Anthony Comello is obsessed with conspiracy theories. His paranoia is being litigated in a Staten Island court.
The crime that asks the question: “At what point does belief in a far-right conspiracy theory make you legally insane?”
Anthony Comello is a fervent believer in QAnon, “a conspiracy theory that claims agents within the government are trying to oust Trump from office.” In March of 2019, Comello shot and killed Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali, the American underboss of the Gambino crime family. Not, as you might expect, for being a mob boss, but (allegedly) for being “part of ‘the deep state,’ a member of a liberal cabal working to undermine President Trump.”
Comello’s attorney argued that beliefs in the truth of QAnon nonsense are plainly delusions, and that “those delusions were evidence that Mr. Comello was unfit to stand trial and instead should be given psychiatric treatment.”
In the age of Trump, far-right conspiracy theories have gripped a large section of his base, birthing one of the most convoluted and bizarre rumors to date, namely the QAnon conspiracy theory — which details a complicated and sometimes nonsensical plot by the “Deep State” against Trump and his supporters.
While most people regurgitate this particular brand of paranoia from behind their keyboards, some have been driven to commit acts of violence after being radicalized online, one example being a 29-year-old North Carolina man whose belief in “Pizza Gate” prompted him to walk into a D.C. pizzeria in 2016 and open fire with an assault weapon, believing he was rescuing children held hostage by a Hillary Clinton-run child sex trafficking ring.
A murder on Staten Island and threats involving mail bombs both may link back to conservative media, conspiracies and Trump.
Philip Bump at WaPo:
Anthony Comello went to Francesco Cali’s house on Staten Island to arrest him. Cali was understood by law enforcement to be a boss in the Gambino crime family in New York, linked to the Sicilian Mafia directly. He had done time for extortion in the past, so the NYPD effecting a new arrest probably wouldn’t have surprised many people.
Except that Comello isn’t a police officer. When he went to Cali’s house in March, he was just a guy who spent a lot of time tracking national politics and reading conspiracy theories online. According to a filing submitted by his attorneys, Comello believed that Cali was part of the “deep state” and an integral part of the “QAnon” conspiracy, a sprawling theory centered on child sex abuse that has been propagated by an anonymous Internet poster called “Q.” An Instagram account belonging to Comello includes a number of images of Q posts alongside video snippets of President Trump speaking and images of Fox News broadcasts and personalities.
The Cali encounter was not Comello’s first attempt at taking the law into his own hands, the filing says. In February, he showed up at Gracie Mansion, the home of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, in an effort to take de Blasio into custody for alleged election fraud. A bit later, Comello believed that Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) were in Lower Manhattan, so he went to a nearby U.S. Marshal’s office to ask their help in arresting the lawmakers.
Comello believed that all of them “were actively trying to bring about the destruction of America,” according to his attorney. Comello’s family had noticed “changes to his personality” after Trump’s election, the filing states, and that Comello “began to take an interest in politics, something he had not previously been involved in.”
A few months before Comello’s attempted citizen’s arrests, Waters was the target of pipe bombs sent to her congressional offices in California and Washington. Those devices were constructed by Cesar Sayoc, as Sayoc has admitted. They were among several devices made by Sayoc as part of a campaign of fear that played out shortly before the midterm elections.
A court filing from Sayoc’s attorneys submitted Monday offers a somewhat similar pattern to that which preceded Comello’s attempt to arrest Cali. Sayoc was a Trump fan before the president’s entry into politics and supported Trump’s campaign once it began. Sayoc “began watching Fox News religiously at the gym, planning his morning workout to coincide with Fox and Friends and his evenings to dovetail with Hannity,” according to his attorneys. Because of “his cognitive limitations and mental illness,” Sayoc believed fake news reports that he read online, “which increasingly made him unhinged.”
"His paranoia bled into delusion and Mr. Sayoc came to believe that prominent Democrats were actively working to hurt him, other Trump supporters, and the country as a whole,” the filing reads. “Mr. Sayoc became obsessed with this idea and found himself unable to think of anything else.” He built pipe bombs, none of which detonated.
Francesco Cali, though, is dead, shot by Comello outside his house. When Comello tried to arrest Cali, Cali understandably resisted. Comello thought the alleged mobster was reaching for a weapon, his attorneys claim, prompting him to retrieve a gun from his truck and fire. Comello is facing murder and gun charges.
Frank Cali Suspected Killer Anthony Comello Bio, Wiki, Age, Married, Net Worth, Twitter, Known Facts
Frank Cali Suspected Killer Anthony Comello Bio, Wiki, Age, Married, Net Worth, Twitter, Known Facts
Anthony Comello Bio
March 16th, 2019 – Frank Cali Suspected Killer, Anthony Comello, taken into custody
Anthony Comello is a 24-year-old non-mobster who has been identified as the suspect behind the murder of Frank Calin, the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family in what has been described as one of New York’s biggest homicide cases.
Anthony Comello Trivia Quick Info Anthony Comello Quick…
