The leadership of the Gambino crime family has reportedly been passed from a Sicilian old fella to a Sicilian younger fella.
Frank Cali, 49, of Staten Island, who has served on the family’s ruling panel for several years, has been elevated to acting boss, replacing 68-year-old Domenico Cefalu, the website Ganglandnews.com reported Thursday.
Cali, who was born in Sicily, has deep mob ties. He is related by marriage to members of organized crime in Sicily; his wife is the niece of Gambino capo John Gambino, and his brother Joseph and brother-in-law Peter Inzerillo are reputed Gambino soldiers.
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Federal prosecutors have marveled at Cali’s meteoric rise to power in the crime family’s post-Gotti era.
He became a powerful capo before the age of 40, less than a decade after he became an inducted member, according to court papers. Cali has just one criminal conviction: a federal extortion charge for which he was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
A wiseguy in Italy was secretly taped several years ago gushing about Cali’s stature in New York City, “He is everything over there.”
