Benedetto Aloi

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Benedetto "Benny" Aloi (b. October 6, 1935) is a New York City mobster and the son of former Colombo crime family Capo, Sebastian "Buster" Aloi who eventually would bring both his sons into the La Cosa Nostra as 'made members' of the mafia. Benny Aloi and his brother Vincenzo "Vinnie" Aloi became members of the New York mafia under the tutelage of their father , Buster and learned to run his criminal activities such as gambling, loansharking and the interests the Aloi family held in garment center trucking. All of the members of the Aloi family would rise to the rank of 'caporegime' or captain in the Colombo crime family and lead a crew of soldiers who would oversee the lucrative street rackets the Alois would control in New York City. Benny became an Acting Boss on the Ruling Committe/Panel that ran the crime family from 1986-88 and the Acting Consigliere for the Orena regime led by onetime Acting Boss, Victor|"Little Vic" Orena. Orena became the Acting Boss of the Colombo crime family in 1988 under the orders of jailed Boss, Carmine "Junior" Persico and in 1991 Orena and his supporters which included Acting Consigliere Benny Aloi decided to usurp the leadership of imprisoned Boss, Persico and lead a rebellion in the crime family. The "Colombo War" began in 1991 and pitted the faction of then Acting Boss, Vic Orena against the faction loyal to long time and imprisoned Boss, Junior Persico. The majority of Colombo crime family members were not happy with the current leadership under Carmine Persico and felt that Vic Orena should succeed the imprisoned Boss as he was supported by the most powerful capos in the crime family and the current acting hierarchy which included Benny Aloi.

At the start of the war Benny Aloi was indicted in the famous "Windows Case" along with members of the Gambino, Lucchese and Genovese crime families and following his arrest on May 30, 1991, he was convicted on rackeetering charges under the RICO Act as well as conspiracy to murder a government witnesses with Genovese crime family Underboss, Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano after a six month trial. Under normal sentencing guidelines the 'Two Bennys', Aloi and Mangano should have received 3-5 years, but due to their past criminal records and more to the point because they were high ranking mafia members that the government had been trying to prosecute unsuccessfully for years they were given a 12-15 year sentence. As it has been tradition in the mafia for decades that high level crime family members retain their positions of power and influence while incarcerated and their families are provided for while somebody associated with the imprisoned gangster looks after his criminal interests and thus was the situation that Benedetto "Benny" Aloi was given as a show of respect for his long standing loyalty to the Colombo crime family and due to the fact that his family has long been a power in the crime family. Aloi found himself holding a position of 'senior advisor' to the remaining Orena faction until 1993 when the war ended and then he held the official title of capo while he has been in prison for more than a decade and a half and should be released on supervised parole between 2008 and 2009 just as Mangano has recently. Whether or not the long time and legendary mafia member will stay active in crime family affairs is yet to be seen, but at his current age of 72 he is most likely to follow his older brother Vinnie and semi-retire to Florida or some other sunny destination and possibly stay on as a senior advisor to the current Colombo crime family leadership. Whatever Benny Aloi does he will most likely be available too advise future La Cosa Nostra members and too help guide the future leadership of the New York mafia who seems to stay at the top of America's underworld no matter what.

[edit] Further reading

• Sifakis, Carl. The mafia Encyclopedia:Second Edition. New York, Checkmark Books, 1999.
• Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiots Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis, Alpha, 2002.
• Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
• Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8