Reputed Gambino crime family boss Francesco Cali gunned down outside Staten Island home

A gunman in a blue pickup shot dead Francesco (Franky Boy) Cali, the reputed head of the notorious Gambino crime family, outside his mansion in New York City's Staten Island borough on Wednesday night. Cali, 53 was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Federal prosecutors have referred to Cali as a Gambino underboss in court filings, but police sources tell the New York Post and New York Daily News that Cali was elevated to head of the Gambino organization in 2015, replacing Domenico Cefalu. The Daily News says he was shot six times in the chest.

This was the first murder of a mob boss in New York City since Gambino chief Paul Castellano was gunned down outside Sparks Steak House in Manhattan, on orders from the man who replaced him, John Gotti. Unlike the "Dapper Don," who died in prison in 2002, Cali "was a real quiet old-school boss," a police source told the Post, and "no one ever sees him." Killing Cali outside his house was "disrespectful," another police source told the Post. "Even Gotti had more respect. ... He did it out in Manhattan."

Cali, a native of Sicily, had replenished the ranks of Gambino gangsters with Italian immigrants and had focused operations on heroin and OxyContin, the Post reports. He was convicted in an extortion conspiracy involving a failed NASCAR track projected in 2008 and served 16 months in prison.

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