Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali, the 53 year old over boss of the Gambino Crime Family, was shot six times before he was run over by the assassin.

The police said they received a report about the shooting outside 25 Hilltop Terrace in the Todt Hill section of Staten Island around 9:20 p.m. There was also a report of a blue pickup truck leaving the scene around the time of shooting.

Mr. Cali was pronounced dead at Staten Island University Hospital.

A 58-year-old neighbor who gave only his first name, Salvatore, said that he heard a burst of about seven gunshots shortly after 9 p.m. “I just heard the pow-pow-pow-pow-pow,” he said.

His wife and young children were inside, police sources told the New York Post .

One man collapsed in front of the home crying: “Papa! Papa!” as a woman shouted into her phone: “Why doesn’t the ambulance come? He’s not breathing!”

One source blatantly described the hit as “disrespectful”, because it took place near his family home in an outer borough.

Italian Police Press Office/EPA, via Shutterstock

Cali is the first mob boss to be slain in New York City since the former Don John Gotti ordered the murder of then-Gambino boss Paul Castellano in 1985 at Sparks steakhouse in Midtown, taking over the post as leader after the attack.

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

The assassination of Mr. Cali came on the same day that Joseph Cammarano Jr., the reputed acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, was acquitted at trial, and about a week after Carmine J. Persico, a longtime boss of the Colombo crime family, died in prison at age 85.

Investigators, including the FBI, are now imploring whether the hit was sanctioned by the commission of New York’s five families or whether it was carried out by a rogue “cowboy” gunman.

Now, insiders reportedly say the death could open up a slot for Gene Gotti in the Gambino hierarchy, who made billions under the reign of the Teflon Don. As a “made man”, who was a mob captain before being jailed for pushing Heroin, Gene Gotti is entitled to a senior role within the Gambino family as John Gotti’s little brother, they say.

Cali, a native of Sicily, was believed by Mafia watchdogs to be the opposite of infamous and celebrated former boss “Dapper Don” John Gotti, because “no one ever sees him.”

He was married to John Gambino’s niece and served on the family’s ruling panel for several years before being promoted to acting boss in 2015, replacing the previous leader Domenico Cefalu, also known as ‘Greaseball’.

Todt Hill, Staten Island, is known for its mafia history. Paul Castellano owned also owned a home on Benedict Road. A home on nearby Longfellow Road served as the filming location of the Corleone compound in “The Godfather.”