FILE – The body of mafia crime boss Paul Castellano lies on a stretcher outside Manhattan’s Sparks Steak House in Dec. 1985 after he and his bodyguards were gunned down at the direction of John Gotti, who then took over as boss. (Associated Press)

When John Gotti died in prison from throat cancer in 2002, his other brother, Peter, reportedly rose as godfather. Power again shifted to the family’s Sicilian faction after Peter was put behind bars, with Domenico Cefalu taking over before passing leadership to Cali in 2015, reports have said.

5 BLOODY MOB-RELATED KILLINGS IN AMERICA

Under mob protocol, Gene Gotti’s release from prison entitles him to a key role within the family, according to the Post.

But police have said it is too soon to tell whether Cali’s death was mob-related, let alone linked to Gene Gotti.

“It’s total speculation,” a source told the New York Daily News about a possible connection to Gotti. “But it’s also something to look out for. Was Gene trying to reclaim some of his business and Cali wasn’t going for it?”

The Gambino Family was once among the most powerful criminal organizations in the U.S., but federal prosecutions in the 1980s and 1990s sent its top leaders — including the Gotti brothers — to prison and diminished its reach.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Cali was considered a unifying figure in the family, credited with recruiting new immigrant gangsters from Italy and focusing on the heroin and Oxycontin trades, the Post reported.

No arrests have been made in Cali’s murder.