Philip Lombardo (October 6, 1908 in

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 ...

– April 29, 1987) also known as "Benny Squint" and "Cockeyed Phil", was the boss of the

Genovese crime family The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American M ...

from the late 1960s until the beginning of the 1980s. He succeeded

Vito Genovese Vito Genovese (; November 21, 1897 – February 14, 1969) was an Italian-born American mobster who mainly operated in the United States. Genovese rose to power during Prohibition as an enforcer in the American Mafia. A long-time associate and ch ...

as Boss in 1969 and was succeeded by

Vincent Gigante Vincent Louis Gigante (; March 28, 1928 – December 19, 2005), also known as "The Chin", was an American mobster who was boss of the Genovese crime family in New York City from 1981 to 2005. Gigante started out as a professional boxer who fough ...

in 1981. Lombardo began his career as a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola (July 2, 1900 – October 1, 1966) was a New York City mobster who became a caporegime of the 116th Street Crew of the Luciano family, which later came to be known as the Genovese family. Coppola headed many G ...

's powerful 116th Street Crew in the

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

section of New York. During the 1940s, Lombardo served a brief prison stretch for

narcotics trafficking The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

, his only imprisonment. Due to his thick eyeglasses Lombardo earned the nickname, "Benny Squint." In 1959, family boss

was sent to prison. However, Genovese used a series of acting bosses to maintain control of the family from prison. His three acting bosses, or Ruling Panel, were Capo

Michele Miranda Michele "Big Mike" Miranda (July 26, 1896 – July 16, 1973) was a longtime member and eventual consigliere of the Genovese crime family and one of the most powerful New York gangsters in the 1950s and 1960s. Early years Born in San Giuseppe V ...

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 underbo ...

Gerardo "Jerry" Catena, and acting boss Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli. The trio panel was known to authorities but in 1962 former mobster turned government witness

Joseph Valachi Joseph Michael Valachi (September 22, 1904 – April 3, 1971) was an American mobster in the Genovese crime family who is notable as the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to acknowledge its existence publicly in 1963. He is credited wit ...

stated before a

US Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

subcommittee that Lombardo was also a part of this same panel. In that same year

Anthony Strollo Anthony C. Strollo (June 18, 1899 – disappeared April 8, 1962), also known as "Tony Bender", was a New York mobster who served as a high-ranking capo of the Genovese crime family for several decades. Biography Early years Anthony Strollo was ...

disappeared and was presumed murdered. Strollo's role as a front or acting boss was given to Thomas Eboli. Eboli himself was later gunned down in 1972. It had been theorized that Commission chairman Carlo Gambino had orchestrated Eboli's murder in order to install his own candidate for Genovese boss in the form of Alphonse Frank "Funzi" Tieri who would replace Eboli as front boss shortly after Eboli's murder. However, according to FBI informant

Vincent Cafaro Vincent "Fish" Cafaro (born August 27, 1933) was a mobster and protegee of Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, a top lieutenant in the Genovese crime family, until becoming a government informant and witness. Labor racketeer Cafaro was born in the sma ...

, Lombardo had been boss since 1969 and had been using Eboli and Tieri as decoys to insulate himself from the FBI. In 1981, Tieri died and Lombardo stepped down as boss due to poor health, naming

as his successor, while at the same time making Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno the new front boss in order to disguise Gigante's transition into the new boss. This way the FBI would still not know who was really in charge and would continue to go after the wrong people, which they did, sentencing Salerno to 100 years in prison in 1986 in the

Mafia Commission Trial The Mafia Commission Trial (in full, ''United States v. Anthony Salerno, et al'') was a criminal trial before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in New York City, United States, that lasted from February 25, 19 ...

. Although Lombardo resided in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

, he spent his remaining winters in

Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now ...

. He made it clear that Gigante was to become the new boss, and Salerno would continue as the front boss. He was 78 years old and living in Florida when he died on April 29, 1987.

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Further reading