New York has five major Mafia crime families, and now the head of one of those, the Gambino family, has been murdered in what appears to be a carefully mapped-out hit.

Francesco Cali was shot and killed in front of his Staten Island home on Wednesday night, after a man lured him out his house by deliberately backing his pickup truck into Cali’s SUV.

The last time one of the big five crime families suffered a hit like this was way back in 1985, when another Gambino boss, Paul Castellano, was gunned down outside Sparks Steak House in Manhattan.

Details of the crime via the Daily Beast:

The triggerman left 16 holes in Cali’s body, and investigators recovered a dozen shell casings at the scene, a senior NYPD official told The Daily Beast.

Police on Thursday were searching for a pickup truck that fled the bloody scene and believe the vehicle has significant damage, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said during press conference Thursday afternoon, adding that the suspect is believed to around 25-40 years…

Authorities executed a search warrant at Cali’s [above] tony brick home on Hilltop Terrace in Staten Island’s Todt Hill neighborhood and video evidence recovered from Cali’s home shows a pickup truck forcefully back into Cali’s Cadillac Escalade.

In a follow-up article on the Daily Beast, a law enforcement official who has seen the video described it in greater detail:

[Cali] apparently was responding to the sound of a pickup truck backing into his Cadillac SUV in his driveway, causing the license plate to detach.

[It] then shows Cali pausing to close his front door, perhaps out of concern for his family inside, or maybe just to ensure a dog or a cat does not get out. He steps over to the driver of the pickup truck.

The driver is wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap, so his face is not clearly visible as he and Cali speak. Cali reaches into his pants pocket, as if to suggest he had a gun.

The driver then bends down and picks up the license plate. He holds it out to Cali, who takes it and steps over to the rear of the SUV.

Cali has his back to the driver as he puts the license plate into the rear compartment of his SUV. The driver chooses this moment to produce a gun and shoots Cali.

Cali goes down. The driver stands over Cali, firing again and again, as if to make absolutely sure his victim is dead. His face remains obscure, but the muzzle flashes are unmistakable.

The driver then calmly walks back to the pickup truck and drives away, having committed the first New York mob boss hit ever recorded on video.

In true Mafia mob style, the family initially declined to hand over the video, captured by a surveillance camera outside Cali’s home, forcing the police to return with a search warrant.

According to experts, who spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times, the killing was done in this fashion to send a clear message:

“It’s a high-level thing,” David Shapiro, a distinguished lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, [said].

“They exterminated the rat. You kill them like that – six bullets, in front of his house at 9 p.m. – you’re saying loud and clear that this guy’s demise was meant just like a sewer rat. It’s serious business.”

…Some experts say Cali’s death may have stemmed from a personal slight, or a concern that he was about to flip and help law enforcement. Or it may have been something simple, like an old-school turf war in which a rival wanted Cali’s business and thought the only way to take it was by force…

“In recent years, I’d say it’s more likely that a boss would be taken out by federal prosecutors than by somebody with a gun,” [Mafia book author Larry] McShane said. “The biggest headline he ever made was getting murdered by his cohorts.”

Just another reminder that crime, in the long run, often doesn’t pay.

I’m pretty sure both The Godfather movies and The Sopranos series will be getting some airtime this weekend.

[sources:dailybeast&dailybeast&chicagosuntimes]