Carmine Persico

Carmine Persico John, Jr . (Born August 8, 1933 in Brooklyn , New York City ; † March 7, 2019 in Durham , North Carolina ), also known as Junior , The Snake or Immortal (English: The Immortal), has been since 1970s head of the Colombo family , one of the five families of La Cosa Nostra in New York City. Persico served a 139-year prison sentence for murder and various other criminal activities in the Federal Correctional Complex, Butner , North Carolina, from 1987 until his death .

biography

Adolescent years

Carmine John Persico Jr was born to Carmine John Persico Sr. His father was a recognized member of the "Luciano family" under Charles "Lucky" Luciano in the early 1930s, which was later classified as the Genovese family . Carmine Jr. and his brothers quickly followed similar paths as their father.

His brother Theodore Persico was Capo of the Colombo family, his older brother, Alphonse Persico (who was to become the namesake of Carmine Persico's son), died in custody in March 1989. Other relatives include his cousins Vittorio "Vic" Orena and Andrew " Andy Rush “Russo , both of whom were capo in the 1980s.

When Persico was 17 years old, he was suspected of murder. An NYPD informant , known only by the code name "Blue Angel", identified Persico as the perpetrator in a murder case. Before Carmine Persico could be charged, however, his older brother Alphonse "Allie Boy" confessed to the crime and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In the late 1940s Persico made the acquaintance of Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo and his brothers, who first became allies and later mortal enemies.

Admission to the Profaci family

In the 1950s, under Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci , Persico became a "made man" of the Profaci family - he became a full member of the La Cosa Nostra clans, which were later classified as the Colombo family .

He was quickly involved in a number of illegal activities such as extortion , illegal gambling , drug trafficking and - since he also had a reputation as one of the toughest mobsters in Brooklyn - in particular murder .

The war between Gallo and Profaci

After the Gallo brothers joined the family around the same time as Persico Jr., they quickly became legendary in New York City.

After Giuseppe Profaci, who had been collecting taxes from the Gallo brothers for years, organized the murder of their former member Frank "Frankie Shots" Abbatemarco, they were hired by Carlo Gambino and Thomas Lucchese to undermine the alliance between Profaci and Bonanno.

In February 1961, Gallo and Persico organized the hostage-taking of prominent Profaci members, such as the long-time underboss Joseph “Joe Maylak” Magliocco and the then Capo Joseph “Joe C.” Colombo, in order to force a change at the head of the family. At a meeting of the Gallos with Carmine Persico and Profacis Consigliere Charles "Charlie the Sidge" Lociciero, in return for the release of the hostages, they demanded changes in the distribution of profits within the groupings. Profaci agreed, but had Charles Locicero withdraw the offer a short time later in order to gain time to plan a counterattack on his part.

The change of side

In August 1961, a murder attempt was carried out against Larry Gallo in a bar, which was only prevented because a police officer who happened to be passing by surprised the hit man at his "work" and Gallo was able to escape. Carmine Persico was of particular importance in this attack, because the planned meeting with Larry Gallo was agreed on the pretext that Persico wanted to switch back to the Gallo brothers. This attack as well as the changing loyalty attitudes formed the origin of the nickname "The Snake" (am: the snake), which Persico was to receive.

In return for the assassination attempt on their brother, the Gallos began to attack Profacis men, and Carmine Persico was also shot several times.

Profacis death

In late 1961, the FBI hit the Gallo brothers and Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo was arrested for extortion. But although Gallo was behind bars, the remaining members of the Gallo faction acted against the Profacis. On June 6, 1962, long-time boss Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci died of lung cancer , and Joseph "Joe Maylak" Magliocco took his place in the family.

Commissioners Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese and also the Gallos did not agree with this decision.

"Stubborn, combative and immortal."

Hoping to weaken the new boss Magliocco, his strongest and most combative man, Carmine Persico, was again the target of the Gallos in 1963.

A bomb was placed in Persico's car, but he survived the attack with minor injuries. On May 19 of the same year, Persico was shot in the face, hand and shoulder (according to mafia expert Jerry Capeci, this happened during a " drive-by " shoot by the Gallos). It is reported that Persico simply spat out one of the bullets that had penetrated his face, which earned him the name " The Immortal " (the immortal).

In another incident a few days later, one of Persico's men, Hugh McIntosh, was ambushed and shot, but survived the attack. Later that year, both men, Persico and McIntosh, were arrested for kidnapping and extortion.

The Gallo brothers give up

After almost four years in the internal war against Persico, the remaining Gallos realized that their power was insufficient to continue fighting the strengthened Maglioccio faction. In the fall of 1963, the imprisoned "Crazy" Joe Gallo finally gave up the fight.

The family under Magliocco

After the Gallos war against Profaci was over, Joseph "Joe Maylak" Magliocco and the head of the Bonanno family Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno joined forces and founded the Bonanno / Profaci alliance. Through this union they became more powerful than before.

Joe Bonanno had set himself the goal of murdering the competing heads of the Gambino and Lucchese families in order to finally dominate the National Crime Syndicate together with Magliocco . Joseph Colombo was tasked with carrying out Bonanno's plans. But instead of turning them off, Joe Colombo let Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese know about Bonanno's plans. Bonanno and Magliocco were then supposed to face the commission of the National Crime Syndicate . Joe Bonanno went into hiding, Magliocco faced his actions. He was fined $ 50,000 and had to resign as the head of the family.

Then Joe Colombo was installed as the new boss of the family. Since then, the family has also been known by its current name. Colombo appointed Carmine Persico, who was serving a prison sentence for extortion and kidnapping during this time, as its capo.

Capo under Colombo

Joe Valachi said of Carmine Persico's time as the Capo regime: "Whenever there was business to be done on the streets, Persico was there."

Blackmail, illegal gambling, kidnappings, robberies and above all contract killings were the specialties of Persico's men, who quickly became one of the most profitable crews in the entire Colombo family in the late 1960s.

The attack on Colombo

On June 28, 1971, at a rally of the " Italian-American Civil Rights League ", Joe Colombo was shot. Colombo was in the midst of the audience. One of the assassins, Jerome Johnson, was shot dead on the spot by Colombo's bodyguards, and a second escaped undetected.

Carlo Gambino and Carmine Persico were then arrested and interrogated along with a dozen other mafiosi. The jailed Joseph Gallo , who was considered one of the main suspects and could easily have organized such a reprisal from prison, was called up for questioning. However, the case could not be resolved.

Colombo survived the shooting but then fell into a vegetative state from which he did not wake up until his death, seven years later on May 22, 1978.

Advancement within the family

After Colombo was no longer able to do so, Carmine Persico was proposed as the family's new "acting boss". At that time, however, he was under constant police surveillance and prosecution, so Persico relegated himself to the underboss and appointed Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi as the new boss during his trial in court . Even though Carmine was not the official head, he still retained full control of the family.

Crazy Joe

In 1971 "Crazy Joe" Gallo was released from prison after serving ten years in prison. Persico's future as boss did not look bright, as it was suspected that Gallo was ready for another blow against the Colombo.

On April 7, 1972, Joe Gallo celebrated his birthday with some friends. Gallo, his bodyguard and four companions were looking for a restaurant in Little Italy in downtown Manhattan that was still open. In Umberto's Clam House in the Mulberry Street finally struck gold. However, the celebration was interrupted when suddenly a gangster opened fire on them. Gallo was hit several times and died on the scene.

Carmine Persico was then arrested as a suspect, but released due to a lack of evidence. Persico later went to prison for credit fraud and extortion from 1973 to 1979. Despite long prison sentences, he was still the underboss of the family and was able to keep his position thanks to the appointment of various street bosses who were loyal to him, including Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella. After Persico's brother Alphonse was released from prison, he took the place of the “acting boss” in the family.

On the run

Persico was at large at the time, had gone into hiding on various charges against him, including murder and extortion, and was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list of fugitive criminals on January 31, 1985 . Meanwhile, Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella was used as "acting boss". Persico was arrested on February 15, 1985, along with ten other senior members of the New York City Five Families, and charged in the Mafia Commission Trial .

The trial and the verdict: de facto life

Carmine "Junior" Persico was charged in the spring of 1985 with murder, conspiracy and illegal profiteering. Due to his many years of experience in various court proceedings, he wanted to defend himself in this process despite the warning of the negotiating judge. As is customary with high-ranking members of the "family", he was of course assisted by several lawyers to prepare himself for questions from the public prosecutor. But with their help, too, he was found guilty. He was sentenced to 39 years in prison in the first trial. Half a year later he was sentenced in another trial to a subsequent 100-year prison term. He was also fined $ 250,000.

Brooklyn Rivalries and the Third Colombo War

After Persico's conviction, he continued to lead the family from his prison cell in the Lompoc Federal Penitentiary in California . He used several familiar people as "street bosses"; including his cousin Vittorio "Vic" Orena. However, he wanted to head the family himself and so it came to a fight between the proponents of Orenas (including the "acting boss" of the Gambino family , John Gotti ) and Persico's supporters. Persico felt threatened by Orena and so he had his consigliere Carmine Sessa carry out an attack on Orena. On June 20, 1991, a five-man team surrounded Orena's house in Long Island . One of the men fired shots before the other four were in position, so Vic Orena managed to escape in time. The attack failed and no one was injured.

On behalf of his boss, Sessa then called on the commission to intervene and described Orena in front of the commission as a renegade member who had betrayed his boss. In his opinion, the only way to solve this problem was to get rid of Orena. But the Commission did not intervene.

The Colombo War, for example, claimed twelve deaths and 15 injured, until the entire Orena faction was seized by the FBI in 1993. A few days later, over 40 members of the Persico crew were arrested.

During the trial, Persico's underboss Gregory Scarpa Sr. testified as an informant against dozens of members of the Colombo family. Among other things, he also incriminated Vittorio Orena. Orena and his subordinates were sentenced to life imprisonment and expelled from the Colombo family. Carmine Persico and the rest of his men therefore saw themselves as winners of the gang war.

New family structures

In the years 1991–93, at the time of the Colombo War, Persico's son Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico was considered a hot candidate for the post of "acting boss". But since there were several lawsuits against him, Carmine decided to put a three-man committee, consisting of his brother Theodore "Teddy" Persico, Joseph Baudanza and Joseph "T." Tomasello, at the head of the family.

However, when Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo, a powerful member of the Colombo family and also related to Persico, was released from prison in 1994, he named him "acting boss".

Imprisonment

When Persico was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1985, he was sent to Lompoc, California, Detention Center. His inmate number was 74666-158.

While in custody he met Joseph "JR" Russo, a former consigliere of the Patriarca family and a former member of the Lucchese family .

Although he is said to be behind bars for the rest of his life, Persico formed a band called " Lompoc Four " with Russo and two other men . Russo played guitar there and Persico sat on drums. However, Russo died in 1998. Persico was still in Lompoc until 2004. Then he was transferred to a North Carolina prison.

Alphonse Persico

In 1999 Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico finally became the head of the severely weakened Colombo family. However, he should only hold this office for a short time, because in 2000 he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for illicit gun possession. The Coast Guard had seized a loaded .38 handgun and a shotgun on his boat off Florida.

On the day of his release, January 24, 2001, he was charged again in New York, this time with credit fraud. On December 20, 2001, "Allie Boy" confessed his guilt and was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment and a total fine of one million dollars.

Later, in 2004 and 2007, he was convicted of a murder conspiracy. Like his father, Alphonse will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

Last years of life

Experts believed that Carmine Persico was in control of the family while in prison. In the more than 50 years that he worked for the Colombo family, his name was linked more than once to various assassinations, he survived three wars within the family and the "immortal" was shot at more than twenty times.

Persico was also one of only three men charged in the Mafia Commission trial at the time who were still alive in 2019.

literature

• Selwyn Raab: Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires . St. Martin's Press 2006, ISBN 0-312-36181-5

Web links

• Carmine John Persico, Jr. (No longer available online.) In: FBI Files. Archived from the original on October 10, 2004 . 
• A Look At Mob Hits, Misses, Disappearances, and Deaths In America: 1991. In: AmericanMafia.com. January 2004(English). 
• Colombo family: Junior's War. (No longer available online.) In: CrimeLibrary.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2007 . 
• Organized Crime Syndicates: Carmine “Junior” Persico. (No longer available online.) In: geocities.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2009 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Trouble and More Trouble. (No longer available online.) In: CrimeLibrary.com. 2007, archived from the original on May 9, 2008 ; accessed on March 9, 2019 (English). 
2. ^ The First Colombo Crime Family War - Profaci / Magliocco v. Gallo. (No longer available online.) In: angelfire.com. March 31, 2007, archived from the original on November 8, 2007 ; accessed on March 9, 2019 (English). 
3. ↑ Joseph "Joe C". (No longer available online.) In: angelfire.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007 ; accessed on March 9, 2019 (English). 
4. ^ The Return of Crazy Joey. (No longer available online.) In: CrimeLibrary.com. 2007, archived from the original on May 10, 2008 ; accessed on March 9, 2019 (English). 
5. ↑ Carmine Persico Register Number: 74666-158. In: Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate information. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .