Mob Boss's Killing Reminds New Yorkers of the Mafia's Lingering Presence

On Wednesday evening, Francesco "Frank” Cali, a reputed boss in the Gambino crime family, was gunned down outside his Staten Island home. Police are still investigating the motive behind the murder. It's the first killing of a New York mob boss in several years, and it was all the more surprising because Cali, unlike his predecessors, had stayed out of the headlines during his time as an alleged mafia leader.

Jerry Capeci, a mafia expert who runs the website ganglandnews.com, told WNYC's Jami Floyd that Cali was thought to be the family's second-highest ranking member, known as the underboss. Capeci says Cali's career reflected the low-key style of the American Mafia in 2019. Today, he says, thanks to extensive federal prosecutions, the mob’s clout has dissipated. And while it continues to profit off of illegal activities, such as bookmaking, loan sharking, and gambling, it's nowhere near the force that it was several decades ago.

As for those concerned about whether Cali's murder signals the start of a new mafia war, Capeci says he wouldn't worry, because the killing has none of the signatures of a mob hit.

“He was killed in front of his house, in front of his wife and kids," Capeci said. "It's not the kind of thing the mob would do if it was going to assassinate a high-ranking member of the crime family."