Man arrested after notorious mob boss is shot dead on his own doorstep

A man has been arrested over the killing of Frank Cali, a mob boss in NY’s Gambino crime family
A man has been arrested over the killing of Frank Cali, a mob boss in NY’s Gambino crime family

A man has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a rumoured crime boss.

Police in New York said that a 24-year-old man has been arrested after the shooting death of the reputed boss of the notorious Gambino family.

Anthony Comello was arrested in New Jersey on Saturday over the death of Francesco Cali in front of his Staten Island home, said Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea.

“There are multiple, multiple angles that we are exploring,” he said at a news conference at police headquarters. “Was the person paid to do it? Were others conspiring to do this crime?”

The 53-year-old Cali, a native of Sicily, was shot to death by a gunman who may have crashed his truck into Cali’s car to lure him outside. Mr Shea said Cali was shot 10 times.

Mr Shea said police had recovered the truck but had not recovered the gun used in the murder.

Asked about Comello’s arrest record, Mr Shea said he “crossed paths in some limited circumstances with the NYPD” including getting a parking ticket on Staten Island the day Cali was killed.

FILE PHOTO: New York City Police (NYPD) Crime Scene investigators work at the scene where reported New York Mafia Gambino family crime boss, Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali, was killed outside his home in the Staten Island borough of New York City, U.S., March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: New York City Police (NYPD) Crime Scene investigators work at the scene where reported New York Mafia Gambino family crime boss, Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali, was killed outside his home in the Staten Island borough of New York City, U.S., March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Comello will be extradited from New Jersey to New York to face charges, Mr Shea said. Information on a lawyer for Comello was not immediately available.

Federal prosecutors referred to Cali in court filings in recent years as the underboss of the Mafia’s Gambino family, once one of the most powerful crime organisations in the country.

News accounts since 2015 said he had ascended to the top spot.

Police say the investigation remains in its early stages and officers continue to look into whether Cali’s murder was a mob hit or whether he was killed for some other motive

The last Mafia boss to be rubbed out in New York City was Gambino don “Big Paul” Castellano, who was assassinated while getting out of a black limousine outside a high-end Manhattan steakhouse in 1985.