Domenico Cefalù (; born 1947) is an Italian American

mobster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

and is currently the

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

of the

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. On February 25th, 2021, Domenico became the

of the

Biography

Cefalù was born in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, in 1947. After moving to the United States, Cefalù became involved in organized crime and started smuggling

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and bro ...

for the

. In March 1982, Cefalù was convicted of heroin smuggling along with 10 other men, including his uncle and cousin, and served six years in prison. In 1990, Gambino boss John Gotti inducted Cefalù as a

made man In the American and Sicilian Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. To become "made", an associate first must be Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by another made man. An inductee will be required to take the oa ...

, or full member, into the Gambino family. Cefalù was a member of the Sicilian " Zip" crew headed by captain Pasquale Conte and operated in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. In 1992, a New York grand jury summoned Cefalù to testify in an investigation of Conte. After answering a few questions, Cefalù refused to testify. The judge sentenced Cefalù to 18 months in jail for

civil contempt Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

. On February 23, 1993, Cefalù was summoned to testify in Conte's trial, but again refused. On February 6, 1994, Cefalù was released from jail. However, on February 6, 1994, Cefalù was

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of ...

criminal contempt Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

for refusing to testify at Conte's trial. In 1996, convicted of criminal contempt, the court sentenced Cefalù to 33 months in prison. In 2005, Cefalù was named family

underboss Underboss ( it, sottocapo) is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian, Greek, and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss. The under ...

by street boss and former ally of John Gotti,

Jackie D'Amico John "Jackie" D'Amico (born July 11, 1937) is a New York City mobster and caporegime who served as street boss of the Gambino crime family from 2005 to 2011. "Street boss" had been the family's number one position ever since official Boss Peter ...

. One of his main responsibilities was overseeing the Sicilian faction of the Gambino family. On February 7, 2008, Cefalù was indicted on multiple charges of racketeering conspiracy and

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

as part of the

Operation Old Bridge Operation Old Bridge is the code name for the February 7, 2008 arrests in Italy and the United States that targeted the Gambino crime family; among the indicted were the reputed acting bosses Jackie D'Amico, Nicholas Corozzo and Joseph Corozzo. ...

investigation of the Gambino family. The extortion charges came from the trucking industry, which hauls away dirt excavated from construction projects. He accepted a plea agreement from the prosecution in exchange for a guilty plea that could have resulted in his spending up to three years in prison. He was sentenced to two years in prison and was released on November 3, 2009. In July 2011, he became the official boss of the Gambino crime family. His ascension was seen as a return to the old-fashioned way of running a Mafia family. He replaced

Peter Gotti Peter Arthur Gotti (October 15, 1939 – February 25, 2021) was an American mobster. He was the boss of the Gambino crime family, part of the American Mafia, and the elder brother of the former Gambino boss John Gotti. Early life Gotti was born ...

, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002 while a series of acting bosses and ruling panels was used to run the family. This also marked the end of the John Gotti era of the Gambino family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cefalu, Domenico 1947 births American gangsters of Sicilian descent Gambino crime family Bosses of the Gambino crime family Living people American prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Italian emigrants to the United States American people convicted of drug offenses People convicted of racketeering