Suspected shooter claims Gambino boss came at him with gun first

Suspected shooter claims Gambino boss came at him with gun first

  March 17, 2019    Dapper_Don

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The Staten Island man accused in the ambush shooting death of a Mafia family boss said told cops he smoked pot before the killing and tried to float a self-defense theory, law enforcement sources said.

Anthony Comello, 24, told investigators that Gambino crime family boss Frank Cali came at him with a gun — forcing him to shoot.

Cops found no weapon on Cali — and are still trying to figure out what drove Comello to shoot the 53-year-old mob kingpin right outside his Todt Hill home.

Investigators are looking into the possibility the killing was by lovesick rage unrelated to mob business. Cali may have tried to prevent Comello from dating his niece, police sources said.

Comello was busted Saturday in Brick Township, N.J., about 50 miles from the scene of the crime, where his family owns a house.

Police investigate the scene where Frank Cali was shot in front home in the Todt Hill Section of Staten Island on March 13, 2019.

The suspect is locked up in the Ocean County Jail in New Jersey. He plans to waive extradition at a hearing Monday, his lawyer, Robert Gottlieb told the Daily News.

The night of the shooting, Comello plowed his pickup truck into Cali’s Cadillac Escalade SUV around 9:15 p.m., while Cali was enjoying a late dinner with his family.

Cali left the dinner table to investigate. While he was outside, Comello shot at him 10 times.

Cali, who kept a low profile after taking over as head of the Gambino crime family in 2015, collapsed behind the rear bumper of his Cadillac Escalade SUV.

Comello hit the gas on his pickup truck and headed toward the Jersey Shore, police sources said.

Police searching Comello’s Staten Island home found at least one gun, but it wasn’t the murder weapon, sources said.

Despite the theory about Cali’s niece, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said Saturday that police are still investigating all angles of the case, including whether he was acting alone, or working with — or for — someone else.

Staten Island Judge Charles Troia signed off an arrest warrant that said Comello will be charged with murder, assault and weapons possession.

Comello’s friends and family are dumbfounded by the crime, said Gottlieb.
“The people who know him best, his family and friends, cannot believe what they are hearing,” the lawyer said. “There is something very wrong here and we will get to the bottom of it.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-metro-staten-island-mob-boss-murder-suspect-20190317-story.html