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| 1960s |
Jake Columbo was a member of the Genovese Family.
Born Giachinio Colombo on January 4, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York. Parents Giuseppe and Giuseppina Buttacavali were both from Palermo, Sicily.
The Columbos resided at 52 Watkins St in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
In April 1937 Jake was arrested on a burglary charge and given probation.
The following month he was arrested again, this time for burglary, possessing burglar tools and petit larceny. Convicted on a final charge of unlawful entry, he was sent by Kings County Judge Brancato to the New York State Vocational School.
A larceny conviction in August 1940 resulted in six months at the workhouse.
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| 1940s |
By November 1943 resided at 610 Pine St in East New York, Brooklyn.
Late that month twenty-eight-year-old Morris Borge was stabbed after getting into an automobile accident with Columbo at Borden Ave and 46th St in Laurel Hill, Queens. Charged with felonious assault, Columbo was acquitted early the following year.
He was then living with brother Frank at 914 New Lots Ave in East New York and employed as a pocketbook maker. He was arrested twice that year, for vagrancy and then armed robbery, both cases ending in dismissal.
A bookmaking charge the following summer resulted in a $50 fine.
On April 25, 1950 he was picked up on another bookmaking charge at 282 Knickerbocker Ave in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The case was ultimately dismissed for lack of evidence.
A felonious assault charge in September 1951 was also dismissed.
On August 26, 1952 picked up at an East New York dice game and given a suspended sentence.
Multiple vagrancy and gambling arrests would occur through the rest of the decade, all either resulting in dismissal or with no disposition shown.
By the mid-1950s Columbo was a made member, although he may not have initially been with the Genovese Family.
Years later an FBI source, either Gambino Member Alfred Santantonio or Genovese Member Joseph Valachi, was shown a photograph of Columbo and identified him as a Genovese Soldier who 'transferred a few years ago from Magliocco Family'.
If correct he would have likely been associated with the portion of that Family's membership active in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brownsville and East New York, which included Sebastiano 'Buster' Aloi and John 'Sonny' Franzese.
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| 1950s: Carillo (L) and Columbo (R) Source (Carillo): FBN Mafia Book |
By 1955 Columbo was closely associated with Genovese Member Anthony 'Tony the Sheik' Carillo. An FBI report compiled that year identified Carillo as 'syndicate leader with Jake Columbo' in Brownsville - East New York. The following year an informant noted: "The syndicate boss of East New York is 'Tony the Sheik' who frequents the corner of Liberty and Cleveland Avenues in Brooklyn. He further advised Jackie Columbo is another button man from the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, who frequents the East New York area and has a say in underworld activities in that area...Columbo is next in command to 'Tony the Sheik'."
Columbo oversaw floating crap games in the area, with patrons typically steered to the location from the Garfield Cafeteria in Flatbush.
On March 30, 1958 thirty-four-year-old Louis Nadel was shot to death while parking his automobile on Ave X between East 26th and East 27th Sts in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. The killer, who may have been sitting in the passenger seat, shot Nadel twice in the head at close range with a .38 caliber automatic handgun.
Those brought in for questioning included Columbo, who until recently had been one of three partners in the JS&L Coat Corporation at 86 Meserole St in Williamsburg.
Late that year he formed the Jako Vending Corporation at 606 Gates Ave in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Genovese Associate Benjamin 'Benny' Wekar and Possible Lucchese Member Victor Aita each purchased an interest and served respectively as Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of the corporation. Wekar was by then a long-time gambling associate of Columbo.
The trio was later said to have collaborated with the Colombo Family's Gallo brothers in the jukebox business.
By 1963 Columbo was part of a large-scale policy ring operating in Brooklyn and New Jersey. Others involved included Bonanno Member Gaetano 'Smitty' D'Angelo, Colombo Member Sebastiano Aloi, Genovese Members Gennaro Boccia and Anthony 'Tony Andrews' Florio as well as Genovese Associate James 'Jimmy Nap' Napoli.
On April 6, 1963 Columbo was indicted for bribery in Suffolk County, Long Island. Genovese Member Gabriel Vigorito, Lucchese Member Salvatore 'Babe' Vario and three others were also charged.
Vigorito appears to have been dropped from the case. Columbo, Vario and the others were convicted in March 1964 following what was then the longest trial in Suffolk County history.
Three months later the bribery case defendants appeared for sentencing before Judge George F. X. McInerney. Columbo and Vario were given New York State prison sentences of four-to-eight years and eight-to-fifteen years respectively. Both were released on bail pending appeal.
On February 21, 1965 Columbo died at his residence located on Bedell Lane in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
In early July 1965 the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court granted Columbo a posthumous reversal of his bribery conviction and ordered a new trial for Salvatore Vario and two of the other surviving co-defendants.