Colombo Crime Family Leadership Timeline

The Colombo Crime Family is the smallest and most troubled of New York’s Five Families — a criminal organisation that has spent much of its history fighting itself as much as its enemies. Founded by Joseph Profaci in 1928 and built on the traditional Brooklyn rackets of numbers, loansharking and prostitution, the family has been through three devastating internal wars, produced one of the most publicly visible mob bosses in history in Joe Colombo, and endured four decades of leadership from a man directing operations from a federal prison cell.

That man was Carmine Persico — The Snake, The Immortal — who took control in 1973 and held it until his death in prison in 2019, directing the family through nine different acting bosses across 46 years while serving a 139-year sentence. His story is one of the strangest in American organised crime history: a boss who spent more time incarcerated than virtually any other major figure, yet never relinquished his title.

Below is the complete leadership timeline from 1928 to the present day.

Joseph Profaci — 1928 to 1962

Joseph Profaci emigrated from Palermo, Sicily to the United States in 1921 — one of the later arrivals among the bosses who would shape New York’s organised crime landscape. He started legitimately, running bakeries and greengrocer shops in Chicago, but none were profitable. In 1925 he relocated to New York and found his niche importing olive oil, earning the nickname The Olive Oil King. By 1927 he was a US citizen and already embedded in New York’s Sicilian criminal networks.

On December 5, 1928, just weeks after mob boss Salvatore D’Aquila was murdered at the start of the Castellammarese War, Profaci was recognised as boss of his own family in Brooklyn. Despite his relatively limited criminal experience at that point, his family connections in Sicily and his business contacts gave him credibility. By 1930 he controlled numbers, prostitution, loansharking, and narcotics across Brooklyn. His closest Commission ally was Joe Bonanno, with whom he cooperated for thirty years.

The final years of Profaci’s reign were consumed by the Gallo-Profaci War — an internal rebellion led by the Gallo brothers, Larry, Crazy Joe, and Albert, who resented Profaci’s tight control over family earnings and his refusal to share power. The war produced multiple murders on both sides and effectively split the family. Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese attempted to persuade Profaci to step down to end the conflict, but Profaci refused, correctly suspecting they were secretly backing the Gallos. He died of liver cancer in June 1962, the war unresolved, having led the family for 34 years.

Joseph Magliocco — 1962 to 1963

Profaci’s underboss Joseph Magliocco stepped up on his death, though without full Commission endorsement and in rapidly failing health. His tenure lasted barely a year and ended in catastrophe. Magliocco entered into a conspiracy with Joseph Bonanno to assassinate several Commission bosses — Tommy Lucchese, Carlo Gambino, and Stefano Magaddino — in a bid to seize control of the entire syndicate.

Magliocco assigned the Gambino and Lucchese contracts to one of his top men: Joe Colombo. It proved to be the worst choice he could have made. Colombo had no intention of carrying out the murders. Instead he went directly to the Commission and reported the plot. Magliocco was summoned, confessed, and was spared execution only because of his poor health. He was forced to retire as boss and fined $50,000. He died in late 1963 from heart failure. Some believed Joe Bonanno, feeling betrayed by Magliocco’s confession, had him poisoned.

As his reward for exposing the conspiracy, Colombo was given the family.

Joseph Colombo — 1963 to 1973

Acting 1971–1972: Joseph Yacovelli | Acting 1972–1973: Vincenzo Aloi | Acting 1973: Joseph Brancato

Joe Colombo was one of the most unusual figures in Mafia history — a mob boss who actively courted public attention, appeared on television, and launched a civil rights organisation. When he took control of the family in 1963 at just 41 years old he became the first American-born boss of a New York crime family, a distinction that reflected his entirely different outlook from the old Sicilian guard he had replaced.

In 1970 Colombo founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League, ostensibly to combat what he characterised as government and media defamation of Italian-Americans by associating them with organised crime. The League staged rallies in Columbus Circle that drew tens of thousands. Colombo appeared on television chat shows and spoke at fundraisers. When Paramount Pictures came calling about a new film called The Godfather in 1971 and needed cooperation from New York’s mob community, it was Colombo they negotiated with — he secured the removal of the words “Mafia” and “Cosa Nostra” from the script.

His public profile made him a target. On June 28, 1971, Colombo was shot three times in the head and neck at the second Italian Unity Day rally in Columbus Circle. His gunman, Jerome Johnson, was immediately shot dead by Colombo’s bodyguards. Johnson was widely believed to have been hired by Crazy Joe Gallo, who resented Colombo’s leadership. Colombo survived but was left severely brain damaged and paralysed, lingering in a vegetative state for seven years before dying in 1978. The family was run by acting bosses throughout.

Carmine Persico — 1973 to 2019

Acting bosses: Thomas DiBella 1973–1979 | Alphonse Persico 1981–1983 | Gennaro Langella 1983–1984 | Anthony Scarpati 1985–1987 | Vittorio Orena 1987–1991 | Disputed 1991–1993 | Andrew Russo 1994–1996 | Alphonse Persico 1996–2019

Carmine Persico — known as The Snake for his treacherous rise through the ranks, and The Immortal for his improbable grip on power across five decades — is one of the most extraordinary figures in American organised crime history. He took formal control of the Colombo family in 1973 and held the title of boss until his death in 2019: 46 years, almost all of them spent in federal prison.

Persico’s criminal career stretched back to the 1950s. He was allegedly one of the gunmen in the Albert Anastasia barbershop murder in 1957, acting on orders from Profaci. He spent years navigating the Gallo-Profaci War, switching sides more than once — earning his “Snake” nickname. By the early 1970s he had outmanoeuvred every rival and taken the top position.

He was convicted in the landmark 1986 Mafia Commission Case and sentenced to 139 years in federal prison. From his cell he directed the family through a parade of acting bosses, ensuring that no one accumulated enough independent power to challenge his authority. His most dangerous moment came in 1991 when acting boss Vittorio Orena attempted to permanently seize control, triggering the Third Colombo War — twelve murders and massive FBI attention that devastated the family’s membership and street operations.

Persico even promoted his own son Alphonse to acting boss, a move widely criticised as nepotistic and damaging to family morale. He died at the Butner Federal Correctional Institution in North Carolina on March 7, 2019, at the age of 85, still technically the boss of the Colombo Crime Family.

Andrew Russo — 2019 to Present

Following Carmine Persico’s death in March 2019, Andrew Russo — who had already served multiple stints as acting boss — became the senior leadership figure of the Colombo family. The organisation he inherited is a shadow of what it once was: significantly reduced in membership after three internal wars and decades of federal prosecutions, the Colombo family is now considered the smallest and weakest of New York’s Five Families. It remains active in traditional Brooklyn rackets including gambling and loansharking, but its capacity and influence are far diminished from their peak under Profaci and the early Persico years.

Frequently Asked Questions — Colombo Crime Family

Who is the current boss of the Colombo Crime Family?

Andrew Russo is the current acting boss, having assumed the role following Carmine Persico’s death in March 2019. The Colombo family is the smallest of New York’s Five Families and remains active primarily in Brooklyn gambling and loansharking rackets.

What happened to Carmine Persico?

Carmine Persico died in federal prison on March 7, 2019, aged 85. He had been serving a 139-year sentence since 1987 following his conviction in the Mafia Commission Case. He spent all but four years of his 46-year reign as boss behind bars, directing the family through nine different acting bosses.

What happened to Joe Colombo?

Joe Colombo was shot three times in the head and neck at a rally in Columbus Circle on June 28, 1971. His gunman Jerome Johnson was immediately killed by bodyguards. Colombo survived but was left brain damaged and paralysed, dying in 1978 after seven years in a vegetative state. Johnson was widely believed to have been hired by Crazy Joe Gallo.

Who founded the Colombo Crime Family?

Joseph Profaci founded the family in 1928. Originally known as the Profaci Crime Family, it was renamed the Colombo Crime Family in 1963 when Joe Colombo took over after betraying his boss’s assassination plot to the Commission.

What were the Colombo family wars?

The family fought three major internal wars. The Gallo-Profaci War ran from 1961 to 1963 as the Gallo brothers rebelled against Profaci. A second conflict followed in the early 1970s. The Third Colombo War in 1991 to 1993 was triggered by acting boss Vittorio Orena’s attempt to permanently replace the imprisoned Carmine Persico, resulting in twelve murders and devastating federal prosecutions.