Arrest made in brutal Staten Island mob hit of reputed Gambino family boss
A suspect was in custody Saturday morning after his Jersey Shore arrest for the mob execution of reputed Gambino family boss Frank Cali, sources told the Daily News.
The unidentified person of interest was snatched up by the New York/New Jersey Regional Task Force three days after the mobster known as Franky Boy was murdered outside his Staten Island home, the sources said.
The suspect’s fingerprint was lifted from Cali’s car — possibly off the license plate of the mobster’s Cadillac Escalade SUV, a source told the News.
The 24-year-old Staten Island resident was taken into custody in Brick Township, N.J., about 50 miles south of the murder scene, according to sources. No other details were immediately available about the suspect.
The low-key Cali, 53, was lured to his death when the killer staged a car crash, plowing a pickup truck into Cali’s parked SUV outside his house around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday night, cops said.
When Cali left his family at the dinner table to investigate, the truck driver jumped from the vehicle and opened fire — pumping at least a half-dozen bullets into the doomed boss.
Related: Vintage crime photos from the Daily News
Video surveillance of the hit showed the man inside the truck coming out with his gun blazing, his muzzle fire clear in the clip as Cali dove desperately for cover beneath his Cadillac.
The hitman jumped back into the truck and sped off, leaving the Sicilian-born Cali to die near the Cadillac’s back bumper. Cops discovered a dozen shell casings outside Cali’s home.
The killing marked the city’s first murder of a sitting mob boss since the December 1985 hit on Gambino boss Paul (Big Paul) Castellano, who lived in the same Todt Hill neighborhood where Cali was targeted. Castellano and his driver were gunned down outside Sparks Steak House in Midtown as they arrived for a scheduled dinner with five fellow mobsters, including the one who set him up.
Cali rose quickly through the ranks of the Gambino family after arriving in New York, moving up to the rank of capo before the age of 40. He was bumped up to acting boss in 2015 after serving on a panel that led the once-mighty crime syndicate named for the late, legendary Mafioso Carlo Gambino.
Cali had a rap sheet with just a single arrest, serving 16 months in an extortion scheme before his release in April 2009. The Mafia was a Cali family affair: His wife is the niece of a Gambino capo, while his brother and brother-in-law are reputed Gambino soldiers.
