FAMILIES are supposed to stick together, but mobsters in the
Colombo family are sticking it to each other and Gang Land sources on both sides of the
law say that bodies could start dropping any day.
Judging from the first official encounter, however, mobsters aligned with a faction
that still considers imprisoned Carmine (Junior) Persico its boss look like Keystone Kops.
And those carrying the mantel of Victor (Little Vic) Orena act like they're working for
Inspector Clouseau.
On June 20, four Persico loyalists, including consigliere Carmine Sessa and capo John
Pate, were staked out at Orena's Long Island home on assignment to kill him, but panicked
when Orena arrived home earlier than they expected and spotted them, according to court
papers.
"They weren't ready, at that point, to shoot him," said assistant U.S.
attorney Laura Ward last week at a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate John Caden for
Robert Zambardi, another anti-Orena member of the alleged hit squad that couldn't shoot.
Zambardi is charged with loan sharking.
Orena was more than a little upset when he saw the Persico troops almost at the ready,
so he put out contracts against Sessa and Zambardi, who were warned by the FBI about the
retaliatory contracts -- like they couldn't figure that out for themselves.
Since then, however, Orena allies haven't been able to find them, and both sides in the
family dispute are watching their backs, fronts and sides.
Sources say the family feud stems from Persico's desire to turn the crime family over
to his son, Alphonse, a reputed capo not scheduled to be released from federal prison
until July 1993, and Orena's desire to keep it himself.
Each side of the 10-capo, 100-or-so mobster family feud has members looking to start
the shooting, sources say. So far, however, family elder Vincen Aloi, a former acting boss
himself, has maintained an uneasy peace through sit-downs with both factions.
"It's the feds and their so-called informants (there are five cited in the court
papers) who are stirring up trouble among old friends, who aren't violent at all,"
said Zambardi's lawyer, Frank Lopez, who has also represented Persico.
So far, there's been no bloodshed, but both side fire real bullets, and the situation
is serious.
Three years ago, for example, when former acting boss James Angellino tried his own
power play he was quickly dispatched by mobsters then-loyal to both Orena and Persico.
