One of the most famous mafia bosses of new York, Carmine Persico, also known as Junior, the Snake and Immortal, met his end in prison. He was 85.
Carmine Persico — boss of the Colombo family. Source: wikipedia
Gansgter lawyer Benson Weintraub stated that Persico died March 7 at Duke University Medical Center. He was serving a life sentence in a Federal prison in Butner (NC).
Persico was convicted in the 80s for racketeering and murder in the prosecution of the leaders of the mafia, headed at the time by the Prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani, who in 1994 became mayor of new York. Then he immediately planted three authoritative gangsters, members of the «Five Families» that controlled organized crime in the city. Until yesterday, Persico was the last living defendant in this case.
Junior has spent the last 36 years of his life behind bars, serving a 139-year term. Despite the status of the prisoner, most believed that he remained the boss of a criminal family of Colombo.
«Mr. Persico is blind in his right eye and had poor vision in the left eye. It can only restricted use left and right hands, and he has a deformed left wrist, which seriously affected the mobility of his upper extremities, wrote attorney Anthony Dipietro in March 2016. Mr. Persico also mostly bound to a wheelchair as a result of his emphysema. In addition, Mr. Persico suffer from anemia and a variety of heart problems, needing regular medical care.»
Carmine Persico died in prison
In December 2018 Persico has filed a lawsuit against the prison warden and doctors, accusing them of «deliberate indifference» to his deteriorating health. The offender was extensive inflammation in the leg, and he tried to prevent the doctors to amputate his leg above the knee.
Carmine John Persico was born on 8 August 1933 and grew up in working class Brooklyn enclave of Carroll gardens and Red hook. His father worked as a stenographer in a law firm, while his mother stayed home to raise Carmine and his brothers Alphonse and Theodore, and sister Dolores. All of them became gangsters.
His first arrest occurred when he was 17 years old; then he beat to death another guy in Prospect Park. By the mid-1920s Persico, whose friends called Junior, and enemies — Snakes, became a criminal authority in the mafia family headed by Joe Colombo. He was associated with other Brooklyn gangsters, the Gallo brothers — «Crazy» Joey, Larry and albert.
Although Persico and put in jail for stealing a car, he continued to manage the team within the family of Colombo. After the shooting of boss Joe Colombo in 1971, Persico and his brothers took control of the family. He continued to run a criminal organization is already released, but not for long.
In 1984, Persico was arrested in the house of an FBI informant. He was accused of racketeering, and sentenced first for 39 years, and then back to 100. During sentencing, Federal judge John F. Keenan called Persico «one of the most intelligent people he had ever seen in my life» after he volunteered to defend himself.
Persico appealed the verdict in 2016. The court of appeals for the second circuit rejected it in 2017, and the U.S. Supreme court refused to hear the case in the same 2017.
