On this day, three top New York Mafia bosses were sentenced to 100 years in prison each in a major blow to the city’s “Five Families.”
The bosses of the Colombo, Genovese and Lucchese organized crime families received the century-long terms for membership on a commission that had settled disputes, divided loot and occasionally ordered killings for the Mafia since Prohibition.
Time magazine called this “Case of Cases,” possibly “the most significant assault on the infrastructure of organized crime since the high command of the Chicago Mafia was swept away in 1943.”
The anonymous jury found all eight defendants guilty of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy.
The three Godfathers included Genovese boss Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno, 76, Colombo head Carmine “Junior” Persico, 53, and Anthony “Tony Ducks” Corallo, 73, the boss of the Lucchese mob.
The convictions earned then-U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani a national reputation as tough and innovative crime fighter.
