The last San Diego Crew.

FOREX was an FBI sting set by the Los Angeles FBI office to snare the LA Family guys.  It all started when an FBI Special Agent, staying with his wife in Murrieta Hot Springs Hotel, noticed Frank Bompenseiro, Jimmy Frattiano and Louie Dragna going into the hotel’s restaurant.  

The FBI Agent and his wife were able to get a booth near their table.  He overheard part of their conversation and one thing that was clear from the part he heard was that Jimmy Frattiano wanted a piece of the porno business. Frattiano was acting boss of the family along with Louie Dragna.  Frattiano had transferred back from the Chicago outfit in order to help run the family.  The real acting boss should have been Louie Dragna, but since he was running a multi million dollar garment center business, he had little interest in taking over the day to day dealings of his Uncle’s former family.  The LA Family had another reason for wanting Frattiano back with the family.

Frank Bompenseiro had been one of the heavy guys back in the Jack Dragna days.  He had buried a lot of guys.  Frattiano had been another one of the workers Jack used to carry out LA Family business. The powers in the LA Family had now grown tired of Bompensiero because even after the busted him down to soldier he kept doing whatever he wanted in San Diego. To make matters worse Bompensiero had been bad mouthing the family to anyone who would listen. The Family now wanted Bompensiero dead and the only guy who could carry out the hit was Frattiano.  They knew Frattiano was close to him and they knew he could see it through.  This is Cosa Nostra, they always have those that are closest to you take you out.

Frattiano and Dragna came up with a plan to put Bompenseiro at ease.  They upped him to the Consigliere position and that made him happy.  Bompensiero had been an FBI informant for ten years at this point, but the FBI, like the Cosa Nostra, can be ruthless. They knew that Bompensiero had not been giving them all the information on the family activities. So, the FBI set up the FOREX sting.

They let Bompensiero know that a Porno outfit was operating out of the San Fernando Valley.  They told him that FOREX was buying Porno and shipping it to Mexico.  Bompensiero then let the LA Family know about them and they sent in some guys.  The Crew that the family sent in was a misfit bunch.  Anyone interested in knowing more should read The Animal in Hollywood by Anthony Fiato.

The guys running FOREX were FBI Agents and they got the whole thing on tape.  The family was soon brought before a Grand Jury and they knew right away that Bompensiero had set them up.  Bompensiero was very careful and rarely went out after dark.  One habit he had was to leave his Pacific Beach Apartment at night to use a payphone to make calls.  He figured that his home phone was bugged by the FBI or the State.  Someone would call him at his place and he would tell them he would speak to them later.  Bompensiero would then walk to the phone booth and make his calls.  

So here is what went down. The LA Family had Frattiano call Bompensiero one night and they just watched him walk to the payphone take the call and walk home. This was just to see what he did.  I am sure that they watched him a few other nights.  The Cosa Nostra does not like to go off and kill like a cowboy they like to plan it so they get away with it.  

So one night Bompenseiro is told that the boss would like to speak with him.  He walks from his apartment to the phone booth and while he is there dialing, a car pulls up.  Tommy Ricciardi, a Rhode Island transplant, jumps out with 22.cal with a suppressor on it.  Tommy walks over and fires into Bompenseiro’s head 4 times and this is where urban legend takes over.  

When the police find Bompensiero he has some dimes scattered near him. They say it was because he was dropping a dime on guys but maybe he was carrying them because that is what payphones took at that time. It was not about sending a message "drop a dime" and die.

It is also a wonder that Tommy was able to pull it off without keeling over himself because he had a pacemaker.  Tommy fires into Bompenseiro and jumps back into the car driven by Jack LoCicero and they are gone into the night. The pistol would not be tossed but would continue to make its rounds in the LA Family.  Read more about it in this book:

The San Diego Crew

1975

The man seated at the table in front of the cafe did not fit the stereotype of a Hollywood Mafioso.  The roly poly man in the ill-fitting suit was Frank Bompensiero.  Frank Bompensiero was at one time the Capo in charge of the San Diego area for the Los Angeles Family. After being demoted, he later became a soldier in the family.  Frank lost everything when he was sent to prison in 1955 on bribery charges. He had been caught using his connections with the State Board of Equalization to get liquor Licenses for bars, which brought in big money.

On this particular day Frank was sitting, sipping on his coffee, a cigar stuck in his mouth, contemplating revenge.  Gone were his bars: Maestro Music, the Algiers, the Cadillac, his connections, and his position as Capo in the family.  

A smartly dressed man approached the table and Frank stood up and shook his hand.  The man sat and they begin to talk. There was another man in the car the man had emerged from, also taking in the situation.

The two men are Special Agents with the FBI and Frank is their informant.  What would lead this lifelong criminal, former Capo, a killer, to work for the FBI as an informant?  I am sure money was not the motive.  Maybe it was the fact that he spent 5 years in State Prison. It was during that time that nobody from the LA Family helped out his family. He was not given a cent for his wife, kids or himself. He was loyal to Jack Dragna, the boss, and he had killed plenty of people for the family. Jack Dragna had died of a heart attack while Frank was locked up.  Desimone had come to see Frank while he was locked up, trying to earn his vote for taking over the position as boss.  Frank told him he did not want him to become boss.  Desimone became boss anyway, and then demoted Frank to soldier.  

I am fascinated by this move by the bosses in the Cosa Nostra.  They demoted guys or put them on the shelf when they are away.  When they get out they do not help them. Where is the honor? I had a Capo say to me, “That a guy was a loser, a brokester.”   When I brought up the fact that the guy did 9 years for the family, he just laughed.  That Capo is now taking his turn “away” and is sick, so lets see how he does when he gets out.

Frank was giving the FBI tidbits of information, just enough so they would stay off his back.  One of the important things he failed to tell them about was Tamara Rand.

Tamara Rand was a wealthy business woman from her career in real estate.  She was married to a prominent doctor in San Diego.  She had also invested largely in Las Vegas Casinos before it became the corporate playground that it is today.  It was the playground of the Mob.  

She had loaned 500K to Allen Glick, the owner of Argent (which had received Teamster loans to buy 4 Casinos: the Hacienda, Fremont, Marina and The Stardust).  Tamara thought she was buying 5 percent of his Casinos.  When Glick did not honor his part of the deal, Tamara filed a lawsuit.  She was about to open the books of the Casinos.  That would have been bad because of the Teamster Loans and their corresponding Skim that was kicked back to Chicago, Kansas City, Detroit and Milwaukee.  

Frank Balistrieri, the boss of Milwaukee, went to Chicago to see the Bosses and told them about Glick’s problem.  They sent word to their man out West - Tony Spilatro.  

So, Tony enlisted his friend in San Diego, Frank Bompenseiro, and together they cased Tamara Rand’s home.  On the afternoon of November 9, 1975, Tamara had left work early to get ready for dinner with her husband.  Somebody was waiting for her inside her home.  When she came into the kitchen, they struck her with a 22.cal pistol with a suppressor. The sound would be like a cap gun not like the sounds made in the movies.  They shot her five times, including one shot under the chin.  Frank would later tell Jimmy Frattiano that he had driven Tony Spilatro to the Mission Hills home. Since both Frank and Tony were killed by their families we will never know the whole story.

Why would Frank do it?  He wanted to be transferred to Chicago but Sam Giancana did not take him.  More likely, he wanted to get his foot into Las Vegas be part of the skim or maybe get a gift shop.  Frank had hated Johnny Roselli because he did not help him get in the Chicago Family and he felt that Rosselli had gotten his reward for a killing.  Roselli had gotten a couple of gift shops in some Casinos. So Frank had decided in revenge to feed the FBI information.  The more the LA Family treated him badly the more he informed. That is until FOREX.