More than a dozen armed officers rotated through the chamber, eyeing people in the audience and resting their hands on their pistols, as Anthony Comello was brought into court.
Comello listened impassively as he was formally charged with the murder of Francesco (Franky Boy) Cali, a leader in the Gambino crime family. Judge Raja Rajeswari asked that Comello be held in protective custody in jail.
The brief, five-minute court appearance was the start to what could be a closely guarded existence in New York for Comello, whose alleged crime traditionally leads to retaliation in the Mafia.
“The issue of safety for Mr. Comello, while he’s in prison, is real, and I know that the Department of Correction is very concerned about it,” said Comello’s lawyer, Robert Gottlieb. “Law enforcement, both federal and state, have really stepped up, and we appreciate their concern and consideration.”
Monday’s tight courtroom security measures — even Comello’s lawyer was escorted by police into and out of the chamber — underscore how big a challenge Comello poses for the law enforcement authorities tasked with protecting him.
City correction officials declined to say what specific steps they would take to protect Comello. “The safety and well-being of people in custody remains our highest priority,” said Jason Kersten, a spokesman for the department.
Inmates in protective custody generally are isolated from the general population under heavy guard. One law enforcement official familiar with the Correction Department’s practices, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss security measures, said Comello would likely be housed in a former prison hospital on Rikers Island. That is where most high-profile detainees are held, including police officers, those accused of killing police officers, politicians and celebrities.
Comello is accused of shooting and killing Cali, 53, earlier this month on a quiet street outside the slain man’s Todt Hill home. His motive remains unclear.
Retaliation is the accepted rule to mob-related violence, and killing a reputed Mafia leader raises those stakes. Cali’s slaying is the first high-profile Mafia killing since 1985, when a former Gambino family boss, Paul Castellano, was fatally shot outside Sparks Steak House in midtown Manhattan.
That slaying — orchestrated by former Gambino boss John Gotti in what would become a successful bid for control of the enterprise — led to a wave of killings, including by families outside the Gambino clan who viewed the violent power grab as a brazen violation of the Mafia’s code. Within the city’s five crime families, bosses typically are considered untouchable.
Comello’s peculiar backstory complicates the problem for law enforcement. Had the killing been a straightforward assassination, the most likely source of retaliation would be the Gambino crime family.
But Cali’s killing appears to have instead been a bizarre attack unrelated to mob business. Comello has no known ties to organized crime, law enforcement officials have said. He initially told detectives he was romantically interested in one of Cali’s female relatives and had been told by the mob boss to stay away, officials said.
Comello also might have been inspired by right-wing conspiracy theories he had encountered online, his lawyer said.
Comello had recently begun acting erratically. In February, he had drawn the attention of police after he showed up at the federal courthouse in Manhattan and at Gracie Mansion, demanding a citizen’s arrest of Mayor Bill de Blasio and other Democratic political figures.
“I’m not going to go into the specific websites, the specific words that did have an impact. But suffice it to say that whatever happened here is related,” Gottlieb said. Comello was spotted last week during his first court appearance in New Jersey with a symbol of right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory, “MAGA forever” and “united we stand” written on his palm.
The Gambino clan had operated quietly for the better part of the last decade after federal prosecutions decimated its ranks in the 1990s. But the crime organization had continued to make money from loan-sharking, extortion and heroin, law enforcement officials have said. It remains unclear if the family would use Mafia muscle to retaliate against Comello — a rudderless young man from Staten Island’s South Shore — and risk further scrutiny from law enforcement.
In Comello’s case, there is an equal concern for retaliation not just from members of the Gambino family, but from people seeking to make a name for themselves in the darkly competitive world of organized crime.
He is also not the only target. For days after Comello’s arrest, police maintained a heavy presence in his family’s Eltingville neighborhood, where Comello lived with his parents. A neighbor said he saw Comello’s parents leaving their home with suitcases last week, and thought they might have moved out.
“His family, certainly, there are concerns,” Gottlieb said. “We appreciate the concerns, the consideration that law enforcement has shown in ensuring their safety as well.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.