The Old Los Angeles Family

I get asked about the Los Angeles family all the time. Every time I’m asked, I think about how the past will soon be lost forever. The men who took part in the family during its heyday are dying off.

Peter J Milano, the longtime boss who ran the family for 28 years, died in 2012 a free man.

He was an important link to the past for the family.  He not only had an uncle who was boss of the Cleveland family, but his father was also under boss for many years.  Anthony Milano, his father moved the family to Beverly Hills, California in the late 1930’s.  Pete became his own man in Los Angeles.  He worked with Mickey Cohen who had spent some time in Cleveland.

Pete was soon working with the Los Angeles family.  Hollywood and writers who have no idea what they are talking about like to portray Mickey Cohen as a boss.  The guy was a bookie that did a lot of business.  You can read Jimmy Fratianno’s book “The Last Mafioso” which is very detailed and accurate because the author used FBI 302’s to set dates and places.

Jimmy Fratianno was only the second made guy to flip, so it is a great look inside the former world.

You can learn a lot about Jack Dragna the boss and his attempts to kill Mickey Cohen.  To set the record straight, the LA Family murdered Cohen's men and friends and not one thing happened to any LA family member.  

Bugsy Siegel has become another larger than life figure.  He was no boss, he was sent out to the west coast to watch over the Trans American racing service.  Bugsy was a kind of franchisee who controlled it in California and Nevada.  He would later be gunned down in the Beverly Hills home of his girlfriend Virginia Hill.  

The fact that Mickey Cohen went to the Roosevelt hotel with pistols looking for Bugsy can tell you a lot.  Mickey was not on the inside, he was not in the know.  In recent years there has been a few books written by some who claim someone in their family killed Bugsy.  It's a fantasy, because once he was dead guys moved right into the Flamingo before it was even on the news.  The mafia would have been looking for his killer considering how much Meyer Lansky had at the time.

Jack Dragna was the boss of Los Angeles and he was not crawling for anyone.

The decline of the family began shortly after the death of Jack Dragna when Frank DeSimone became the boss.  Johnny Roselli, who had begun as an Chicago Outfit guy, was seen as the logical boss, but he was incarcerated at the time.  DeSimone held a vote within the family and he was voted in as boss.  The fact that he never got a vote from some of the capos who were locked up didn't matter.  DeSimone would be caught at the Apalachin mafia conference in upstate New York along with his underboss.  This brought a lot of heat to DeSimone’s life.  He was a lawyer who was not known to be a criminal until the arrest.

Desimone’s father, Rosario, had been the boss of Los Angeles and his nephew Tommy DeSimone would become famous as “Tommy Two Guns” in Goodfellas.

Nick Licata would be the next boss.  He was very well connected in Detroit and with the other Midwest families.  

Louie Gelfuso used to work as a bartender at Licata’s bar and he used to talk about Licata in glowing terms.

Licata owned apartment buildings and bars across Los Angeles.  Licata also was a huge bookmaker and loan shark who did business in the black neighborhoods.

Louie Gelfuso was also friendly with another man and his brothers who were a power in Los Angeles.  That man was Joe Sica and he ran his criminal empire from the San Fernando Valley.

He controlled the rackets from the Mexican border to Northern California.  He would mentor many young up and coming mafioso including “the Cheeseman” Carmen DiNunzio, acting boss of the New England family.

The stories about Joe Sica and his brothers are priceless. There are very few today that even know who he was in the Los Angeles underworld.

We are now back to Dominic Brooklier who I wrote about last week. The death of Anthony Brooklier means we will never get the story.

I wish I knew Pete Milano well enough to hear stories about the old days.

Carmen Milano was a throwback to the past.  He was a lawyer who became a gangster who was better suited for working with the big families on intricate money making schemes.  I used to see him at the deli in Las Vegas when I was with Steve Cino or Jimmy Caci.  He loved to talk about the old days in Cleveland. The sad thing is that when he died, someone from Las Vegas called me and told me that he died.  I called a Las Vegas reporter and he did not know anything about it.  I called the morgue and they asked if I knew next of kin, I gave them Pete’s name and number.

Jimmy Caci was another story. I was close to Jimmy and he knew so many guys all over it was great. One day he would tell a story of working with a guy from the Purple Gang to blow a safe, the next day a story of driving dynamite to Rochester New York during a vending machine war.  

Jimmy was close with mobsters all over the country.

The family is gone except for a few who moved away.  It is in the hands of Sicilians and the history here is lost.

For a deeper look at Los Angeles mafia history, I suggest reading Anthony Fiato’s book “The Animal in Hollywood” in order to understand the Los Angeles family after Jimmy Fratianno.

My book Breakshot will fill in a few gaps up into the 2000s.

The Original Gangsters of Los Angeles

Frank Desimone and Roselli

If all anyone knew about Organized Crime in Los Angeles was from television or the movies, they would think that two men ran the Mafia: Bugsy Siegel & Mickey Cohen.  The truth is that Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen were never in the Mafia and could never order any Mafia guys around.  Long before Bugsy or Mickey started getting press in Los Angeles, there was a man born in a small town near Rome Italy, and his name was Filippo Sacco.  You may never have heard the name, but this was a man who worked alongside Al Capone and at the highest levels of the Mafia for over 5 decades. Filippo had a secret he hid from the world for most of the 5 decades, until a man named Frank Bompenserio told the FBI what his real name was in the early 1960's. Frank was jealous of Filippo for many years, going back to when he controlled part of Nationwide racing wire.  You may know Filippo by another name: Johnny Roselli.  Filippo Sacco grew up in Sommerville, Massachusetts, where he became involved in crime at an early age.  He took part in a murder and left Sommerville for Chicago where he changed his name to Johnny Roselli.  He went to great lengths to conceal his identity by inventing a mother and father who both died early on and filing a fake birth certificate that was signed by a fake cousin.  Once in Chicago he started working with Al Capone in the Outfit, and they realized that he was slicker than most of their men.  So by the mid 1920's he was sent out to Los Angeles to help Chicago oversee their criminal business.  Rosselli soon became close with Jack Dragna, the boss of the Los Angeles Family.  He would then be arrested  on bootlegging charges and charged with carrying a concealed pistol on a number of occasions, but the charges would be dismissed.  Rosselli would also work in the movie industry, not only behind the cameras, but also in the movies.  He can be seen in a number of old movies from that time period.  Rosselli would also open a popular nightclub on Hollywood Blvd called Club New Yorker that would become the go-to place for those in the underworld.  Al Capone and his political fixer cousin Charlie Fischetti made a trip to Los Angeles in 1927 to take in the town and meet with some of the men who worked with them.  They picked the Biltmore Hotel downtown as their base and Johnny Rosselli was soon there to bring them up to speed and take them around town.  He gave them tours of the movie studios and Al Capone saw the potential for making money in the movie business.  The LAPD did not like having such a high profile gangster in their town, so they dispachted a few men to inform "Al Brown" that the weather was better in Chicago he left; but the seeds were planted.

Rosselli started working with Eugene Normille, who besides being Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey’s manager, was also the front guy for Moe Annenberg's racing wire Nationwide in Los Angeles. They ran the service out of the Bank Of America Building on 6th and Spring Street in downtown.  Moe was based in Chicago and he was the one who ran Nationwide, but the wire service depended on Bookies for its business.  The wire service needed Bookies to subscribe to the service but Bookies needed the service for instant results on races and other events.  The service was an easy sell to Bookies, but Rosselli was there to make sure The Outfit got its share and that Bootleggers of the service paid up. It was easy for Bookies to tap into the wire but it could be costly. Rosselli would take home between 10-15% per month from the service personally, but how much he sent back to Chicago is anyones guess. One Gambler, Les Brunemann, in Los Angeles, didn’t feel that he should pay for the service, so he bootlegged it, and Rosselli stepped in to fix the problem. Les did not understand the forces against him, because he had no idea how the Mafia worked.  Rosselli was with the Chicago Outfit, but Los Angeles had its own Family run by Jack Dragna who was given a piece of the service.  Dragna gave the order to kill Les Brunemen for threatening Roselli and stealing their service to Frank Bompensiro.  Frank Bompensiro took the first run at Brunemann but only wounded him so he was laid up in the hospital for awhile.  The LA Family found out that he was taking passes from the hospital with a beautiful blonde nurse without his bodyguards so they set up a hit.  This time, Frank Bompensiero was the backup shooter and Leo "Lips" Moceri the primary shooter.  Another LA Family guy, Biaggio, was the driver.  The Roost Cafe was busy when Leo walked right up to Brunemann and fired a shot into his eye and then emptied the 45 auto into his body.  He then reloaded and head out the door where Bompensiero was supposed to be watching his back.  A football player named Frank Greuzard ran towards Leo, so he shot him 3 times and then hopped into the getaway car. Another man was convicted of the crime and sent to prison.

One last note for those that like Los Angeles History :the Roost Cafe former location is now the Rampart Police Station.

Nationwide would take on a number of names, like LA Journal, and was run by several including Russell Brophy.  Rosselli was still getting his cut.  It was then that the Commission, along with the Outfit, decided to set up its own service, Trans America, and cut out the new boss, James Regan,  of the other service that was now called Continental. It was simply a business decision.  Why take a percentage when you can take it all.  They would end up killing James Regan and that was end Continental.

This is where most of these sham shows and movies get it wrong in how things work.  Bugsy Siegel was part of a Prohibition Era gang called the Bugs and Meyer Mob where he was partners with Meyer Lansky.  The other Jewish Gangsters in New York and elsewhere knew that prohibition would not last forever so they started to diversify their activities into other rackets.  Meyer and other Jews went into Gambling.  Others, like Louis Lepke, went into Labor Racketeering and a new racket as the go-to guys for Murder.  Murder Incorporated would handle "Contracts" for the Mafia and others all over the US.  Bugsy was a founding member.

Things were getting too hot for Bugsy, so he was sent out west to look after some interests that New York had in California.  Chicago had the Wire Service but New York got a piece, and they also had ties to the garment center. It was still Jack Dragna's town and he was a Commission member.

All the stuff written about Bugsy coming to Los Angeles and taking over and making Mickey Cohen his underboss are fictional accounts, written by those who have no idea what they are talking about.  Mickey Cohen worked in Chicago with Jake Guzik but only as a low level street collector and he was chased out of town after a problem.  

Rosselli

Rosselli soon set his sights on another venture and he soon took over the race track Caliente in Tijuana Mexico with Eugene Normille as his partner. Johnny Rosselli was heavily involved in with the Movie Studios and with the IATSE the Union the handled the Studios workers.  George Brown was elected the President of the Union and  Willie Bioff was made his special Representative but they were just pawns of the Chicago Outfit. Rosselli was their go to guy in Los Angeles but every family including New Yorks got a piece of the action with Chicago getting the lions share.  This would fill the Mafia Coffers with millions of dollars in the next few years until it blew in 1941.  It was during World War Two and Johnny Rosselli was drafted into the Army before he was indicted for his involvement in the Movie Studio Extortions.  Rosselli, Paul Ricca, Louis Campagna, Charlie Gioe, Phil D'Andrea, Ralph Pierce were all indicted for their part of the extortions and all were convicted and given 10 years sentences in Federal Prison.  This is where the power of the Mafia becomes apparent, because they would all be paroled after just over 3 years inside.  Murray Humpreys, the Outfit’s political fixer and a close friend of Rosselli, used a corrupt Lawyer in Missouri named Paul Dillon.  Paul Dillon had defended others in the Union for Chicago before so they knew he could be trusted but they wanted him because he had close ties to President Harry Truman. Paul Dillon had been Truman’s campaign manager for his Senate race so he was well liked by the White House.  

Boxer Jack Dempsey, a Chicaog Police Sargent,
and NationwideRacetrack Partner Eugene Normille

It worked like this: first, all the Outfit guys were moved from Atlanta Federal Prison to other federal prisons closer to Chicago, then they all started securing jobs and parole sponsors, aka upstanding citizens who would watch out for the hoods when they were released.  Johnny Rosselli first had a doctor and then a priest as his sponsor, and he had a job at Eagle Lion Studios working with Bryan Foy, the King of the B movies. Murray Humpreys delivered $250,000 to Paul Dillion who had connections with Muray Hughs, a Dallas Lawyer, who headed to Washington where he met with the Attorney General Tom Clarke.  Soon, all the men were paroled and the country was in an uproar over their treatment.  The FBI spent years investigating the bribes, but they never got anyplace.  I’ve read a couple thousand articles and papers from the investigation.

So why do all these people keep writing this crap about Mickey Cohen and Bugsy Siegel being the bosses of LA?  I think it is because all these talking heads get their information from other movies and books.  Next week Johnny Rosselli Las Vegas and the CIA's Operation Mongoose.

Reality vs. Fiction: Mob City's Mickey Cohen vs. Today's Colombo Family

Hollywood never tires of making movies about the Mafia.  The problem is they don’t know the way it works.  So they claim they are telling true stories, yet they make up the facts.  Every person from the writer to the studios has to put their spin on it, throw in their ideas of how it may have happened, yet not one of them knows a thing about the life or bothers to talk to anyone who actually does.  They do research by reading books written by people who also don’t know anything.  They “learn” by watching other poorly done movies.  Or, they might even speak to a copper, who knows very little about the whole story.  Once in awhile, they might find some old guy who was somehow “part of the life” in a farfetched stretch of reality, for example their “insider” was maybe a bartender at a watering hole a few mobsters frequented.

Reality Vs Fiction: MOBCITY

This is what they say about the show. “Mob City is a television series created by Frank Darabont for TNT. It is based on real-life accounts of the L.A.P.D. and gangsters in 1940s Los Angeles as chronicled in the book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City by John Buntin.”  

I see billboards all over the city calling Mickey Cohen the “Godfather of LA”.  That is an incredible feat for a one-time “Never Contender” Boxer who was not part of any organization but his own.  They will continue to credit him with murders that real Gangsters from the Dragna Family, The Outfit and other families back East committed.  The Cosa Nostra Family, that at Mickey Cohen’s time was headed by Jack Dragna, was already 50 years old by the time of Cohen’s run as LA's “Newspaper Gangster.”

Mickey Cohen (the little guy) and his "bodyguard" who was also conveniently a California Highway Patrol Officer

Yes, Mickey was a tough guy and he did shoot a guy in his wire room off La Brea.  But, he never killed one guy in the Dragna Family.  During the time of his so-called reign as the Godfather of LA, the Dragna Family had over 60 inducted members.  Mickey Cohen was a Bookmaker.  The Dragna Family had huge shylock loans all over the city, they also had their own wire rooms.  Dragna himself had his office downtown in the produce area, where he imported bananas and other fruit.  He had at least two freighters that came up from South America.  Now who here thinks all they brought from South America was fruit?  

Mickey Cohen in a hospital bed after being shot by Dragna's men.  LA's first Reality TV mobster seen here talking to reporters and police.

Many others in La Cosa Nostra were also in the importing business.  They ran the garment district because Tommy Lucchese, a relative of Dragna, was huge in the Garment Unions.  The Chicago Outfit was big in LA because they ran the Unions that extorted the Studios.  

The control of Unions in Hollywood still was going on in the 1980's.  I knew a guy who was the head of the Projectionist Union and they were important because no movie could be shown at a theatre unless a Union guy was in the booth.  This all changed with Digital because there is no need to change film reels.

I love how they get cops to tell us how Mobsters act.  They only know what they hear by rumor.  They were never in a crew, never inside.  It is like those talking heads on those TV show “documentaries” on gangsters that say things like Carmine Persico was a ruthless guy who only wanted power.  Yet they never met Carmine, or any made guy for that matter.  They read about it in books written by others who did not know, from their safe office.

Los Angeles was never an "Open" city for the Cosa Nostra.  It always had a family, since before 1900.  The rules of Cosa Nostra as set forth by the formation of the Commission in 1931 are that every family is equal.  That means no family can come into another family’s area and just set up shop.  When New York came to Los Angeles, they made arrangements with Jack Dragna.  When the Chicago Outfit came and did their extortion of the Movie Studios, they gave the LA Family a piece.  They let them in on their Wire service when they brought it to Los Angeles. People have to understand how the Cosa Nostra works. Lets say guys from The Patriarca Family came to Los Angeles to open up a porn studio.  They would clear it with LA and give them a small piece.  LA would not expect a large share unless they used their people as enforcers or workers.

In 1957 Mickey Cohen was on TV being interview by Mike Wallace.  Now what kind of Gangster would do that?  All Mickey was doing is living off his past exploits. In 1957 The Commission met in up State New York at the home of mobster Joseph Barbara in Apalachin, New York on November 14, 1957.  Over 58 Made Guys were arrested but not one from the so-called Jewish Mafia. Los Angeles was represented by the REAL BOSS Frank DeSimone and his Underboss Sam Scozzari.  Why were there no other guys from other ethnic groups?  Only Italians were inducted into families and many are related.  

Mickey Cohen died broke in a little one bedroom apartment.  The families of the LA Family owned huge garment center businesses, trucking firms, wineries, vast tracts of land in what is now Ontario California, Apartment buildings etc.

Reality TV meets real life.  Mob Wives has a new cast member Alicia DiMichele Garofalo and her claim to fame?  She is the wife of Edward Garafalo Jr aka Eddie, whose father was murdered by Sammy Gravano (because Sammy was greedy).  Eddie Garofalo Jr ran his Big R Trucking and Equipment (T&E), and another trucking business, from a truck yard in Staten Island that used to be owned by his cousin Eddie Garafola, a Made Gambino guy and a relative of Sammy Gravano.  He ran it before out of a yard in Downtown Brooklyn.  I started wearing a wire and taping Eddie when he was still at the fuel oil lot in Brooklyn.  I even drew the FBI a layout where they would talk about important things.  Eddie is a big guy.  Mostly, a fat guy.  And yes, just like all big guys he likes to push around guys who are smaller.  He would fight guys who were smaller with no skill. 

Fat Eddie and Alicia.  Eddie introduced me to people as his cousin, and you can see here why people may have believed him.

 Yesterday, Eddie was sentenced by a Federal Judge for his crimes, which included ripping off the Union for employee benefits, things like health insurance and retirement.  Alicia used to help him, so she was also charged and has plead guilty. Big R trucking was named after their child.  

Eddie also plead out to a murder conspiracy.  I was there with the wire running. Eddie egged the whole thing on and he is the one who brought it up in front of Teddy Persico Jr.  Yet when we got to Teddy’s mothers house to pick up "the gear" aka guns, Eddie had to run inside to use the bathroom. After they handed out their really crappy "gear," and all I had was a knife, Eddie told me to duck if they started shooting.  Once we were at the spot, the Cops and paramedics were also there. Then Eddie Uncle Manny drove by and stopped. Strange.  Today the headlines in the New York Daily News read:

“Mafioso husband of 'Mob Wives' star sent to prison for 7 years in extortion case.”  They called him “Reputed Colombo enforcer Edward (Tall Guy) Garofalo, Jr.”  Now that is a strech, according to a number of my friends who knew them when they were all young.  And I quote " If the Colombos needed an enforcer, Eddie Garofolo is the last guy they would call."  End Quote.  

People around him felt sorry for him because his father was killed by Sammy the Bull for no reason, and he didn’t do anything in retaliation.  Not that he could do anything.  

Now Eddie is going to be calling in on the reality show from prison.  I wonder what Teddy Persico, his Capo, thinks about that?  Just like the real mafia guys in LA would never have been on TV like Mickey Cohen, every mob guy knows mob guys don’t go on TV.  It’s a secret society.

To top it all off, according to the New York Post, Eddie’s Wife Alicia has been carrying on a 3 year affair with a married restaurateur. That is how she thanks her husband, after he plead out so that she would get no time.

Do we see a rule 35 hearing coming up in the future?

For more details on the affair, click here.

That is the real Mafia, full of honor.  

Eddie's Uncle Manny, today a free man.  He received zero jail time from the judge, even though he plead guilty and had plenty of clear evidence stacked against him.  Makes you wonder why they let him off...???

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."    

TWBR5Q64HSWQ


For more information check out Anthony Fiato
 http://mafiaslugger.blogspot.com/