He’s now the boss of the Colombo crime family, the feds say — and his decision to hold court at a family Christmas party in Brooklyn could land him back in the can.
Theodore “Skinny Teddy” Persico Jr., the nephew of notorious Colombo boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico,” has officially taken the title once held by his late uncle, according to federal prosecutors.
And, he admitted in court Thursday, he violated the terms of his supervised release when he met and chatted with three Colombo members at Ponte Vecchio restaurant in Bay Ridge on Dec. 1.
Persico, 62, was the heir apparent to the crime family in 2023 when he was sentenced to three years behind bars for a labor union extortion plot. The same scheme had helped the feds bust the clan’s leadership two years earlier.
Part of his sentence was steering clear of family associations. At the time, his lawyer told Judge Hector Gonzalez he had “no desire to be boss,” The Messenger reported.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Devon Lash said at a hearing Thursday in Brooklyn Federal Court that Persico has not only failed to move to New Jersey and leave the Colombos behind, but he’s actually running the show.
“Not only has he not done that, he has taken on the mantle of leadership that he claims to have distanced himself from,” Lash told Gonzalez Thursday.
Persico appeared before the judge Thursday after the feds charged him with violating his supervised release shortly after his July 2025 release from federal custody by associating with organized crime figures.
The reputed boss pleaded guilty to two violations, admitting he met one Colombo member outside NYU Langone Hospital on Aug. 29, and speaking to three more at Porto Vecchio on Dec. 1. Both meet-ups were caught on video.
He told the judge that his wife, Nicole, was getting surgery at the hospital when “my friend came to support me, and I shouldn’t have been there with him.”
That “friend” was on a prohibited list from a past case of his, and Persico said that even though he hadn’t gotten the latest list of people to avoid, he “stupidly assumed that maybe he wouldn’t be on it.”
For the second meeting, Persico explained that he was having dinner with his cousin when he saw “two gentlemen that knew for a long time.”
“I went out of my way to talk to them and wish them a Merry Christmas,” he said.
Persico faces a maximum two years behind bars when he’s sentenced Feb. 11, though if the judge sticks to federal guidelines he can expect five to 11 months.
“He does expect some incarceration in this matter as a learning experience,” his lawyer, Joseph Corozzo Jr. said. ‘It is a learning experience, as every one of Mr. Persico’s cases has been a learning experience.”
Lash cast both meetings in a more nefarious light, describing how he left his phone behind while he used his wife’s medical appointment as cover to meet with a fellow gangster.
He understood he was on camera at the restaurant and pretended to ignore the three Colombo members, Lash said, but later, when he headed to the rear of the eatery, “he’s seen hugging and kissing the men that he pretended to ignore,” Lash said.
Unbeknownst to him, that part of the restaurant was also caught on camera, she said.
She also said that the way the men approached him made it clear they were showing deference to the boss of the family.
“He’s had countless learning experiences,” Lash said, pointing out that he’s never successfully finished a term of supervised release, and that he committed technical violations right before committing each new crime in his past cases. “He knows the lessons of associating with prohibited people.”
Persico has a storied career in crime dating back to 1981, when he was 17 years old and was busted for attempted grand larceny on Staten Island. He later spent 17 years behind bars for drug dealing until his release in 2004, and while on a brief furlough for his grandmother’s wake in 1993, he ordered members of his crew to kill Joseph Scopo, a member of a rival Colombo faction.
That earned him another 12 years, and he told his sentencing judge in 2014, “I assure you I’ll do my best not to be here again.”
He was freed on supervised release in May 2020, but quickly broke that pledge, chowing down with his fellow Colombo gangsters at the legendary Brennan and Carr restaurant that November to discuss the crime family’s future, and their labor union shakedown scheme.
Gonzalez ordered him released on home confinement and a $1 million bond, secured by his mother’s nearly $1 million home in Bensonhurst, and he and his wife’s $1.25 million home in the swanky Todt Hill neighborhood of Staten Island.
Lash said the government will move to take both homes if he violates the terms of his release again.
The judge alluded to his past remarks at Persico’s last sentencing, saying, “It’s a waste of breath on my part if he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do.”
Persico and his wife declined comment as they walked out of the courtroom Thursday.
