abstract
| - In 1959 Tony Shots' father Frankie was killed on orders of Joe Profaci for refusing to meet his tribute demands, while this was commonplace of the syndicate underworld, the murder of Abbatemarco caused a conflict between the Profaci crime family and the Gallo's as Joe Gallo refused to hand over member Anthony Abbatemarco (whose death had been ordered by Profaci for his fathers debt and to avoid revenge). Kidnapping several Profaci lieutenants, Gallo held them hostage making his own demands. Profaci refused to negotiate, eventually leading to the Gallo-Profaci War. Tony Shots was a member of the Gallo gang in their war against the Profaci family which ended with the murder of Crazy Joe in April of 1972. Abbatemarco has been suspected of being the true mastermind behind the 1971 assassination attempt of Joseph Colombo that left him invalid and led to his death 7 years later. Tony Shots became the biggest numbers guy in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a black ghetto in Brooklyn and tight with a lot of black criminals. He’d held a grudge against the Profaci family since the killing of his father, was mad at Joe Colombo for squeezing money from him and had hated Joey Gallo whom he suspected had been behind the hit on his father. His involvement in the Colombo hit was never proven and Joe Gallo took the heat from the media and the mafia alike as the chief suspect. Abbatemarco, later went on to become a prominent member of the Colombo family ascending to the rank of underboss, a position he held from 1973 until 1977 when he disappeared, presumably murdered.
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