Gioeli charged with killing cop

Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli, a former leader of the Colombo Crime Family, has been charged with killing off-duty New York City Police Officer Ralph Dols in 1997, according to a story by John Marzulli of the New York Daily News.

The charge is contained in a new federal indictment against Gioeli (left), 57. He is currently charged with six racketeering-related murders, three of those would be punishable with the death penalty. The justice deparment plans to announce within the next 60 days if it will pursue the death penalty. The Daily News indicated that Gioeli's role in Dols' Brooklyn killing was confirmed by informant Dino "Big Dino" Calabro, a former capodecina. Gioeli reportedly conveyed the order to kill Dols from consigliere Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace to underlings. Dols' offense against the crime family is alleged to have been marrying Cacace's ex-wife.

Read more about the Colombo Crime Family:
Mafia Son: The Scarpa Mob Family, the FBI, and a Story of Betrayal
The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld

Gioeli suffers stroke in prison

Reputed Colombo Family bigshot Tommy "Shots" Gioeli, in custody awaiting trial on racketeering and murder charges, suffered a stroke in early February, according to a story by John Marzulli of the New York Daily News. He was rushed from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to an unidentified hospital. Authorities noted that Gioeli, reportedly a diabetic, had made a number of junk food purchases from the detention center commissary.

Informants to testify on Dols murder

Federal prosecutors intend to use two new informants to bolster their racketeering murder cases against reputed Colombo Family leader Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli and reputed consigliere Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace, according to an article by Jerry Capeci in the Huffington Post. The informants are "Big Dino" Calabro and Frankie "Blue Eyes" Sparaco.

Gioeli and Cacace are charged with six murders including the 1997 killing of New York City Police Officer Ralph Dols. Calabro reportedly served as triggerman in the Dols murder. Sparaco, old friend of imprisoned acting boss Alphonse Persico, was arrested in 1993 and charged with killings linked to a civil war within the Colombo Family.

Racketeer indicted for murder of NYPD cop

Joel Cacace, former acting boss of the Colombo Crime Family, has been indicted for the 1997 murder of off-duty New York Police Officer Ralph Dols, according to a story by John Marzulli of the New York Daily News.

Cacace is currently serving a 20-year prison sentcned for racketeering and conspiring to murder a U.S. prosecutor.

Dols was linked to the Colombo clan through his marriage to Kimberly Kennaugh. Kennaugh was Cacace's ex-girlfriend. She also was the ex-wife of Colombo Crime Family soldier Enrico Carini. Dols, just 28 and the father of three children, was shot five times on his way home from work on Aug. 25, 1997. At the time, then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the killing had been well planned and had been performed "execution-style."

Dino Calabro and Dino Saracino are also charged in the Dols killing, according to the Daily News.

Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli, reputed to be the current boss of the Colombo family, has been indicted for participating in the 1999 killing of William "Wild Bill" Cutolo. The victim's remains were discovered buried at a site in Farmingdale NY. Former acting boss Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico was convicted of participating in that killing.

Prosecutors credit information supplied by Colombo soldier Joseph "Joey Caves" Competiello for helping to solve the old murder cases.

17-count indictment against accused mobsters

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York yesterday unsealed a 17-count indictment against the acting boss and the underboss of the Colombo Crime Family, as well as 10 additional Colombo Family members and associates. The indictment charges racketeering conspiracy, including four acts of murder, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking and loansharking.

Prosecutors said the indictment was the result of a three-year investigation into Colombo Family activities.

Those charged in the indictment were:

• Reputed boss Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli, 55;
• Reputed underboss John "Sonny" Franzese, 89;
• Reputed "captain" Dino Calabro, 41;
• Michael Catapano, 42;
• Frank Campione, 65;
• Joseph "Joey Caves" Competiello, 36;
• Joseph DiGorga, 67;
• Orlando Spado, 63;
• Angelo Giangrande, 55;
• John Capolino, 39;
• Nicholas Bova, 31;
• Christopher Curanovic, 26.

The indictment refers to four specific murders. It charges Calabro with the Jan. 9, 1992, armed robbery and felony murder of armored truck guard Carlos Pagan. It charges Gioeli and Calabro jointly with the March 25, 1992, double-murder of Colombo family soldier John Minerva and Minerva's friend Michael Imbergamo. It also charged Gioeli, Calabro and Colombo soldier Competiello with the June 12, 1991, retaliation murder of Frank Marasa.

If convicted of the charges against them, Gioeli, Calabro, Competiello, Spado and Curanovic face possible life imprisonment. Catapano faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Franzese, Campione, DiGorga, Giangrande and Capolino face possible 20-year sentences.

Nine nabbed in Colombo clan crackdown

Nine alleged members of the Colombo Crime Family, including reputed acting boss Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli, were arrested yesterday on federal racketeering charges, according to published reports by the New York Daily News, the New York Times and the Associated Press.

A federal indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court accused the nine with Mafia-related crimes across the United States. Among the offenses charged to the group are fur thefts and murders in New York and impersonation of police officers in Los Angeles.

Gioeli, 55 (left), charged with robbery, three murders and extortion, pleaded not guilty. He is being held without bail. Two of the murders were related to the 1990s civil war within the Colombo clan. John Franzese, 89, reputed family underboss, was also charged, as were three men already held in prison.