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:

Los Angeles 1970's

Gambling Racket in LA

The gambling plot started while Nick Licata was still boss of the LA Family.  He was sick at the time and he would die in October of 1974 in a hospital in Santa Monica.  The Underboss Dominic Brooklier was running the family day to day so he was in fact the acting boss.  They wanted to get some more gambling places up and running.  

John Vaccaro and John Ludlow Dubeck came from Las Vegas to run a restaurant on Sunset Blvd.  It was in a well known high rise office building.  John Vaccaro had a long history in gambling that could be traced all the way back to begninnings in New Orleans. In fact, he would later serve time for cheating slot machines in Las Vegas.  They opened an after hours gambling spot on Sunset Blvd at the restaurant Forget about the fact that the house always wins, they decided to hedge their bets.  They had card games and table games like craps. They also had John DocJon Deems.  DocJon was a wizard with cards and dice.   

They set up the games and the split went like this.  Luigi "Louie" Gelfuso and Pete Milano would get 20% of the profit.  Gelfuso the guy who worked at Nick Licata’s bar and now in Milano’s would later find locations for the games which included a house in the San Fernando Valley.   I met Gelfuso later in life and I liked him. He came to los Angeles from Providence, Rhode Island and he fell right in with the guys.  He was very close to Pete and Carmen Milano but he was a loyal guy.   Gelfuso's job was to provide security and collect markers from those who didn't have enough to cover their losses. John Vaccaro was to get 50% and he was supposed to cut in Dubeck and a lawyer named Calaway.  Vaccaro would run the game and the lawyer would provide legal services.  

Everything of course went bad because being Mobsters they were short sighted and greedy.  People started to complain about being cheated at the tables and that is a bad thing when you have an illegal casino.  They had enough problem just getting people to the games.  This was a Milano crew game and Milano was in charge because it was his crew.  Louie's son Michael Gelfuso told me about setting up the tables and the games. Being in his twenties at the time he found it exciting and fun.  The problem with Gambling in LA is that the LAPD Vice Squad knows everyone and when people get cheated they complain to LAPD Vice Squad and they come down on the guys running the games.  Soon LAPD and the FBI raided the games. Milano had a bail bonds business and he posted bonds for those guys who were picked up at the games.  

Things soon became even worse for the LA Family because the Feds took down everyone for running the gambling business and they had a star witness.  The star witness was John Ludlow Dubeck and he knew more than enough to put everyone away.

Things do not always work out for the good guy in life.  Sometimes they turn out bad.  Early in the morning of March 19th 1974 in Las Vegas John and Francis Dubuck returned from working the late shift at their jobs in a casino.  John was a shift manager and Francis was a cocktail waitress.  They were tired when the parked their car in their space and began the short walk to their apartment.  They had just walked into the garden courtyard when a man dressed in dark clothing stepped out of the shadows and let loose with two shots from a sawed off shotgun. He was so close he could not miss either person and they were both killed. They were scheduled to testify in the upcoming gambling trail of the LA Family.  They had been offered Witness Protection and refused. They had probably felt safe in Las Vegas since there had been no mob killings in the town.  It was against the commission rules to kill in Las Vegas because it would bring heat and unwanted attention to the Gaming Capital.  So the LA Family must have gone to the commission for the okay.  It was probably through Chicago because LA and the Cleveland family were close to Chicago.  This was the first of the major killings in gangland done with a shotgun. This is a big deal because there would be a large number of people killed with 22 Cal pistols.  The other killing would come two years later in California and that was when two men in a van blasted turncoat killer Joseph Barboza with a shotgun.

This is just the start of the killings that would come and be connected with the LA Family. The LAPD gave them the name the Mickey Mouse Mafia but they could kill. Louie and Michael Gelfuso have passed away.  Pete Milano passed away.  I just found out that Docjon Deems passed away.  Docjon contacted me years ago and sent me a dvd that he made. He was a facebook friend and his page is still up.