The Gambino crime family has a new boss.
As first reported by Jerry Capeci in his Gang Land column, Lorenzo Mannino has now reportedly become the new leader of the nation’s best-known mafia family.
Mannino, who has been living in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn since his release from prison in 2004, replaces Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali, who was fatally shot outside his home in March.
According to the feds, Mannino is a powerful figure in the family’s Sicilian faction and has been part of the top administration for the past several years.
Mr. Capeci writes that law enforcers say Domenico “Italian Dom” Cefalu is still the boss, but Mannino is the real leader, even if he doesn’t have the official title.
Michael (Mikey Boy) Paradiso, who has spent about 25 years behind bars during a crime spree that’s lasted 55 plus years, is serving as the family’s consigliere, or number three man in the family hierarchy.
| Gambino Family Administration | Age |
|---|---|
| Lorenzo Mannino | 60 |
| Domenico “Italian Dom” Cefalu | 72 |
| Michael “Mikey Boy” Paradiso | 79 |
The Mafia today
Despite the waves of prosecutions, the FBI maintains that La Cosa Nostra – an Italian phrase meaning “our thing” – is still the “foremost organized criminal threat to American society,” said Richard Frankel who supervises the FBI’s organized crime squad.
“Some people like to talk up the Russians but they can’t come close to the Italian mob.”
“Sure the Russians are powerful in their home country, but what mob isn’t?”
While the Russians are ruthless and smart, they do not have the numbers in the US alone to be a dominant criminal force in most parts of the country.
The Italian mob has been in this country for a very long time.
In New York alone, there are about 6-7 thousand individuals associated with La Cosa Nostra.
In 2016, Selwyn Raab, a former investigative reporter for The New York Times, wrote that the 9/11 attacks had proved an unexpected boom to the syndicate, as the majority of the FBI’s organized crime agents were reassigned to the war on terror.
This reduced scrutiny has allowed Mafia crime families to regroup and revive in recent years.
“They’re still getting reinforcements, they’re shipping more blood over from Sicily and Southern Italy,” Raab told Rolling Stone magazine.
Thirty-three years after John Gotti whacked his boss Paul Castellano, which brought a wave of devastating prosecutions, La Cosa Nostra has reverted back to their old-guard ways.
Gone are the days of the celebrity mob boss, flaunting flashy cars and expensive suits; today’s mobsters are keeping a low profile.
“La Cosa Nostra is still very much part of the fabric of New York City,” said a law-enforcement source. “They’re never going to go away.”
This article was originally posted here