Joe Columbo: The Youngest Godfather That Redefined The Mafia | Mafia's Greatest Hits

[Music] Joe Columbo was a man who liked to do things differently he was the only mobster who dared to protest against the FBI you don't go to war with the United States government nobody goes to war with the United States government they're too powerful but Columbo did his weapon of choice Mass protest there's a conspiracy in this country against every Italian American we been saying this we'll continue to say it and it's only till it touches them but in following this path Columbo moved from crime into politics and the glare of publicity on the way he broke the cardinal rule of the mafia he was the one that chose publicity over silence he was the one that chose cameras over staying in the shadows Columbo became infatuated with fa Fame and celebrity and completely forgot the way a mobster should live this incensed the old mafiosa they didn't want that and he was told stop this if you continue you're going to pay a [Music] price in the heart of Manhattan in front of thousands of witnesses Joe Columbo would face his Day of Reckoning [Music] across the East River from Manhattan lies the burrow of Brooklyn in 1962 this was Mafia country the hunting ground of Joseph Columbo The 40-Year-Old mobster lived and worked these streets he was a cappo or Captain a mid-ranking mafioso in New York's profaci crime family one of the five crime families that dominated the city's criminal [Music] underworld then in 1964 an event took place that would supercharge his career Columbo was summoned by his mafia boss to an important meeting Joe Mago had a mission for him it was a hit and a particularly dangerous one the Joseph Columbo this was nothing [Music] new he had already killed people about 11 murders to date [Music] rubbing people out was what cappos did you would never advance to cppo without killing they tell you to kill somebody you go out and kill somebody and you don't resign except be first you would not even be considered for kappo unless youve murdered somebody on orders from the boss so until this moment Columbo was nothing special within Mafia circles just one killer amongst many there are plenty of people like that around typical kind of uh hoodlum nothing outstanding about him that that I know of but that was about to change forever the target this time was none other than Carlo [Music] Gambino from a young hoodlum he become New York's biggest Mafia Godfather father Gambino was generally regarded as the most powerful boss in the city he was unquestionably the most fearsome mobster in town Gambino had built his family into New York's toughest Clan he could take on three out of the five families at one time that's how big his organization was and he had some of the best killers that there were if you killed Carlo Gambino that was the kiss of death so rather than kill Carlo Gambino Columbo decided to tip him off he was now breaking one of the mb's most important rules [Music] every Mafia Family relies on unswerving loyalty from its [Music] members this is one of the so-called Ten Commandments your family comes first always you swear allegiance to that family and only that family nothing nothing will come before your family your mafia and everything else takes second place to it but Columbo completely rejected this he went straight to the man he'd been told to kill Carlo [Music] Gambino the move worked well Gambino was grateful first he ordered Columbo boss Joe maglio to retire then as a reward for Columbo's bold move he was given mago's old job he was promoted to head of a family renamed in his honor the prachi family became the Columbo family in 1964 sometimes if you want to advance you have to make bold moves very bold very bold but it worked out Columbo had made Mafia history he became the youngest Godfather in a [Music] generation thanks to Columbo's new position there were now real benefits he could live off the proceeds of crime paid to him by his criminal family [Music] members well if you had a Godfather you had a Bo her family and depending upon the size of that family uh all your cappos have to be bringing an envelope up to you everything that is brought into the family is kicked up to the head of the family Columbo eagerly took over the best money-making operations and the cash rolled in anywhere where there was money to be made you could find organized crime they know how to make money out of just about anything there was illegal gambling sometimes games were rigged to earn extra cash well the gambling R racket was basically you could have a a floating crap game or a a poker game and it could be moved anywhere within the the city of New York I mean it had cocktail waitress and everything was a high-end roll and it still goes on [Music] today Columbo and his men didn't just make money from the bets but also from loan shocking to Gamblers or anyone who needed cash [Music] [Applause] fast loan sharking or [ __ ] loans charged borrowers huge rates of weekly interest known as The Vig basically there are many people out there that need money and Banks would not not that readily give them the money because they had no Financial backing organized crime would of course he would pay an interest on the money almost 25 to 26% if you miss a payment they'll double The Vig if you carried on missing payments you could expect a beating or worse the lone Shark book of any mafia operator could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars of weekly income it was an easy way to make cash on the street Columbo also made money from hijacking trucks and caros the stolen goods were then sold on known as fencing added to the mix was extortion protection rackets and Infamous Mafia run Union scams unions controlled everything from construction to garbage so the Mafia took over the unions they plundered the Pension funds and set up trade monopolies that benefited only them as a result Columbo was getting seriously Rich the only problem was this wealth began to attract attract the attention of the police and the FBI a couple of years into Columbo's Reign the authorities started to look hard at organized crime in New York in the previous decade the police and FBI had been slow to recognize the threat posed by the [Music] mafia now Columbo and the city's mafia families were in their [Music] sights in September 1966 the FBI and queen's District Attorney's Office made its first [Music] breakthrough a massive bust at the lella restaurant in the east of the [Music] city lella was a restaurant Queens Boulevard and queens and they brought in the Marb Chiefs from all over the country and they all sat down and broke bread and went over their operations and uh we were able to get information from an informant that they were all there and we raided the place the Queen's district attorney made a big deal of the raid these are 13 of the top uh Mob leaders in the country their meeting has Nationwide implications in our uh opinion and uh as far as we know this is a unique meeting we uh have never had such a meeting of top family leaders and Gangdam leaders in this County to our knowledge nobody should die that way I've never seen anything that horri one of the duties of a pathologist is to determine the cause of death watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required download vely now heralded the start of a new fight back against the mob and especially the New York families Columbo as a family head was now on the law enforcement [Music] radar in 1966 he was subpoena to stand as a witness in a federal investigation into racketeering it meant appearing before what's known under the American system as a grand jewelry everybody's afraid of uh what's going to happen in a Federal grand jury because it forces people to come in to appear and give testimony and now you lock them into that testimony Colombo could no longer hide in the shadows he was dragged into a very public Arena but when he came to court he started duct a mob protocols and refused to testify insisting he was just an honest businessman one of the codes of the mob is don't make yourself a Target don't make yourself to go out there and bring attention to you and to our operation what they call our thing cause an arra the Code of Silence is is held by a lot of different groups and the old bosses believed in keeping a low profile and your mouth done his strict observance of this tradition cost him his punishment was 30 days in jail an easy [Music] stretch but for Joe Colombo this was an epiphany he realized what attracted the FBI and pleas to him was his wealth without any visible source of income so he devised a perfect solution to deal with a new heat from the [Music] FBI he would become an ordinary working Joe and he passed down a dictat that all his family members had to hold down a real job too a facade of legality Columbo led by example he worked as a Salesman at cantalupo realy based here at 86th Street in Benson Hurst Brooklyn on their books The Godfather was a $35,000 a year [Music] employee in reality he conducted his Mafia business at the offices now when pressed by the authorities he could explain his lifestyle and what a lifestyle it was the money flooded in from his numerous rackets and Columbo was starting to get carried away with his status he headed across town to party and enjoy the good life in Manhattan he became increasingly flamboyant and extravagant the decked in expensive jewelry and suits Columbo cruised around the city in flashy Cadillacs Joey like to dress like the biggest actors he like to dress as good as Frank Sinatra he like to dress as good as Dean Martin he didn't want to look like the per schlep he just didn't buy a suit off the rack the suits were tailed made silk shirts he had everything made everything was tail it uh he was meticulous about his clothes by now other Mobsters had learned this was not a good idea flashing the cash drew the attention of the authorities Carlo Gambino you never see him in a nightclub or a bar or checking out with women it was just low key and the other Mafia clans were right to worry columb had reignited attention from the FBI and the income tax authorities who started to look even more closely at his finances $35,000 a year and tailor made suits and shirts did not add [Music] up so the FBI decided to go after [Music] Columbo in 197 his son Joe Jr was arrested for melting down silver coins to extract precious metals Columbo viewed this as a trumped up charge designed to get at him it was The Final Storm now he hit upon a radical solution to the FBI sniffing around his Affairs civil rights [Music] we shall [Music] not after all this was a rich time for civil rights activism Across America Street protest was [Applause] [Music] flourishing the African-American civil rights movement was changing the face of America and inspired many other minority groups into action we're going to walk together we're going to stand together we're going to sing together we're going to stay together we're going to moan together we're going to grown together and after a while weer freedom freedom freedom [Applause] now so Columbo got on the bandwagon from a campaign office here at 7th Avenue the former Hitman prepared to step fully Out of The Shadow and into the glare of publicity and politics we feel that the people have had it and the Italian people in particular in the United States which number 38 million have been losing its identity as time has been going on more and more and more so he exploited the growing unrest in the Italian-American community of the time claimed that Italians were being discriminated against there was some truth in that at that particular time you found very few Italian names on Wall Street in LW banking fs and a lot of Italian Americans were not involved in any kind of organized crime or any other kind of crime so Columbo would stand up for the rights of ordinary Italian Americans and he started in a way that nobody could have foreseen [Music] in fact he declared war on the FBI so he began picketing FBI headquarters which was then on the Upper East [Music] Side it was a remarkable opening Salvo picketing the very heart of law enforcement in New York you thought I I claim that they're discriminating against me I can either make them back off or slow them down day after day a crowd of demonstrators harassed FBI agents coming and going and accused them of unduly targeting men like himself who were legitimate businessmen why the FBI why is the FBI in your mind persecuting the Italians he used all his underlings and we used to call them muks m o KS to stand out there and do the picking for him well it's it's obvious by just what everybody could read the paper uh every time you see something you see that the FBI is labeling Italian people belonging to an organization which they refer to as the mafia as far as we're concerned as Italian people there is no such thing it's a word that's been invented by the law enforcement agencies and we don't feel it's right the crowds grew and media attention followed Columbo reveled in it there a conspiracy in his country against every Italian American we've been saying this we'll continue to say it and it's only till it touches them who are they are they any better than you I or anybody else standing In This Crowd on them this unspoken challenging of authority was unheard of in Mafia [Music] circles it was in marked contrast to his silence at the Grand Jury years before Mafia men used to speaking in harsh tones of the kostra were unsettled that worked all my life and if it isn't in a real EST why declare war on law enforcement you're going to have enough with them as it is why make it personal the worry growing in the highest Circles of the mafia was law enforcement scrutiny would intensify because of Columbo's actions but initially for the FBI agents it was a new unsettling tactic the tables had been turned I know a lot of them were very furious with him there were some collisions there on the picket lines where they almost came to blows now I'll go a little further many of the other minority groups are starting to feel this thing and when they get through with us they have to go on to the next body of people and this is where the public should wake up and this is where the public should start demanding some of these things be brought out to light and why are they so frighten of an investigation and why shouldn't there be an investigation on [Music] them in 1970 Columbo shifted his protest movement up a gear he created the Italian American Civil Rights League everybody wanted to be attached to it everybody including the politicians uh radio commentators actors singers everybody and then people start to realize hey the Italians contributed a lot and a lot they should be proud of the league with Columbo at the helm had huge success almost instantly recruiting some 50,000 paid up members to its cause now you see U nationality Flags well Joe Columbo started it it was the Italian flag being placed on every Cadillac that was it was in Brooklyn owned by an Italian or a Lincoln owned by an Italian every car had an Italian flag on it everybody bought into it and Columbo's League achieved some notable early victories they took their campaign to the highest echelons of corporate America Major Brands like General Motors and Alka selza were targeted their ad campaigns were considered demeaning to Italian [Music] Americans the league got them withdrawn they also got a board game based on the mafia pulled from Macy's department store even Hollywood felt the wroth of the league producers of The Godfather movie started to have trouble filming in New York production was threatened by walkouts obstructions and delays the league came to the rescue offering to smooth the process if the producers agreed to remove all references to the mafia or kostra from the [Music] script leag captains then toward Italian-American neighborhoods to sell the idea of the film to skeptical [Music] residents finally filming was allowed to continue uninterrupted on the landmark Godfather film Columbo went further still he even got the New York mayor prosecutors and FBI to stop referring to the term Mafia in its official documentation as it was prejudicial the city was listening to Joe colomo and the league was proving to be highly [Music] effective in 1970 Columbo was ready for the League's showpiece its first Italian American Unity day rally to be held in Columbus Circle in the heart of Manhattan under the glare of news cameras 50,000 people attended the city's traditionally bustling little italies were deserted the other mob families reluctantly allowed Italian-American businesses to close for the day in [Music] solidarity there was so much press and the streets were just mobbed with with people that were so proud of being Italian and everybody wanted to get up on the the the day is to be standing standing next to Joe Columbo when he spoke of national pride and fellowship my fellow americ Columbo held the stage and attacked the law enforcement Community to the American it was a Triumph for The Godfather turned [Music] activist in the wake of the rally interview followed interview he appeared on TV chat shows and in magazine articles I mean he gave press conferences to all the major newspapers The Daily News the New York mirror uh the post I mean every newspaper wanted to hear from him publicly he continued to describe the mafia as a myth and promised to Champion the rights of all minorities is the Italian American Civil Rights League accomplishing the aims that were set for it oh definitely what has it done how how has it help it has helped not me personally but helped all people it has helped people of all ethnic groups it's helped children it's helped elderly people it's helped anyone that needs help it's made people feel that there are no orphans and anybody who would want help would only have to ask for it and they would have it up until now Columbo's League had presed deserved an air of legality however under Columbo this positive gloss was wearing thin because he was still a mobster and the league was just another money-making opportunity American Civil Rights League was created by Joe Columbo to fight against discrimination as far as that went it wasn't a bad idea but he was the wrong person to be doing something like that he was the wrong person to be represented as a leader of the Italian American [Music] community in fact Columbo was hijacking a legitimate cause the league proved to be a money spinner it was netting him plenty of funds that he could appropriate Joe Columbo formed the Italian-American civil lights as a racket as a scam to make money period and he used it for that purpose he was shaking down store owners all over Italian neighborhoods forcing them to put his sticker in a window it was an Italian flag with a one on in Italian American Civil Rights league and he actually was gonnering receipts from that very wise state senator here who was an Italian American said Columbo don't be fooled by Columbo Columbo wasn't just breaking the law by skimming off a legitimate cause he was creating jealousy and suspicion in the mafia ranks and within his own family his old Mentor Carlo Gambino started to warn him and he was told by Carlo stop this we don't want it and no an if a bus was taken if you continue you're going to pay a price but Columbo was oblivious to any looming danger he thought he was Untouchable on the crest of a wave an immediate darling he wouldn't back down 1971 was going to be his year Columbo was an egotist he figured he was bigger and better than the unit that he was working with which was the mafia then there was more trouble the FBI struck again [Music] angered by Columbo's actions through the Italian-American civil rights League they issued subpoenas for various high-profile [Music] bosses in December 1970 he was arrested along with one of his men Rocco miraglia when police searched their car they found a briefcase stuffed full of incriminating documents detailing the various Columbo family rackets [Music] but worse still the names of other high-ranking mob men Columbo was immediately called before a Federal grand jury to explain himself but then he did something utterly [Music] unforgivable rather than keeping his mouth shut like he had the last time he came before a grand jury he adopted a different tactic and decided to talk his way out of it he explained that the dollar amounts next to names were simply donations for his League car he explained was none other than Carlo Gambino reputed mafia boss the $30,000 next to his name was actually a donation to The League that was a bad move you don't implicate the boss of bosses before a grand jury especially when you're telling a lie the repercussions were [Applause] immediate that same year the police department moved in on the mafia and federal strike forces combed the city even Carlo Gambino paid the price he was was arrested in 1970 it was clear that it was Columbo's loose mouth that had got him into deep [Music] trouble with his former protector and with the FBI his behavior began to worry bosses like Carlo Gambino this incensed the old mafiosa they didn't want that they wanted silence they wanted to stay in the shadows and Joe was bring bringing him out Joe Columbo's days were now [Music] numbered but despite the looming threat Columbo planned to fight on with his tried and tested formula he would roll out The League Across America he even booked Frank Sinatra for a fundraiser at Madison Square Gardens politicians joined the ca including State Governor Nelson Rockefeller and he planned another showcase rally as a platform for his ever expanding [Music] lead this rally would seal his status as a civil rights activist and keep the forces of Law and Order off his [Music] back but by now his enemies inside the mob was [Music] stirring an old adversary from his early days his family boss was waiting in the wings crazy Joe Gallow was watching events from prison with a critical eye Joey Gallow was called crazy Joe and there was a reason for that because he did crazy thing I give an example of Joe Galla's operation they had a club on President Street in Brooklyn and in the basement they had a mountain lion that they used to intimidate victims meaning gambling victims who owed their money or loone shocking victims and if somebody didn't pay up they just bring him to the club on President Street open the door to the basement and down at the bottom of the stairs would be this mountain line ready to you know and they would do what they were told Columbo and Joe Gallow had formed he and his brothers Larry and Albert known as the Gallow Clan had once tried to take over the Columbo family in the 1960s they led a bloody Insurrection from their base here at President Street in Brooklyn until Joe Columbo broke at a peace deal with Larry and Albert Gallow while crazy Joe was in jail now crazy Joe was itching to get back at Old rival Columbo the bottom line his jealousy Gallow wanted to be the boss of the family Columbo was the boss of the family and Gallow wanted to take him out simple as [Music] that Gallow needed soldiers for the forthcoming Showdown and he had a novel idea where to find [Music] them behind bars he had made contacts and alliances with African-American gangsters from East Harlem this was something no one in the mafia had ever attempted the two groups were traditionally enemies but Gallow was ahead of his time he saw that if the two groups worked together they could be [Music] stronger then in February 1971 Columbo's old enemy crazy Joe Gallow was was released after 9 years in prison publicly he swore his Mafia days were over and he renounced his criminal [Music] past but privately it was business as usual he was back on the streets in his eyes the peace deal was null and void as far as he was concerned the war was never over and he was preparing for a Counterattack [Music] so it was that the stage was set for the second Italian-American Unity day rally held in June 1971 at the same site as his Triumph a year earlier New York's Columbus [Music] Circle they had a huge rally which attracted thousands and thousands of Italian Americans This was Columbo's rally to Rally the Italian people against the FBI and New York City Police Department and law enforcement in general now we were distance away taking pictures and doing intelligence work taking plate numbers and observing who was [Music] there however something had changed the Mafia bosses had instructed Italian Americans to stay at work the league was no longer tolerated 40,000 fewer people turned out attendance was down then at the next Columbus Day rally they passed the word that store should not close and people should not [Music] attend just before noon Columbo headed to the podium to speak he was preparing to launch another stinging attack on the FBI [Music] an African-American news cameraman with press credentials approached as the journalists grabed Columbo's attention for a sound bite the newsman moved forward I was there the day that happened and bl beh Hall up Comes This gunman and shoots Columbo in the head down he goes then something even more remarkable happened and the man that shot him was dead before he hit the floor so there was actually two killings arranged that day one to have Joe shot and one to have the shooter killed Joe Columbo was immediately rushed to hospital alive but Kos confusion rained and supporters were at a loss to explain what had happened you know he was just down on the ground and there was blood on his right cheek and you know you know it's incredible you you know you don't expect to see these things in the course of a covering a story and um he the shots kept coming and you know and I was standing like you know 3 fet or less and I then I started to run and I I heard somebody else's shot but I wasn't there I ran as far as I know Joe is in Rosevelt hospital in critical condition with two shot wounds one in a chest and one in the head and I understand the perpetrator is one of the perpetrators is dead you know who did it I have no idea I have no idea who did it did you see it no I did not see it I was standing behind the stand when it happened what's your reaction to this my reaction is uh right now is still a state of confusion as to what really transpired I'm still trying to pie the information together myself the hit on Columbo had been carried out by Jerome Johnson an African-American from Harlem but he was a very unlikely killer he was a Drifter and Petty criminal with a pora for stalking girls on a nearby University campus he had no record as a Hitman for the mob it was a curious discrepancy for New York's chief of detectives Albert seedman unfortunately we have not been able to rule out one possibility or the other uh Mr Johnson is still some sort of a mystery man to us what puzzled the police was someone must have told Johnson to undertake the hit and trained him the question was who the African-American link to Harlem pointed to Crazy Joe Gallow more around town you hear the Gangland Theory being pushed that Gallow didn't make a hit on colbo this is merely conjecture and rumor but there is no basis to any of it as far as we have been able to learn thus far the simple truth was that other senior Mafia figures must have been at work because for over 50 years no one one could be killed without the approval of the mafia's governing body the commission every family had a seat on the commission if they had to kill somebody they had to go to the commission and the commission had to vote on it this would prevent WID skill killing and trying to take over different families under its rules no family head can be rubbed out without the agreement of the other commission members yeah yeah the idea was the head of each family had an equal say on how decisions were taken it was democracy Mafia style first place you're supposed to have permission of all the other bosses to kill a boss uh that's just simple but boss bosses can't allow bosses to be killed without without the permission of the other bosses other then otherwise none of them are safe many therefore concluded that Gambino had to be somewhere behind the hit and had sold it to the commission I I don't think there was much crying in the gambino camp or the Gallow Camp when Joe Columbo was so seriously wounded but as so often with the Mafia the Columbus Circle shootings an attempt on Columbo's life went unsolved there was nothing to pin on Gambino we're saying that there uh Johnson had some connections with the Carlo Gambino family but uh we are not making a statement that that was his exclusive connection with organized crime the one man who might know the truth was crazy Joe Gallow 11 months later crazy Joe was eating with his friends at a seafood restaurant to celebrate his 47th birthday they were sitting at a uh rear table this group of six people when a uh a man walked in from the back door and he walked up uh to the side of the table and he fired the three shots he hit the Joe twice and he hit his bodyguard Pete the Greek one time time for the FBI and police investigators the only explanation had to be Columbo family members out for Revenge he was killed by elements of the Columbo family He was ordered by a guy named Joseph yakavi Joe Yak he was a cons no he was the cappo in the Columbo family who ordered the hit but if Columbo's shooting was supposed to bring stability back to the Mafia it actually signal the slow demise of the Columbo crime [Music] family because leaderless and at War the family's fortunes turned irrevocably downwards it began to tear itself apart in the decades that followed the internal power struggles never ended the Columbo family is now just the shadow of its former self in 2011 a further 125 of its members were arrested the family's power has collapsed for [Music] now as for Joe Columbo none of this mattered he never recovered from that day at the [Music] rally he remained in a vegetative state and died 8 years after being shot funeral services were held today for one of America's leading crime figures Joe Columbo if you look at his record he was only arrested for uh shooting crap when he was 18 years old every other indictment every other accusation came after he became a civil rights leader and that was another indication on how uh the media particularly uh Champion what law enforcement often gives them Joe Columbo has left his Mark in American [Music] society he died a Maverick Godfather a former killer who had dared to do things differently but by taking on Mafia rules and fighting the FBI at the same time it was a battle he could never win his picking in the FBI building and police headquarters was kind of stupid you know you're not exactly dealing with the faculty Harvard perhaps his biggest mistake was to find the world of civil activism more intoxicating than running a crime family for a while he got away with it people who should have known better uh joined his committees he was using civil rights as a as a shield in my opinion he was the fool Fame would offer Joe Columbo no protection from a failure to obey the most fundamental Mafia principles all Joe Columbo's troubles were brought on by himself I mean if he had followed the rules of the mob particularly the mob voes and stay out of the Limelight and just operate your business and bring money in he never would had a problem but because he became flamboyant and he got got his ego swelled he decided to go out into the public World which was a major era [Music] in any case the high-profile civil rights League he founded virtually disappeared overnight [Music]

Channel: Real Crime

Views: 184,114

Keywords: Italian-American mobster, Joe Columbo legacy, Mafia's impact, Real Crime, civil rights movement impact, crime podcast, criminal justice system, criminal organizations, detective podcast, historic mafia figures, legendary mobsters, mafia culture, mafia leadership, mafia's youngest godfather, mobster alliances, mobster conflicts, mobster power dynamics, organized crime evolution, organized crime structure, organized crime syndicates, underworld connections

Id: 1R7B2m-ulfE

Length: 49min 6sec (2946 seconds)

Published: Sun May 05 2024