According to court documents filed in New York on Friday, the March shooting death of prominent Gambino crime family boss Francesco ‘Franky Boy’ Cali was not a mob hit at all, as had previously been assumed.
Cali was allegedly shot by 24-year-old Anthony Comello in the Todt Hill section of Staten Island on March 13 this year, but Comello was not acting on the orders of one of the five major New York crime families. In fact, Comello seemed simply to be a man who lived with his parents and was obsessed with President Trump and a far-right conspiracy theory group called “QAnon,” according to documents filed by Comello’s lawyer.
Comello arrived at Cali’s home in March with the simple intention to arrest the mafioso, as he reportedly believed he was ordered to do by Trump. When Cali resisted an attempted citizen’s arrest, Comello allegedly shot him and left him to die in the street. He was arrested three days later at his parent’s home on Staten Island.
Because of the high-profile nature of Cali’s murder, police initially believed that the shooting could mean the start of a major war among the crime families, something they had not seen in decades. Despite evidence to the contrary upon Comello’s arrest, police were initially skeptical that the accused could truly carry out such a crime with no ties to the mafia.
Comello’s lawyer Robert C. Gottlieb stated, “He ardently believed that Francesco Cali, a boss in the Gambino crime family, was a prominent member of the deep state, and, accordingly, an appropriate target for a citizen’s arrest.” Gottlieb further stated, “Mr. Comello’s support for ‘QAnon’ went beyond mere participation in a radical political organization. It evolved into a delusional obsession.”
