Carmine Persico, better known as “Junior” to his close friends, and “The Snake” to the press and his enemies, was one of the toughest and most deadly mafioso to ever walk the streets of New York City, and, for that matter, the entire United States and the world. Starting his criminal career as a teenager, Persico rose up the ranks to become the boss of the Colombo Family and became one of the most powerful gangsters in organized crime.
Carmine (Junior) Persico was born in 1933 at 587 Carroll Street in the Red Hook-Gowanus Canal section of South Brooklyn. He was aka “The Snake.” He later moved to 144 Sunset Drive in Hempstead out in Nassau County. After several years of intensive law enforcement scrutiny, he chose to relocate back to the exclusive Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn where he, his wife, and children would reside for decades to come.
