Installment 9: The Killing of Good Time Charlie Author’s Note: I’m looking forward to my panel on early Los Angeles mob activity at the soon coming MobWorld Summit happening this Father’s Day Weekend at the Plaza Hotel in the Las Vegas Fremont District. I hope to see you there. For the occasion of my two upcoming Vegas appearances (I will be lecturing at the Las Vegas Mob Museum as well; this September 22nd), I have…
Episode 3: Crew Expansion Reading Time: When Carmine saw his “goombadi” Sammy coming down the crowded hallway at school, he knew something was up. They had been best friends since as far back as he could remember. He loved the guy like a brother, but Sammy had issues. He was always up to something. Usually something nefarious, always getting in fights and starting drama. He was a ladies’ man, and a lot of guys at…
The stage is Sicily. On stage are men of the state and Mafia bosses. It is a tragedy of death, intrigue and mystery, but also of struggle, passion and life. The stage is set as we continue our look at The Sicilian Mafia in a land of secrets, shadow and myth that gave birth to the Mafia. As a child Giuseppe ‘Joe Bananas’ Bonnano grew up in Castellamare del Golfo, a town and commune in…
Installment 8: Mayor, Mayor on the Wall The level of corruption sanctioned in Los Angeles by way of the mayor’s office throughout the long stretch of prohibition, could easily fuel season after season of award winning television. From real estate scams and rigged elections, bootlegging and gambling houses, to bookmaking, prostitution, and alliances with criminals and shadowy organizations—every Los Angeles mayor who sat behind the desk during “the drought” dabbled in at least some form…
Finding a list of lavish properties proved to be as difficult as I thought, as Tony Accardo told his boys, to keep low level and below the radar. I have chosen these ten with the help of Rob Bailot Jr. who has also provided the pictures for this piece, thanks Rob. l. Al Capone’s Florida Mansion Bought For $40,000 in 1923 Now Worth $15,000,000 This is the Capone mansion, which he bought in 1923 for…
Angelo Annaloro, aka Angelo Bruno, aka The Gentle Don came to the U.S. from Sicily when he was in his teens in the late 1920s. He didn’t take long to get involved in criminal activity. At that time, the boss in Philly was Salvatore Sabella. He had started the Philadelphia family in 1911. Angelo set up gambling and bootlegging operations under Sabella. This is also when Bruno met Carlo Gambino. There are a couple of…
While there was a time when people were reluctant to pronounce the word “Mafia” … nowadays people have gone so far in the opposite direction that it has become an overused term … I am no longer willing to accept the habit of speaking of the Mafia in descriptive and all-inclusive terms that make it possible to stack up phenomena that are indeed related to the field of organised crime but that have little or nothing in…
Installment 7: The Senator and the Shield RICO, the infamous Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970, is credited as one of the most effective tools in the fight against the national crime syndicate. It’s aim for the prosecution of top mob members over mere soldiers, is no doubt largely responsible for its level of success. Earlier introduced and lesser known, was another controversial legislative weapon; one which arrived on the law books not…
Episode 2: The Secret Reading Time: As the limo slowed down, Carmine felt his heart begin to race. His hands were clammy and he felt himself sweating under his suit. Feeling such anxiety and nervousness was foreign to him. Usually he was a model of composure. It was an odd sensation. But something had recently changed. For the first time in his young life, he felt the early pangs of love. Although, it was more…
Another polarizing figure in the world of the Mafia is John Gotti. John is either the worst mob boss of all time or the second coming of Al Capone. There is no in-between with him. Well with most people anyway. John is a Bronx kid. His family moved to Brooklyn because the neighborhood they live in was too rough. They were also a very poor family. This seemed to drive John once he grew up….
Installment 6: Prelude to the Kefauver Hearings In April of 1950, the Senate Gambling Investigating Committee gathered in Washington DC. On the table, was a new bill that they expected would put “a ban on interstate transmission of race horse information.” Chairmen McFarland and his men were on a crusade to rid the nation of the racing wire service which “the country’s thousands of bookies” relied on. Though top officials from such major cities as…
The Italian Mafia had two separate Crime Families in Boston in the early 1900’s. One based in Boston, Massachusetts and the other based in Providence, Rhode Island. The Boston Faction was formed in 1916 by Gaspare Messina and the Providence Faction was formed in 1917 by Frank Morelli. The two families ended up merging together forming the New England Mafia also known as the Patriarca Crime Family. They had a seat on the Mafia’s National…
Reading Time: Episode 16: Miami Ice So, after my Jane Street weed monopoly imploded, it was back to the streets. There were always plenty of petty scams and hustles, and I’ll get into some of them later on, but today I’m going to talk about Florida. Why, you ask? Well, because I recently made a post at our sister page, Classic Gangster Society, about Detroit’s historic presence in Florida, particularly Miami. While putting it together,…
I admittedly know very little about Joe Colombo prior to him being given the contract on Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese. Anybody want to fill me in, I’d appreciate it. His father was a member of the Profaci family and was killed in 1938 when Joe was 15. Joe had some legitimate jobs and also spent some time in the U.S. Coast Guard. At some point Joe followed in his father’s footsteps and got with…