Joe Sr. also had a personal interest: He'd been indicted, at about the same time, for perjury for lying on his application for a real estate license. League picketing forced the NY Times to stop using "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" -- words that magically reappeared in their pages after Joe was gunned down in Columbus Circle.
There’s no doubt about that, Turnbull. I agree with you 100%, that aside from protecting his son, (as any loving father would do,) Joe Sr. definitely also had a vested interest beyond simply fatherly love. He saw the league as a way to potentially stave off the police, FBI and other law enforcement agencies from probing into the Mafia’s affairs.
During that same time period, besides the perjury charge related to Joe allegedly lying on his real estate license application (as you mentioned,) he had a number of other criminal cases pop up that local police agencies and the feds had buried him under, not the least of which included the following;
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Colombo was charged with heading a massive, $10-million a year policy-bookmaking operation based in Kings County that employed dozens and dozens of runners and bookies who took bets across Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Nassau County. He was among 31 suspects arrested in the case, with Colombo accused of being the boss of the gambling syndicate.
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He also faced a third indictment related to his role as the “mediator” and “arbitrator” over a highly-publicized $750,000 jewel heist committed by members of his borgata who were now squabbling over how to divvy up the spoils.
This particular indictment (charging Colombo with grand larceny and criminal conspiracy) stemmed from the highly-publicized robbery of the popular Long Island Diamond Exchange, in Garden City, New York. Joe Sr. had became involved when several Brooklyn-based members of the Colombo Family approached him to help settle a dispute arising from an argument and potential bloodshed with members of another regime, that of Sonny Franzese’s crew, who were also involved in planning the heist.
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He was also under indictment in a fourth case, charging him with income-tax evasion, which was due to come to trial shortly.
And If my memory serves me correctly, Colombo also faced a fifth indictment, for criminal contempt of court, stemming from his refusal to answer questions before a Nassau County Grand Jury.
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So, he had a lot of trouble on the horizon. And I think Joe most probably would have been convicted and jailed on at least one (if not more) of these cases had he not been shot, and lived to face all these varied criminal counts. (I think Joe may have even already been convicted on that perjury charge you mentioned, and was appealing a jail sentence imposed on him.)
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But, as you mentioned, while it lasted, Colombo had become an extremely powerful figure. With his guidance and vision, the Italian-American Civil Rights League had successfully backed up the FBI, the U.S. Attorney General, and every other law enforcement agency in the country. He forced them to renounce their usage of the words Mafia, Cosa Nostra, and other references regarding “Italians” as being involved in organized crime. Newspapers throughout the country dropped those words from their news articles. He forced the producers of The Godfather movie (and similar gangster shows) to do the same. Television commercials that depicted Italians as buffoons or portrayed them in a negative way were pulled off TV, etc., etc., etc.
Local, state, and national politicians courted him. Movie stars and celebrities flocked to him. He was a guest on the Dick Cavett Show (among others.) he made the front-page of magazines…Joe Colombo was quickly catapulted to stardom, becoming a media darling and one of the most powerful public figures in the nation….and therein lies the rub!
Cosa Nostra figures, especially Capo Famiglia, are not supposed to be “public figures.”
That was the start of his downfall…
