Murdered mobster Frank Cali 'lured out of home' before being shot

The man who fatally shot the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family may have staged a car accident to lure him out of his home, New York City police have revealed.

Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said police are reviewing surveillance footage that captured the events surrounding Frank Cali’s death yesterday in Staten Island.

He described the suspect as an adult male who sped off in a pickup truck.

No arrests have been made into the first of the Gambino gang to be assassinated in more than three decades, with fears being raised it may inflame mob tensions.

Det Shea said Cali emerged from his home around 9:15pm after the suspect backed his pickup truck into his Cadillac SUV.

Video shows the suspect pulling a 9mm handgun and opening fire on Cali about a minute after they started talking.

At least 12 shots were fired.

Cali was the boss of the Gambino crime family - one of five in the city operating as Italian-American mafia.

Cali had been considered a unifying figure in the years after then-Gambino boss John Gotti, "Dapper Don," was convicted of murder and racketeering in 1992 and sent to prison for life, CNN affiliate WPIX reported.

Unlike the well-dressed Gotti, Cali kept a low profile.

The last crime family boss to be shot in New York City was Paul Castellano.

The Gambino crime boss was assassinated outside Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan in 1985.

The killing was organised by Gotti, authorities said. Gotti, who then assumed control of the family, reportedly watched the action from nearby with his eventual underboss, Sammy "Bull" Gravano.

But Gravano would eventually testify against Gotti, leading to Gotti's 1992 conviction in five murders - one of several major convictions that thinned the Mafia ranks in the 1980s and 90s.

- with CNN