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New York Mafia chieftain gunned down in front of mansion

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New York Mob boss Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali was taken off the board Wednesday night in a hit reminiscent of an underworld greatest hits package.

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The 53-year-old Gambino crime family boss was shot several times in front of his Staten Island mansion around 9:20 p.m.

And then as a final coup de grace, the crime lord was run over several times.

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His wife and children were inside the home in the swanky Todt Hill area.

Cops retrieve evidence from the scene where Mob boss Francesco Cali was clipped late Wednesday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cops retrieve evidence from the scene where Mob boss Francesco Cali was clipped late Wednesday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cali is the first family boss to be murdered since the brazen 1985 power play that left Paul “Big Paulie” Castellano bleeding out in the street in front of Sparks Steakhouse and John Gotti on top of the Gambinos.

“Even Gotti had more respect,” one police source told the New York Post. “He did it out in Manhattan.”

According to cops, the triggerman fled in a blue pickup truck after the hit called “disrespectful” by gangland insiders.

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Witnesses said they heard six or seven shots.

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“I’ve seen the (Mob) movies . . . but I’ve never seen any activity that we feel at all that there’s something strange about this area,” Prashant Ranyal told The Post.

Law enforcement — including the FBI — are now trying to determine whether the killer was a lone rogue or the slaying was sanctioned.

In style and substance, Cali — who was born in Sicily — was the diametric opposite of the flashy John Gotti.

“No one ever sees him,” a source told the Post, adding he was “a real quiet old-school boss.”

During his reign, the arch-criminal reportedly infused the Gambinos with a fresh batch of Italian gangsters from the old country.

The crime family focused their efforts on heroin and OxyContin trafficking. Cali had just one conviction for extortion in 2008.

Last October, Bonanno crime family associate Sylvester Zottola, 71, was gunned down at a Bronx McDonald’s drive-thru as he waited for a coffee.

His death was believed to be over gambling rackets and it is suspected the rub-out was at the behest of Albanian gangsters.

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