By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Retired mobster Anthony Colombo passed away last week, Gangland News reports. He was 71. Anthony was the eldest son of Mafia boss Joseph Colombo, who founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League and was shot by an assassin at one of his civil rights rallies in 1971. He remained paralyzed and died almost seven years later.

Anthony followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming an official member – or made guy – and then a capo in the crime family bearing his last name. His mob career earned Colombo time behind bars when he was busted by authorities leading a crew that ran illegal gambling operations in New York.

After retiring from “the life,” Colombo wrote a book about his father and family history titled Colombo: The Unsolved Murder with Don Capria. The book details his father’s rise in the Mafia and the facts and theories behind his death by the hands of a, supposed, lone assassin.

Colombo died of natural causes in his sleep.

Joseph (left) and Anthony Colombo (right) on the Dick Cavett tv show

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