trafficante crime family trafficante crime family

As Jimmy Hoffas former lawyer Frank Ragano would later recall, Jimmy told me to tell [New Orleans boss Carlos] Marcello and Trafficante they had to kill the president. Finally, after the infamous failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, the CIA gave up on their attempts to kill the Cuban dictator and thus Trafficantes attempts at revenge never materialized. He moved to Cuba in 1955 where he met the countrys authoritarian ruler Fulgencio Batista. All of them was not evil strickly business men. More importantly, Castro imprisoned Trafficante and then had him exiled from Cuba. Its still there today. Victim / witness assistance. Tampa Bay home sales are down. "What the hell is the matter with you people?" In addition, mobsters such as Florida mobster Santo Trafficante Sr. soon set up rival smuggling rings. And, back then, barbershops were hangouts.. He has been featured on the History Channel, A&E, Discovery Channel, AHC, C-SPAN and . Santos first gained power as a mobster in Tampa as an associate, and later as a high ranking member, of the Trafficante crime family, helping run illegal bolita numbers rackets during the 1920s. Trafficante proceeded to open casinos in Cuba at his fathers behest and facilitated heroin smuggling by working together with famous mobsters Charles Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Scott's favorite cocktail is the Negroni. After spending a brief time in a Cuban jail after Castro's coup, Trafficante returned to Tampa and took part in a CIA plot to poison the Cuban leader. Through the decades illicit rackets primarily consisted of unlicensed alcohol, narcotics smuggling and wholesale distribution, the Cuban numbers game known as Bolita, slot machines, and other forms of gambling like horse and sports bookmaking. The senior Mamone spent years in a federal witness protection program after snitching on federal mobsters to try to reduce his sentences on racketeering and other charges. "I recently received some intelligence that Gotti's people had been in that area.". Scott lives in St. Petersburg, FL. Heres why. The others, who live in Broward County, include Daniel M. Carver, 35, of Coral Springs; John Paul Gosney Jr., 39, of Parkland; Ethan Macier, 22, of Coral Springs; and Ashley Cigarroa, 29, of North Lauderdale. Shit dude, try kicking hammer. He headed the Trafficante crime family and controlled organized criminal operations in Florida and Cuba, which had previously been consolidated from several rival gangs by his father, Santo Trafficante Sr. The house next to be at 9209 Post Rd. Beasley resigned but told newspapers it had nothing to do with that charge. 0 registered members (), So, who was this so-called Silent Don who wielded enough power to allegedly kill the President? Santo Trafficante Sr. was a Florida mobster who survived a series of vicious gang wars to become the leader of a powerful Mafia crime family based in Tampa. Husband of Private Why do retards post a bunch of dead guys names?! And despite relatively small time beginnings, Trafficante proved to be a shrewd mobster. Late in life LoScalzo denied any connections to organized crime. In 1983, in Tampa, he was indicted for racketeering in a scheme to control garbage pickup on the Suncoast. Suspicious cash flow was observed in accounts owned by associates of high-profile individuals, including Santo Trafficante Jr. (pictured above) the boss of the Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa Mafia. Prosecutors allege 70-year-old John Mamone stole around $3.8 million by submitting phony bills to Medicare for knee, shoulder and wrist braces. Gambling becomes big business in Tampa, turning some streets into full-time casinos. Like many of the most prominent mobsters of the 20th century, his father, Santo Trafficante Sr., grew up in Sicily, Italy but became a major player in the criminal world after migrating to America. Steve Raffa was one of the handful of mobsters that actually committed suicide I think. Drag is awesome. Meet Santo Trafficante: The Silent Don Who Tried To Kill Fidel Castro And May Have Ordered JFKs Assassination. But considering the fiercely anti-Soviet atmosphere of the Cold War, its not that hard to believe. Copyright 2019-2023, Button Guys of The New York Mafia. LoScalzo was born in Sicily and moved with his family to New Orleans and then Tampa as a young man. God Bless you bro Scott is a very talented guy. was supposedly built by Santo Traficante. The Unbelievable Story Of Richard Lee McNair The Man Who Mailed Himself Out Of Prison, What JFK's Mob-Affiliated Mistress May Have Known About His Assassination, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Property records list only one home in his name in Hillsborough County, a small, one-story home where he lives valued at $47,000. It is unclear if the Vice Squad investigated him. "I have never used drugs, or dealt drugs or had anything to do with drugs," he said in an interview. Mafia Locations They are the new local leaders of La Cosa Nostra, the Mafia in the United States. * made in 1978. The CIA came to Trafficante, and asked for his help in enlisting the Mafia to assassinate the Cuban leader. The committee denied those allegations. Mons Venus was the little bar. That was in part due to his lifestyle. Medicare also paid millions for a variety of knee, back and wrist braces, walkers and other medical equipment that patients didnt need, they said. According to some, he was even involved in the infamous assassination of President John F. Kennedy. And, in 1954, the committee helped the St. Petersburg police investigate whether Santo Trafficante Jr. and his brother Henry Trafficante offered a bribe to law enforcement in that city. Mafia Books Instead, they used private radio waves as part of an effort to cloak their efforts from deputies believed to be in cahoots with the mafia. Diecidue, Albano and LoScalzo all surfaced in the investigation of Napoli and his bars: Mike's Lounge, the Journey's End, the South End and Levi's Saloon. In May 1987, the informant told agents that Diecidue had asked him to "watch Vincent LoScalzo, Michael Napoli and Frank Albano as he (Diecidue) does not think he is receiving his fair share of the cocaine profits. The mobster would later testify: I got news that Cuban officials were looking for to put me in jail because one of the things was that I was a Batista collaborator. Thanks for the reply. "Tell them (the FBI) they're full of s---.". Instead, it was led by the Hillsborough County Crime Commission, an independent organization that was backed by residents who claimed that local elected officials and law enforcement had become too corrupted by organized crime to be trusted without oversight. To add further credence to this theory of JFKs assassination, famed prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi (who also wrote the infamous true crime novel on the Manson Family, Helter Skelter), who penned Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, quoted a witness who said that New Orleans boss Marcello had quipped: The dog [JFK] will keep biting you if you only cut off its tail [RFK]., The final piece of evidence for the theory that Santo Trafficante was involved in JFKs assassination was a witness who reported that the mobster had once said himself that JFK not going to make it to the [1964] election. The idea behind the assassination wasnt just to punish JFK but also to get his brother off the Mobs back. Law enforcement soon began to concentrate on Antinori's operation. These Florida Cuban voters want Trump over DeSantis. Getting in bed with Trafficante and other leading members of Americas organized crime seems like a strange thing to do for the CIA. Puglisi was never charged with a crime. Santo Trafficante arrives at Queens Supreme Court in Kew Gardens. His positioning in Florida was prime for drug shipping as the product often passed through these ports en route to elsewhere in America. He maintained all of the lucrative casinos in Cuba, further cemented, After Cuban revolution, the Mafia saw Castro as a threat to their business. Michael Napoli pleaded guilty in that case to using four Hillsborough bars as fronts for cocaine distribution. He allegedly spent $28,000 on the 1947 Tampa election and $29,000 on the 1948 Hillsborough election. with his family. The original site of La Tropicana Cafe, shown here in 1974, was across Seventh Avenue in Ybor City from its current location. Tampa was a well placed secret not even counting Ybor city. When doing a chart like this you have to mention the members of the past too. Rape Crisis Hotline - (714)957-2737. He has also written dozens of articles for local and national magazines and newspapers, including the regular column Scott Deitche's Libation Lounge for Cigar City Magazine, a column devoted to spirits and unusual cocktails. With Velasco dispatched, Lumia had the run of the waterfront. Grossman, Daniel Goldman's kidnapping and murder was an act of revenge after Aaron Goldman went up against the group known as the Tampa Mafia. A grand jury declared the list a hoax. All three Mamones pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Copyright 2019-2022. All victims of crime, their family members and witnesses of crime may obtain information and assistance from the CSP Victim/Witness Assistance Program, (714) 834-4350. Following his death, Mobster Vincent LoScalvo took over the Trafficante familys criminal network in Florida. Trafficante died in March 1987, before the Miami case came to trial. He sought treatment for stomach cancer and was ready to hand power over to a trusted lieutenant. Elections would be won, and public officials would be paid to tolerate the status quo.. No charges filed in the shooting death of 19-year-old University of Tampa student. Please check your browser settings or contact your system administrator. Fifteen years following the assassination, Trafficante testified in front of the United States House Select Committee on the murder of JFK in exchange for immunity. You know what, guns actually do kill people | Letters, Seminole Heights serial killings case ends with guilty plea, 4 life sentences, Here is why the school zone speed camera bill should become law in Florida | Editorial. Alongside Chicago boss Sam Giancana, Roselli and Trafficante came up with some truly insane plots to kill Fidel Castro. Their plans ranged from simply shooting him to having him smoke poisoned cigars or drinking a tainted milkshake. Originally Posted By: DickNose_Moltasanti, Trafficante Family Chart- All in the family, Re: Trafficante Family Chart- All in the family, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather, http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2004-03-25/news/the-snitch/. When you think of Florida and organized crime, it is difficult to avoid conjuring up images of Tony Montana in Scarface, or the heyday of Miami Vice. The Broward County Sheriff's Office lists LoScalzo as the head of the Tampa mob. He's charged with arranging the murder of his predecessor as head of the Gambino family and three other people. In the early 20th Century, Tampa was a small but growing city, and the organized crime it faced was modest. But as he neared death, the FBI had opened a new investigation that eventually would reach into the new structure of the mob. "He is not in the Mafia and he never has been," she said recently. Santo Trafficante Jr. was a reserved, modest man married to the same woman for 49 years. : Trafficante crime family. After a lifetime in organized crime, Trafficante Jr. died of national causes in 1987. One investigator said Albano holds great power, but others say that has shifted to LoScalzo. People are always putting bulls--- about them in the paper, too. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. But an FBI affidavit in a cocaine case provides a peek into a new type of local mob _ one that is more pedestrian and more likely to be involved in local drug dealing than international intrigue. However, by the late 1920s, facing little pressure, Sicilian gangsters began setting up lucrative gambling and narcotics rackets. Green, of the Broward Sheriff's Office, agreed that no one with Trafficante's respected national status is likely to take over the Tampa operation. lucianos partner port of tampa ditaliano salvatore the red, All From city to city and state to state, Button Guys of The New York Mafia breaks down the history of organized crime in America. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The younger Trafficante already had established connections with New York Mafia members. Zeng8r/Wikimedia Common A set of bolita balls. It said the informant witnessed four possible organized crime associates answering a phone in the backroom during the 30 minutes he first investigated the barbershop. The chart was made by Scott M. Deitche on his site. Before it was Dino's it was owned by my parents and known as Tony's Famous restaurant which they bought as a small corner store in '52. A place on Snow in Tampa next to The Great American Food and Beverage Company, the waiters wore tuxedos, was very sedate, not much of a crowd. Remember the odessey and the bar across the street used to go in when I was 15 and make friends with all the working girls. Frank Ragano; See also. George Defeis was tied to the Trafficante crime family based in Tampa, as reported by NBC Miami. He drove standard cars, lived in regular houses in quiet places, was married to the same woman, and generally described as a quiet man. Domestic Violence Assistance Program - Temporary Restraining Order Assistance Resource and Referral Counseling - (714)935-7956. The Tampa Bay Times has obtained a cache of Vice Squad reports from the 1950s and 1960s, which offer insight into their investigations and what they were up against. Today, Santo Trafficantes criminal legacy lives on through his nephew and namesake, Santo Trafficante III, who was charged with organized fraud in 1992. spiders. Upon his return to the United States, he became determined to bring down the man who ended his empire. "It may be that they don't have such a formal structure anymore, you may have LoScalzo running one part of the operation and Frankie Albano running another," said Lt. Dave Green, an organized crime investigator with the Broward County Sheriff's Office. Scott has been featured on The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, A&E, C-SPAN, and both national and local news and radio shows. In a 1978 legal testimony, Trafficante discussed how quickly Castro shut it all down, then reopened the casinos on his own terms. If it is still there I would love to know. The conviction of Diecidue, who died . Despite the fact that they were now the most powerful force in Tampas underworld, what became known as the Trafficante Family still worked side and side and sometimes came into conflict with other ethnic criminal groups prominent in the city. In a cocaine conspiracy case, an FBI agent recently identified Diecidue as the new "boss" of the Trafficante family. Tales from the Vice Squad | The Hillsborough County Crime Commission was formed in 1951 to root out organized crime and expose corrupt public officials. Lazzara was killed because he was had learned inside details of the workings of an arson ring. What the fuck seriously?! Powered by. John Mamone, a soldier in Florida's Trafficante crime family, was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison Tuesday despite his cooperation with federal authorities. "He just knows some people who are.". But on June 5, 1950, a Ford sedan pulled alongside Lumia's car, parked along Tampa's waterfront. Late in life, LoScalzo denied any connections to organized crime. He convicted infamous criminal labor union head, Jimmy Hoffa. Santo Trafficante Jr. wounded during failed assassination attempt in Tampa. He was innocent. His only crime, she added, was being Italian and serving in public office at a time when other elected officials were corrupted by Italian gangsters. In the early 2000s, he was indicted twice. Ed Giorandino/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images. In interviews, all three men denied any connection to the mob. When Tampa was a hotbed of organized crime from the late 1800s through mid 1900s, the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office charged the Vice Squad with cleaning up what the federal government deemed one of the most corrupt cities in the nation. Category. Jan 23, 2019 - Explore Al Lanzilotti's board "Trafficante Crime family" on Pinterest. He has written seven books and more than 50 articles on organized crime for local and national publications. Why are real estate prices still rising? F. Kennedy not only failed to deliver on his promise to the mob but also actually put the Mafia under increasing pressure. One small gang, led by Italian immigrant Santo Trafficante Senior, profited from the illegal lottery-style games they ran across Tampa. In this page-turning narrative, noted true crime writer Ron Chepesiuk chronicles the story of one of history's lesser known but most important mob dynasties. 2021 Cigar City Magazine. And the Trafficante Crime family found out that it had an unusual ally in their concerns about Castro: the Central Intelligence Agency. I grew up with some people who I know did bad things, but I also grew up with people who became judges and doctors and lawyers. No one was ever charged with Lazzara murder. "John Gotti has some influence in Tampa now," Green said. It's been 15 years since the most recent arrest of any of the three men investigators say share the power in Tampa now. Frank Ragano and Santo Trafficante Jr. (right). The crimes range from loansharking and extortion to cocaine distribution and interfering with interstate commerce. Consequently, while generally recognized as the most powerful organized crime figure in Florida throughout much of the 20th century, Trafficante was not believed to have total control over Miami, Miami Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, or Palm Beach. Trafficante refuses to testify to a congressional committee investigating the assassination of Hohn F. Kennedy. Trafficante enjoyed life in Cuba, developed a relationship with its strongman, the dictator Fulgencio Batista, and helped the Trafficante Crime family garner even more profits from its legitimate gambling operations there. In 1953, they said police chief Matt Beasleys soft stance on bolita led to an innocent man being murdered during a gangland shootout. * born around 1939 in New York City. I am a legitimate businessman," LoScalzo said. According to the account of Judith Exner, however, one of JFKs many mistresses, it was she who introduced Kennedy to Chicago boss Giancana. Santo Sr. was leaving more of the day-to-day operations to his son, Santo Jr. . Does it still claim him? [CDATA[ He quickly became an integral part of the Tampa family. "I guess that we (the Trafficantes) are just like the Kennedys. The real mafia played dominoes at the casino and never disclosed themselves. "I don't know about Mafia. Each family had an operation going in Florida. CSP Dispute Resolution Services. he said when a reporter asked about the FBI's claim that he heads the local mob. Nobody emerged with Trafficante's stature and unquestioned authority. Trafficante's Mafia family was one of 26 organized-crime groups that federal law-enforcement agencies have linked to a 55-year-old national crime syndicate with roots in Sicily. Santo Trafficante Jr. (November 15, 1914 - March 17, 1987) was among the most powerful Mafia bosses in the United States. Santo, Sr. arrived in Tampa in 1902 and settled in the Ybor City . An FBI agent in Tampa names Diecidue as the new "boss". Gotti, the boss of New York's Gambino family, is the most flamboyant of today's mob leaders. The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida. But he said that high-level mob officials recently have expanded their influence in the area. But once Kennedy actually entered the White House, he didnt live up to his end of the bargain. In the mid-2000s, he would say he was a legitimate businessman, citing, Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo - De Facto Boss of the Chicago Outfit, Giacomo Black Jack Tocco - Last of the Old School Detroit Partnership, Joseph Iacobacci - "Joe Loose" of the Cleveland Mob, John "Sonny" Franzese - A Colombo Family Legend. There are tons of strip clubs around here and I figure someone has to be running those rackets. Tampa police protested, but the judges wouldn't unseal the cases. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! Trafficantes chance came in the 1960s when he became acquainted with mobster John Handsome Johnny Roselli. One small gang, led by Italian immigrant Santo Trafficante Senior, profited from the illegal lottery-style games they ran across Tampa. * underboss. [1] Author Scott Deitche reported that Santo Jr. was involved with the CIA to plot assassination attempts on . As we all know, he was right, and Kennedy was assassinated by a sniper in November 1963. All Rights Reserved. While in prison, he was indicted a second time in connection with an $80 million marijuana smuggling operation that distributed more than 1,000 kilos of pot throughout the United States, prosecutors said. Peter Moruzzi/Wikimedia Commons The glamorous casino in the Hotel Nacional De Cuba in Havana in 1958. "It indicates perhaps that they are not as well-connected as they once were.". But according to declassified documents released in 1992, Santo Trafficante Jr. made a deathbed confession of his involvement in the Presidents murder. Napoli, who is serving a 6{-year federal prison sentence, declined an earlier request for an interview. Albano is married to the former Lucille Trafficante, the daughter of Santo Trafficante Jr. Albano, who once owned Majestic Cleaners in Tampa and the Claiborne Restaurant on South Howard Avenue, recently managed the Mercedes Cafe and is now working in sales for a vending company.