Editing Joseph Colombo (section)

==Shooting==
In early 1971, Joe Gallo was released from prison. As a supposedly conciliatory gesture, Colombo invited Gallo to a peace meeting with an offering of $1,000.<ref name="mafia informer">{{cite news|last=Fosburgh|first=Lacy|title=Mafia Informer Says Aloi Ordered Gallo Killing|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1973/06/21/97442269.pdf|access-date=2011-11-03|newspaper=New York Times|date=June 12, 1973}}</ref> Gallo refused the invitation, wanting $100,000 to stop the conflict, which Colombo refused to pay.<ref name="colombo refusal" /> At that point, acting boss [[Vincenzo Aloi]] issued a new order to kill Gallo.<ref name="colombo refusal">{{cite news|last=Gage|first=Nicholas|title=Colombo's Refusal to Buy Off Gallo for $100,000 Cited|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/07/05/79402463.pdf|access-date=2011-11-03|newspaper=New York Times|date=July 5, 1971}}</ref>

On March 11, 1971, after being convicted of perjury for lying on his application to become a [[real estate broker]], Colombo was sentenced to two and half years in state prison.<ref name="corporate rift">{{cite news|last=Ferretti|first=Fred|title=Corporate Rift in 'Godfather' Filming|newspaper=New York Times|date=March 23, 1971}}</ref> The sentence, however, was delayed pending an appeal.<ref name="Olive oil king">{{cite web|last=Bruno|first=Anthony|title=TruTV Crime Library|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/family_epics/colombo/3.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913194214/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/family_epics/colombo/3.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 13, 2008|work=The Colombo Family: The Olive Oil King|access-date=October 14, 2011}}</ref>

On June 28, 1971, Colombo was shot three times in the head and neck by Jerome A. Johnson, a 24-year old [[African American]] man at the second Italian Unity Day rally in [[Columbus Circle]] sponsored by the Italian-American Civil Rights League; Johnson was immediately killed by Colombo's bodyguards.<ref name="colombo dies" />

===Aftermath===
Colombo was paralyzed from the shooting.<ref name="colombo dies" /> On August 28, 1971, after two months at [[Mount Sinai West|Roosevelt Hospital]] in Manhattan, Colombo was moved to his estate at Blooming Grove.<ref name="two months">{{cite news|last=Weisman|first=Steven R.|title=Colombo Leaves the Hospital Two Months After the Shooting.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/08/28/79404189.pdf|access-date=2011-11-09|newspaper=New York Times|date=August 28, 1971}}</ref> In 1975, a court-ordered examination showed that Colombo could move his thumb and forefinger on his right hand. In 1976, there were reports that he could recognize people and utter several words.<ref name="colombo dies" />

After the Colombo shooting, [[Joseph Yacovelli]] became the acting boss for one year before [[Carmine Persico]] took over.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gage|first=Nicholas|title=Yacovelli Said to Succeed Colombo in Mafia Family|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/09/01/79150801.pdf|access-date=2011-11-09|newspaper=New York Times|date=September 1, 1971}}</ref>

Although many in the Colombo family blamed [[Joe Gallo]] for the shooting, the police eventually concluded that Johnson was a lone gunman after they had questioned Gallo.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gage|first=Nicholas|title=Grudges with Gallo Date to War with Profaci|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1972/04/08/79466327.pdf|access-date=November 25, 2011|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 8, 1972}}</ref> Since Johnson had spent time a few days earlier at a Gambino club, one theory was that [[Carlo Gambino]] organized the shooting. Colombo refused to listen to Gambino's complaints about the League, and allegedly spat in Gambino's face during one argument.<ref name="suspect shooting">{{cite news|last=Ferretti|first=Fred|title=Suspect in Shooting of Colombo Linked to Gambino Family|newspaper=New York Times|date=July 20, 1971}}</ref> However, the Colombo family leadership was convinced that Joe Gallo ordered the murder after his falling out with the family.<ref>{{cite book|last=Abadinsky|first=Howard|title=Organized crime|year=2010|publisher=Wadsworth/Cengage Learning|location=Belmont, Calif.|isbn=978-0-495-59966-1|url=https://archive.org/details/organizedcrime00howa|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/organizedcrime00howa/page/103 103]|edition=9th}}</ref> Gallo was murdered on April 7, 1972.<ref name="story murder">{{cite news|last=Gage|first=Nicholas|title=Story of Joe Gallo's Murder|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1972/05/03/82222661.pdf |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 3, 1972 |access-date=November 3, 2011}}</ref>