Colombo Family: The Daily Grind

Last week I wrote about Joey “Caves” Compietello who gave such a valuable compelling look inside the Colombo Family. He has the classic tale of mob life that shows that the Mafia is far from dead.  The question is why in 2014 would anyone still strive to become a made guy?

Those who have reached middle management or at least stable status in the Mafia were born in the late 1960’s or the early 1970’s.  This was a time that the Mafia had a strong presence in many neighborhoods across the US.  The FBI was just starting to understand how it worked and how to use the RICO laws.

Many young up and comers never went past the 9th grade and dropped out of high school.  This does not mean they are stupid by any measure.  Many are smart but were bored by school and the lure of the streets was strong.

The 1980’s was a time in Brooklyn where many of those young men started stealing cars.  Many older Mafia members owned junk yards or auto repair places.  So these young high school dropouts could earn very good money by stealing and dropping off these cars to them.  

They would be chopped and parted out or tagged.  Tagging a car means they would buy a car that had been wrecked beyond repair that the insurance company sold as totaled. Once owning this frame they would remove the VIN ( Vehicle Identification Number) then steal the exact car and install the totaled cars “tags” on the stolen car. This was a huge money maker because they could buy a wrecked car for mere hundreds and sell the tagged car for thousands of dollars.

Once many of these young expert car thieves made some cash they would find their own spots to “Chop” or disassemble stolen cars. Many parts from a car are valuable and there is no way to trace them so they can sell the parts.

Money and greed are why many were killed by those around the Mafia.  The Mafia does not pay for killing.  Those around or inside the Mafia take part in murder to advance their position.

It is one of those unpleasant byproducts of the life.

Those who ran the Chop shops kicked up money to whatever Mafia guy they were “around” or “with”.  The more money they kicked up the more status they had.  They also wanted the cash so they could just live, so anyone stealing from them was literally taking food from their mouths.

Joe Meech or Joe Miccio was working with Joey Caves and others in a Chop Shop.  Dino Calabro was not made but he was “with” Tommy “Shots” Geoli, meaning he was kicking money up to him.  Joe Meech was selling parts from chopped cars and keeping the cash for himself.

Joe Meech was picked up by a guy nicknamed “Tigger” one day to take care of some car business when they stopped to also pick up Joey Caves.  Once in the car Joey Caves pulled out his pistol and shot Joe Meech in the head.  They drove to 17th and Shore Parkway where Joey pushed Joe Meech out of the car and shot him three more times to make sure he was dead.

In the book “Mob over Miami,” the author made it seem like Carmine Gargano was murdered by those around the Bath Ave Crew or Jimmy “Frogs” Galione cocaine crew.  Carmine was murdered because he was involved with Dino Calabro in a chop shop business and he wanted more money from it.  He was lured to a chop shop off MacDonald Ave where he was shot in the head and smashed with a hammer.  They buried him under the floor of the shop but his family came there looking for him.  They moved him out to the Colombo graveyard in Farmingdale Long Island where others would be buried.  The FBI would never find his body but they found hair and other traces of him in the MacDonald Ave chop shop.

The Colombo war in the 1990’s tore the family apart and life long friends were out looking to kill each other.  The older made Colombo members used the young thugs to scout out and kill others because they were not known.  The young guys would “Sit” on targets houses or businesses so they could get their routines down.  

Joey Caves “sat” on Joe Baudanza’s home and Joe Scopo’s home.  Joe Baudanza is a Colombo Capo who was part of the ruling panel that ran the family because boss Carmine “Gimpy” Persico is away for life.  Joe is also the brother of Carmine Baudanza a Colombo soldier and the Uncle of John Baudanza a Lucchese Capo.  Joe Baudanza was inducted, made or as the Colombo’s put it “Coming to the house” in a home on Long Island. I know because my friend Joe Campy was made at the same time and place.  

John Baudanza and Little Craig Marino were drivers and bodyguards for Joe Scopo.  They must not have been good because Joe was shot in front of his house after Teddy Persico Jr came home on a prison furlough for his grandmother's funeral.  Teddy was kneeling next to her body when he gave the order to murder Scopo.  Joey Caves did not murder Scopo but he sat on his house.  Joey would be made in Brooklyn by among others Joe Baudanza and at the same time as little Craig Marino.

The Colombo’s were aware that the FBI and others were always watching or listening to them so they adopted some new tactics. A thumb across the cheek was how they referred to a made guy and a thumb across the back was their way of indicating a Capo. All the families used methods close to this, in Los Angeles they would point to the chest for a soldier, the shoulder for a Capo and the sky for Pete Milano the Boss.  

The stories and the methods are the same all over the US in the Mafia families. Chicago is the same, just not as “Cowboy” as the rest of the families.  All the the families now have a good chance of continuing on because the FBI is busy with terrorists.  

The information they got from men like Joey Caves, Joey Massino, Sammy Gravano, Andrew DiDonato, Mikey Scars, Philip Leonetti, Al D’Arco and so many more is priceless and provides a glimpse into a secret criminal world that few on the outside can understand.

Hollywood will keep churning out their mindless gangster flicks with stars who carry a new pistol with designer gloves on their hands. Most of these will fall short of the life but all you have to do is look at the trials of the real deal.

Joey Caves should get a sentence like Sammy Gravano or any of the others that came before.  He has helped team USA in the fight against Organized Crime.

The Los Angeles Mafia

LA Gangland 1950’s & LCN Tradition

Nick Licata would rule the Los Angeles Family for seven years. He continued working with many of the Eastern Cosa Nostra Families.  He had great connections with the Detroit family.  Nick's son Carlo, a made man in the LA Family, had married Detroit Family Capo Black Bill Tocco's

daughter.   

After Frank DiSimone died, Nick stepped in the top spot easily because he was the Underboss.

Nick was now in a whole different game.   He would no longer be the guy who operated from the shadows.  He was very low key and did not attract much attention until he held the alibi party for Jimmy Frattiano on the night he killed the Two Tony's.  After that he was always a blip on the radar of the LAPD and the FBI.

Nick was in poor health and had to spend six months locked up after he was given immunity by a grand jury in Los Angeles.  Nick appointed Joe Dippolito, a well liked member of the family, as his underboss. Joe Dip was a serious landowner in the inland empire and he had wineries.  He also took part in a couple of murders, so he had the respect of the family.  Joe Dippolito died 9 months before Nick died.   Nick then appointed the loyal Jimmy Regace aka Dominic Brooklier as his underboss.  Dominic was well liked by the white collar members of the family, but he had also taken part in some killings, including the attempted hit on Mickey Cohen in front of Sherry's.  They would make a lot of members that were capable.  The goal of being made or inducted into the Cosa Nostra used to be the highest honor a criminal could obtain.  Today that is no longer a main motivating factor in the life.

Being Made

Jimmy Frattiano described being made in his book The Last Mafioso. You can tell by his words that even when he told the story more than 40 years later, he was excited.  He was brought to a winery in LA where he was escorted into a room by Johnny Roselli.  Once inside, he joined fifty men already seated around the large fermentation room.  The family had all come together to induct five new members.  Three would move on to become bosses and another would be underboss in the future.  They had a dagger and a pistol on the table.  They would prick the inductee’s trigger finger and then recite the oath.  Then the men were Amico Nostra, “A friend of ours.”

The years would take their toll on the Family.  The FBI would record the New England Families Ceremony, and from that point on it would no longer be a secret ceremony.

I know that Pete J Milano aka Shakes was made by Brooklier, but I do not know how it went down.  Jimmy also wrote in his book about making Mike Rizzi.  They were in Murrietta, California on June 6, 1976.  It was Mike Rizzi, Frank Bomp, Louie Dragna and Jimmy in a car.  Jimmy would explain what Bomp was saying as he recited the words in Sicilian.  They would do the whole thing in the car at the end of a dirt road.  They had no pistol or knife, but Dragna had a pin that they used to prick Mike's trigger finger.

Jimmy Caci many years later would tell me a little about his experience.  He told me that they all played golf in Palm Springs.  Pete Milano was boss. Carmen Milano was underboss and after dinner they went back to a hotel room.  That is where Jimmy was made into the family.  He told me it was not what he thought it would be, and that he wished he never did it.  He would tell me later that he had wasted his life, that it all just fell apart.  It was sad when Jimmy told me that.  We were sitting at a restaurant in Ontario after we left the Auto Mart in 2003.  He was telling me about how good the old days were and then how it all went downhill.

Some years later I would be in New York and a former Colombo guy would tell me about his big day.  He wore a suit.  He was picked up by his Capo and driven to a home in Long Island.  He was waiting upstairs with a guy named Joe Baudanza and he was called downstairs.  The

acting boss and the Underboss were down there with a number of Capos.  They had a pistol and a dagger on the table. They did the ceremony in English and he was made.  Next, they brought down Joe and made him.

Later Joe would sit on the panel that ruled the family and he would be one of those that gave the okay to shoot my friend.  They failed but it goes to show you how far the Cosa Nostra had fallen. So we sat in a Midtown restaurant on a rainy day talking about it.  He told me that none of it was worth it.  That the whole thing was wrecked it was not what he thought.  He told me that his Capo had taken him aside and told him not to get into the life.  I asked him if he knew anyone in the life who lived a happy life.

The two of us could not think of one person.

The LA Family was big in gambling in LA, San Diego, Tijuana and Palm Springs.  The Sica brothers worked with them running action up to Northern California and the new boss formerly Jimmy Regace, now Brooklier was close to them.  Once Dominic became boss he would make Pete Milano which was a smart move because Pete’s father was the underboss of the Cleveland family and his uncle had been boss.  He started sending word to other families that he was the boss.  He then appointed a very well connected Sam Sciortino as his underboss to help him get the family in shape.  Sam was a smart choice because he was related to the under boss of the San Francisco Family, he was also related to a Capo in the New Orleans family.  He had deep connections in the garment center in Los Angeles and Dallas. He was also big into trucking.  

These guys could have led the family into a new era of prosperity but the heat was on.

More next week!

Los Angeles Mafia 1960's

“No, its not Mafia. That’s the expression the outside uses,” Joe Valachi, 1963

In 1963, Law Enforcement and the Cosa Nostra itself were still reeling from the debacle of Appalachia which happened in 1957 (if you missed that post, read it here). All this attention forced the FBI to step it up.  It would soon get much worse for the men who made their living in the Underworld.  Everything changed for the Cosa Nostra in September of 1963.  

Joseph Michael Valachi told everything he knew.  He claimed it was because the organization had ruined his life and he wanted to right that wrong.  Valachi gave the world a new look - an inside look - at a criminal organization that had been called many names by the outside world.  

He referred to it as Cosa Nostra and from then on it was no longer a secret organization.

Why did Valachi flip?

Valachi was a low level Made guy in the Luciano Family, a family which would later become the Genovese Family.  He had been sent to prison for heroin trafficking, and he thought he was marked for death. Vito Genovese, in the same prison, also for heroin trafficking, had given him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  Valachi interpreted it as the so called “kiss of death.”  He did not eat or sleep for weeks after the “kiss” so when an inmate approached him in the yard he thought the guy was going to kill him.  So Valachi beat him to death with a pipe. It turned out to only be a guy who looked like a connected guy, but was not involved in any way. Valachi was now facing a death sentence for killing the inmate.  As a result, he reached out to the FBN who had arrested him for heroin. The FBI quickly took over handling Valachi from the FBN, and he spilled it all.  Once the FBI took over they moved him to jails all over the country and he would finally live out his life in what would become known as the Valachi Suite in La Tuna Federal Prison.

The 1960's were not good to the LA Family.  Frank DeSimone and his underboss had been caught in Appalachian.  The underboss was deported back to Italy, so he appointed Nick Licata as the new underboss.  Then Valachi flipped and caused the Cosa Nostra to be known all over the world.  Gone was the mystery and the mysticism of the once secret organization.  Frank's name and picture were published in newspapers all over.  Look Magazine even did a story naming him as the boss of the LA Family.  Frank filed a lawsuit against the magazine for the story, but he had been caught with the rest of the Cosa Nostra at Appalachian.  Frank was also a second generation boss, his father Rosario DeSimone was part of the Cosa Nostra family in Pueblo, Colorado before moving to Southern California and joining the LA Family.  Rosario would become boss briefly in LA before stepping down to pursue his legitimate business interest in Downey, California. He ran a successful Import/Export business until his death in 1946 of natural causes. He was known as the Chief or Pappa and he kept a low profile.

There was once a shooting outside Rosario’s home in Downey.  Some rivals fired upon Joseph Ardizzone, the man who would later become boss, and Little Jimmy Basile, as the two hoods left a meeting held at DeSimone’s Downey home.  Ardizzone was also known as The Iron Man.

The swift and deadly attack left Basile dead in the street.  Ardizzone was seriously wounded but made it to the safety of the house. DeSimone, his son Leon, "a Stanford grad," and nephew Simone Scozzari were questioned and later released.  People may recognize Simone as the underboss who was picked up with Frank in Appalachia.

Frank's nephew Tommy DeSimone in Queens, New York would become a Lucchese Associate known as Tommy Two Gun.  He would be immortalized on film by Joe Pesci in Goodfella's as Tommy DeVito. He would later be killed for killing a Gambino guy and his body would never be found.  Anthony DeSimone, another nephew, also in Queens, was with the Gambino family.  Anthony was killed by Tommy Agro, a Gambino family Soldier. Frank had gone to USC and graduated to become a successful Criminal Attorney.  However, once Jack Dragna died he would step up to take the top spot.  His new position in the family resulted in lots of bad press, and caused his professional career as an attorney to suffer greatly.

I used to think for a long time that a Boss like Frank was bad for the LA Family. I felt they were to white collar not real gangsters. Now that I am no longer in the life, I see that he could have taken the family in a better direction.  Led it into more white collar or legitimate enterprises.  It is a criminal organization and there is a need for strong men who can put in the heavy work. It is a hard balance to find, a guy who can do the work but not one who likes it. It is one of those things that has to be done as a last resort.  Most famlies have a few guys who can really do the work and others who can help out.  Some have a work crew that handles these things, it keeps everyone in line and it protects the power of the Cosa Nostra.    The only problem with these guys is that they generally get into a lot of trouble and they can never make enough money to live well.  They are really well liked and useful when times are tough but during peace, they are shunned. This is a problem. The solution is to have a balance like the Outfit in Chicago where they take care of their workers.

Joe Bonnano, one of the original bosses on the commission in New York, decided to kill some other bosses.  I guess he wanted to be Capo di tutti cap or Boss of Boss which is not what the Cosa Nostra is about. This plot was leaked to the other bosses by Joe Colombo who was a well known soldier in what would become the Colombo Family.  We will never know the truth about what went down. One of the bosses that he had on his hit list was Frank DeSimone, the boss of the LA Family.  Joe Bonnano was exiled to Tucson, Arizona by the Commission and replaced by Gaspar DiGregorio one of his Capo’s. The Commission told him he was to have no dealings in Brooklyn with his family. They have no formal enforcement arm, just other famlies.  So he moved those loyal to him out west with him to Arizona.  Some guys from other famlies went with him and one of those was  Charlie "Batts" Battaglia, a Made guy in the LA Family, who left the LA family to be with the Bonnano's.  Frank DeSimone took the threat of the hit from Bonnano very seriously.  After the plan was uncovered, he would never again go out after dark. He would still meet with trusted LA Family guys like his underboss Nick Licata but he was not the same.  He later died of a heart attack in Downey, California where he lived with his mother.  

I keep reading about how the LAPD was responsible for the decline of La Cosa Nostra in Los Angeles.   The truth is, they caused their own decline with in-fighting.  Another factor towards decline was the small Italian population of Los Angeles.  Although it nearly doubled from 9,650 in 1920 to 16,851 in 1930 (a surge due in part to a downturn in the Italian film industry which encouraged many Italian film technicians and film set designers move to Los Angeles), most of these immigrants were Northern Italians.

Compare this small number to New York where over 4,000,000 Italians immigrated between 1880 and 1920. That is a huge talent pool that would grow up in the urban ghettos of New York City.  If you look at the what is known as the LA Family, almost all of there Made members were pooled from other places and just ended up here.

Here is what I know.  The boss of the family when I was around was Pete "Shakes" Milano and the Underboss was his brother Carmen.  They were both from Cleveland, Ohio.  Capo Louie Gelfuso was from Providence, Rhode Island.  Capo Jimmy Caci’s soldiers, Charlie Caci, Steve Cino, Rocky Zangari all were from Buffalo, New York.  Soldier John Joseph Vaccaro is from New Orleans.  Capo Louie Caruso is from New Jersey.  Soldier Anthony Fiato is from Boston, Mass.  That is just a few that I can name off the top of my head.   It was a mish-mash of second or third generation immigrants from all over the country.

Next week I will lay out more of the LA Family history.

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