Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali, the leader of the Gambino crime family, was slain Wednesday outside his Staten Island home after being shot, and became the first mob boss to be killed in New York City in more than 30 years.
Cali, 53, was shot six times while his wife and children were inside their home around 9:20 p.m., police sources told the New York Times and the New York Post.
“I just heard the pow-pow-pow-pow-pow,” a neighbor who identified himself as Salvatore told the Times.
The New York Daily News reports a family member called 911 and claimed that a blue pickup truck struck the mob leader before he was shot. Investigators are still examining whether Cali was harmed by the truck, and are trying to track down the blue pickup truck.
“There were like six shots, and then there were three more,” a witness told the Daily News. “The man was on the ground face-up. His head was by his SUV, and the truck was open.”
Police claimed Thursday no arrests have been made and they are analyzing video footage of the incident.
Cali, who was originally from Sicily, was declared dead at Staten Island University Hospital North.
The last time a crime family boss was shot in New York was 1985, when Paul Castellano of the Gambino family was outside Manhattan’s Sparks Steak House.
Castellano’s death was arranged by John Gotti, who took control of the family afterwards and was known for dining at expensive restaurants as he was accompanied by bodyguards.
Gotti and multiple leaders of the Gambino family were convicted in the 1990s for crimes such as murder and racketeering, but Cali only pleaded guilty to conspiring to extort money in 2008 as part of an unsuccessful effort to construct a NASCAR track on Staten Island. He served 16 months behind bars for his only mob-related criminal conviction.
The Daily News and other local media outlets report Cali became the leader of the Gambino crime family, one of the “Five Families” that monopolize organized crime in New York City, in 2015 and succeeded Domenico Cefalu once Cefalu stepped down.
