Category: Colombo

Louis Cafora – The Mafia member who carried out legitimate business

Louis Cafora was a member of the Colombo Crime Family and his activities included that of being an agent of loan sharking. Furthermore, he also was indulged in activities of that of a drug trafficker, working for the Lucchese Crime Family. Cafora was popularly called in the circle as ‘Fat Louis’ or ‘The Whale’. His parents had migrated from Italy’s Campania region of Senerchia to the US.

His name

A small difference is present in the surname of Louis’. It is said to have been either used by his parents in this manner or misspelled by the INS, or there could be a possibility of Louis trying to have his name modified a bit for protecting and to hide the family’s name, since he got popular notoriously because of his dangerous criminal and illegal activities that he undertook. But, he did not maintain any kind of relations with The Genovese Crime Family capo, Vincent Cafaro.

Characteristic features

When it came to his physical appearance, Louis Cafora was very tall and quite fat even during his childhood days and he is said to be conscious about the same. He was often noticed to prepare Italian dishes for the gang members as he just loved cooking variety of things and experimenting new things.

His criminal activities

Louis was involved actively in the different Mafia activities. It was with the joining of the Lucchese Crime Family that his criminal life started. However, he did not go into performing those street crimes for his boss. Rather, he preferred working towards pursuing different legitimate deals on behalf of Lucchese Mafia Family. He had managed to have a lease on the parking lot at Downtown Brooklyn. It was through its management that Louis got to influence several officials within the State Transportation Department of New York. Paul Vario, his official Capo is known to have several meetings with subordinates at the parking lot that was leased out by Louis. This way, they could stay safe and ensure that all their meetings and the discussions that are held here are kept a top secret and not recorded by the law enforcement officials in any manner. This parking lot was used by Louis for storing those stolen cars on behalf of Henry Hill. With his income on the increase, he was able to derive a powerful position within the Mafia Family.

Colombo Crime Family – The youngest dominating organized Mafia family

The Colombo Crime family is considered to be the youngest among the ‘Five Mafia Families’ dominating New York City’s organized criminal activities.

Its history

Its history is said to have roots to a gang of bootleggers which was started in 1928 by Joseph Profaci. After the Castelammarese War and the American Mafia’s reorganization, the gang of Profaci had been recognized as Profaci crime family. Until late 1950s, Profaci is said to have ruled his family without any challenge or interruption.

The family wars of the Colombo crime family

Three internal wars took place within the family. During late 1950s, the first war occurred when Profaci saw revolt from capo Joe Gallo. In early 1960s, with the arrest of Gallo and death of Profaci, the first war had lost its momentum. It was under the leadership of Joseph Colombo that the family got reunited in the 60s. But after Gallo was released in 1971 and shooting of Colombo, the second war started. This war as won by Carmine Perisco and supporters of Colombo, which saw Gallo and his crew to go into exile in 1975 to Genovese family. Under Perisco, the family enjoyed peace for 15 years.

The third war which was the bloodiest in its history took place in 1991, when Victor Orena, its acting boss tried usurping power from Carmine Perisco, who was then under imprisonment. For two long years, mayhem ensued with the family getting split into factions and finished in 1993 with Orena imprisoned and 12 of the family member’s dead, where Perisco emerged the winner by default. After this war, he had a decimated family. Although this family is still run by Perisco, it was never able to recover its lost glory. The family got crippled further in the 2000s, due to several members be coming witnesses of the government and multiple convictions with regards federal racketeering cases. Apart from being the youngest of the five mafia family in the City of New York, it is also currently the weakest.

Some facts

The Colombo Crime family has been named after Sr. Joseph Colombo and was founded in the New York City. Its territory of operation is spreads over the different neighborhoods of the city, Massachusetts, Long Island, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and South Florida. As of 2011 estimate, there are around 100 to 115 active mafia members of the family and approximately 400 associates.