Suspect Anthony Comello, 24, was arrested down the Jersey Shore for the execution of reputed Mafia kingpin Frank Cali in a fusillade of gunfire outside his Staten Island home, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea. The truck used to lure Cali into the line of fire was also recovered in Brick Township, N.J. — about 50 miles from the site of the fatal shooting.
The low-key Cali, who took over as head of the Gambino crime family in 2015, was shot 10 times and left to die behind the rear bumper of his Cadillac Escalade SUV. Comello fled in the truck and headed south to the Garden State town where his family owns a house.
A bone of contention between Cali and his killer that may not have been mob-related is an “angle that is being explored” as a motive, a high-ranking NYPD source told the Daily News.
One possibility is that Comello believed Cali was stopping him from being involved with Cali’s niece, said police sources.
“He loved that girl a lot apparently," a childhood friend of the suspect told the Daily News. "And that man must [have] said something to set him off." The friend described Comello as “misunderstood and a little mentally disfigured.”
"He wasn’t all there," said Cali's childhood friend. "He had drug problems. He was probably going through something. He was a little bit of a hot head, but a sweet kid."
Shea declined to provide any detail on what happened prior to the Wednesday night hit in the Todt Hill section.
“Let me reiterate this (investigation) is far from over,” said Shea. “Was he acting alone? Was he acting for other people? Were others involved? What was the motive? I do not have all the answers for you.”
Staten Island Judge Charles Troia signed off an arrest warrant specifying that Comello will be charged with murder, assault and weapons possession upon his return to Staten Island. Authorities need to extradite the murder suspect back from the Ocean County Jail in New Jersey.
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