Colombo boss Victor Orena - revisited

“I’m the boss. I’m going to fire you,” Victor Orena, 89, tells the prison staff at the dementia unit at Federal Medical Center Devens, a federal prison in Mass. Vic Orena is often too busy or important to deal with anybody else. Other days he orders everyone around like an overwrought mafioso. Orena was asked if he knew where he was. “This is a prison,” he said, brightly. “Why are you here?” “I don’t remember,” he frowned. “I don’t know.” Officials say 90% of the men in the unit don’t know what they did. Some of them don’t even know where they are. Some don't know who they are. Several of the men need help with the toilet and wear diapers. Ex-Colombo crime boss Victor Orena’s last appeal for compassionate release was shot down by a federal appeals court in 2022. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals found no grounds for freeing the mob boss, insuring he will die behind bars.

Vittorio 'Little Vic' Orena is a New York mobster who became the acting boss of the Colombo crime family. A challenge by Orena to jailed boss Carmine Persico triggered one of the bloodiest Mafia wars in New York history. Orena is so stricken with Alzheimer's that he thinks he is president.

Persico died in prison in 2019.

The once greatly feared boss has advanced dementia, is wheelchair-bound, and can no longer care for himself. Orena has been in prison since 1992 after being sentenced to life plus 85 years. The Colombo conflict spiraled out of control in 1991. As the war progressed into 1992, Orena was convicted of murder and racketeering. By the end of 1992, the shooting war had ended and Persico remained in control of the Colombo family.