STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Italian police coordinated a joint crackdown on the mob, which resulted in multiple arrests and raids, including one on Staten Island, the Advance has learned.

The house of Islander Thomas Gambino was raided Tuesday night, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation and multiple reports.

At the same time, on the other side of the ocean, the FBI also assisted Italian police in Palermo as they arrested 19 people, according to a statement from Italian police. Gambino was among those taken into custody there.

No arrests were made in the United States, but multiple raids were conducted in New Jersey, Philadelphia and on the Island.

The results of the searches during the raid are not yet known, Assistant District Attorney Salvatore de Luca said Wednesday during a press conference in Palermo.

The operation, named “New Connection,” revealed a strong relationship between the Italian “Cosa Nostra” and the Gambino and Inzerillo crime families, which was possible due to the involvement of Thomas Gambino as well as former Gambino crime boss Frank (Franky Boy) Cali, who was fatally shot earlier this year, according to Italian prosecutors.

“Thomas Gambino and Frank Cali were subjects of extreme criminal significance,” de Luca said.

A LONG-LASTING CONNECTION

Cali, 53, was married to Rosaria Inzerillo of the powerful Inzerillo family.

The Inzerillos were among the most powerful and wealthy families within the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, said Maurizio Catino, visiting scholar in the Sociology Department at New York University, who has written several books on the American and Sicilian Cosa Nostra.

In the 1980s, however, things started to change when Salvatore Riina, considered the head of the Italian mafia until his death, declared war on the Inzerillos, who were forced to flee Italy and seek refuge in the United States, Catino said.

Once in America, the Inzerrillos started doing business with the Gambino family, he added.

Cali, before being gunned down in front of his house in Hilltop Terrace home in March, was considered the main connection between the two countries.

The death of Riina in 2017 opened a path for some members of the Inzerillo family to go back to Sicily, Palermo’s District Attorney Francesco Lo Voi said during a press conference Wednesday.

“They [the Inzerillos] were invited again to reenter in the highest mafia hierarchy,” said Lo Voi.

While the Inzerillos and the Gambinos had returned to Sicily, they also wanted to maintain the operations they had developed in America.

“The two strong families came back to Palermo a few years ago with the intention of starting again to do mob deals in the neighborhood of Passo di Rigano, Bocca di Falco and Torretta, keeping strong links with the United States,” the Italian police wrote in a statement.

Italian police said the people arrested face charges including aggravated extortion, fraud and mob membership.