The Old Los Angeles Family

I get asked about the Los Angeles family all the time. Every time I’m asked, I think about how the past will soon be lost forever. The men who took part in the family during its heyday are dying off.

Peter J Milano, the longtime boss who ran the family for 28 years, died in 2012 a free man.

He was an important link to the past for the family.  He not only had an uncle who was boss of the Cleveland family, but his father was also under boss for many years.  Anthony Milano, his father moved the family to Beverly Hills, California in the late 1930’s.  Pete became his own man in Los Angeles.  He worked with Mickey Cohen who had spent some time in Cleveland.

Pete was soon working with the Los Angeles family.  Hollywood and writers who have no idea what they are talking about like to portray Mickey Cohen as a boss.  The guy was a bookie that did a lot of business.  You can read Jimmy Fratianno’s book “The Last Mafioso” which is very detailed and accurate because the author used FBI 302’s to set dates and places.

Jimmy Fratianno was only the second made guy to flip, so it is a great look inside the former world.

You can learn a lot about Jack Dragna the boss and his attempts to kill Mickey Cohen.  To set the record straight, the LA Family murdered Cohen's men and friends and not one thing happened to any LA family member.  

Bugsy Siegel has become another larger than life figure.  He was no boss, he was sent out to the west coast to watch over the Trans American racing service.  Bugsy was a kind of franchisee who controlled it in California and Nevada.  He would later be gunned down in the Beverly Hills home of his girlfriend Virginia Hill.  

The fact that Mickey Cohen went to the Roosevelt hotel with pistols looking for Bugsy can tell you a lot.  Mickey was not on the inside, he was not in the know.  In recent years there has been a few books written by some who claim someone in their family killed Bugsy.  It's a fantasy, because once he was dead guys moved right into the Flamingo before it was even on the news.  The mafia would have been looking for his killer considering how much Meyer Lansky had at the time.

Jack Dragna was the boss of Los Angeles and he was not crawling for anyone.

The decline of the family began shortly after the death of Jack Dragna when Frank DeSimone became the boss.  Johnny Roselli, who had begun as an Chicago Outfit guy, was seen as the logical boss, but he was incarcerated at the time.  DeSimone held a vote within the family and he was voted in as boss.  The fact that he never got a vote from some of the capos who were locked up didn't matter.  DeSimone would be caught at the Apalachin mafia conference in upstate New York along with his underboss.  This brought a lot of heat to DeSimone’s life.  He was a lawyer who was not known to be a criminal until the arrest.

Desimone’s father, Rosario, had been the boss of Los Angeles and his nephew Tommy DeSimone would become famous as “Tommy Two Guns” in Goodfellas.

Nick Licata would be the next boss.  He was very well connected in Detroit and with the other Midwest families.  

Louie Gelfuso used to work as a bartender at Licata’s bar and he used to talk about Licata in glowing terms.

Licata owned apartment buildings and bars across Los Angeles.  Licata also was a huge bookmaker and loan shark who did business in the black neighborhoods.

Louie Gelfuso was also friendly with another man and his brothers who were a power in Los Angeles.  That man was Joe Sica and he ran his criminal empire from the San Fernando Valley.

He controlled the rackets from the Mexican border to Northern California.  He would mentor many young up and coming mafioso including “the Cheeseman” Carmen DiNunzio, acting boss of the New England family.

The stories about Joe Sica and his brothers are priceless. There are very few today that even know who he was in the Los Angeles underworld.

We are now back to Dominic Brooklier who I wrote about last week. The death of Anthony Brooklier means we will never get the story.

I wish I knew Pete Milano well enough to hear stories about the old days.

Carmen Milano was a throwback to the past.  He was a lawyer who became a gangster who was better suited for working with the big families on intricate money making schemes.  I used to see him at the deli in Las Vegas when I was with Steve Cino or Jimmy Caci.  He loved to talk about the old days in Cleveland. The sad thing is that when he died, someone from Las Vegas called me and told me that he died.  I called a Las Vegas reporter and he did not know anything about it.  I called the morgue and they asked if I knew next of kin, I gave them Pete’s name and number.

Jimmy Caci was another story. I was close to Jimmy and he knew so many guys all over it was great. One day he would tell a story of working with a guy from the Purple Gang to blow a safe, the next day a story of driving dynamite to Rochester New York during a vending machine war.  

Jimmy was close with mobsters all over the country.

The family is gone except for a few who moved away.  It is in the hands of Sicilians and the history here is lost.

For a deeper look at Los Angeles mafia history, I suggest reading Anthony Fiato’s book “The Animal in Hollywood” in order to understand the Los Angeles family after Jimmy Fratianno.

My book Breakshot will fill in a few gaps up into the 2000s.

The Gangster Brothers- Anthony Fiato

Its important to talk about the Gangster brothers before we move on into the 1980's in the Los Angeles Mafia Family.

Who are the Gangster Brothers?  The Fiato Brothers! They were two tough Boston transplants that moved to LA and made people stand up and take notice.  The first time I ever heard about these brothers was when I was being questioned by an FBI Special Agent named Carl.  He had an LA Times paper and he said to me. "You think you are tough? These guys are tough!" He handed me the paper and it was folded so I could see the LA Times story written about them. My thought on seeing the article was how tough could they be if they flipped. This was long before I flipped and it was before I grew up.  I used to look at guys who went away or went straight as weak. After I lived life and got older, I started to see the life for what it was...A dead end.

Anthony Fiato and his family had moved to LA from Boston in 1960.  From the stories he told me, Los Angeles blew his mind. He had a cousin who worked at the record store on Sunset and Laurel where he would go and listen to records. Anthony's father had come to LA to give his family a better life.  He had a job waiting for him at the Villa Capri, a well known Italian restaurant in Los Angeles.

The Villa Capri is where Anthony Fiato met the LA Underworld. Michael Rizzitello aka Mike Rizzi was a Bartender, Johnny Roselli and Jimmy Frattiano were regulars, along with many of the LA Family guys.  If anyone ever read Jimmy Frattiano's the Last Mafioso, he describes taking a woman out to the Villa Capri and being treated like royalty.  That would not be the first or last time that Anthony would interact with LA Guys.  One time Jimmy Frattiano and a few others came in for a private dinner.  Anthony put them in a private room which really pissed off the Gangster Squad, who was following everyone.  

I had a lot of long talks with Anthony and the guy is smart. He knows Cosa Nostra better than anyone and he was around during the Golden age of the Mafia.  There was no RICO or WitSec and the Mafia had a long memory and a longer reach.

One of the guys Anthony would get to know well was Joe Sica. I’ve blogged before about Joe Sica and his brothers, what they were able to do in the Southern California Underworld was huge.  So many successful Mobsters got their start around Joe, it is really crazy that not many people have heard of them. I only wish I could have met them. Anthony would meet him at the Formosa Cafe.  He did a lot of work for LA guys down in Watts.  

When his family decided to head back to Boston, Anthony went also, and he soon learned that he had been in the Mafia Minor Leagues. He returned to Boston, to the North End and it was locked down by guys in Patriarca Family. He was soon hooked up with Nicky Giso and JR Russo, heavy hitters for the family.  I can only imagine what he learned from these guys.  The fact that he was well respected by all of them is a testament to how he operated.

He later made his way back to LA where he hooked up with his old buddy Mike Rizzi.  Anthony was older and his younger brother Larry was now also grown up.  The two of them made a fearsome pair in a time when most people were smaller.  These two brothers were well over six feet tall.  They didn't take crap from anyone and soon they made names for themselves.  Anthony is the most feared of the two because he was sharp and he would get you. He knew how to hustle and make money.  He ran clubs, collected money and soon became a shylock’s shylock.  He had his own Shylock business going and he was bringing in cash from the vig every week. A Shylock makes loans to people who cannot get a loan from a bank or someone who needs cash now. I always liked drug dealers or guys who could steal because they would have huge fluctuations in their cash flow.  Gamblers are always a steady source of vig because no gambler wins every time.

He had built up his reputation as a fierce guy who got things done.  This is when Robert "Puggy" Zeichick came to Anthony to provide him muscle and protection for his Shylock business.  Anthony was soon the biggest Shylock in LA and everyone wanted to be around him.  

He went to New York with Mike Rizzi and they met with Aniello Dellacroce, the powerful underboss of the Gambino family.  This was a far stronger Gambino Family than John Gotti's.  The Gambino's at that time had 23 street crews all over the US and Mike Rizzi was well known to them as a man of action.  Soon after the meeting Mike Rizzi and Anthony were back in California taking care of business for the Gambino's.  Mike Rizzi was a Capo in the LA Family but he had little use for them.

Anthony and Mike Rizzi had their own “family” and they had little use for the LA Family which was now being run by Peter "Shakes" Milano. Pete was known as a bookmaker and “business” guys like Mike Rizzi and Anthony scared him.  Pete was a boss more like Big Paul Castellano of the Gambino Family.  Big Paul had his term cut short on a Manhattan street one winter evening by a thug named John Gotti and his men.  

Pete had started beefing up the family by bringing in new blood.  He Made his brother Carmen, who was a lawyer, who worked with his father and the Family for years.  Carmen had worked with the Unions and even went to New York to meet guys with his father, he was known.  Carmen had been disbarred and now he was the underboss of the family.  Pete had also Made another faction, which I will call the Buffalo faction.  This was Jimmy Caci, Rocco Zangari, Steve Cino and Bobby Milano.  Anthony and Mike Rizzi did not like this at all.  Mike and Anthony were the guys who did all the heavy work for the LA Family.

Anthony had built his Shylock up to the point where he was pulling down 30k a month from it.  He had other bookies laying their action off with his people.  Anthony was a man of action and when people heard that he was coming to see them they were afraid. The problem that was brewing was with Mike Rizzi.  Mike was a heavy guy, but he was a short buck guy.  This was because he was never good at making money. He did everything for the here and now.  Mike's crew with guys like John DiMattia and John Bronco was never good at bringing in the cash.  John DiMattia is a tough talking wannabee who can’t do a thing, the guy is not tough at all.  He was roughed up by a well known lawyer and it would come out that he was talking to the LAPD Vice.  John Bronco, this guy was a guy who could beat up a smaller guy, but he never had the balls to go any farther.  John had done many years in the can for counterfeiting and while he was down his daughter had gotten involved in a plot to kill her husband.  John was released so he could go wear a wire against the killer.  John would later flip again in Las Vegas in the 1990's.

Anthony and his brother were soon making bigger waves in the LA Underworld. This brought the attention of the FBI to their operation.  Soon a man who was close to Mike Rizzi was wearing a wire in their home.  The FBI also bugged the house and one early AM they raided the home.  

Anthony did not know it at the time, but his brother agreed to cooperate. Anthony is a very sharp guy, there are few guys in the life that I have spoken to as much as I did with him.  He knows the world and where things will go. Anthony also decided to go with Team USA and wear a wire.

The LA Family had wanted to bring Anthony into the fold but he had rebuffed all their attempts until now.  He went with them and soon they wanted him in the family   The guy to step up and propose him was Consigliere Jack LoCicero and later Capo Louie Gelfuso would be the second guy to propose him.  You need two made guys to propose someone to be made in the family.  Anthony’s family was well known to the LA guys so that part was out of the way.  Anthony had done work for the family years before so they knew about him.  Pete, always the careful one, had Louie Gelfuso reach out to Frankie Skyball aka Scibelli, a Capo in charge of Genovese Family's Springfield, Connecticut crew. He knew all the guys in Boston and Providence and he knew Anthony.  

I was told this by Louie Gelfuso after The Animal in Hollywood was out in bookstores. Louie also told me that they were going to have a ceremony to induct members into the family but when Jimmy Caci and his faction arrived they did not like the fact that Fat Bobby Paduano was at the house.  So they left and called it off.  So Anthony was short changed in the ceremony department much like Mike Rizzi.  Louie Gelfuso came to him and told him he was in the family.  Later Pete sent for him and went over the rules and spoke to him about having a legit business.

Anthony and his brother took down over 60 guys from West Coast to the East Coast.

If it was not for Anthony, I would not be here now writing this blog.  So many times I wanted to just bail out of the informant thing with the FBI.  Anthony made me realize that it was all a waste and the guys in the life were all users. I made it through the program and started writing. For the whole Fiato story, buy his book “The Animal in Hollywood” or read his blog.

How the LCN Made Money in the 70's & 80's

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates dubbed the Los Angeles Cosa Nostra "The Mickey Mouse Mafia."

It was a funny name and it stuck, but it diminished what they really were - anything but Mickey Mouse.  

In the 70’s Jimmy Frattiano, along with Louie Dragna, had been acting bosses of the family while Dominic Brooklier and his underboss, Sam Scorintino were away (locked up) for just about two years. During this time, Jimmy had been making moves from California and Las Vegas to New York to make the family more known.  

Jimmy put together deals and shook down outsiders operating in the LA Area.  He sent his guys out to scare guys like the Labor Attorney who handled business for the Chicago Outfit.  Jimmy’s guys grabbed bookies from other families that were showing up on the west coast that it was LA Family area and they had better “do the right thing”.  He sent guys not only to FOREX (as told in Iast week’s post) but also to shake down porn kingpins like Rubin Sturman, who was based in Cleveland but was also operating on a large scale in the west coast’s Porn Valley outside Los Angeles.  

Porn was a huge money maker for the Mafia.  While some porn was shot in New York or San Francisco, the majority was shot in the San Fernando Valley just over the hill from Hollywood. The reason?  So many people came to Hollywood to become stars and most never were able to make it.  So you end up with a lot of pretty women looking for work.  These actresses would answer newspaper ads for figure modeling and when they showed up, they were told they could make more money doing it nude. Then came the sell.  They were promised they could make good money and not to worry, no one would ever know that they did it.  That may have even been true back in those days when they shot porn on 35mm or 16mm film to be shown only in adult movie theaters or on stag reels.  The audience was not large but with the advent of video it then became huge. The availability of equipment and those able to operate them also contributed to the growth of porn business in Hollywood.  Most of the people who worked on regular films in Hollywood would moonlight between projects.  It was a gray area business, while not fully legal, it was tolerated.  It was illegal to shoot porn in LA but they printed it here and shipped it out.  Porn sets would have guys with walkie talkies around the street looking for Vice cops who might come bust the set.  There were guys on set waiting on hand in case of a raid.  Their job was to take the shot film and hide it in a trunk a couple of blocks away.  If a raid happened another guy was waiting to run away with the camera and another with the lenses.  

The Mafia controlled the distribution of all these porn films.  As a result, many of the theaters and adult bookstores were theirs.  Any outsiders who tried to sell or make movies would get hurt.

 

Papers and books about how things worked in the mafia were all written by people who have no idea how Cosa Nostra works.  They write what they read in FBI 302's or Police reports.  They write that the LA Family was weak and that other families came and operated freely.  This was not entirely true then and was not true when I was around.  

Every Cosa Nostra family big and small is equal, they run their area and their family.  If Outfit guys came to Los Angeles, they had worked out a deal between the bosses of the families. The rank and file may not be privy to these deals, and they would only be told that it was taken care of.  If the Gambino's wanted to work in LA, they would send word and they would cut in the LA family.  

Jimmy Frattiano had deals going in New York with the Westchester Premier Theater. This was a large entertainment center in Tarrytown just outside New York City.  It was a Gambino-Genovese family business.  Frattiano first got involved through a guy named Tommy Marson who lived in Palm Springs and invested a lot of money in the business. Jimmy was introduced to him because Tommy was afraid he was going to lose his investment.  Frattiano saw dollar signs for himself and the LA Family. The Mafia looted the theater to the tune of over 8,000,000 dollars in the 70's and then it went bankrupt. Frattiano used his wealth to start a Chemical company with Tony Spilatro from the Outfit that would supply soap and other things to the Las Vegas Casino's.  Frattiano used his contacts in Las Vegas to promote the company.

The LA Family also had the Largest Toyota Dealership on the Westcoast. They had "Made" the owner and now he was a soldier in the family.

They had also infiltrated the Garment Center in Downtown LA by using their East coast Union contacts, mainly John Dioguardi aka Johny Dio.  He was a big player in the Unions all over the East coast. First they had to instill fear in some of the Unions that ran the Garment Center, so they wrecked some factories and put the hurt on some people.   He hooked them up with the right people so they could operate sweatshops and have people working in their own homes for pennies.  Then they would wholesale out the Garments at a top price.  They also ran Bookmaking and Loan Sharking downtown.

Did it stop there?  No.  They had successful trucking businesses all over Southern California and this again came from contacts in the Unions and other crime family members.

When the media says that “So and so” controls the drug trade in an area, its crap.  Nobody can control drug trade, there are too many people involved from all over.  A majority of cocaine in the 80's came from the Medillion Cartel, but not all of it.  Today they say the Mexican Cartels control cocaine distribution.  They do not grow the coca plant in Mexico and they do not process the paste.  They simply transport it for the Colombian traffickers.  The majority of the coca leaves come from three countries: Bolivia, Peru and Colombia.

What about gambling?  Again so many people gamble and each ethnic group has their own forms.  The Mafia never 100% controlled Gambling in any town.  They would control the biggest share or large books in cities, but not all.

Things shift, people play different games, so like everything, the mafia changed with the times.

The LA Family was no exception.  They didn't have a large family to begin with, and no talent pool.   So, they became smaller and focused on their specialties.  Many became very wealthy and left the life.  Why would anyone want their kids in the Life?  Nobody who has half a brain wants their child to get locked up or killed, and that is all the life will lead to.

Los Angeles Gangland History, Part 5: 1960's

“Behind every great fortune, there is a crime!” - Charles “Lucky” Luciano

1956.
Life was good on the West Coast for the Los Angeles Cosa Nostra.  They had gotten rid of all the independent bookmakers and Mickey Cohen was doing time courtesy of the IRS. The Dragnas had infiltrated the garment center downtown and were now making big money.  They had used their muscle and Union Connections with help from labor racketeer Johnny Dio to open up their own factory.  The key to big money lay in the Unions.  They controlled the needle trade, the trucking, the pressing and pattern makers. The New York Families would control almost every aspect of production in the garment center.  It would cost consumers twenty five out of every hundred dollars spent on clothes.  Here in LA, the Garment Center  was smaller but they would still reap huge rewards from it.  Johnny Roselli had been sent to Los Angeles from the Outfit in Chicago to oversee their extortion of the Movie industry, but that had ended with a short stay in a Federal Penitentiary. Johnny was out now and overseeing their gambling and the race wire.  He would still advise and help the LA Family as a senior member of Cosa Nostra. Nick Licata, under Jack Dragna at the time, would take action off La Brea close to the studios. He still had his Five O’Clock club in Burbank where he ran his money clean. The Dippolito’s owned many acres of land and a winery in the Inland Empire. The life blood of Organized Crime is gambling and by extension loan sharking or Shylocking. The gambling leads to people who need cash and they will loan it to you at a price or the Vig or Vigorish. The Vig is the interest rate, usually 1 or 2 points a week. Sometimes they make what is called a knockdown loan where you pay in installments that include the principle.  You pay the Vig every week until you have the whole sum at one time. So a guy could borrow five thousand dollars, pay one hundred a week for a year, and still owe the five thousand. Jimmy Frattiano had over one hundred and fifty thousand on the street at this time in Shylock loans.

Then things took a turn for the worse.  Jimmy Frattiano was a Capo and one of the top killers in the Family when he was arrested for extortion.  Jimmy had made an investment with some guys in oil and when they hit oil they decided not to pay Jimmy his share. This is common when mafia men do business with civilians, they feel like like they can take the bad guys money and run to the law.  Once a civilian steals money from the mafia, the rule is now they are no longer civilians and they can be hurt.  Jimmy had made a call to one of the wayward oilmen and threatened him over the phone. The LAPD had wired up the phone and this would cost him many years in State prison. The San Diego Capo Frank Bompensiro was caught up in a bribery case and given some years in State Prison.  On top of that, Jack Dragna, the Boss of the Family had been picked up on immigration charges and was locked up for a year.  While he was locked up his wife died. He was freed but moved to San Diego.  On February 10th he drove to LA and took a room at the Saharan Hotel on Sunset Blvd.  He was dealing with family business all over the city.  On February 23, 1956 Jack Dragna died of a heart attack.  Death of the boss is not such a big problem in the larger families of Cosa Nostra because they have a strong leadership with many strong Capo's.  This is not true for Los Angeles, and it would be the start of a long slide down hill. Johnny Roselli should have been elected boss of the family after Jack Dragna passed.  Jack Dragna's brother, the Consigliere and other powers in the Family wanted him to take over.  Instead, the white collar faction of the family took over.  They claimed they had a vote, and Frank DeSimone was elected boss instead of Roselli. Frank appointed Simon Scozzari, also known as Sam, to the underboss position. Frank also “broke” or demoted Capo’s including Jimmy Frattiano. Frank had gone to some of the guys who were locked up and asked them who should be boss. They all wanted Rosselli, but Frank still took over. This happened because workers like Frattiano and Frank Bomp were away at the time, and the rest of the family were followers. Frank and his guys were weak and this would doom the family.

The National Spotlight.
Things would explode for the Cosa Nostra in Appalachian, New York on November 14, 1957.  On that day a state trooper named Edgar D. Croswell noticed a large number of well dressed men descending on the small upstate New York Town of Appalachian.  He and some other troopers started taking down the plates of the cars parked at the estate of Joesph "Joe The Barber" Barbara.  The men at the estate started get to take off in a panic, some running into the woods and others trying to flee in their cars. The cars were stopped and the men arrested. This was when the police could just haul you into the station on anything. They also picked up many of the guys running away in the woods. They arrested over 60 made men.  They estimate that 40 or so managed to get away. This State Trooper had stumbled on a commission meeting with the heads of families from all over the US, Canada and even some from Italy. This was a meeting to anoint a new boss to take over for the recently shot but still alive Frank Costello. This was to be a big day for Vito Genovesse who was set to take over the family. They also needed to discuss policy issues for the whole Cosa Nostra.  What it would become was a huge fiasco that would cause the FBI to finally take action.  J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, was so embarrassed that Appalachian made a mockery of his statement "there is no such thing as the mafia" in America. He quickly set up a new program called the “Top Hoodlum Program,” to go after the top gangsters across the country in their cities.  This was bad for the Cosa Nostra and it was worse for the LA Family.

Back in Los Angeles.
Frank DeSimone, a lawyer and the new boss of the family, was arrested along with Sam Scozzari the underboss. This was very bad for Sam who had for many years had a popular Italian Resturant in Los Angeles.The Feds would make a case that he was a habitual criminal and deport him back to his native Palermo.  Frank had become very paranoid after the whole fiasco and would rarely go out after dark.  As a result, he appointed Nick Licata as his underboss because Nick had strong connections with the Detroit Family. Johnny Roselli had seen enough so he packed up and moved to Las Vegas where he became the Chicago Outfits man in Las Vegas.  He would make sure the skim and other operations ran smooth. He was also given a couple of gift shops in Casino’s. The leadership duo in Los Angeles was weak and they were afraid of guys who were strong and do work.  The family became weak at a time when they needed force.  The LA Family would only kill one guy who was running from a family back East. Even then, it was set up by a guy from a Family back east.  The hit was James Delmont and they dumped him in Ontario. He sometimes went by Sam Bruno, but he was not the same Sam Bruno who served time in San Quentin, owned a bar in Los Angeles and attempted to kill Mickey Cohen.  

Demise of Jack Whalen.
There was another headline gangland killing in LA, taking place shortly after, in 1959.  This killing was not done by the LA Family or by Mickey Cohen himself.  Jack "The Enforcer" Whalen, also known as Jack O'Hara, was a tough guy who didn’t need a pistol.  Jack used his fists to beat his victims into a submission. He was a large man and movie star handsome, in fact he had been cast in several movies and TV shows.  He was freelance muscle and he would do the heavy work.  He ran with his own crew of heavy guys who took action and had bookies paying them. The LAPD liked him because he was Irish and he would stomp the Jews and Italians into shape.

Jack had a charmed life as a gangster because he had an inside man in the Gangster Squad who would feed him information and often accompany him on his beatdowns.  As a result, he was not afraid of made men.  Jack would go after anyone in Los Angeles when he was owed money.  One time he was paid to go after Jimmy Frattiano, but he never did do a thing to Jimmy.  He just kept the money.  Another time he got into a fight with Mike Rizzi, who was not yet inducted into the LA Family, and he beat Mike up badly.  

On this particular night of December 2, 1959 he was told a few deadbeats who owed him money would be at Rondelli's on Ventura Blvd. Mickey was a silent investor in the restaurant, and he was sitting at a booth with George, the man Jack was looking for, on that night.   Jack had done this kind of work hundreds of times.  He had two guys with him as back up, mainly along to watch from a distance.  He often brought police backup on his missions, but he had none with him this night.  Jack entered the restaurant through the kitchen and made his way to the phone booth where he encountered Tony Reno, the club’s singer. Jack grabbed the singer by the neck asked him where the guys he was looking for were sitting, then tossed him aside. Jack entered the dining room in a rage, screaming, “Do you have something for me?” at George Piscitelle, one of the deadbeats on his list, as he sat beside Mickey Cohen and Sam Lo Cigno. Jack smashed George in the face and he hit the floor dazed.  Jack then turned to face Mickey Cohen and Sam Lo Cigno, and screamed, “You Dago bastards, you’re next!”  Sam quickly pulled out a pistol and fired twice.  The first shot missed and the second hit Jack between the eyes. That would be the end of the Enforcer and his fists.  When the Police went through his pockets they found cash, a few odds and ends, and a new Screen Actors Guild Card in his name courtesy of a new show he was working on, “Bonanza.”  Mickey was brought up on murder charges, but the only one to go away for the crime was Sam Lo Cigno.

Like father, like son.
An interesting side note. Jack Whalen’s father Freddie "The Thief" Whalen had made a point of sending Jack to expensive schools because he wanted something more for his son, than the life of crime he had chosen for himself. The problem was Jack had gangster in his blood. As a result of his choices in life, his son Jack died young, at 38 years old.  After his son died, Freddie went on to run pool tournaments in LA.  He was even a pool hustler in the movies.  In Disney’s 1978 "The Cat From Outer Space" he played Sarasota Slim.  

It has been said over the years that when Mickey Cohen was smashed in the head in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary its was payback sent by Freddie for the loss of his son. I have no idea if it is true.  Since so much of Cosa Nostra history is passed on as oral history and not written down, it changes with each person telling the story.  One thing I will not do is change history like the writers did in Gangster Squad. Freddie did not like Mickey and he blamed him because he was sitting right there when Sam shot Jack, an it happened in Mickey’s restaurant.  He often said  "Mickey Cohen as good as pulled the trigger, and everybody knows it." He also was reported to have said to Jack O’Mara of the Gangster Squad “The last thing I do, O'Mara, I'm gonna get that son of a bitch.” Mickey Cohen did not kill Jack Whalen in an apartment complex courtyard pool as shown in the movies, he did not even pull the trigger.  

Reflections
The upheaval in 1956 Los Angeles was one example of how a bad change in leadership can lead to the fall of the Family.  In the Cosa Nostra, an elected Boss is the Boss, and you take orders from the top. Most changes in leadership are very smooth and the rank and file never see a change. Another exception would be in 1985 when a young man named John Gotti, a Capo in the Gambino Family, had his Boss Big Paul Castellano shot dead in the street alongside his Underboss Tommy Bilotti. This did not help the Gambino Family, it hurt it.  When Gotti took over the family had 23 street crews, today they have 9 street crews and no Gotti’s in power.

Did you spend your Sunday watching the Hollywood stars walk the red carpet?  
Two blondes pictured at the Oscars in 1956:  Jayne Mansfield, Cleo Moore.

1956 was the first year in history all the Oscar nominated pictures were in color, and the top movies included "Around the World in 80 Days" and "The King and I."    

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For more information check out Anthony Fiato
 http://mafiaslugger.blogspot.com/

The Turning Point

Jan 28, 10:00 pm

(60 minutes)
Flipped: A Mobster Tells All
Kenny "Kenji" Gallo
TV-14 (V)

Loyalty, honor, ?family? meant nothing to Kenji ? he simply loved living life dangerously. So when the FBI caught up with him, Kenji offered to fly to New York, wear a wire and bring down some of the heaviest hitters of the Colombo Crime Family.


Watch the Discovery Channel, Thursday






The Turning Point.



I wanted to write about some of the things that make guys in the life want to make a change. I do not mean that all guys flip, I mean when they see the life for all that it has become and the walk away.
Last week I was a guy from the biggest cocaine family in history. The guy’s family made hundreds of millions of dollars on cocaine. He swam in Pablo Escobar’s pool when he was young. He has lost many family members to the cocaine wars. He told me that he changed when after getting into some trouble he was working on a crew laying tile. He was laying tile in the hallway of a building where he used to own a condo before the Government took it. That is when he knew it was all a waste.
While we were talking another guy came by to say hello. This guy was Mr. cocaine in the ghettos of California during the 80’s there was nobody bigger. He just now got out. All the time he did, for what?
Many people who read this may not understand that the life is a grind. It wears you down. I used to see guys walk away and I just thought they were not cut out for the life. I had no idea that they were just smart!
Another guy, a son of a Black Panther was telling us that his father was in and out of the can his whole life. The father went away so the son could have a better life. He got into the life right out of high school and he soon found himself in a closet with an AK-47. He was to wait in a house until a guy came home and then jack him. He waited for a day and nothing, the guy never came. The deal was called off and he left the house, which was it for him. He walked away from the life and never looked back.

I guess that most of these Mafia guys never learn or they never reach that point. Most are small town guys. They live and die in Brooklyn or Staten Island. They never realize that there is a world outside that is vast and great. Teddy (Do Over) Persico did 17 years on a drug beef. He came out and in the first 10 hours already was on his way back. Teddy had no idea at the time. The funny thing about Teddy is that he never learned a thing. Teddy Persico Sr, Carmine (Gimpy) Persico, Allie Boi and many more in his family were away for life. Teddy is still playing the role. Now into construction and hitting the clubs with a crew. He might as well enjoy it now; he will be in some Federal lock up soon.

I was around Louie Gelfuso a Capo in the LA Family. He was a hard luck guy. He was around Peter (Shakes) Milano and very loyal. When Pete became boss he badged Louie and then moved him up to Capo. The family was hurting so Pete brought in some new blood. The Fiato’s put all of them away. Louie and his son Michael both went away for a long time.
Louie came out to nothing, the family was a shell. I was there on the boat when Louie’s ashes were scattered at sea. I looked around and I knew it was over. The life just is not worth the heartache.


BIG DINO went to Team USA! Well some Colombo's will be going away.
Kenji OC