In 1986 he was sentenced to 139 years in federal prison on a variety of racketeering and conspiracy charges.
His father was a "soldier" in the Vito Genovese Mafia family. His son, Alphonse Persico, was the liaison through which he maintained control of the Joseph Colombo Mafia family after his imprisonment until Alphonse's arrests in 2004 and 2006.
