Jimmy Frattiano and the LA Family.

Next week we will take a look back in time to the 1980's era in the Los Angeles Mafia.  So, this week we’ll prepare for that by learning about Jimmy Frattiano.  Frattiano, born in Naples Italy on November 13, 1913  under the name Aladena Frattiano, would later be known as Jimmy.  The police and the newspapers would call him The Weasel.  This is because he often stole fruit from peddlers in Cleveland's Little Italy (then known as Murray Hill or the Hill).  One day a bystander saw Jimmy grab fruit and run, and shouted  “Look at that Weasel go!”  It stuck, and he would be forever known Jimmy The Weasel.  When he boxed he was known as Kid Weasel.  Although, I am sure he was never called that to his face.

Jimmy knew a lot of guys in the Mayfield Road Mob (Cleveland’s Little Italy gang) and he was soon working with them as an armed robber and gambler.  While Jimmy was in Cleveland he helped the Family there that was at war with Irish Hoodlum Danny Greene.  Danny had already killed some Cleveland guys including Jimmys friend Leo Moceri.  Jimmy had the family call in his pal Ray Frerrito who would set up a car with a bomb in it and park it next to Danny Greenes car.  Ray blew Danny up killing him instantly, Ray would be caught and he would spill the beans on Jimmy.  You can learn more about Danny Greene in the book To kill an Irish Man (or the movie of the same name).  He was sent to prison for a robbery gone bad, and when he was released he decided to head to California.  Through his family connections he was given the names of other connected people to contact on the west coast.  One of these men was Johnny Roselli, a high ranking member of the Chicago Outfit.  He was in LA to oversee the racing wire and the Unions that dealt with the Movie industry. Roselli was no ordinary hood, he counted many studio bosses as friends.  Johnny Roselli's name can still be seen on screen in the credits of some old movies as a producer.

Frattiano set up shop in a hotel as a bookie.  Soon he was meeting member's of the Dragna Family around town.  Frattiano was sponsored by Johnny Roselli and Jack Dragna for induction into the LA Family.  Jimmy was able to make money, he could hustle.  Many people think that the Mafia looks for guys who can break legs and do heavy work.  That is a plus but not really what the family needs.  They want guys who can earn and can think on their feet,guys who will not cause petty beefs.  Jimmy Frattiano had all these traits, he was tough and he could kill.  Killing in the Mafia is not the same as killing because you are mad or afraid. You do not get paid for killing in the mob.   I always laugh when I hear that the Mafia has a 500,000 contract on somebodies head.  Its a joke!  Lets say you kill whoever, then what?  Where do you collect the cash?  Why would they pay when they have plenty of young wannabee's who would do it for nothing to earn respect or a position.  You kill a stranger or a friend for no other reason than you do it because you were told to do so by the boss.  Frattiano was able to kill with ease. Jimmy would admit to five murders and the Government claimed he was responsible for others because they consider you guilty if you know about it or conspire with others.  

Jimmy was made in a ceremony that took place in a Los Angeles Winery along with several others.  Forget what you see in the Gangster Squad or any other movie written by people who only read about the life depicting the LA Family as weak and lacking power or money. The LA Family was strong at this time and rich!   They had wineries, fruit and vegetable wholesaler businesses, garment trades, trucking businesses and Unions in the movie industry.  A lot of Italians lived where Chinatown is now located, Lincoln Heights was an Italian neighborhood at that time.

Jimmy went to work in Los Angeles as a bookie and Shylock.  Add to that murder and you have a man headed to the top.  Jack Dragna made him a Caporegime after he killed the Two Tony's in a car on a Hollywood street.  Jimmy had the same flaw that a lot of the guys who could do Heavy work had.  He was smart and tough but he just couldn't earn enough.  I think this is because guys like Frattiano and many others like him are Gangsters, the guys who make the money and stay free are Racketeers. The smart ones work their way up, get into a legit business, then pay taxes and die wealthy.  

Jimmy would go away again for almost 7 years for a phone call where he made a threat. When he returned he transferred to the Chicago Outfit but still lived in California. He was a made guy in the Chicago Outfit and reported to them. He would operate a successful trucking business before going away again. The Law would never give him a break and they found something he did wrong with the trucking firm. He would then be asked to lead the LA Family as acting boss when the whole administration was sent away. Dominic Brooklier asked him personally to take over.  It was a setup!  They needed Jimmy because they wanted to Kill Frank Bompensiero in San Diego and Jimmy was very close to him.  They also had nobody capable of killing him.  Jimmy would be a solution to both problems, leadership and killing.  Jimmy put off the Bompensiero contract and instead made his own moves.  Jimmy had left the family because he felt that it was full of losers and deadbeats now he would try to fix that problem. So once more Jimmy was back in the LA Family.

Once Brooklier was released from Prison he took over and busted Jimmy down to Soldier in the LA Family.   They decided Jimmy had to go and they started bad mouthing him to other families around the country.  The guys in Cleveland let him in on the fact that he was a dead man.  

In 1977 The FBI arrested Jimmy in a small apartment in San Francisco.  He was at the end of the line. The outfit had put one of its best killers, Joey Hanson, on him so his days were numbered.  He became the second made guy to flip and the highest ranking. Frattiano opened the floodgates to all those (including me) who later flipped. He would be put into WITSEC and he would fight the Mafia from saftey.

Jimmy Frattiano died at age 79 in Oklahoma in 1993 of natural causes.

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.

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.

Gangland Los Angeles the 1960's and more

Gambling and Other Rackets in Los Angeles 1960’s

I was driving in Los Angeles the other day and I ended up on Santa Monica Boulevard right in front of the Formosa Cafe. The Cafe was the headquarters of Joe Sica and his brothers (Freddy, Angelo, Frank).





Mickey Cohen was no longer a force in LA Organized Crime, but the Sica brothers were still going strong.

The Cosa Nostra Families from the East had all moved into Las Vegas for the big casino skimming money.  

Nevada had just introduced its new Black Book featuring those not allowed in a casino.  Joe Sica along with Louis Tom Dragna were some of the original inductees.

In the Early 1960's, Frankie Carbo, Blinky Palermo, Joe Sica, and Louis Tom Dragna were sentenced to jail terms for extortion.  They had muscled in on the National Boxing Association’s Welterweight Champion Don Jordan's contract. They had gone to his manager and threatened them both so that they could take over his contract.  They were caught, and as a result Carbo received 25 years, Sica 20 years, Palermo 15 years, and Dragna 5 years. The sentences were imposed by Judge George Boldt, who also fined the four men $10,000 each.

They would all later appeal and their sentences would be reduced or dropped.

Louis Tom Dragna, who was a Capo in the LA Family, went into the garment trade industry.  By the end of the 1960's he was worth millions.

Joe Sica and his brothers would continue their gambling business and narcotics sales in LA and Northern California. Joe became a gambling kingpin who would meet his men from Northern California at the Pine Lake Lodge in Fresno.

Freddy Sica would run the brothers gambling enterprises from the Savoy Shirt Company on Melrose Avenue.  They also had a gas station in downtown where they took action.  They paid young party girls to use phone lines installed in their apartments so their guys could take action on them.

Joe, Freddy, Angelo and Frank Sica also had a new racket that was pretty lucrative.  They took over a company called ActiveAire in Los Angeles that provided air hand dryers for bathrooms in restaurants and other places. They would go around and lease these to businesses for their locations at a premium. This would become a large source of revenue for the Sica Brothers.

Gambling was and still is today the life blood of the Cosa Nostra.

During the 1960's in Los Angeles the big bookmakers took huge action on horse racing from all over.  There were other sports bets but racing was the big money.  

In Los Angeles there were many Sub-Bookies.  These included barber shops, shoe shiners, local bars, gas stations, many convenient places where people could place their bets.  These Subs would get a percentage.  This was before cell phones and the Internet that streamlined the process with 800 numbers and offshore locations.

It was a lot harder to set up a phone room in those early days.  The phones were all hardwired into places and if you needed a lot of lines, there was only one phone company.  

Phone rooms were manned by guys who took the action and gave the slips to a Pit Boss.
A Bookmaker is much like an insurance actuary worker.  A good bookie does not make his money from the actual bets but rather the vig or vigorish that he charges.  The Vig is 10% added onto the bet (a transaction fee).  So as long as they balance the books, the bookmaker is making cash.

If you have too many bets on one team then you have to lay some off to a bigger bookie or a bank.  

Gambling is accepted in America today - just look in a newspaper, they list the lines for games.

Monday night football!  

A good bookie always pays off the winners no questions asked. He also regulates what a player can play.  You cannot give a waiter a ten thousand dollar credit line, he has no way to pay it. You have to have them post (deposit) cash with you for larger bets. Its important for local bookies to know their customers.

Back to the 60’s.  Frank DeSimone died and his Under Boss Nick Licata took over.  Nicks first act was to make Joseph Dipolitto his underboss.  Nick had power with the Detroit LCN Family because his son Carlo married Grace Tocco in 1953.  Grace was the daughter of Detroit caporegieme William "Black Bill" Tocco. Carlo was a made guy in the LA Family and had taken part in the killing of Mickey Cohen’s lawyer.  Nick had a place on La Brea where he took action and he also had his 5 O'clock club in Burbank.  Nick owned a couple of apartment buildings around LA.  

A side note: Louie Gelfuso who one day I would know as a Capo in the LA Family, worked for Nick as a bartender during this time.

This is also the time when other important people came into LA.

Anthony Milano, alias Tony Milano, purchased a Hollywood, Calif., home for $56,000 . He has been connected with Jack I. Dragna. It is claimed that Anthony Milano and Frank Milano are members of the Mayfield Road gang in Cleveland.   Tony's two sons would join the LA Family.  Pete would be a long time member of the LA Family and he would be the boss.  Carmen would go to Law School and practice in Cleveland until his brother became boss and he would be our underboss until his death.

Then you had the Scorentino's who had trucking firms. All these guys would be among the smartest guys in the LA Family.  They would do what they did and their offspring would never have to be in the life.

Nick Licata had some trouble 1969 when a criminal named Julius Petro was killed at LAX. It was not an LA Family killing but it had a lot of connections with the family.  

Jimmy Frattiano, who was made in LA but had transferred to the Chicago Outfit, had been around Julius Petro and the guys who killed him.  

Getting rid of Julius and the mess it causes the LA family

Skinny Velotta, Bob Walch and Ray Ferrito were around Jimmy at the time.  Ray Ferrito hated Julius but when Julius started to shake down bookmaker Sparky Monica, Sparky ran to Ray for help and promises Ray half of his gambling operation. This was funny because Sparky was at that exact moment with a Gambino named Tony Plate who should have been the one he ran to for help.  

So, Ray gets some dynamite and has Skinny drive him over to Julius’s car.  On the way over, a blasting cap explodes and hurts Ray.  So Ray goes to plan B.  He books a flight out of LAX and has Julius and another guy drop him off. Julius is seated in the passenger seat when they pull into a lot to park.  A plane is taking off just as Ray starts to open the door.  Instead Ray places a pistol to the back of Julius head and fires a single shot.  There is no need to fire another so they both leave.

Ray gets out of the car and catches his flight, his buddy ditches the pistol and goes home.

Nick and the LA Family just can't get a break. Nick is called before a Grand Jury in Los Angeles and they give him immunity. They want to know about the Julius Petro murder and the LA Family. Nick takes his Cosa Nostra Oath seriously so he sticks to Omerta and gets locked up. Jimmy Frattiano and Ray Feritto are never questioned about the murder.  It will remain unsolved until Ray blows up Cleveland Mobster Danny Greene and is busted.

Meanwhile, his underboss Joe Dippolito is indicted on January 31, 1969 on three counts of perjury for lying during a liquor license inquiry on May 16, 1968. He was released on $10,000 bail and scheduled to be arraigned. On May 17, 1969, he was convicted on two of the three perjury charges. Then, to make matters worse, on June 10, 1969, he was sentenced to five years for each count. That will mean he has to do ten years unless he wins on appeal.

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/