The Casino Skim

This is a story about the Mafia in its heyday.  If you have watched the movie Casino then you got a lesson in how the casino skim went down.  This is about the real men behind the skim of the Stardust Casino.

In the 1970’s a clean cut man in his 30’s, Allen R. Glick, first bought the Hacienda Hotel and Casino for somewhere around 5 million dollars.  He did well with it and he showed promise as a casino operator.  

Glick controlled the ARGENT company that soon got a Teamster loan for 140 million dollars to purchase the Stardust, Fremont and the Marina Casino’s.

He then put Lefty Rosenthal in charge of the Stardust, but he was really the point man for the Chicago Outfit, Kansas City and the Milwaukee families. Lefty had one job and that was to increase the skim and keep it coming.

The Outfit was not happy with the skim coming out of Las vegas because they had been hit hard by the Feds and it had become harder to get cash from their own casinos.

When Bugsy had built the Flamingo a casino owner could just walk into the room where they brought all the cash before it hit the count room and grab stacks of cash.

They could go to a table and sign a marker, play and then cash out.  Later they would have the marker disappear.

In the 1970’s a casino owner was not allowed in the count room and all the cash had to be accounted for that came in or went out.  

They could no longer gamble at their own casinos.

They had to come up with a better method.  Where there is a will, there is a way.

They had to go low.  Instead of going for the bills, they went for the coins.

The slots were bringing in so much cash that they could not count it everyday.  So they purchased scales that could weigh them in bulk.  They then recalibrated the scales to under weigh the coins.

They had the coins from the other three casinos brought to the Stardust everyday. They then had a guy to set the scales so they registered 10% less when they were weighed.

They started to do this with the dollar tokens and silver dollars that the dollar slot machines used back then.

So now they had a steady stream of cash coming in.  How did they get it in a form that they could spend?  Coins might be legal tender, but nobody is going to walk around with hundreds of dollars in coins.

The key was the change girls that used to walk around the floor taking customers bills and swapping them out for rolls of coins.

The girls used to get the coins from the cashier's cage, but the Stardust installed coin cabinets along the walls that had coins and a dropbox for the bills.

They also set up a change booth that was not accountable to the gaming control board.  

They filled both places with the 10% skim coins and they got back bills!  

They were able to steal three hundred thousand dollars a week using this system.  It is believed that they had this going for 5 years, with fifteen million dollars a year going to the mob families.

These guys took down seventy five million that they know about.

Rouse Mansion: Murder, Corruption and a Casino

The crime families and crews I write about all provide a vice, and the public is often willing to look the other way while it goes on.  The cash that these rackets bring into the families is used to corrupt both law enforcement and politicians.  The politicians are easy because most of them have never held a job or built anything in the public sector.  Most are not in office to help the people, only to line their own pockets. Law enforcement is another story.  Most of them are in it to serve the public, but there are a few bad apples.   One of those apples was named Tom Brown and he was the Sheriff of Lake County, Illinois during the late 1970s to the early 80s.  The town of Libertyville is located in Lake County and it is an upscale sleepy town with little crime.

When I say crime I am talking about street crime like drug deals, muggings, rapes and murder.

The morning of June 6th, 1980 changed all that because a self made millionaire named Bruce Rouse and his wife Darlene were found brutally murdered in their mansion. Their three kids had been home when they were murdered but they said they had not heard a thing, due to a thunderstorm.  

The Rouse Mansion after a long investigation and no real leads was sold to an Outfit front man. The Outfit would spend thousands turning it into a casino.  The crew behind it was run at first by Joe Ferriola aka Joe Nagell.  He had his man Louis Marino oversee and provide security for the casino.  William Johoda was the guy that the public saw.  Johoda had been a bookie who split profits with the Outfit and now he divided up the cash from the casino.

All the Blackjack and other games were rigged at the casino to maximize profits to the Outfit.

The crew used some of this cash to take care of guys who were locked up and kept their mouths shut.  Guys like mob killer Harry Aleman were sent cash every month to make their time easy.  

Although there was not much of your average street crime going on in Lake County and Libertyville, thanks to Sheriff Tom Brown, Sargent Willie Smith and Organized Crime Sargent Robert Schroeder there was a lot of organized crime going on with the help of law enforcement.  They took payoffs from the Rouse Mansion Casino in order to turn a blind eye to gambling and prostitution.  There were joker poker machines at other bars prostituion also at two stripbars and an adult video store.  Sheriff Tom Brown was given $1500 a month from Rocky Infelice to provide advanced warning using on a hotline installed in the Rouse Casino in case of a raid.  

There were more murders besides the Rouse murders that went unsolved because of Law Enforcement.  Robert Plummer was a bookie in Libertyville until he crossed Rocky Infelice and Rocky decided he was to become trunk music.   He had Johoda bring him to the Rouse Casino and walk him up the stairs.  Once Robert Plummer reached the top of the stairs two Outfit killers grabbed him and began to bludgeon him.  Plummer’s last words were “Oh my God!  What was that!” and 3 seconds later he was dead.  They loaded him up in his wife’s Lincoln Continental  drove him to Mundelein where he would be found in the trunk.  

Joe Ferriola would move on to become the boss of the Outfit for a few years until his health problems would force him out.  He would die at 61 in 1989.  Rocky Infelice would go away for extortion and two murders. Nick Ferriola, Joe’s son, would start working with Frank Calabrese Sr. and his crew.  He helped with the gambling and shaking down a Pizza Parlor.  He was also the guy who was the go between to Ronnie Jarrett who was running the crew for Frank Sr. Ronnie Jarret would be murdered and Nick would get some more time thanks to Operation Family Secrets.

The Rouse Murders would be solved many years later when Billy Rouse, their son, would confess to their murder in 1995.

This is just one example of how law enforcement works with organized crime to mutually benefit each other.    

The Original Gangsters of Los Angeles

Frank Desimone and Roselli

If all anyone knew about Organized Crime in Los Angeles was from television or the movies, they would think that two men ran the Mafia: Bugsy Siegel & Mickey Cohen.  The truth is that Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen were never in the Mafia and could never order any Mafia guys around.  Long before Bugsy or Mickey started getting press in Los Angeles, there was a man born in a small town near Rome Italy, and his name was Filippo Sacco.  You may never have heard the name, but this was a man who worked alongside Al Capone and at the highest levels of the Mafia for over 5 decades. Filippo had a secret he hid from the world for most of the 5 decades, until a man named Frank Bompenserio told the FBI what his real name was in the early 1960's. Frank was jealous of Filippo for many years, going back to when he controlled part of Nationwide racing wire.  You may know Filippo by another name: Johnny Roselli.  Filippo Sacco grew up in Sommerville, Massachusetts, where he became involved in crime at an early age.  He took part in a murder and left Sommerville for Chicago where he changed his name to Johnny Roselli.  He went to great lengths to conceal his identity by inventing a mother and father who both died early on and filing a fake birth certificate that was signed by a fake cousin.  Once in Chicago he started working with Al Capone in the Outfit, and they realized that he was slicker than most of their men.  So by the mid 1920's he was sent out to Los Angeles to help Chicago oversee their criminal business.  Rosselli soon became close with Jack Dragna, the boss of the Los Angeles Family.  He would then be arrested  on bootlegging charges and charged with carrying a concealed pistol on a number of occasions, but the charges would be dismissed.  Rosselli would also work in the movie industry, not only behind the cameras, but also in the movies.  He can be seen in a number of old movies from that time period.  Rosselli would also open a popular nightclub on Hollywood Blvd called Club New Yorker that would become the go-to place for those in the underworld.  Al Capone and his political fixer cousin Charlie Fischetti made a trip to Los Angeles in 1927 to take in the town and meet with some of the men who worked with them.  They picked the Biltmore Hotel downtown as their base and Johnny Rosselli was soon there to bring them up to speed and take them around town.  He gave them tours of the movie studios and Al Capone saw the potential for making money in the movie business.  The LAPD did not like having such a high profile gangster in their town, so they dispachted a few men to inform "Al Brown" that the weather was better in Chicago he left; but the seeds were planted.

Rosselli started working with Eugene Normille, who besides being Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey’s manager, was also the front guy for Moe Annenberg's racing wire Nationwide in Los Angeles. They ran the service out of the Bank Of America Building on 6th and Spring Street in downtown.  Moe was based in Chicago and he was the one who ran Nationwide, but the wire service depended on Bookies for its business.  The wire service needed Bookies to subscribe to the service but Bookies needed the service for instant results on races and other events.  The service was an easy sell to Bookies, but Rosselli was there to make sure The Outfit got its share and that Bootleggers of the service paid up. It was easy for Bookies to tap into the wire but it could be costly. Rosselli would take home between 10-15% per month from the service personally, but how much he sent back to Chicago is anyones guess. One Gambler, Les Brunemann, in Los Angeles, didn’t feel that he should pay for the service, so he bootlegged it, and Rosselli stepped in to fix the problem. Les did not understand the forces against him, because he had no idea how the Mafia worked.  Rosselli was with the Chicago Outfit, but Los Angeles had its own Family run by Jack Dragna who was given a piece of the service.  Dragna gave the order to kill Les Brunemen for threatening Roselli and stealing their service to Frank Bompensiro.  Frank Bompensiro took the first run at Brunemann but only wounded him so he was laid up in the hospital for awhile.  The LA Family found out that he was taking passes from the hospital with a beautiful blonde nurse without his bodyguards so they set up a hit.  This time, Frank Bompensiero was the backup shooter and Leo "Lips" Moceri the primary shooter.  Another LA Family guy, Biaggio, was the driver.  The Roost Cafe was busy when Leo walked right up to Brunemann and fired a shot into his eye and then emptied the 45 auto into his body.  He then reloaded and head out the door where Bompensiero was supposed to be watching his back.  A football player named Frank Greuzard ran towards Leo, so he shot him 3 times and then hopped into the getaway car. Another man was convicted of the crime and sent to prison.

One last note for those that like Los Angeles History :the Roost Cafe former location is now the Rampart Police Station.

Nationwide would take on a number of names, like LA Journal, and was run by several including Russell Brophy.  Rosselli was still getting his cut.  It was then that the Commission, along with the Outfit, decided to set up its own service, Trans America, and cut out the new boss, James Regan,  of the other service that was now called Continental. It was simply a business decision.  Why take a percentage when you can take it all.  They would end up killing James Regan and that was end Continental.

This is where most of these sham shows and movies get it wrong in how things work.  Bugsy Siegel was part of a Prohibition Era gang called the Bugs and Meyer Mob where he was partners with Meyer Lansky.  The other Jewish Gangsters in New York and elsewhere knew that prohibition would not last forever so they started to diversify their activities into other rackets.  Meyer and other Jews went into Gambling.  Others, like Louis Lepke, went into Labor Racketeering and a new racket as the go-to guys for Murder.  Murder Incorporated would handle "Contracts" for the Mafia and others all over the US.  Bugsy was a founding member.

Things were getting too hot for Bugsy, so he was sent out west to look after some interests that New York had in California.  Chicago had the Wire Service but New York got a piece, and they also had ties to the garment center. It was still Jack Dragna's town and he was a Commission member.

All the stuff written about Bugsy coming to Los Angeles and taking over and making Mickey Cohen his underboss are fictional accounts, written by those who have no idea what they are talking about.  Mickey Cohen worked in Chicago with Jake Guzik but only as a low level street collector and he was chased out of town after a problem.  

Rosselli

Rosselli soon set his sights on another venture and he soon took over the race track Caliente in Tijuana Mexico with Eugene Normille as his partner. Johnny Rosselli was heavily involved in with the Movie Studios and with the IATSE the Union the handled the Studios workers.  George Brown was elected the President of the Union and  Willie Bioff was made his special Representative but they were just pawns of the Chicago Outfit. Rosselli was their go to guy in Los Angeles but every family including New Yorks got a piece of the action with Chicago getting the lions share.  This would fill the Mafia Coffers with millions of dollars in the next few years until it blew in 1941.  It was during World War Two and Johnny Rosselli was drafted into the Army before he was indicted for his involvement in the Movie Studio Extortions.  Rosselli, Paul Ricca, Louis Campagna, Charlie Gioe, Phil D'Andrea, Ralph Pierce were all indicted for their part of the extortions and all were convicted and given 10 years sentences in Federal Prison.  This is where the power of the Mafia becomes apparent, because they would all be paroled after just over 3 years inside.  Murray Humpreys, the Outfit’s political fixer and a close friend of Rosselli, used a corrupt Lawyer in Missouri named Paul Dillon.  Paul Dillon had defended others in the Union for Chicago before so they knew he could be trusted but they wanted him because he had close ties to President Harry Truman. Paul Dillon had been Truman’s campaign manager for his Senate race so he was well liked by the White House.  

Boxer Jack Dempsey, a Chicaog Police Sargent,
and NationwideRacetrack Partner Eugene Normille

It worked like this: first, all the Outfit guys were moved from Atlanta Federal Prison to other federal prisons closer to Chicago, then they all started securing jobs and parole sponsors, aka upstanding citizens who would watch out for the hoods when they were released.  Johnny Rosselli first had a doctor and then a priest as his sponsor, and he had a job at Eagle Lion Studios working with Bryan Foy, the King of the B movies. Murray Humpreys delivered $250,000 to Paul Dillion who had connections with Muray Hughs, a Dallas Lawyer, who headed to Washington where he met with the Attorney General Tom Clarke.  Soon, all the men were paroled and the country was in an uproar over their treatment.  The FBI spent years investigating the bribes, but they never got anyplace.  I’ve read a couple thousand articles and papers from the investigation.

So why do all these people keep writing this crap about Mickey Cohen and Bugsy Siegel being the bosses of LA?  I think it is because all these talking heads get their information from other movies and books.  Next week Johnny Rosselli Las Vegas and the CIA's Operation Mongoose.

Milwaukee Phil

3600 Fluer Drive, Des Moines, Iowa

To the kids who lived at 3600 Fluer in Des Moines, Iowa the smiling man was known as Phil, but to the outside world he was known as Milwaukee Phil.

Milwaukee Phil was not a person to take lightly.  He had worked for Al Capone, but it would be his cousin Lou Fratto who brought him into the Outfit.  Soon he was working with two other old friends of Lou Fratto, Sam "Teets" Battaglia and John Marshal Caifano as an enforcer, mainly in Milwaukee and Chicago.  They saw that he was very good at taking care of whatever task he was given.  Many jobs required him to take trips to 3600 Fluer in Iowa which was a good meeting place because there was no surveillance there at all, and no heat.  This was the home of Lou Fratto, who was his cousin and the boss of the Iowa Mafia.

Phil was much more than an enforcer because he could think on his feet.  He soon started working for Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik who ran the "Corruption Squad" for the Outfit.  This was probably the most important Crew in the Outfit because they handed out the cash to law enforcement and politicians to keep the wheels greased.

The grease or payoff was what kept the Outfit on top for so many years and this is the real reason they kept away from drugs.  It was easy for a Judge to give a guy a slap on the wrist for gambling or Shylocking but selling hard drugs would never work the same.  These were important times in Phil’s life because he learned how the administration kept the Outfit on top.  When Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik died he was replaced  by another fixer, Llewelyn Morris Humphreys or Murray Humphreys aka The Hump.  Once again, the Outfit chose a non-Italian to handle their payoffs.     

The Hump

Phil would learn two important things from The Hump.  One was Union takeover and the other was the art of staying in the shadows, because the Mafia was intended to be a secret organization.  The Hump also had a favorite quote, "The difference between guilt and innocence in any court is who gets to the judge first with the most".

Phil must have taken the Hump’s advice to heart because he was quietly building an empire of vice in Milwaukee where he controlled a large gambling and shylock territory and it has been said that he was in control of a lot of the high end prostitution.  He worked with the leaders of the Milwaukee family but he was always an Outfit man.

It was at this time that he started working with Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti dealing with The Outfits headaches that they could not payoff.  In May of 1962 Phil and Chuckie were taken in and questioned by police when they were caught sitting in a car.  The car turned out to be a "Hitmobile"  The car was designed with hidden gun racks, secret compartments, controls to turn off and on headlights and tail lights basically everything you needed to carry out a hit.  They told police that they were waiting for a friend.  The terrible twosome must have been good at their job because in nearly two decades of "Work"  they were brought in numerous times and questioned about murders but they were never charged.  Phil was said to have carried out up to 14 hits for the Outfit.

Phil soon found himself working with another non-Italian, this time a Greek named Gus Alex who was tough and carried out many hits and was very good at corrupting the people he needed.  Gus took over being in charge of Chicago’s non-Italian connected guys when The Hump died of a sudden heart attack caused by some overzealous FBI Agents who pushed him too far and his heart could not take the stress.

Gus Alex

Gus Alex’s most famous hit was probably when he and Lenny Patrick shotgunned James Ragen, the owner of the racewire in the street which he would not sell to the Outfit.

Milwaukee Phil learned a lot from Alex that would serve him during his rise in the Outfit.  In 1967 Lou Fratto was indicted along with the Milwaukee Mafia Boss Frank Balistrieri and Kansas City Boss Nick Civella on ITAR Charges because of a 300lb con man named Allen Rosenberg.  

It has been said that Phil helped put an end to the Conman who was found in March of 1967 riddled with bullets and handcuffed to a car.  Lou would pass away in November of that same year.  Milwaukee Phil had left a trail of murder and mayhem in the 1960's, one of the most famous was the M&M where he and Tony Spilatro used a vice on the head of a Chicago hood to get him to tell them who his partner was in murdering an Outfit guy.  The hood gave up his friend and they were both found with their throats cut.  

At the end of the decade Phil had moved into the top spot of the Outfit but his reign would be short lived. Despite controlling restaurants, nightclubs and stripjoints, Phil was convicted of extortion and sent to prison.  He would die while locked up in 1971.

Ken Eto

T

his week’s story begins when Executive Order 9066 was signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942.  This order gave US Military Commanders the right to order people of Japanese descent out of the so called exclusion zones. The zones included the whole West Coast from Mexico to Canada.  The US Justice Department opened 27 Concentration camps.  Japanese were not the only ones held in these camps there were Chinese, Eskimo's and other Asians also held against their will.  The US also had other countries deport its Japanese residents to these camps from places like Mexico and Peru.

My Father and my family were some of these held in the camps.  My Father was held in the Minidoka War Concentration Center in Idaho along with another Japanese American named Ken Eto.   What does this have to do with the Mafia?  Stay with me and you will find out. Ken Eto was born in Livingston, California on October 19th 1919 and his father had become a minister because he had witnessed the toll that Gambling had taken on the Japanese Railroad workers.  

I’ve read in the past where people have cited a couple of early arrest as proof that Ken was a criminal. The arrests were for being Japanese or breaking Curfew for a Japanese in Tacoma, Washington. He was soon sent to Minidoka until the US decided that the Japanese Americans were not a threat.

Ken Eto was very intelligent and high school bored him, so he dropped out.  He would never attend another day in school and the ministry was not for him.  It was not until the US decided to make criminals out of all the Japanese Americans that Ken learned how to Gamble.  It has been said that he learned how to play craps on a train to the camp and once there he became a skilled poker player.  After he was released from the Camp he drifted to Montana where he was involved in games of chance and he was referred to as Montana Joe.  He soon made his way to Chicago where a lot of relocated Japanese including my father made their new home.  Once in Chicago his gambling skill attracted the attention of the only people who matter in Chicago gambling and that is the Outfit. Chicago has always been on the cutting edge of racial equality, meaning they worked with a number of ethnic groups and leaders.  Murray Humphreys, known as Einstein was Welsh but he was the Outfits Corruption specialist.  Gus Alex, a Greek, help run the Outfit when Joey Doves was away.  Jake Guzik a Jew was the man who could move money. The outfit list of non Italians is huge and that is why they controlled the rackets in Chicago for so long.  Ross Prio the Outfits North Side Boss took an interest in Ken Eto. Ken Eto began to run some small card games and he was bringing in cash.  It would not be until the mid fifties that he would hit his stride.  He began to work with the Outfit to take over the Bolita from Puerto Rican operators.  Bolita is a Spanish game that refers to 100 little balls with numbers placed in a bag and then picking 3 balls at random.  The three numbers are the winning numbers.  In later years the winning number was the handle or amount of money taken in by horse parlors. Bolita is a poor mans lottery, so It is like Numbers in New York or Bolito in Tampa that the Cubans played.  It was a huge money maker for the Mafia that DutchShultz first realised in New York when he took it over from Black Policy Banks.  In 1958 Ken set up a Puerto Rican operator who refused an offer by Fifi Buccieri to join his Outfit run game.  The operator was soon chopped up the Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra and his brother Jimmy "the Lapper"

Ken then began to work with Black Policy Bosses so he could consolidate their numbers games for the Outfit.  He was bringing in so much cash that he was paying the police over 3,000 a week in payoffs to protect his game.  

He also started working with Black Street gang leaders to expand his business, this would prove very lucrative.  During the 1960's he set up three more rivals to the Outfits Bolita games for execution.  That was it and the Outfit would enjoy years of monopoly in the gambling game. Ken was able to bring in between 150 and 200k a week from his numbers game.  He also ran a number of floating games but he did not stop there.  He muscled his way into the food purveying business by taking over a company named Caliendo which had a meat plant. He used threats and intimidation to run the business and when that would not work he used cash to payoff people.  He would be on site in the plant with a white butchers smock but he was no butcher he was the boss or just Joe as he was called by the workers.  The FBI began to target the business because it was illegal for anyone with a felony conviction to run a Federally licensed meat plant. Caliendo also lost money on the books but purchased beef from all over far exceeding its sales.

Ken moved the business and changed its name to Taco Si to keep it going after the FBI investigated.  

Ken had his hands in many criminal enterprises by the 1980's and the FBI had its eyes on him.  He was soon busted on a gambling charge but he kept his mouth shut and reported to his new Boss Vince Solano who took over after Ross Prio passed away.  Ross believed in Ken but Vince did not have much faith in Ken and he knew Ken was there when he strangled a Bolita rival to death in the 50.s.  Vince sought and was given permission to kill Ken after he pled guilty to gambling charges. Vince set up a meeting with Ken at their usual meeting place IHOP.  When Ken parked Vince was already in the parking lot and he asked to take a walk talk.  Vince asked about his plea and then told Ken to appeal it.  He then told Ken that Rush Street crew member Johnny Gattuso wanted to buy a Pizzeria and that he knew Ken's wife had a shuttered cocktail lounge for sale. He told him to charge between 50 and 60 thousand for the lounge and that Jay Campise would be Johnny's partner.  Vince then said something that put Ken on edge he told him not to worry about getting the cash because he would handle it.  Vince had burned him on a nightclub deal in the past by having him sign over a lease and then never paying him.

On February 10 1983 Ken was instructed to meet two members his crew to be taken to a meeting with Vince Solano.  This came after 30 plus years of loyal service to the Outfit and after he had brought in millions from street gambling.    They called him and asked him to meet them at his closed lounge at 8pm, when he arrived he was with a friend so they told him he was late and they would arrange another meeting.  Ken was told to meet Jay Campise and Johnny Gattuso to be taken to dinner with Vince Solano.  Ken smelled a rat right away because in the 30 years of knowing Vince he had never been asked to dinner.  He showered and put on his best suit, he told his wife where his life insurance was located and then he told her this maybe the last dinner I have.  Ken had to go because to not go when sent for was automatic death.  He arrived at the American Legion hall parking lot and he spotted Jay and Johnny waiting for him.  They walked over and got into his car and instructed him to drive to a nearby Italian restaurant near the train tracks.  When they arrived at the place they told him to park near the side of the building and right after he parked, he heard a loud bang followed by a massive blow to the back of his head.  He would hear a couple more and then lose consciousness when he awoke he was a bloody mess when he stumbled into a nearby pharmacy and asked for help.

The two men had made a huge mistake by using sub loads in the 22.cal plus a silencer,  A sub load is a shell with some of the powder taken out so it is not as load.  The problem is that combined with a silencer which slows the bullet down as gasses escape so the sound is much lower the bullets did have enough velocity to pierce the skull.

Ken would now become a government witness against the Outfit and the two hitters would pay with their lives. They became trunk music and Ken Eto would live a long life with a new name in Georgia.

Inside The Outfit: Frank Calabrese Jr part 1

The mafia in Chicago was once known as the Capone Organization by Law Enforcement because they had no idea how the mafia worked. Known as the Outfit by those on the street it was a highly successful Criminal Empire. The man who led the Outfit into the new age was Anthony Arcardo also known as Joe Batters. He ruled with an iron fist, yet he never spent one night in jail.  He may also have been responsible for the decline of the Outfit. So what was it like in an Outfit Crew? Read on...

Family Life in the Chicago Outfit.

Recently Frank Calabrese Jr and I were talking about the life and he said one thing that rang true for me also.  He said at one point in his life he bought into the life fully, he was a true believer. That is how I felt and also so many of my friends who have since left the life.

Frank Jr.’s story starts when he was in 3rd grade and his family moved to Elmwood Park into what was known as the Compound. It was a three story home and the family lived on the top two stories.  The basement was a family room that they referred to as the Garden Department because it was just below ground level.  A couple of years later they would add a huge addition to the house with more rooms and a professional gym and sauna.

Frank's father was Frank Calabrese Sr AKA “Frankie The Breeze” a Capo in the Chicago Outfit.  He had worked his way up from associate to made guy under Angelo J. "The Hook" LaPietra the boss of the Outfit’s Chinatown crew.  Frankie would later lead this crew and he knew how to make cash.

Frank Jr and his brothers were raised to be tight lipped about his family.  One day he came home from school and he asked his father what he should say that he did for a living.  Frank Sr told him to say he was an Operating Engineer.  What his father really did was make Juice Loans.  These were loans that required no credit checks and no collateral except yourself.  He was a Shylocks’ Shylock and he would make everything from a knockdown loan (Principle and Interest) to an interest only loan at 2.5 percent a week.  I personally think people are better off with a juice loan than a payday loan or a title loan because these local lenders would work with you if you fell behind.

Frank Sr also ran a huge sportsbook and during the Arcardo years Chicago Bookmakers were organized into one huge book.  This was highly effective because they had a lock on the lines and the players.  Frank Sr schooled Frank Jr on how to basically rate a player’s credit.  They would look at the player, what they did for work and then decide how much they could play a week.  The main reason was so nobody got in over their head because it could turn out real bad if a wife got scared and ran to the FBI.  If a player did not pay there were no threats, they would just cut him off and there was no place he could bet.  He had his name out there and no Outfit book would deal with him. Frank Sr would eventually drop the bookmaking and just collect a fee of 1000 dollars a week from every bookmaker.  This was a lot less work and he didn't have to deal with politics or numbers of the liars and cheats that ran the books.  It was a flat fee and it got rid of the drama and bullshit.

The Outfit was not the type of Family that encouraged the sons of made guys to join.  Most of the guys in the Outfit made sure their sons went on to bigger and better things.  This was not what Frank Sr had in mind for Frank Jr. Frank Sr started to see some of himself in Frank Jr so he started off having him do little things and showing him what the life was about.  He learned how to make the loans and how the interest rate worked.  He would do the books for the juice loans and Sports Books.

Then Frank Sr got his hooks into a porn guy who owned 8 adult bookstores with booths to watch a loop.  These were huge money makers, bringing in all quarters.  The skim on these booths are huge. Frank Jr would go and collect the quarters from the machines.  This would average about 4,000 a week and he would set aside 1800.00 for the Outfit. Frank Sr did not want to put a dime back into the business and he was so hard on the guy who owned them that the guy fled in terror.  He probably could have had a bunch of stores if he just was a little nice, but nice was not in Frank Sr’s makeup.  Frank Jr would order more loops for the booths and his father would get pissed that he wasted any money “investing”. He would also get pissed when the stores were down and not hitting the numbers he expected.

This is when Frank Jr stepped up and threw himself into the life full force.

Frank Sr’s crew was one of the two crews that did all the hits for the Chicago family.  They had even killed the Spilatro brothers in a scene made famous in the movie Casino.  Another series of killings they took part in, was killing some of the burglers that hit Anthony Arcardo’s house.  These burglars were tortured and their faces were blowtorched.  They had been warned to give everything back and refused to listen, and that was their punishment.  This was the crew that Frank Jr was about to join.  Now that you know a bit of the background, next week stay tuned for more on Frank Jr’s experience growing up gangster.

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Los Angeles Gangland, Part 3: 1940's

The Way Things Work

Before I continue the story of the war on Mickey Cohen, I will explain how the Cosa Nostra worked and continues to work.  The Cosa Nostra was in a huge growth period from Prohibition until the Kennedy Era.  There was almost no law enforcement attention.  The Bureau of Narcotics had files on most of the guys in Organized Crime, but did not share this information.  The FBI did not do undercover operations and J. Edgar Hoover did not publicly admit there was a Mafia, until years later.  Local law enforcement was able to take down the low level street guys who were replaced before they had even set bail.  Criminals that operated on a higher level knew that there was a group who called the shots in underworld.

This group was the Cosa Nostra or “Our Thing” and they were divided up into families all across the US.  There were 26 Families and there were many more satellites around the country.

Cosa Nostra in its current form was set up by Charlie "Lucky" Luciano and other forward-looking young men.  The way it was before they killed off the old bosses or " Mustache Petes" was much like warring clans with one strong leader who became the Boss of Bosses.  That did not work because you had a lot of unhappy guys under their thumb, and constant uprising.  

Lucky set it up so that all the bosses around the country were equal.  That means that Providence, Rhode Island Boss was on the same level as the Chicago Boss.  Each Boss was the Absolute Boss of his family.  They set up what was called the Commission to oversee territory disputes and rules, but they never had anything to do with internal family matters.

There existed a criminal enforcement arm that was known as The Brooklyn Combination or, as the press called it, Murder INC.  They took "contracts" all over the country.  One of their famous kills was Dutch Shultz who defied the orders of the Bosses in New York. It was later broken up by law enforcement and many of the men were absorbed into crime families.  The Jewish gangsters went with Meyer Lansky, who had his own gang. The Jewish gangsters were very cunning and smart during their time in the rackets.  They ran most of the gambling joints for Cosa Nostra. They branched into garment trade and other legitimate enterprises. They would pay taxes on twenty percent of what they made in the rackets.  The Italians paid none and did not care.  The Jewish gangsters would be gone in a generation and their children would grow up to become legitimate, successful citizens.

Each Cosa Nostra Family would be set up along the lines of a Roman Legion.  At the top would be the Sottocapo, or Boss.  Next to him would be an important part of the family who had no crew. The Consigliere or Counselor.  He would would often be a senior member of the family who no longer participated in street activities. He would advise the Boss, and he would be a buffer for men in the family.

The Underboss reported directly to the Boss. He would get reports from a Streetboss or Caporegime's.

The two families I was with during my time on the street had Streetbosses but not all the families have them.

A Caporegime or Capo, sometimes referred to as a Captain, oversaw a crew of around ten Soldato or Made Men.  The Made Guys would have their own crews and associates. The FBI always equated a number of sixty associates for each made guy.

A guy who was not made but worked with the family referred to as "With" the family.  They were expected to abide by the same rules as a Made guy and not all associates were equal.  Take Meyer Lansky, he was so important to the Cosa Nostra he had his own guy Jimmy “Blue Eyes”
Alo, whose only job was to take care of Meyer.  So, if a guy in a crew had a problem, he would take it to his Capo, would then take it to the Underboss, who would take it to the Boss, and the Consigliere.  A made guy could go directly to the Consigliere if he had a problem, but it had better be significant.

The rules were you come in alive and you leave dead.  You can never betray the Cosa Nostra.   The Family comes before anything else.  That means when you were called, you come.  You can never violate the wife or children of a member.  No involvement in Narcotics.  In the old days, you had to be a hundred percent Italian.  Later, the rules were changed by the Commission because guys like John Gotti and Junior Persico wanted their sons to be Made into the family.  The penalty for any breach of these rules is death.

Every man is expected to kill without question when given the order.  You are never paid for this in anyway.  You do it because it is a part of the life and you gain status. Most men had killed or participated in murder before they were made. So, you have a group of killers and outlaws.  There is no way you can berate or abuse a man and get away with it.

This is why Movies like the Gangster Squad are not even close to accurate. Mickey was a leader of a gang that had maybe a dozen paid members.  The LA Family had over Sixty made men. They could call for assistance from any family in the US.  Chicago was in charge of everything in the west.  The Outfit as the Cosa Nostra was called in Chicago was huge and controlled everything in the Mid West.

Gambling and the Migration to the West Coast

Gambling is the lifeblood of the Cosa Nostra. It is socially acceptable, reaps huge profits and leads to other revenue streams like shylocking loansharking.

Two men named James Regan and Moe Annenberg started Nationwide, a racing wire in Chicago and St Louis. This wire was very important for Bookmakers to do their business. Each Bookie had to have fast, up to the minute information on the horse races running across the country.

Western Union could only transmit race information when it was completed.  This could mean a fifteen minute delay before the results were known.  Nationwide gave results right away.  The Bookies paid for this service and soon the two men were rich.  They were brought up on tax charges and they had to divest themselves of the business.  James Regan only did it on paper. The man he left in charge worked closely with the Outfit in Chicago and soon they expanded all over the country.  James Regan came back to Nationwide and this did not sit well with the Outfit. The Outfit, along with the New York Families, started Trans America race wire and they soon had bookies signing up for it.  James Regan balked at this, so they gunned him down in the Chicago streets. He survived, but while he was recovering, he was poisoned in the hospital by a dose of Mercury.

The Cosa Nostra had expanded into California.  Jack Dragna was the Boss of the Los Angeles Family and the Outfit worked closely with him.  The Outfit had infiltrated the movie studios and were making big dollars shaking down the studio's and naturally some of this flowed into Dragna’s hands.  Mickey Cohen helped the Cosa Nostra find bookmakers to switch their wire service to Trans America.  That was his role in Organized Crime and while he was Jewish he was not part of Meyer Lansky’s crew.

After Mickey and his men were picked up and released on bail for the beating of the repairmen, the Cosa Nostra decided to hit him where it hurt.  The pocket book.

The first of Mickey’s guys to go was Frank Niccoli.  Dragna had tried to persuade him to leave Mickey and when that failed, his time was up.

It was set up over Labor day weekend 1949 at Jimmy Frattiano's home near LAX.

Frank Niccoli parked his car in front of Jimmy's and walked to the front door.

“Frank! Nice to see you,” Jimmy said as he opened the door to let him in the house.  They shook hands and Frank walk over by the kitchen. “Can I get you a beer?”   

“Sure thing,” Frank answers and Jimmy brings him a beer.

The house is empty.  Jimmy's wife and daughter were away for the holiday.  Frank and Jimmy exchange small talk.  Frank drains his beer and Jimmy asks him if he wants another.  Jimmy is getting him another when there is a knock at the door.  Jimmy opens the door, and its a
large man named Joseph Dippolito.  

“Joe Dip! How are you?  Come on in,” Jimmy said as he opened the door wide.  Frank starts to shake Joe Dips hand.  Joe instead grabs him in a bear hug embrace.  Through the open door enters Nick Licata, Carmen and Sam Bruno.  They come in fast.  Nick pulls out a piece of rope.  Jimmy takes it and wraps it around Franks neck while Sam grabs the other end.  They soon manage to choke the life out of him. While he is struggling, his bladder lets go and he pisses all over Jimmy's floor.

Once he is dead, Joe Dip pulls his car into Jimmy's garage, and they stuff Frank into a canvas bag.

He will disappear, buried in an unknown location.  Sam Bruno drives Frank’s car away, and that is the last anyone sees of Frank.

The next guy from Mickey’s gang to go is Dave Ogul.  He was walking on Sunset and Holloway when he disappeared.  He was set up by the LA Family’s guy inside Mickey’s gang.  Dave Ogul was never heard from again.  Mickey was now on the hook for their bail bonds.  Mickey had put up his home and other property as a guarantee for the bail bonds on himself and his men after they beat up the repairman.  Now the LA Family was going after his men and making them do a “ Houdini” also known as “disappear you”.  

Many writers have never been in “the life” or take the time to research how people really act in the mafia world.  They fail to grasp the scope and power of La Cosa Nostra.  It is international in scope and no individual “gangster” is bigger than the organization, and that includes Mickey Cohen.

The LA Family had killed two of Mickey’s men, and he had done nothing to the LA Family.

For more information on the Los Angeles guys please see: 

Anthony Fiato 

@LAmobslugger

kickass blogger - hollywood goodfella

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