The son and grandson of a Colombo crime family capo were busted Wednesday after an NYPD joint task uncovered a staggering cache of weapons and illegal firearm-making equipment, including ghost guns.
Members of the NYPD Financial Crimes Task Force executed a warrant at the Staten Island home of 57-year-old Joseph Orapallo and his son, Frank Orapallo, 22, at their home on Locust Ave. near Edison St. in New Dorp around 6 a.m. after an investigation led the division to believe the men had ghost guns, police sources said.
The alleged father-and-son crime duo are descendants of Joseph T. Tomasello, a notorious organized crime boss arrested in 1998. Joseph Orapallo, opting to distance himself from his late father, uses his mother’s maiden name.
The NYPD and federal agents raided the home the Orapallos share with Joseph Orapallo’s wife, as well as Frank Orapallo’s baby and the mother of his child.
During the raid, authorities seized five ghost guns and 3D printing equipment used to assemble them. Police also found a stash of handguns, silencers, 14 unregistered rifles and hunting guns, as well as large amounts of ammunition and clips, according to police sources.
Both Orapallos now face multiple federal weapons charges, including possession of ghost guns. It is still being investigated if the men are involved in organized crime, police sources said.
Tomasello’s capture in the ’90s came after his son, Joseph Orapallo, and his sister-in-law unknowingly led FBI agents to his hideout in the Catskills on the night of Orapallo’s wedding, the Daily News reported at the time.
For six years, Tomasello, a street boss with the Colombo crime family, had dodged federal agents after a notorious mob war in 1991 and 1992 that left 10 people dead. Tomasello was accused of participating in five of those slayings.
But in 1998, federal agents staked out Joseph Orapallo’s Staten Island wedding, where they followed his aunt to Tomasello’s hideaway in Catskill, N.Y., about 25 miles south of Albany, The News previously reported.
After days of surveillance, agents spotted Orapallo and his new wife drive up to the house with Tomasello; the then-66-year-old man was taken into custody and was hit with racketeering and murder charges.
Tomasello was in federal prison until 2005, records show. He died in 2016.