Good luck with that, Lisa. I'm guessing that, if there had been any smoking guns in those docs, they'd have been removed long ago--assuming that any smoking guns were archived in the first place.

You're absolutely right. But it'll still be interesting to see what's in there anyway.

Cantaloupe is not a person who's word I would take, same for Ruggiano. Many mafia members were ate all the events rallies, including the ones not held at Columbus Circle.Carlo Gambino had heat on him since 1957. Why do you believe it about the others and not Columbo?

You are the one being naive, where is any evidence in all these years?

Very well said. Scarpa had been used before by the FBI for such cases as the Mississippi Burning case, and setting up someone to be killed was not a thing he would shy away from. The police being right there and no one getting arrested or charged is a matter that should have been investigated, but was ignored.

I think the FBI would rather see him rot in jail rather than assassinate him. Plus use a black man and woman? In front of thousands of people? They were close to putting Colombo in jail, had a Top Echelon informant right next to him giving them updates, and driving him up the wall crazy and at the worst time Gallo gets out and that's another headache.

so the mob needed to kill colombo in front of a hundred thousand people with fbi and all l.e. watching, because nobody could get to joe,? they could have called him in ,buried him in staten island and nobody would ever know where joe went..remember carlo put him in that spot ,if he wanted him dead it would not be a very high risk hit , my opinion.carlo was not john gotti who wanted to go down in history with a sensational hit,, paul could have disappeared also,

Think they’re would have been a war and I don’t think the Genovese family or Chicago would go along for the commission vote..Colombo had his own loyal crew and connections to leaders in New England and Chicago. I just don’t see what the motivation was for the FBI to wack him.. the league was only good for the FBI. More agents assigned means more money and overtime hours...and I also think Gambino wanted the 1.2 million he loaned Colombo paid back and if Gambino conspired w the other families to wack Colombo then how could he ask for the money to be repaid.. this way Carl can still ask for the 1.2 million back.... $1.2 million in the early 1970s is equivalent w buying power to $7 million..

Well said bronx, Gambino was very low profile. Joey Gallo on the other hand..

Yes, I understand of course. I don't think it was a big conspiracy. My point was it could have been any one of them. And since law enforcement wanted him gone as badly as anyone else did, they did not have much incentive to punish the killers.

Absolutely. But with Jerome Johnson being shot and killed at the scene, there was no way he could point to anyone as ordering the hit.

I say Joe Gallo arranged it and pulled it off using Jerome Johnson. He had the motive, balls and connections. The craziest and biggest balls of them all.

According to the Scarpa files Joe Colombo expected Gallo to fall in line. He expected no trouble out of him. Colombo was wrong. Gallo told him to fuck off. But Gallo couldn't have gotten johnson the Bolex, press pass, the girl, whatever money he was offered and convinced him he could get away with hitting a mob boss in broad daylight in front of the cops and the media. No way

ColonelReb Why couldn't he have gotten the Bolex for him? I believe it's just as reasonable to assume he could as to assume he couldn't. The press pass is NOT a major acquisition, not one that couldn't be accomplished. Joe Gallo had connections and allies in and out of the mob, as did his crew. As far as money, it was "offered" not paid and we don't even know how much was offered. Johnson was not the brightest bulb and probably could've been convinced fairly easily he would get a way with it. As far as the girl, no one even knows for sure who she is and if she was a part of it. Pure speculation. I never said Joe Gallo did it alone, I do maintain he was involved in the planning of it. But like everyone else, my opinion is speculative just like everyone else. I'd also like to point out I don't discount the possibility that either the Gambino's or the Genovese (maybe both) threw their verbal support behind Gall, and even provided some material support. They each had a motive to do it and then knock off Gallo later. I'm just saying it can't be dismissed. Both leaders in those families were very underhanded and very sly.

The Bolex and the press pass could have fallen off the back of a truck. Hey, it happens.

I think the sophistication, intimate logistics, and "tools" used in Colombo's killing. In full view of the entire world no less, strongly points to a more "sophisticated" type "operation" so to speak.

One that smells of FBI, CIA, Black Bag type plannings. The instantaneous killing of the perpetrator, the vanishing of his accomplice. The gun, camera, press credentials, lack of immediate NYPD response to the scene. Like a "Puff" of smoke it all disappears..... a Houdini Act.

IMO, definitely government backed.

I agree if for no other reason that at that time there were not the ex-Special OPS guys out for hire. No doubt this was a very sophisticate hit for sure!

Yep!......... JFK, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X, etc., etc., ... and Colombo.

If you notice in that particular era, civil rights era, rabble rousers.... they all got hit in the head. And ALL of them under mysterious circumstance.

The "old boys" network of the USA, wanted to keep the status quo. Anybody who ruffled their feathers the way ALL of these men did in their own unique way.... led to these FBI/CIA type "executions"

If you really think about it, its shocking to think that's what the G did back then. It was a different world.

And just how much different do you think it is today?

agree ny mafia..who shot johnson??? no video?? fbi was all over it, rally was planned for a year ..no agents walking among the crowd or any type of le.??? colombo had a civil right office or chapter on 84th st and 17th ave in bklyn, he was there everyday..or at cantalupo's office on 86th st. if the mob wanted to clip him they didnt need a black guy in front of t.v.cameras fbi and a hundred thousand witnesses..

Oh for sure. But just not as blatantly as the 1960s-early 70's

It is what it is as they say lol

Lol.... Bingo! For sure Bronx!

Roselli, Giancana, Hoffa maybe..

Roselli, Giancana and Hoffa were government hits now? Please don't be fucking ridiculous

Not the Hoffa hit IMO, but definitely Roselli and Giancana. They were directly tied into CIA efforts to kill Castro. Roselli had allegedly already given testimony before the Senate implicating the CIA and U.S. government. And Giancana was about to within a week of his murder..... so yes, IMO they were both whacked out by the U.S. Government to kill that investigation.

Could it be that even if the Giancana and Roselli hits were government hits, they were still killed by fellow mobsters? I believe Giancana was killed because bosses like Accardo felt like he was too high-profile. I can imagine he brought a lot of grief. And wasn't Colombo's shooter gunned down by a Colombo soldier/associate? How do you explain that one if the government whacked Colombo and Colombo's shooter?

Thats conjecture and never been proven that Chubby Rossillo shot Jerome Johnson

I don't know, people here are crediting the government with some of the most notorious gangland hits in American history. Let's go ahead and give the G-Man credit for the Anastasia, Castellano, Gallo, and Galante hits while we're at it.

I do believe governments in general not only US work with underworld figures.