attending sitdowns on his behalf (according to Cerbone's own taped conversations cited in his 2015 case). Then, Amato was able to get Cerbone inducted, even though Cerbone was another Orena faction supporter involved in murder conspiracies against the Persicos, and later became a member of the Cutolo crew later in the '90s. During this time frame, Amato was the so-called "boss of Staten Island," according to Gang Land News. It's up to interpretation what Capeci meant by that. He might have been citing court papers, or he might have just been pumping up Amato's status as capo. Still very intriguing, given that Amato accomplished all of this in three short years.

The only problem is, Joey's most likely on borrowed time. When the overworked and undermanned Bonanno/Colombo/Genovese FBI squad finally refocus their limited manpower on the Colombos, they probably don't have to try very hard to nab Amato on a racketeering/extortion pinch. One of the tapes released in John Cerbone's 2015 trial was one in which he bragged about being recently inducted into the family and attending various sitdowns on Joey Amato's behalf. The only reason that recording was cited was to prove Cerbone's own induction, so one can only imagine what other tapes the informant in that case (who hasn't been publicly revealed, but was apparently the grandson of a Genovese wiseguy) collected from Cerbone regarding Amato's criminal activities and status. More recently, Colombo associate Anthony Preza has flipped and told the feds all about how he paid protection money to Joey Amato, specifically to prevent him getting attacked by Bonanno capo Joe Sabella That's extortion, and Sabella has already pleaded guilty to his role in the Preza shakedown. In fact, when Preza stopped paying Amato's protection fee, Joey gave Sabella the green light to do whatever he pleased to Preza. That's a criminal case that writes itself, especially with Preza willing to take the stand. Let's be honest, extortion cases have been made out of much less than that. Gambino acting capo Anthony Licata was charged with extortion last year even after he told the so-called victim "that no one was going to hurt him and that he did not have to pay the money if he did not want to," according to Gang Land News. Better yet, the so-called victim was only being "extorted" after he stole $50,000 from the widow of a former business partner. Go figure.

Ralphie Lombardo is the second known family capo that was an Orena supporter. He's 86, so he's probably not much to worry about and he's proven himself to be far too low-key to seek the limelight. He even uses an acting capo as an intermediary for his own crew. Gang Land News, in one article from 2012 IIRC, reported that Lombardo was neutral during the Colombo war. Court testimony from Dino Calabro disproves that; apparently, Lombardo was targeted for assassination during the war. Then, Lombardo was targeted for assassination again by Allie Persico in the late '90s/early '00s, due to fears he was an informer. He might be 86, but it would probably be fair to say he's got a lot of animosity towards Allie, Tommy Gioeli, Joel Cacace, and the rest of the top Colombo honchos who planned to whack him.

The biggest threat to the Persico administration, in my eyes, is probably Ben Castellazzo, the family's official underboss. I know it's 2019, but I can't imagine that Castellazzo sleeps well knowing what happened to the Colombo Family's last Orena-supporting underboss. It's not as if he has nothing to worry about; he was stalked and targeted for death by Tommy Gioeli's crew during the war. Castellazzo's no spring chicken (he's just hit 80), but he's been incredibly active in recent years with a fast-growing crew, and I can't imagine he's endeared himself to the Persicos. For starters, Castellazzo seized the acting boss position after Tommy Gioeli's June 2008 imprisonment. Gang Land News reported in late 2008 that Gioeli didn't have a clear successor, because nobody wanted the job, but recently-unearthed court papers (from yours truly) have disproved that. Then, Gang Land News reported that, from prison, Allie Persico handpicked a relatively-unknown Massachusetts soldier, Ralph DeLeo, to serve as street boss in order to prevent the elements of the family loyal to Vic Orena taking control of the family, according to law enforcement sources. Piecing those two facts together, it seems DeLeo got the job specifically to thwart Castellazzo.

Benji was then demoted to acting underboss, but continued to throw his weight around. He inducted two of his top associates in one 2009 ceremony, Manny Favuzza and Sally Castagno, and began taking over rackets that formerly belonged to Tommy Gioeli, including the annual shakedown of bookmakers and card game operators. This wasn't done peacefully. Castellazzo and Joel Cacace's sons apparently showed up at a card game ran by John Azzarelli demanding money, according to wiretap transcripts introduced in Tommy Gioeli's 2012 trial, and Castellazzo was charged in 2011 with squeezing Gioeli associate Roger Califano for a $10,000 annual Christmas tribute, which was double Califano's amount he paid to Gioeli.

That being said, do I think there will be a power struggle in the Colombo family? No, not really. A Massachusetts-based soldier with essentially zero ties to New York was promoted to street boss purely because an imprisoned Allie Persico said so, and he wasn't met with any resistance. Following Andy Russo's 2011 imprisonment and detention without bail, a long-retired soldier in Los Angeles and a Florida-based soldier were called in to run the family and, again, there doesn't seem to have been any resistance. Finally, and most importantly, money has continued to flow into the Persico family's hands, even when they were almost all behind bars. There are are lot of examples of that in recent court papers, mostly pointing to Angelo Spata, who dispensed money from Joker-Poker operations to the imprisoned Persicos, sent $5000 of Califano's shakedown to the imprisoned Persicos, and demanded that acting capo Anthony Russo collect money owed by associate Richie Cappa as part of the Persico family's Christmas tribute, which indicates that associates far-and-wide are obliged to kick up Christmastime tributes to the imprisoned leadership.

Thanks, great insight about the current and past situations. It sounds like there is still friction between the 2 sides, but that there is enough money being spread around that it keeps everybody peaceful. Castellazzo, how long was he a capo, and was it that he just took the acting boss position because there was not any communication yet from the Persicos who were in prison. Kind of a situation were somebody had to be boss on the streets, till the Persicos got word out about who will be street boss. Then the Persicos basically gave him the Underboss position to appease the Orena faction? Also where did Joel Cacace fit in, I always thought he was a Persico loyalist? You mentioned that his sons were with Castellazzo. Also what do you think about Cacace getting out pretty soon.

[slimshady_007]

Regarding the possibility of a power struggle;
We've seen both the Bonannos and the Luccheses go through power struggles in the last couple of years that almost led to bloodshed, so we shouldn't discount the fact that there may be very ambitious people in the Colombo family that are still willing to fight for the top slot. Even today, there's a lot of money that flows into Persico family's hands, according to Angelo Spata's 2011 court papers.

Over the years, the Persicos have definitely made it their top priority to keep the family as loyal and short-leashed as possible. The majority of the recent inductees for the family were Persico loyalists during the Third Colombo War, despite that faction being only a quarter of the size of the Orena camp. This is clearly intentional. Administration changes have also tended to favor the Persico faction; Andrew Russo, Tommy Gioeli, and Ralph DeLeo as street bosses, as well as Theodore Persico Jr., Reynold Maragni, Thomas Farese, Anthony Russo, Dino Calabro, Michael Catapano, and Anthony Stropoli all being given capo/acting capo titles.

Nevertheless, the Orena faction's presence is still unavoidable, given that they were three times the size of the Persico camp during the war. Of the five known capos in the Colombo family today, two of them supported Orena. Joey Amato is the most dangerous of those two. He was a devout Orena supporter during the war and was instrumental in organizing murders against the Persico side. He was arrested in 1993 as a disgraced enemy of the borgata, but somehow came out after serving sixteen years and jumped back to the top. He was released in 2009. By around 2012/13, he was a capo and had a top associate of his - John Cerbone - attending sitdowns on his behalf (according to Cerbone's own taped conversations cited in his 2015 case). Then, Amato was able to get Cerbone inducted, even though Cerbone was another Orena faction supporter involved in murder conspiracies against the Persicos, and later became a member of the Cutolo crew later in the '90s. During this time frame, Amato was the so-called "boss of Staten Island," according to Gang Land News. It's up to interpretation what Capeci meant by that. He might have been citing court papers, or he might have just been pumping up Amato's status as capo. Still very intriguing, given that Amato accomplished all of this in three short years.

The only problem is, Joey's most likely on borrowed time. When the overworked and undermanned Bonanno/Colombo/Genovese FBI squad finally refocus their limited manpower on the Colombos, they probably don't have to try very hard to nab Amato on a racketeering/extortion pinch. One of the tapes released in John Cerbone's 2015 trial was one in which he bragged about being recently inducted into the family and attending various sitdowns on Joey Amato's behalf. The only reason that recording was cited was to prove Cerbone's own induction, so one can only imagine what other tapes the informant in that case (who hasn't been publicly revealed, but was apparently the grandson of a Genovese wiseguy) collected from Cerbone regarding Amato's criminal activities and status. More recently, Colombo associate Anthony Preza has flipped and told the feds all about how he paid protection money to Joey Amato, specifically to prevent him getting attacked by Bonanno capo Joe Sabella That's extortion, and Sabella has already pleaded guilty to his role in the Preza shakedown. In fact, when Preza stopped paying Amato's protection fee, Joey gave Sabella the green light to do whatever he pleased to Preza. That's a criminal case that writes itself, especially with Preza willing to take the stand. Let's be honest, extortion cases have been made out of much less than that. Gambino acting capo Anthony Licata was charged with extortion last year even after he told the so-called victim "that no one was going to hurt him and that he did not have to pay the money if he did not want to," according to Gang Land News. Better yet, the so-called victim was only being "extorted" after he stole $50,000 from the widow of a former business partner. Go figure.

Ralphie Lombardo is the second known family capo that was an Orena supporter. He's 86, so he's probably not much to worry about and he's proven himself to be far too low-key to seek the limelight. He even uses an acting capo as an intermediary for his own crew. Gang Land News, in one article from 2012 IIRC, reported that Lombardo was neutral during the Colombo war. Court testimony from Dino Calabro disproves that; apparently, Lombardo was targeted for assassination during the war. Then, Lombardo was targeted for assassination again by Allie Persico in the late '90s/early '00s, due to fears he was an informer. He might be 86, but it would probably be fair to say he's got a lot of animosity towards Allie, Tommy Gioeli, Joel Cacace, and the rest of the top Colombo honchos who planned to whack him.

The biggest threat to the Persico administration, in my eyes, is probably Ben Castellazzo, the family's official underboss. I know it's 2019, but I can't imagine that Castellazzo sleeps well knowing what happened to the Colombo Family's last Orena-supporting underboss. It's not as if he has nothing to worry about; he was stalked and targeted for death by Tommy Gioeli's crew during the war. Castellazzo's no spring chicken (he's just hit 80), but he's been incredibly active in recent years with a fast-growing crew, and I can't imagine he's endeared himself to the Persicos. For starters, Castellazzo seized the acting boss position after Tommy Gioeli's June 2008 imprisonment. Gang Land News reported in late 2008 that Gioeli didn't have a clear successor, because nobody wanted the job, but recently-unearthed court papers (from yours truly) have disproved that. Then, Gang Land News reported that, from prison, Allie Persico handpicked a relatively-unknown Massachusetts soldier, Ralph DeLeo, to serve as street boss in order to prevent the elements of the family loyal to Vic Orena taking control of the family, according to law enforcement sources. Piecing those two facts together, it seems DeLeo got the job specifically to thwart Castellazzo.

Benji was then demoted to acting underboss, but continued to throw his weight around. He inducted two of his top associates in one 2009 ceremony, Manny Favuzza and Sally Castagno, and began taking over rackets that formerly belonged to Tommy Gioeli, including the annual shakedown of bookmakers and card game operators. This wasn't done peacefully. Castellazzo and Joel Cacace's sons apparently showed up at a card game ran by John Azzarelli demanding money, according to wiretap transcripts introduced in Tommy Gioeli's 2012 trial, and Castellazzo was charged in 2011 with squeezing Gioeli associate Roger Califano for a $10,000 annual Christmas tribute, which was double Califano's amount he paid to Gioeli.

That being said, do I think there will be a power struggle in the Colombo family? No, not really. A Massachusetts-based soldier with essentially zero ties to New York was promoted to street boss purely because an imprisoned Allie Persico said so, and he wasn't met with any resistance. Following Andy Russo's 2011 imprisonment and detention without bail, a long-retired soldier in Los Angeles and a Florida-based soldier were called in to run the family and, again, there doesn't seem to have been any resistance. Finally, and most importantly, money has continued to flow into the Persico family's hands, even when they were almost all behind bars. There are are lot of examples of that in recent court papers, mostly pointing to Angelo Spata, who dispensed money from Joker-Poker operations to the imprisoned Persicos, sent $5000 of Califano's shakedown to the imprisoned Persicos, and demanded that acting capo Anthony Russo collect money owed by associate Richie Cappa as part of the Persico family's Christmas tribute, which indicates that associates far-and-wide are obliged to kick up Christmastime tributes to the imprisoned leadership.

Awesome breakdown on the whole subject. The Persicos have cemented their name in the Colombos (Tbh the family should just be renamed the Persico family by this point). If anyone challenges Teddy’s authority they’ll either be shelved or killed. When Teddy gets out I can see him holding the boss position and naming a blood relative as his street boss/ messenger so that he isn’t caught up on a parole violation.

[Dr031718]

If Teddy Jr were smart he would stay as far away from the top spot as possible, but i doubt that will happen. I would be interested to find out more info on Amato if anyone has more insight