Victor Orena

Background

Born in New York City, Victor Orena's father died when he was a child. Orena spent time in a reform school and eventually dropped out of high school. According to his son, Orena entered the mob life because the wiseguys he knew has risen from humble beginnings and had become big figures in his neighborhood.

In the early 1970s, Carmine Persico, the boss of the Colombo crime family, allegedly had a few people "made" into his organization, even though the "books" had officially been closed since 1958, barring any new inductions. One of these men was Orena, who rose through the ranks and operated in Brooklyn, Long Island, and New Jersey primarily in labor racketeering. Orena was a well dressed individual who projected a traditional business image.

Brooklyn capo

In 1986, Persico and several leading Colombo figures were convicted of racketeering charges. A year later, Persico and "acting boss" Gennaro Langella were convicted in the Mafia Commission Trial and sentenced to 139 years in prison. To run the family in his absence, Persico named his brother, Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico, as acting boss. However, Allie Boy was slapped with loansharking charges and skipped out on bail. In his brother's absence, Persico created a "Ruling Committee" of Orena, Joseph Russo, and Benedetto Aloi to run the family. At the same time, Orena was promoted to caporegime of the crew that had formerly been led by Carmine's son, Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico. Orena was able to set up operations almost everywhere in the New York and New Jersey area.

When John Gotti became boss of the Gambino family in 1986, Orena was able to expand his criminal dealings with the Gambinos. He became a top earner in the Colombo family, and increased his influence with Aloi and his brother Vincenzo, leaders of the Colombo Brooklyn faction. Orena was also close friends with Lucchese family mobsters Victor Amuso and James Burke.

Acting boss

In 1988, Persico disbanded the Ruling Committee, which had been decimated by convictions and imprisonments. He intended to pass the family to his son, Alphonse. Since Little Allie Boy was in prison after being convicted in the 1986 "Colombo Trial," Persico made Orena acting boss, but made it clear that Orena was merely a placeholder until his son's release. However, he also gave Orena the right to induct members and order murders on his own authority—two powers rarely granted to acting bosses.

In November 1989, Orena allegedly ordered the murder of Colombo mobster Thomas Ocera, who allegedly skimmed mob profits, had let police seize the Colombos' loansharking records, and had supposedly killed an associate of Gotti. On November 13, Gregory Scarpa, a Colombo enforcer and FBI informant, strangled Ocera with a length of piano wire. Most believe it was because of Orena's strong stance against narcotics that Scarpa, along with fellow mobsters Carmine Sessa and John Pate, eventually turned against their boss.

Third Colombo War

By early 1991, Orena felt that Perisco was keeping the family from making money and that Orena himself should become boss in his own right. In addition, Persico had been negotiating for a television biography. Orena and several others, remembering how federal prosecutors had used Joe Bonanno's tell-all book as evidence in the Commission Trial, believed this proposed TV special would bring unwanted law enforcement interest on the family. Orena first asked the Commission to summarily remove Persico and declare him boss, but the Commission refused, saying that Orena should instead follow Mafia tradition and ask his capos if they supported him or Persico. In accordance with these instructions, Orena instructed Sessa, his consigliere, to poll his capos to see if they favored him taking over the family. Instead, Sessa alerted Persico, who ordered a hit on Orena.

On June 20, 1991, a five-man hit team including Sessa, Pate, and Hank Smurra converged on Orena's Long Island home and waited for his return home. As Orena was driving down his street, he recognized several men in the parked car. Realizing they were waiting to kill him, Orena drove away. By the time the gunmen spotted Orena, it was too late to act.

The Colombo conflict soon spiraled out of control. On November 18, 1991, Cutolo sent a team to attempt to murder Scarpa, who was ambushed as he was driving with his daughter and granddaughter; Scarpa and his family escaped unharmed. In retaliation, Persico loyalist Smurra, a member of the June assassination team against Orena, was shot dead later that day. On November 29, Sessa survived a murder attempt while driving his car. On December 3, Scarpa sent a team to kill Orena soldier Joseph Tollino. Tollino escaped, but his companion, Genovese family mobster Thomas Amato, was killed accidentally. On December 5 and 6, Cutolo sent teams thatkilled Persico loyalists Rosario Nastasa and Vincent Fusaro. On December 8, Orena supporter Nicky Grancio was killed. Soon after, Matteo Speranza, an innocent employee of a shop owned by Persico associates, was murdered by a young Brooklyn underling Anthony Libertore and his father, who were trying to make a name themselves with the Brooklyn faction of the Colombos. The Libertores cooperated with the FBI once imprisoned, but were not found credible.

By this time, the Colombo warfare was receiving a great deal of public attention. On December 16, 1991, the Brooklyn district attorney summoned Orena and the other Colombo principals to a grand jury meeting to testify about the conflict. The mobsters all refused to testify. As the war progressed into 1992, Orena was indicted on charges of murder and racketeering. To ensure his personal safety, he had gone into hiding at his girlfriend's new house, which was still under construction in Valley Stream, New York. On April 4, 1992, agents arrested Orena at the house. A search uncovered four shotguns, a large supply of ammunition, and a bullet-proof vest. In testimony made in 1997, Gregory Scarpa Jr. would claim that his father planted the guns in the house to frame Orena. However, this charge was never proven.

Imprisonment

On December 22, 1992, Orena was convicted of racketeering, the 1989 Ocera murder, and other related charges. He received three life sentences plus 85 years in federal prison. By late 1992, the shooting war had petered out and Persico remained in control of the Colombo family.

On March 10, 1997, a judge refused to overturn Orena's conviction. The appeal was based on an alleged conspiracy between Scarpa and his FBI handler, Lindley DeVecchio, against Orena during the war. On January 16, 2004, a judge denied Orena's appeal for a new trial.

As of May 2013, Orena is serving a life sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) near Terre Haute, Indiana. While in prison, he has become a Catholic Eucharistic minister, helping the priest administer the host and wine to inmates during mass.