Gambino and Colombo Families The 1972 New York City Serial Mafia Murders

In 1972 the Gambino and Colombo crime families were involved in a spree of gangland killings throughout the New York City metropolitan area. Murdered mobsters were found throughout Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. The internecine war quickly followed the April 7th murder of Mafia boss Albert Gallo. He was slain at a Manhattan restaurant while celebrating his 43rd birthday with family members. Since the early 1960s Gallo had struggled to takeover the remnants of Giuseppe Joe Profaci's old crime organization. For a time Gallo and his brothers, Albert and Larry, ascended the Mafia ladder as enforcers for Profaci. Later there was a rebellion in the ranks of what eventually became the Colombo crime family.