In February 1971, Joey Gallo was released from prison. On June 28, Colombo was shot and severely wounded at the second annual Italian-American Civil Rights League rally in Manhattan. The shooter, a black ex-convict named Jerome Johnson, was immediately shot dead by Colombo's bodyguards. Colombo survived in a paralyzed state until his death on May 22, 1978. Police concluded that Johnson was the sole shooter. Both law enforcement and the Mafia assumed Gallo had organized the hit; he had built ties with black gangsters while in prison and, upon his release, threatened to start another gang war unless he received $100,000 compensation.