Police in Brick arrest accused killer of reputed mob boss

BRICK — New York City police say a suspect was arrested in New Jersey in the shooting death of the reputed Gambino crime family boss.

Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea says 24-year-old Anthony Comello was arrested Saturday in Brick and charged in the murder of Francesco Cali on Wednesday in front of his Staten Island home.

Ocean County Jail records show that Comello was booked Saturday on a murder charge. He is listed as single and a high school graduate. No other details about the arrest were immediately available Saturday afternoon.

The 53-year-old Cali, a native of Sicily, was shot to death by a gunman who may have crashed his truck into Cali's car to lure him outside.

Shea said the motive for the killing is unknown. But NBC New York cited unnamed law enforcement sources who said that the death does not appear to be mob related and and who described the suspect as a conspiracy theorist.

The New York Post reported that the shooting may have stemmed from a dispute over Comello dating a woman in Cali's family, according to sources the Post did not identify.

New Jersey 101.5 did not know Saturday whether Comello had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

The slaying marked the first assassination of a New York City mob boss since Paul Castellano was killed outside a Manhattan steakhouse in 1985.

Shea says Cali emerged from his home around 9:15 p.m. after the suspect backed his pickup truck into Cali's Cadillac SUV.

Video shows the suspect pulling a 9 mm handgun and opening fire on Cali about a minute after they started talking.

At least 12 shots were fired. Cali was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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