By Adam Nichols
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — The largest mob bust in history could spark off a bloody mob war as gangsters retaliate against rats, police sources have warned.
An FBI sweep took down 127 alleged mobsters last week, including the entire leadership of the Colombo crime family, two Gambino family figures and 34 made men from the city's five families.
The arrests were linked largely to taped conversations involving Colombo family rats.
"I think they're going to kill people, because the guys running around making the tapes were made members of the family," a law enforcement source told the New York Post.
"I've heard that people are looking to retaliate."
Made men take an oath of silence — and they're expected to honor it.
The Post reported that the first target would be the informants, followed by the people who introduced them to the family.
The newspaper reported that about 40 made Colombo members are still on the streets. The family is now leaderless.
"Nobody knows who will take over," the source told the Post.
"There's nobody left."
In one of the tapes, a Colombo gangster called "Big Anthony" Russo told a friend he suspected "a rat real close to us."
He said when he found the snitch, he would "chop his head off."
