A few months before the shooting, Gallo had returned from prison and refused to attend a peace meeting with Colombo. Moreover, during his time in jail, Gallo had grown close to Nicky Barnes and other gangsters from Harlem, a predominantly black neighborhood. Therefore, there was speculation that Gallo had plotted to murder Colombo and sent Johnson to execute the hit. However, there is no evidence connecting Johnson to Gallo. Ultimately, Colombo did not die as a result of the shooting. Therefore, technically he wasn’t murdered and died of health-related reasons., On June 28, 1971, Colombo was shot three times by Jerome Johnson at the second Italian Unity Day rally in Columbus Circle sponsored by the Italian-American Civil Rights League; Johnson was immediately killed by Colombo's bodyguards. Colombo was paralyzed from the shooting., Three rounds from an assassin’s gun all but silenced Joseph Colombo, one of the Mafia’s most publicly vocal bosses. Although he survived the June 28, 1971, attack, the wounds left Colombo almost completely paralyzed, and eventually proved mortal. He died seven years later from heart failure attributed to the lingering effects of his injuries..