A "Secret" Criminal Organization?

The FBI has downsized its Mafia Squad in New York.  They used to have a squad for every family but today they only have two squads, about twenty five agents for all the families.  One keeps tabs on the Gambino and Lucchese and the other handles the Genovese,Colombo and Bonanno.  I was working with the C-38 squad or the Colombo Squad, now they are gone.  The mob squads used to be a sought-after assignment for Agents but today its all about Terrorism, so any Agent who wants to move up in today’s ranks gets in one of the terrorism squads.


So what does this mean?  Could this be the end of the Mafia?  That is doubtful.  They need to return to their roots of operating as a secret organization. John Gotti took over the Gambino Family at the wrong time.  The FBI was determined to step up their assault on the Mafia Families.  John shot his way to the top of the family.  He basically thumbed his nose at the Mafia Commission by killing Paul Castellano without the okay from them. He really thought he was smarter than the old men on the commission, guys with 50 years of experience.  John wanted to guide the family into what he thought was a good direction.  Big Paul was much better suited for the job.  He operated on another level by using the Unions to consolidate the construction, waste and concrete business. John Gotti and his brother, on the other hand, were moving heroin and shylocking.  

John Gotti

Big Paul operated a very profitable poultry business called Dial Poultry that sold wholesale chicken all over the East Coast.  He even worked with Frank Perdue from Perdue Chicken.  John Gotti takes over and he makes his Capo's show up every week at his club The Ravenite in Little Italy and this circus made it easy for the FBI to Identify all the guys in power.  Then he strolls around in his 3,000 dollar suits when he has no job.  He was a Capo who beat up a guy honking at him and then stole a few hundred dollars. That is not boss material.  They want to make a movie about him?  So lets celebrate a guy who kills a neighbor for accidentally running into his young son.  The kid was on a non street legal mini bike and did not observe basic traffic laws and got himself killed.  So the big Mafia guy John Gotti had his men kidnap the neighbor and make him disappear so his family can not have closure. John Gotti was not a good boss and he was no Al Capone.  

The Gambinos will grow and become bigger on a worldwide scale but we will not hear about it because the new bosses will not be some hotheaded crooks from Brooklyn.  They will be men who can operate on an international level.

Tony Accardo aka "Joe Batters"

Al Capone consolidated the Outfit in Chicago and streamlined it, but his kind of flashy rule wore out its welcome.  The new bosses knew that to much publicity was bad for business.  They knew that the politicians would take their money for gambling but not drugs, so they stopped it.  Tony Accardo or Joe Batters would rule the family for many decades without spending a night locked up.  He would die a free man but his Outfit would face many problems in the future.  The new leaders would forget some of the lessons they had learned from the past.  They still have some guys on the streets but can they rebuild the family? 

The LA Family has maybe 7 or 8 guys left but how active are they?  They could go the way the Gambinos are headed, but they would need some solid men to step up.  The major problem with all the Mafia Families is where they find recruits.  Contrary to what is written in the media, it is not pressure from new criminal groups at all that holds back the mafia families.  Most of these groups will not even be around in 10 years. No criminal group controls the drug trade or things like prostitution, that is bullshit.  The old boss Peter J Milano came from another time when Italians were looked down on and many were poor.  Today this is not true, they have assimilated into American society.  

I used to talk with Jimmy Caci for hours in Terminal Island and he would talk about how messed up things had become.  Jimmy gave his life to the Mafia and at the end he told me it was a waste.  Jimmy did about half his life in prison for the Mafia. In the end Jimmy had just his family and real friends.

Hollywood will keep churning out Movies like The Gangster Squad or any number of TV shows about Mickey Cohen or Whitey Bulger but it will be the same stuff.  Guys dressed in suits screaming at their underlings. Bad writing and they wonder why people don't watch their work.

I never saw Jimmy or Teddy Persico raise their voice at a single guy in their Crew,  Hang arounds or guys who were chased, sure they would dress them down, but they would also really hurt someone, not just bark.The truth is Sammy The Bull lied out in the open and nobody really went after him.  Sure they made some moves and pretended to go after him but it was his own drug dealing that brought him down.Once you flip and join Team USA you are safe.

The Mafia will be around for a number of years but I believe that you will be hearing less about them.  The smaller families will disappear because who in their right mind would want to join them?  The bigger families will go international and it will be years until we find out what they did.

All we have to do is look at history. For many years there were no real stories.  They found out about Murder INC from Abe Reles and he spilled his guts on how it worked but he was limited.  Then you had Joesph Valachi and he had a good understanding about the structure of the Mafia.  Then it was Jimmy Frattiano from Los Angeles and he really put it on the map.  Its been one book after another and we had an actual boss flip!  Joey Massino of the Bonanno family is the biggest to flip up to today.  Why would a lowly Soldier keep his mouth shut when bosses flip.

The future is in their hands!

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.

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 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/