The death of reputed mob boss Joe Colombo, Sr. (1978)

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Joe Colombo was one of the youngest crime bosses in the country and the first American-born boss of a New York crime family.

On June 28, 1971, Colombo was shot and seriously wounded at the second Italian Unity Day rally. He was left paralyzed and unable to communicate after being shot 3 times in the head and neck.

Colombo lingered for seven years, dying of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Newburgh, New York on May 22, 1978.

This is how Eyewitness News covered his death.