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Until last summer, Colombo was virtually unknown except to law-enforcement agencies and readers of crime stories. The son of Anthony Colombo, a gangster who was strangled with a girl friend du ing the '30s mob wars, Colombo served in the Army during World War II. After a dishonorable discharge, he became a minor figure along New York's waterfront. He was arrested at least 12 times during this period and had three convictions on gambling charges. In 1964, authorities allege, Colombo ascended to leadership of Joseph Profaci's Mafia family in Brooklyn after the "Banana War" power struggle between the Profaci family and the Joseph ("Joe Bananas") Bonanno family. In 1966, Colombo served 30 days for contempt after he refused to answer questions put to him by a grand jury. In addition to his perjury for lying to a state agency in applying for a real estate license, Colombo also faces a trial on charges of income tax evasion.-
No Spicy Meatballs. Colombo launched his publicity campaign last April after his son Joseph Jr. was arrested on charges of melting coins for resale as silver ingots. The night of his son's arrest, Colombo and some 30 others picketed FBI headquarters in Manhattan, protesting harassment of Italian Americans in general and members of the Colombo family in particular.
Young Colombo was acquitted after the chief Government witness changed his testimony. The picketing continued into June, and the Italian-American Civil Rights League was formed. On June 29, a massive Italian-American Unity Day Rally brought thousands to Columbus Circle in Manhattan, including virtually every politician in the city. The next month, Attorney General John Mitchell announced that "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" were no longer to be used in Justice Department and FBI reports and releases; a similar edict from Governor Nelson Rockefeller affected New York State releases.
The league goes marching on, and just about everyone in sight seems ready to capitulate. Last week Al Ruddy, producer of The Godfather, a film based on the bestseller about the head of a Mafia family, which is currently being shot on location in New York, attended a press conference at league headquarters to announce that "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" would not be part of the dialogue because they made "no difference in the art'stic meaning of the film." Then the league released a letter from Ford Motor Co. President Lee lacocca promising that the television series The FBI, which Ford sponsors, would avoid those terms in next season's episodes. Swift & Co. also agreed to change a TV advertisement that featured an Italian delicatessen owner, and Alka-Seltzer promised to discontinue its prizewinning commercial "Spicy Meatballs."
:: New York Assistant District Attorney John Fine alleges that although Colombo reports earning an annual salary of $7,000 to $23,000 from his Brooklyn real estate firm, his spending habits cost between $80,000 and $100,000 each year. At the dinner, a sympathetic guest commented on Mrs. Colombo's wardrobe: "Poor Jojo. She's not allowed to buy any clothes. Because they always check his income tax, she has to go around in rags."