What was the reason for the Gallo's to start the war? I read different times that it was started because the family boss Joe Profaci taxed his soldiers...The soldiers had to give him money...He was said to be too greedy.

But isn't that normal? Every mafiaboss gets his money from his underlings? Or does the pay-up-system works different?

Unkept Promises were made to the Gallo Brothers by Profaci.

They carried out a job for Profaci, taking out Frankie Abattemarco on the orders of Profaci, and Abbatemarco's policy making business was promised to the Gallos as payment for carrying out the job.

However Profaci renaged, keeping most of the business for himself and giving what was left to his own family. So the Gallo's took him to war by attempting to kidnap Profaci himself. They were unsuccessful in kidnapping Profaci, however they did kidnap several Profaci men.

A deal was struck with Profaci again promising to give the Gallos what they had coming to them. Gallo released the hostages and again Profaci renaged on his deal. So this is when the Gallos and Profaci went to a full scale war. They were still at war when Joe Profaci died of cancer.


Don Cardi

To continue the story.....

Joe Columbo took over the Profaci Family, and the Gallo faction of the family was accused of engineering the hit on Columbo.

I think the Gallos were backed by Gambino because He thought Colombo was a nut for his Italian discrimination parade shit... It brought to much attention

I'm not sure if the Gallos were backed by Gambino, but the rest of what you say is absolutely true.

Columbo had been appearing on local TV and radio talk shows, promoting his "Italian American Civil Rights League", and criticzing the media for making the connection between Italian Americans and organized crime.

Gambino was cunning in all this. He knew that Gallo was not happy with Columbo back from the Profaci days. He knew that Gallo had befriended blacks whil in prison.

Gambino was not happy with how Columbo was making himself and the mob a public spectacle.

Suddenly a black man shoots Columbo.

I believe that Joey Gallo had nothing to do with the shooting of Columbo. I believe that Gambino manipulated the whole situation and made it "appear" as though Gallo was behind the Columbo shooting.

I never knew, until this day that it was Gambino all along.


Don Cardi

Not only Gambino but Genovese backed the Gallos in truth against Bonanno. This was all leading up to Bonannos alledged scheme to eliminate them in which Colombo played such a critical role.

Thanks to all of you,

And Gallo was killed short after that, am i right? Why was he killed? Did he became boss for a short while after the dead of Colombo?

The story is a little more complicated, Juventus:
Columbo was a capo in the Profaci family. After Profaci died, his brother in law, Joseph Magliocco, took over. Magliocco conspired with Bonanno to whack Gambino and Lucchese. Columbo betrayed his boss (Magliocco) to Gambino. Magliocco paid a fine to the Commission, agreed to step down as head of his family, and died soon after of a heart attack. Gambino rewarded Columbo by supporting him to become head of the Profaci/Magliocco family. The Commission then summoned Bonanno to a meeting to explain himself. Bonanno refused, setting off the famous "Banana War" that resulted in Bonanno being "kidnapped," etc.

All this happened in the mid-Sixties, after the war with the Gallos that others have described. In fact, eldest brother Larry had died of cancer, and Crazy Joe was serving a ten-year sentence for extortion when all of this went down. Then, around 1968, Columbo's son was indicted on a Federal charge (melting down silver coins), and the Feds set their sights on Columbo himself. So, Columbo formed the Italian-American Civil Rights Assn., organized huge rallies in NYC's Columbus Circle, appeared on nationwide TV, etc. His "League" asserted that the government, news media, etc., were prejudiced against Italians. It was really an attempt by Columbo to intimidate the Feds into dropping charges against him.

Meanwhile, Joe Gallo got out of prison and began developing his own rackets, using blacks and hispanics he recruited in prison. This didn't sit well with Columbo or the other Dons. But it's not clear that Gallo organized the shooting of Columbo. It seems more likely that Gambino--Columbo's former patron--ordered it because Columbo's high public profile was calling attention to the Mob. He also may have ordered the hit on Gallo because, after Columbo's shooting, Gallo also took a high public profile.

Another theory is that Carmine (the Snake) Persico ordered both the Columbo and Gallo shootings. As you know, Persico eventually took over the Columbo family.