"The murder, at first, seemed like a major mob hit out of 1980s New York: In a Staten Island neighborhood with mafia ties, the alleged head of the Gambino crime family gets gunned down outside his home on March 13, where he dies from multiple wounds. But as the story has developed, the details surrounding it have only grown to be increasingly bizarre, showing that this murder was no mob hit at all......
....Here is where the narrative starts to get more peculiar. At a March 18 extradition hearing in New Jersey, during which Comello agreed to be tried for the murder, he drew on the palm of his hand “MAGA Forever,” as well as a number of phrases relating to right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon: a “Q,” “United We Stand,” and “Patriots in Charge.” (QAnon, which is pro-Trump, popular with 4chan and 8chan users, and incredibly convoluted, posits that there’s a “deep state” trying to take down Trump. In an attempt to describe the right-wing conspiracy theory, the Guardian wrote, “imagine a volatile mix of Pizzagate, InfoWars and the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.”)
On March 26, Gottlieb pointed to not only to “right-wing conspiracy websites,” but also hate speech coming from “politicians, including right at the White House” as being highly influential on his client.
“Those words … have an effect,” he said in court. “The truth and the reasons for whatever happened here will become so clear, and will be shown to be directly related to the hate that people are bombarded with every day on the internet and elsewhere.”
Also, another detail worth noting: Per NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller and other police sources, Comello attempted to make a number of citizen’s arrests of politicians in the past year. On February 21, he showed up at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, asking to make a citizen’s arrest of California Democratic representatives Adam Schiff and Maxine Waters; the next day, he tried to do the same with Mayor Bill de Blasio.....
....Court documents filed on July 19, though, suggest that Comello’s motive may have been based in his adherence to right-wing conspiracy theories.
According to documents, which were obtained by the New York Times, Comello wanted to perform a citizen’s arrest on Cali to help Trump, as he believed the mob boss was part of the “deep state.” (Followers of the deep-state conspiracy believe that a shadowy group of people is actively trying to delegitimize the Trump administration by manipulating government policy.) When Cali didn’t comply with the citizen’s arrest, though, Comello killed him out of fear, per the documents.
“He ardently believed that Francesco Cali, a boss in the Gambino crime family, was a prominent member of the deep state, and, accordingly, an appropriate target for a citizen’s arrest,” Gottlieb wrote. “Mr. Comello became certain that he was enjoying the protection of President Trump himself, and that he had the president’s full support..."
