The son of a law firm stenographer and a stay-at-home mother, Persico was a high school dropout who was part of a local street gang. His first arrest was at 17 in the fatal beating of another youth during a melee in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. When the charges were dropped, he was recruited to the world of organized crime — working in bookmaking and loan-sharking operations. By his mid-20s, Persico was a “made man” in the family headed by Joe Colombo, and worked his way up the hierarchy.