Gangsters: Carlo Gambino

Carlo Gambino (August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was a Sicilian mobster, notable for being Boss of the Gambino crime family, which is still named after him.

After the 1957 Apalachin Convention he unexpectedly seized control of the Commission of the American Mafia.

He lived to the age of 74, and died of a heart attack in bed, “In a state of grace” (according to a priest who had given him the Last Rites of the Catholic Church), having never spent a day in prison.

In the 1996 TV film “Gotti”, Carlo Gambino is played by Marc Lawrence.

Video comes courtesy of YouTube:

That’s the Hollywood version.

Here’s the history:

Gambino’s Early Life

Carlo Gambino was born in the town of Caccamo, near the city of Palermo, Sicily. He was born to a family that belonged to the Honored Society.

The Honored Society was slightly more complicated than the Black Hand of America, which was often confused with the American Mafia. The Black Hand – much like the pre-1920s Mafia – was a highly disorganized version of the real European Mafia.

When Italian dictator Benito Mussolini chased a large number of real Mafiosi out of Italy, Italian-Americans such as Gambino benefited from the new, better-organized Mafia.

The young Gambino began carrying out murder orders for new Mob bosses in his teens.

In 1921, at the age of 19, he became a “made man” and was inducted into La Cosa Nostra.

Emigration

Gambino entered the United States as an illegal immigrant on a shipping boat. He ate nothing but anchovies and wine during the month long trip, and joined his cousins, the Castellanos, in New York City. There he joined a crime family headed by Salvatore “Totò” D’Aquila – one of the larger crime families in the city. Gambino’s uncle, Giuseppe Castellano, also joined the D’Aquila family around this time.

Gangland Links

Gambino also became involved with the “Young Turks”, a group of Americanized Italian and Jewish mobsters in New York which included Frank “Prime Minister” Costello, Albert “The Executioner” Anastasia, Frank Scalice, Settimo Accardi, Gaetano “Tommy Three-Finger Brown” Lucchese, Joe Adonis, Vito Genovese, Meyer Lansky, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Mickey Cohen, and Charles “Lucky” Luciano.

They all became involved in robbery, thefts, and illegal gambling.

With their new partner, Arnold “The Brain” Rothstein, they turned to bootlegging during Prohibition in the early 1920s.

Gambino also made a sizable profit during World War II, by bribing Office of Price Administration (OPA) officials for ration stamps, which he then sold on the black market.

The Castellammarese War

By 1926, Luciano’s immediate superior, Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria was coming into conflict with Salvatore Maranzano, a recent arrival from Palermo who was born in Castellammare del Golfo.

When Maranzano arrived in New York in 1925, his access to money and manpower led him to become involved in extortion and gambling operations that directly competed with Masseria.

On October 10, 1928, Joe Masseria eliminated D’Aquila, his top rival for the coveted title of “Boss of Bosses” (Capo di Tutti Capi). However, Masseria still had to deal with the powerful and influential Maranzano and his Castellammarese Clan.

Gambino was thrown directly into the line of fire.

Masseria demanded absolute loyalty and obedience from other criminals in his area, and killed anyone who gave him anything less.

In 1930, Masseria demanded a $10,000 tribute from Maranzano’s then boss, Nicola “Cola” Schiro, and supposedly got it. Schiro fled New York in fear, leaving Maranzano as the new leader.

By 1931, a series of killings in New York involving Castellammarese clan members and associates caused Maranzano and his family to declare war against Joe Masseria and his allies.

D’Aquila’s family, now headed by Alfred Mineo, sided with Masseria. In addition to Gambino, other prominent members of this family included Luciano associates Albert “The Mad Executioner” Anastasia, and Frank Scalice.

The Castellammarese clan included Joseph “Joe Bananas” Bonanno and Stefano Magaddino, the Profaci crime family, which included Joseph Profaci and Joseph Magliocco, and former Masseria allies the Riena family, which included Gaetano “Tom” Reina, Gaetano “Tommy” Gagliano, and Gaetano “Tommy Three-Finger Brown” Lucchese.

The War raged on between the Masseria and Maranzano factions for almost four years.

Bad for Business

This inter-gang war devastated the Prohibition-era operations and street rackets that the five New York families controlled in parallel with the Irish and Jewish crime groups. The war cut into their profits, and in some cases completely destroyed the underworld rackets of crime family members.

Several Young Turks on both sides started realizing that if the war did not stop soon, the Italian crime families would be left on the fringe of New York’s criminal underworld, while the Jewish and Irish crime bosses became dominant.

Additionally, they felt that Masseria, Maranzano and other old-school Mafiosi (whom they derisively called “Mustache Petes”) were too greedy to see the riches that could be had by working with non-Italians.

With this in mind, Gambino and the other Young Turks decided to end the Castellammarese War and form a national syndicate.

On April 15, 1931, Masseria was gunned down at Nuova Villa Tammaro restaurant in Coney Island by Luciano associates Anastasia, Adonis, Genovese, and Siegel. Maranzano then named himself capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses).

In the major reorganization of the New York Mafia that followed, Vincent Mangano took over the Mineo family, with Anastasia as his underboss and Gambino as a capo. They kept these posts after Maranzano was fatally stabbed and shot on September 10, 1931.

The Commission

In 1931, Luciano created The Commission, which was supposed to avoid big conflicts like the Castellammarese War. The charter members were Luciano, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Tommy Gagliano and Mangano.

Gambino married his first cousin, Catherine Castellano, in 1932, at age 30. They raised three sons and a daughter.

Gambino became a major earner in the Mangano family. His activities included loansharking, illegal gambling and extorting protection money from area merchants.

Despite this, Gambino lived in a modest, well-kept row house in Brooklyn. The only real evidence of vanity was the license plate on his Buick, CG1.

The Manganos

Mangano was displeased with Anastasia’s friendship with Luciano and Frank Costello, especially since they frequently used Anastasia’s services without Mangano’s permission.

Anastasia had been, since the 1930s, the operating head (“Lord High Executioner”) of the syndicate’s most notorious death squad, Murder, Inc., which was allegedly responsible for some 1,000 murders.

Mangano and his brother, Phil, supposedly confronted Anastasia several times, in front of Gambino. Eventually, Anastasia stopped asking permission for “every little thing” – further angering the Manganos.

On April 19, 1951, Philip Mangano was found murdered.

Vincent Mangano himself vanished the very same day, and was never found.

It is widely presumed that Anastasia killed them both.

Though Anastasia never admitted to having a hand in the killings, he managed to convince the heads of the other families that Vincent Mangano had been plotting to have him killed – a claim backed up by Frank Costello, the acting boss of the Luciano crime family.

Anastasia was named the new boss of the family, with Gambino as his underboss. Shortly afterward, Gambino’s cousin and brother-in-law, Paul “Big Paul” Castellano (Giuseppe’s son), took over as capo of Gambino’s old crew.

Gambino was now one of the most powerful mobsters in the business, making profits from extortion, illegal gambling, hijacking, bootlegging, and murder.

Anastasia…

Anastasia’s violent ways could be contained so long as Luciano and Frank Costello acted as a moderating influence, but certain mobsters (most notably Vito Genovese) doubted whether this could go on, forever.

These doubts resurfaced in 1952, when Anastasia ordered the murder of a young Brooklyn tailor’s assistant named Arnold Schuster, after watching Schuster speaking on television about his role as primary witness in fugitive bank robber Willie Sutton’s arrest.

In killing Schuster, Anastasia had violated a cardinal Mafia rule against killing outsiders.

As Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel once quaintly put it, “We only kill each other.”

The murder brought unnecessary public scrutiny of Mafia business.

Luciano and Costello were horrified, but could not take action against Anastasia, since Genovese was angling to take over the Luciano family as well – and they needed Anastasia to counter Genovese’s growing ambition and power.

Genovese knew this as well, and in early 1957 convinced Gambino to side with him against Anastasia, Costello and Luciano.

On Genovese’s advice, Gambino told Anastasia that they were not making enough money from the casinos in Cuba, which belonged to Meyer Lansky.

When Anastasia confronted Lansky, he was furious, and seemingly threw his support to the Genovese-Gambino alliance.

Shortly thereafter, Genovese moved against Costello by hiring Vincent “Chin” Gigante to assassinate him. The attempt failed, but it frightened Costello enough to ask the Commission for permission to retire – which they granted.

Genovese…

Genovese took over the family, and renamed it the Genovese crime family.

With Costello out of the way, Genovese then moved against Anastasia.

At the time, Gambino was worried that Anastasia was jealous of his wealth and influence, and would have him killed.

Gambino

Gambino was convinced by Genovese to lend his support, giving the order to “Joe the Blonde” Biondo.

Biondo selected Stephen Armone, Arnold “Witty” Wittenberg, and Stephen “Stevie Coogin” Grammauta to carry out the hit. They allegedly shot Anastasia on October 25, 1957, in the barbershop of the Park Sheraton Hotel (now the Park Central Hotel) in New York City.

Gambino became the new boss of the Mangano crime family – which was renamed the Gambino crime family.

Apalachin: Genovese’s Fall

Genovese believed that with Costello and Anastasia out of the way, and Gambino supposedly in his debt, the way was clear for him to become Boss of Bosses.

However, Gambino had his own ideas. He secretly allied himself with Luciano, Costello and Lansky.

The alliance gained further strength after the Apalachin Conference, which was supposedly set up to formally crown Genovese as Boss of Bosses, but ended in disaster with several prominent Mafiosi being arrested.

Soon afterward, Costello, Luciano, and Lansky met face to face in Italy.

In 1959, Genovese was heading to Atlanta where a huge shipment of heroin was arriving. But when he got there, Genovese was surprised by local police, the FBI and the ATF. He was convicted for selling a large quantity of heroin and was sentenced to 15 years in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Genovese would later die in prison of a heart attack, in 1969.

Boss of Bosses

From the early 1960s, Gambino expanded his rackets all over the country.

New Gambino businesses were created in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. Gambino also (to regain complete control of Manhattan) took over the New York Longshoremen Union, where more than 90% of all New York City’s ports were controlled.

Money rolled in from every source, and the Gambinos became America’s most powerful crime family.

Gambino also made his own family policy: “Deal and Die.”

This was Gambino’s message to every Gambino family member.

Heroin and cocaine were highly lucrative, but dangerous – and would also attract attention. The punishment for dealing drugs, in Gambino style, was death.

The Gambino family now had at least 500 (some sources say 700 or 800) soldiers within 30 crews, making the family a $500,000,000-a-year-enterprise.

In 1962, Carlo’s eldest son Thomas Gambino married the daughter of fellow mob boss Gaetano Lucchese, the new head of the Gagliano crime family. More than 1,000 people, relatives, friends, and “friends of ours”, (amico nostro) were present during the wedding ceremony.

It has been rumored that Gambino personally gave Lucchese $30,000 as a “welcome gift” that same day.

As repayment, Lucchese cut his friend into the airport rackets that were under Lucchese control – especially at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where all unions, management, and security were controlled by Lucchese himself.

After Joe Bonanno was forced into retirement by The Commission, Vito Genovese died of a heart attack, and Tommy Lucchese died of a brain tumor, Gambino’s status and power on The Commission greatly increased.

While the Mafia had abolished the title of “boss of bosses”, Gambino’s position afforded him the powers such a title would have carried, as he was now the boss of the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful crime family in the country, and head of The Commission – a position only Luciano had held before Gambino.

Profaci and the Gallos

In February 1962, the Gallo brothers kidnapped a number of prominent members of the Profaci family, including underboss Joseph Magliocco and capo Joe Colombo.

In return for their release, the brothers demanded changes in the way profits were being divided up, and at first Profaci appeared to agree. But he was simply biding his time.

Gallo crew member Joseph “Joe Jelly” Gioelli was murdered by Profaci’s men in September, and an attempt on Larry Gallo’s life was interrupted by policemen in a Brooklyn bar.

In response, the brothers set about attacking Profaci’s men wherever they saw them, as all-out war erupted between the two factions. Meanwhile, Gambino and Lucchese were putting pressure on the other bosses to convince Profaci to step down from his title and family, but on June 6, 1962, Profaci lost his battle against cancer.

He was replaced as boss of the family by Joseph Magliocco.

Conspiracy Against The Commission

With the Gallos out of the way, Joe Bonanno now hatched a plot to murder the heads of the other three families, which Magliocco decided to go along with.

The assassinations came to the knowledge of Profaci capo, Joseph Colombo, who warned Gambino about Magliocco and Bonanno’s conspiracy against the Commission.

Bonanno and Magliocco were called to face judgement.

While Bonanno went into hiding, Magliocco faced up to his crimes. Understanding that he had been following Bonanno’s lead, he was let off with a $50,000 fine, and forced to retire as the head of the family, being replaced by Joseph Colombo.

One month later, Magliocco died of high blood pressure.

But Gambino had other plans for Bonanno.

The Banana War (1962-1967)

After Magliocco’s death, Bonanno had few allies left.

Many members felt that he was too power hungry. Some members of his family also thought he spent too much time away from New York, and more in Canada and Tucson, where he had business interests.

The Commission members decided that he no longer deserved leadership over his family, and replaced him with a caporegime, Gaspar DiGregorio.

Bonanno, however, would not accept this result.

He broke the family into two groups, the one led by DiGregorio, and the other headed by Bonanno and his son, Salvatore “Bill” Bonanno. Newspapers referred to it as “The Banana Split.”

Since Bonanno refused to give up his position, the other Commission members felt it was time for drastic action.

In October 1964, Bonanno was kidnapped by Buffalo crime family members, Peter and Antonino Magaddino. According to Bonanno, he was held captive in upstate New York by his cousin, Stefano “Steve the Undertaker” Magaddino, who supposedly represented the Commission and Gambino.

After much talk, Bonanno was released, and the Commission members believed he would retire and relinquish his power.

Not so. The war went on for another two years.

Bonanno loyalists were starting to sense victory, but when Bonanno suffered a heart attack, he decided that he and his son should retire to Tucson, leaving his broken family to another capo, Paul Sciacca (who had replaced DiGregorio).

Gambino now stood as the victorious and most powerful mob boss in the U.S.

Vegas, and Sinatra

Gambino was seen at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas on August 2, 1967, where he is supposed to have met Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop, the group known as “The Rat Pack.”

Gambino allegedly gave each of them $10,000 after performing at the Desert Inn, while Gambino was present in the VIP-lounge.

Gambino also allegedly said to Castellano: “I want a picture of me and Frankie”. Sinatra of course, happily obliged and Gambino, Castellano and other mobsters got a picture with Sinatra in the middle.

Sinatra would later testify about this in court, but announced that he didn’t know any Carlo Gambino. However, it got to a point where he had to explain why he was attending the Havana Conference in Cuba in 1946, showing up with $2,000,000 in a silver suitcase and a picture that showed Sinatra, Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Albert “The Executioner” Anastasia, and Carlo Gambino having a drink by a pool.

The Colombo Assassination

It has been suggested that Gambino organized the shooting of Joe Colombo, head of the Colombo crime family, on June 28, 1971. Colombo survived the shooting, but remained in a coma until his death in 1977.

The other allegation is that Profaci family rival Gallo organized the attack himself. It seems that the rest of the Colombo family believed the latter theory, as Gallo was gunned down, not long after.

Many powerful members of The Commission were angry with Joe Columbo for having founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League, and glorying in publicity. Gambino in particular hated publicity, preferring to work in the shadows, and was said to have been quite upset with Columbo about this.

Gallo had recently been in prison, where he had formed close associations with black prisoners who could serve as muscle – a fact that was well known to Gambino. Colombo was shot at a CIAO (Congress of Italo-America Organizations; an umbrella organization that included Colombo’s Italian-American Civil Rights League) rally by a black man who was almost instantly shot and killed.

If Gambino was responsible, it was a master stroke. He was rid of a publicity seeking thorn in his side, and had got the Colombo family to eliminate Gallo, whose propensity for disruptive violence also displeased the Don.

Watchful Eyes

From December 1972, on Ocean Parkway, a van was stationed outside Gambino’s home. In that vehicle sat the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Mob squad, with cameras, lip-readers, and audio-surveillance equipment, including microphones and wire-taps that were planted in Gambino’s home. The van was marked “Organized Crime Control Bureau.”

But even though Gambino had every corner of his house bugged, he knew how to maintain discretion.

According to FBI officials, they once recorded a meeting between Gambino, Aniello “Mr. Neil” Dellacroce and Joseph Biondo, where Biondo is alleged to have said: “Frog legs”, to which Gambino simply nodded. Meeting over; business concluded. The recording tapes came out empty.

Reorganizing

In the mid 1970s, Gambino, now diagnosed with a weak heart, decided there were to be two underbosses who both reported to him: Aniello Dellacroce, and Gambino’s own brother-in-law, Paul “Big Paul” Castellano.

Castellano took over the white-collar crimes in Brooklyn like union racketeering, solid and toxic waste, recycling, construction, fraud, and wire fraud, while Dellacroce would have free rein over those who carried out more traditional, ‘hands-on’ Mafia activities and blue-collar crimes, such as murder for hire, loansharking, gambling, extortion, hijacking, pier thefts, fencing, and robbery.

This strategic restructuring also created confusion in the FBI as to who the official underboss in the family was. In reality, the Gambino family was split into two separate factions, with two underbosses and one Don.

In his final years, Gambino chose his cousin and capo, Paul Castellano as his successor after his departure.

The Death of Carlo Gambino

Gambino died of a heart attack on October 15, 1976, while watching his beloved New York Yankees at his home.

He was buried in Saint John’s Cemetery, Queens, in New York City, as was Charles “Lucky” Luciano, and more than ten other lifetime friends. His funeral was said to have been attended by at least 2,000 people, including police officers, judges and politicians.

Gambino left behind sons Thomas, Joseph and Carlo, daughter Phyllis Sinatra, and a crime family with a contingent of 500 soldiers.

Quite the legacy.

I’ll leave you, with this.

Till next time.

Peace.

Gangsters: Carlos Marcello

Carlos “The Little Man” Marcello (February 6, 1910 – March 3, 1993) was a Sicilian-American Mafioso who became the boss of the New Orleans crime family during the 1940s, and held this position for the next 30 years.

Marcello, together with fellow crime bosses Sam Giancana and Santo Trafficante, Jr., has long been suspected of involvement in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy – but no such links have ever been proved.

Here’s some footage of the man testifying before the U.S. Congress, in the wake of the Kennedy assassination (Video comes courtesy of YouTube):

And here’s what history has to tell us about the man, himself:

Marcello’s Early Life

Born as Calogero Minacori (or Minacore) to Sicilian parents in Tunis, Tunisia, Marcello was brought to the United States in 1911.

His family settled in a decaying plantation house near Metairie, Louisiana.

Carlos turned to petty crime in the French Quarter. He was later imprisoned for masterminding a crew of teenage gangsters who carried out armed robberies in the small towns surrounding New Orleans.

At the time, local newspapers compared him to the character of Fagin from Charles Dickens’ novel “Oliver Twist”.

This conviction was later overturned. However, the following year Marcello was convicted of assault and robbery, and was sentenced to the Louisiana State Penitentiary for nine years. He was released after five years.

Gangster

In 1938, Marcello was arrested and charged with the sale of more than 23 pounds of marijuana. Despite receiving another lengthy prison sentence and a $76,830 fine, Marcello served less than 10 months in prison.

Upon his release, Marcello became associated with Frank Costello, leader of the Genovese crime family, in New York City.

At the time, Costello was involved in transporting illegal slot machines from New York to New Orleans. Marcello provided the muscle, and arranged for the machines to be placed in local businesses.

Louisiana Crime Boss

By the end of 1947, Marcello had taken control of Louisiana’s illegal gambling network. He had also joined forces with New York Mob associate Meyer Lansky, in order to skim money from some of the most important casinos in the New Orleans area.

According to former members of the Chicago Outfit, Marcello was also assigned a cut of the money skimmed from Las Vegas casinos, in exchange for providing “muscle” in Florida real estate deals.

By this time, Marcello had been selected as the “Godfather” of the New Orleans Mafia, by the family’s capos and the Commission. He was to hold this position for the next 30 years.

Marcello continued the family’s long-standing tradition of fierce independence from interference by Mafiosi in other areas. He enforced a policy that forbade Mafiosi from other families from visiting Louisiana without permission.

Crime and Politics

On March 24, 1959, Marcello appeared before a United States Senate committee investigating organized crime. Serving as Chief Counsel to the committee was Robert F. Kennedy; his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy, was a member of the committee.

In response to committee questioning, Marcello invoked the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, refusing to answer any questions relating to his background, activities and associates.

In 1960, Marcello donated $500,000 through Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa, to the Republican campaign of Richard M. Nixon, challenging the Democrat John F. Kennedy.

Deportation to Guatemala – Or Not

After becoming President, John F. Kennedy appointed his brother Robert Kennedy as U.S. Attorney General. The two men worked closely together on a wide range of issues, including the attempt to tackle organized crime.

In March 1961, under Attorney General Robert Kennedy – acting on requests which had first been made to the Eisenhower administration by former Louisiana state police superintendent Francis Grevemberg – the CIA abducted Marcello and forced him to jump from a C-130 aircraft (at night) over Central America.

Their plan backfired when Marcello reappeared in New Orleans just two weeks later.

On April 4, of that year, Marcello was arrested by the authorities and taken forcibly to Guatemala.

Once again, he reappeared in Baton Rouge, two weeks later.

Conspiracy

Undercover informants reported that Marcello made several threats against John F. Kennedy, at one time uttering the traditional Sicilian death threat curse, “Take the stone from my shoe”.

In September 1962, Marcello allegedly told private investigator Edwin Nicholas Becker that, “A dog will continue to bite you if you cut off its tail…,” (a reference to Attorney General Robert Kennedy.), “…whereas if you cut off the dog’s head…,” (meaning President Kennedy), “… it would cease to cause trouble”.

Becker allegedly reported that Marcello, “clearly stated that he was going to arrange to have President Kennedy killed in some way”.

Marcello allegedly told another informant that he would need to take out “insurance” for the assassination by, “…. setting up some nut to take the fall for the job, just like they do in Sicily”.

Just before Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby allegedly made contact with Marcello, and Tampa, Florida boss Santo Trafficante, about a labor problem he was having with the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA).

G. Robert Blakey, Chief Counsel and Staff Director to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, published, “The Plot to Kill the President” in 1981.

In the book, Blakey argues that there was a conspiracy to kill John F. Kennedy. Blakey believes that Lee Harvey Oswald was a shooter, but also believes that there was at least one other gunman involved.

Blakey came to the conclusion that Marcello, Trafficante, Jr., and Chicago Outfit boss Salvatore “Sam Mooney” Giancana were complicit in planning the assassination.

On January 14, 1992, a New York Post story claimed Marcello, Trafficante, Jr., and Jimmy Hoffa had all been involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.

Frank Ragano was quoted as saying that at the beginning of 1963, Hoffa had told him to take a message to Trafficante and Marcello concerning a plan to kill Kennedy. When the meeting took place at the Royal Orleans Hotel, Ragano told the men: “You won’t believe what Hoffa wants me to tell you. Jimmy wants you to kill the President.” He reported that both men gave the impression that they intended to carry out this order.

In his autobiography, “Mob Lawyer” (1994), (co-written with journalist Selwyn Raab), Ragano added that in July 1963, he was once again sent to New Orleans by Hoffa to meet Marcello and Santo Trafficante, concerning plans to kill President Kennedy.

When Kennedy was killed, Hoffa apparently told Ragano, “I told you that they could do it. I’ll never forget what Carlos and Santo did for me.” He added: “This means Bobby is out as Attorney General.” Marcello later told Ragano, “When you see Jimmy (Hoffa), you tell him he owes me and he owes me big.”

Exonerated?

After Kennedy’s assassination, the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated Marcello. They came to the conclusion that Marcello was not involved in the assassination.

On the other hand, they also stated that they, “… did not believe Carlos Marcello was a significant organized crime figure,” and that Marcello earned his living, “… as a tomato salesman and real estate investor.”

As a result of this investigation, the Warren Commission concluded that there was no direct link between Ruby and Marcello.

Arrest

In 1966, Marcello was arrested in New York City after having met with the National Commission.

The meeting was reportedly called because Marcello’s leadership was being challenged by Santo Trafficante Jr. and Anthony Carolla, the son of Marcello’s predecessor as boss of the New Orleans Combine, Sylvestro Carolla.

The Commission had reportedly ruled in Marcello’s favor just before the police burst in.

Marcello was charged with consorting with known felons.

After a long, drawn-out legal battle, Marcello was convicted of assaulting an FBI agent whom he had punched in the face, on his return to Louisiana. Sentenced to two years in prison, he served less than six months, and was released on March 12, 1971.

The BriLab Indictment

In 1981, Marcello, Aubrey W. Young (a former aide to Governor John J. McKeithen), Charles E. Roemer, II (former commissioner of administration to Governor Edwin Washington Edwards), and two other men were indicted in U.S. District Court in New Orleans for conspiracy, racketeering, and mail and wire fraud, in a scheme to bribe state officials to give the five men multi-million dollar insurance contracts.

The charges were the result of a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe known as BriLab.

U.S. District Judge Morey Sear allowed the admission of secretly-recorded conversations that he said demonstrated corruption at the highest levels of state government.

Marcello and Roemer were convicted, but Young and the two others were acquitted.

Marcello stayed out of prison for BriLab while his conviction was being appealed.

He finally reported to prison in 1983, when his appeal was denied.

The Death of Carlos Marcello

Early in 1989, Marcello suffered a series of strokes that left him severely disabled, and by the end of March, he was showing obvious signs of Alzheimer’s disease. At times he became so disoriented that he thought he was living in a hotel, and could not recognize family members who visited him.

In July, in a surprise move, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out his BriLab conviction. One judge denied this reversal, but his decision in turn was overruled.

In October – after having served six years and six months of his sentence – Marcello was released.

He returned to his white marble, two-story mansion overlooking a golf course in Metairie.

Here, he lived out the last years of his life, cared for by a group of nurses, and watched over by his wife and family. Apparently, he lost the power of speech and regressed to his infancy.

He was never seen in public again, and died on March 3, 1993.

The Marcello family and its descendants still own or control a significant amount of real estate in southeast Louisiana.

Nice work, if you can get it.

That’s all, for this one.

I hope you’ll join me, for our next story.

Till then.

Peace.

Gangsters: Mickey Cohen

Meyer Harris “Mickey” Cohen (September 4, 1913 – July 29, 1976) was a gangster based in Los Angeles and part of the Jewish Mafia, who also had strong ties to the American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.

He is best known perhaps for his intense rivalry with fellow Los Angeles mobster Jack Dragna.

In the movie “Gangster Squad”, released January 2013, Cohen is played by Sean Penn.

Video comes courtesy of YouTube:

That’s fiction, Hollywood-style.

These are some of the historical facts:

Cohen’s Early Life

Mickey Cohen was born on September 4, 1913, into an Orthodox Jewish family living in the Jewish Brownsville section of Brooklyn. His mother Fanny (who was widowed in September 1914), had emigrated from Kiev, Ukraine.

At the age of six, Mickey was selling newspapers on the street; his brothers Louie or Harry would drop him off at his regular corner, Soho and Brooklyn Streets.

Fanny moved her family to Los Angeles. In 1922, petty crime landed Mickey in reform school there.

Mickey the Boxer

As a teenager, Cohen began boxing in illegal prizefights in Los Angeles.

In 1929, the fifteen-year-old moved from Los Angeles to Cleveland, to train as a professional boxer. His first professional boxing match was on April 8, 1930 against Patsy Farr in Cleveland, Ohio.

On April 11, 1933 Cohen fought against Chalky Wright in Los Angeles, California. Wright won the match and Mickey was incorrectly identified as “Mickey Cohen from Denver, Colorado” in the Los Angeles Times sports page report.

His next major fight was on May 14, 1933 against Baby Arizmendi in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

On June 12, 1931 Cohen fought and lost a match against World Featherweight Champion Tommy Paul, having been knocked out cold after 2:20 into the first round. It was during this round he earned the moniker “Gangster Mickey Cohen”.

Gangster Mickey Cohen

In Cleveland, Cohen met Lou Rothkopf, an associate of Moe Dalitz.

Cohen later moved to New York, where he became associated with Tommy Dioguardi, the brother of labor racketeer Johnny Dio, and with Owney Madden.

Finally, Cohen went to Chicago, where he ran a gambling operation for the Chicago Outfit, Al Capone’s powerful criminal organization.

Prohibition and the Chicago Outfit

During Prohibition, Cohen moved to Chicago and became involved in organized crime working as an enforcer for the Chicago Outfit, where he briefly met Al Capone. During this period Cohen was arrested for his role in the deaths of several gangsters in a card game that went wrong.

After a brief time in prison, Cohen was released and began running card games and other illegal gambling operations.

He later became an associate of Mattie Capone, Al’s younger brother.

While working for Jake Guzik, Cohen was forced to flee Chicago after an argument with a rival gambler.

Back in Cleveland, Cohen again worked for Lou Rothkopf, an associate of Meyer Lansky and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. However, there was little work available for Cohen in Cleveland, so Rothkopf arranged for him to work with Siegel in California.

Life with The Bug Man

In 1939, Mickey Cohen was sent to Los Angeles by Meyer Lansky and Lou Rothkopf to work under Bugsy Siegel.

During their association, Mickey helped set up the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, and ran its sports book operation.

He was also instrumental in setting up the race wire, which was essential to Vegas betting – a Nevada attraction perhaps only second to the Hoover Dam.

In 1947, the crime families ordered the murder of Siegel due to his mismanagement of the Flamingo Hotel (some postulate that Siegel or his girlfriend Virginia Hill were skimming money).

According to one account which does not appear in newspapers, Cohen reacted violently to Siegel’s murder.

Entering the Hotel Roosevelt (where he believed the killers were staying), Cohen fired rounds from his two .45 caliber semi-automatic handguns into the lobby ceiling, and demanded that the assassins meet him outside in ten minutes. However, no one appeared and Cohen was forced to flee when the police arrived.

The Dragna Rivalry

Cohen’s violent methods came to the attention of state and federal authorities investigating the operations of Los Angeles mobster Jack Dragna.

Dragna resented the high profile which Cohen had enjoyed under Ben Siegel’s wing.

During this time, Cohen faced many attempts on his life, including the bombing of his home on posh Moreno Avenue in Brentwood.

Cohen converted his house into a fortress, installing floodlights, alarm systems, and a well-equipped arsenal kept, as he often joked, next to his 200 tailor-made suits.

Cohen also briefly hired bodyguard Johnny Stompanato before he (Stompanato) was killed by actress Lana Turner’s daughter.

Cohen bought a cheap coffin for Stompanato’s funeral – and then sold Lana Turner’s love letters to Stompanato to the press.

Mickey’s Later Years

In 1950, Mickey Cohen was investigated (along with numerous other underworld figures) by a US Senate committee known as the Kefauver Commission.

As a result of this investigation, Cohen was convicted of tax evasion in June 1951, and sentenced to prison for four years.

When he was released in October of 1955, he started again, and became an international celebrity.
He sold more newspapers than anyone else in the country, according to author Brad Lewis.

His appearance on television with Mike Wallace in May of 1957 rocked the media establishment.

Cohen ran floral shops, paint stores, nightclubs, casinos, gas stations, a men’s haberdashery – and even drove an ice cream van on San Vicente Boulevard in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, according to author Richard Lamparski.

In 1957 Time magazine wrote a brief article about Mickey Cohen’s meeting with evangelist Billy Graham.

Allegedly, when Mickey did not change his lifestyle, he was confronted by some Christian acquaintances. His response: “Christian football players, Christian cowboys, Christian politicians; why not a Christian gangster?”

In 1961, Cohen was again convicted of tax evasion, and sent to Alcatraz.
During his time on “the Rock,” another inmate attempted to kill Cohen with a lead pipe.

His heavily armored Cadillac from this period was confiscated by the Los Angeles Police Department, and is now on display at the Southward Car Museum in New Zealand.

In 1972, Cohen was released from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, where he had spoken out against prison abuse. He had been misdiagnosed with an ulcer, which turned out to be stomach cancer. After undergoing surgery, he continued touring the U.S., and making television appearances.

Mickey Cohen died in his sleep in 1976, and is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Time to put this one to bed, too.

I hope you’ll join me, for our next story.

Till then.

Peace.

Gangsters: Jack Dragna

Jack Ignatius Dragna (April 18, 1891 – February 23, 1956) was an American Mafia boss and member of The Black Hand, who was active in both Italy and the United States. He was engaged in bootlegging in California during the Prohibition Era.

In 1931, he succeeded Joseph Ardizzone as the Boss of the Los Angeles crime family after Ardizzone’s mysterious disappearance in 1931.

Both James Ragen and Earl Warren dubbed Dragna the “Capone of Los Angeles”.

In the 1991 film “Bugsy”, which dramatized the life of Bugsy Siegel, Dragna was played by Richard C. Sarafian.

Video comes courtesy of YouTube:

That’s Hollywood.

Here’s some history:

Dragna’s Early Life

Dragna was born Ignazio Dragna to Francesco Paolo Dragna and Anna Dragna in Corleone, Sicily, on April 18, 1891.

On November 18, 1898, Dragna came to America on the S.S. Alsatia with his mother, older sister Giuseppa, and elder brother Gaetano. They stayed in Brooklyn with Antonio Rizzotti’s family – also from Corleone. It is not known exactly when Dragna’s father arrived in the United States.

Dragna stayed in New York for ten years before returning to Sicily. As a young man, he joined the Italian Army, and later the Sicilian Mafia.

In 1914, Dragna returned to America.

He appears to have had a relationship with Gaetano Reina, who eventually would lead his own crime family in Manhattan and the Bronx. That same year, Dragna was a suspect in the murder of Jewish poultry dealer Barnet Baff.

After the killing, Dragna fled to California, and assumed the name Charles Dragna.

Dragna was extradited to New York, but never went on trial.

In 1915, Dragna was arrested for Black Hand extortion of a Long Beach man, and served three years in prison. At the time of his extortion arrest, Dragna was using the alias Ignazio Rizzoto.

Prohibition

During the Prohibition Era, Dragna and his brother Gaetano (now named Tom) ran extortion and illegal liquor distillation operations.

Ignazio Dragna now became Jack Ignatius Dragna.

In 1922, Dragna married Francesca Rizzotto.

After a brief prison stint, he worked closely with Joseph Ardizzone, a prominent mobster in Los Angeles.

Mafia Don

In 1931, Dragna succeeded Joseph Ardizzone as boss of the Los Angeles crime family. It was rumored that Dragna participated in Ardizzone’s disappearance / death.

His brother Tom became his consigliere, or chief counsel.

Jack also had several more distant relatives working in the crime family, but aside from his brother, his nephew Louis Tom Dragna (Tom’s son) was the only other close relation heavily involved in the business.

As boss, Dragna’s chief source of income came from extorting local bookmakers for “protection” money – although he was also the main illegal gambling operator in the city.

Other businesses including running gambling ships, a heroin smuggling operation, and collecting extortion money.

His close supporters included Girolamo “Momo” Adamo and John Roselli.

Roselli had been a member of the Chicago Outfit, but left for California to work with Dragna in gambling.
In the 1950s, Roselli left California and became the Mafia’s main representative in Las Vegas.

Anthony Cornero – an old bootlegging associate of Dragna’s – ran gambling ships off the coast of California.

Tommy Lucchese, of the Lucchese crime family, was Dragna’s main contact in New York.

Dragna also controlled unions in the laundromat business, and dress importing companies.

Siegel and Cohen

As boss, Dragna often had to do business with representatives from the more powerful Cosa Nostra families in New York.

When Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (an associate of the New York Luciano crime family) relocated to the West Coast during the late 1930s, he started his own rackets, and formed an uneasy relationship with Dragna.

Siegel brought in much more income for the Los Angeles family and generated a great deal of respect, which Dragna resented. Although many sources speak of a rivalry between them, Dragna and Siegel managed to work closely together, especially at organizing a racing wire service on the West Coast.

In June 1947, the East Coast crime families murdered Siegel in Los Angeles, due to his failure to properly manage the new Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

Mickey Cohen – who had been serving as Siegel’s bodyguard – immediately took over Siegel’s rackets, and refused to accept Dragna’s authority.

Dragna ordered several murder attempts on Cohen, but he managed to survive them all.

The Heat Rises

On February 14, 1950, the California Commission on Organized Crime singled out Dragna as the head of a crime syndicate that controlled crime in Southern California.

Soon after, several Los Angeles family members were arrested for the bombing of Mickey Cohen’s home.

Dragna fled the state to avoid questioning. He later surrendered to authorities, and was questioned in the U.S. Senate Kefauver hearings, but denied all accusations against him.

Cohen was also questioned in the hearings, and as a result was convicted of federal tax evasion and forced to give up control of his rackets to the Los Angeles family.

Deportation Issues

In 1953, the federal government ordered Dragna to be deported to Sicily.

Back in 1932, Dragna had violated immigration law by illegally entering the United States at the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego, after a three day stay in Mexico.

However, at the time of his death, Dragna was still living in California, appealing the deportation order.

The Death of Jack Dragna

On February 23, 1956, Dragna died of a heart attack in Los Angeles.

His body was interred at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.

Dragna was survived by two children.

His son Frank Paul Dragna was a USC graduate and World War II veteran who lost an eye in the war and was nicknamed “One Eye” to distinguish him from his cousin who had the same name.

Dragna also had a daughter named Anna Rosalia Dragna, who later married and changed her surname to Niotta.

That’s it, for this one.

Hope you’ll be here, for our next tale.

Till then.

Peace.

Gangsters: Meyer Lansky

Meyer Lansky (born Meyer Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the “Mob’s Accountant,” was a Russian-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles “Lucky” Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the “National Crime Syndicate” in the United States.

For decades he was thought to be one of the most powerful people in the country.

Lansky developed a gambling empire which stretched from Saratoga, New York to Miami, to Council Bluffs, Iowa and Las Vegas; it is also said that he oversaw gambling concessions in Cuba.

Although a member of the Jewish Mob, Lansky undoubtedly had strong influence with the Italian Mafia, and played a large part in the consolidation of the criminal underworld.

The film “Bugsy” (1991) included Lansky as a major character, played by Ben Kingsley – who was Oscar-nominated as Best Supporting Actor for the role.

Video is courtesy of YouTube:

That was the Hollywood vision.

Let’s see what history has to tell us.

Lansky’s Early Life

Lansky was born Meyer Suchowljansky in Grodno (then in Russia, now in Belarus).

Lansky was the brother of Jacob “Jake” Lansky, who in 1959 was the manager of the Nacional Hotel in Havana, Cuba.

In 1911, he emigrated to the United States through the port of Odessa with his mother and brother to join his father, who had left for the United States in 1909, and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York.

Lansky met Bugsy Siegel when they were teenagers.

As a youngster, Siegel saved Lansky’s life several times, a fact which Lansky always appreciated. The two skillfully managed the Bugs and Meyer Mob, despite its reputation as one of the most violent Prohibition gangs.

They became lifelong friends, as well as associates in the bootlegging trade, and together with Lucky Luciano, formed a lasting partnership.

Lansky was instrumental in Luciano’s rise to power by organizing the 1931 murder of Mafia powerhouse Salvatore Maranzano.

Gambling Operations

By 1936, Lansky had established gambling operations in Florida, New Orleans, and Cuba.

These ventures were successful, as they were founded on two innovations:

First, Lansky and his associates had the technical expertise to effectively manage them, based on Lansky’s knowledge of the true mathematical odds of most popular wagering games.

Second, mob connections were used to ensure legal and physical security of their establishments from other crime figures, and law enforcement (through bribes).

There was also an absolute rule of integrity concerning the games and wagers made within their establishments.

Lansky’s “carpet joints” in Florida and elsewhere were never “clip-joints” – where gamblers were unsure of whether or not the games were rigged against them.

Lansky ensured that the staff (the croupiers and their management) actually consisted of men of high integrity.

Contingency Measures

In 1936, Lansky’s partner Luciano was sent to prison.

After Al Capone’s 1931 conviction for tax evasion and prostitution, Lansky saw that he too was vulnerable to a similar charge.

To protect himself, he transferred the illegal earnings from his growing casino empire to a Swiss numbered bank account, whose anonymity was assured by the 1934 Swiss Banking Act.

Ultimately, Lansky even bought an offshore bank in Switzerland, which he used to launder money through a network of shell and holding companies.

The War Effort

In the 1930s, Meyer Lansky and his gang claimed to have stepped outside their usual criminal activities to break up rallies held by Nazi sympathizers. Lansky recalled a particular rally in Yorkville (a German neighborhood in Manhattan), that he claimed he and 14 other associates disrupted:

“The stage was decorated with a swastika and a picture of Adolf Hitler. The speakers started ranting. There were only fifteen of us, but we went into action. We threw some of them out the windows. Most of the Nazis panicked and ran out. We chased them and beat them up. We wanted to show them that Jews would not always sit back and accept insults.”

During World War II, Lansky was also instrumental in helping the Office of Naval Intelligence’s Operation Underworld, in which the government recruited criminals to watch out for German infiltrators and submarine-borne saboteurs.

According to “Lucky” Luciano’s authorized biography, during this time, Lansky helped arrange a deal with the U.S. Government via a high-ranking U.S. Navy official. This deal would secure the release of Luciano from prison; in exchange, the Italian Mafia would provide security for the war ships that were being built along the docks in New York Harbor.

The Flamingo

During the 1940s, Lansky’s associate Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel persuaded the crime bosses to invest in a lavish new casino hotel project in Las Vegas: the Flamingo.

After long delays and large cost overruns, the Flamingo Hotel was still not open for business.

To discuss the Flamingo problem, the Mafia investors attended a secret meeting in Havana, Cuba in 1946.

While the other bosses wanted to kill Siegel, Lansky begged them to give his friend a second chance.

Despite this reprieve, Siegel continued to lose Mafia money on the Flamingo Hotel.

A second family meeting was then called. By the time this meeting took place, the casino had turned a small profit. Lansky again, with Luciano’s support, convinced the family to give Siegel more time.

But the Flamingo was soon losing money again.

At a third meeting, the family decided that Siegel was finished.

It is widely believed that Lansky himself was compelled to give the final okay on eliminating Siegel, due to his long relationship with him, and his stature in the family.

The Killing of Bugsy Siegel

On June 20, 1947, Siegel was shot and killed in Beverly Hills, California.

Twenty minutes after the Siegel hit, Lansky’s associates, including Gus Greenbaum and Moe Sedway, walked into the Flamingo Hotel and took control of the property.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Lansky retained a substantial financial interest in the Flamingo for the next twenty years. Lansky said in several interviews later in his life that if it had been up to him, “… Ben Siegel would be alive today.”

This also marked a power transfer in Vegas from the New York crime families to the Chicago Outfit. Lansky is believed to have both advised and aided Chicago boss Tony Accardo in initially establishing his hold.

Cuba

After World War II, Lansky associate Lucky Luciano was paroled from prison on the condition that he permanently return to Sicily. However, Luciano secretly moved to Cuba, where he worked to resume control over American Mafia operations.

Luciano ran a number of casinos in Cuba with the sanction of Cuban president General Fulgencio Batista – though the US government ultimately succeeded in pressuring the Batista regime to deport Luciano.

Batista’s closest friend in the Mafia was Lansky. They formed a renowned friendship and business relationship that lasted for a decade.

During a stay at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York in the late 1940s, it was mutually agreed that, in exchange for kickbacks, Batista would offer Lansky and the Mafia control of Havana’s racetracks and casinos. Batista would open Havana to large scale gambling, and his government would match, dollar for dollar, any hotel investment over $1 million – which would include a casino license.

Lansky would place himself at the center of Cuba’s gambling operations. He immediately called on his associates to hold a summit in Havana.

The Havana Conference

The Havana Conference was held on December 22, 1946 at the Hotel Nacional. This was the first full-scale meeting of American underworld leaders since the Chicago meeting in 1932.

Present were such figures as Joe Adonis and Albert “The Mad Hatter” Anastasia, Frank Costello, Joseph “Joe Bananas” Bonanno, Vito Genovese, Moe Dalitz, Thomas Luchese from New York, Santo Trafficante Jr. from Tampa, Carlos Marcello from New Orleans, and Stefano Magaddino, Joe Bonanno’s cousin from Buffalo.

From Chicago there were Anthony Accardo and the Fischetti brothers (“Trigger-Happy” Charlie and Rocco), and, representing the Jewish interest, Lansky, Dalitz and “Dandy” Phil Kastel from Florida.

The first to arrive was Lucky Luciano, who had been deported to Italy, and had to travel to Havana with a false passport.

Lansky shared with the “delegates” his vision of a new Havana, profitable for those willing to invest the right sum of money.

According to Luciano’s evidence (he is the only one who ever recounted details of the events), he confirmed that he was appointed as kingpin for the mob, to rule from Cuba until such time as he could find a legitimate way back into the U.S.

Entertainment at the conference was provided by, among others, Frank Sinatra.

Political Moves

In 1952, Lansky allegedly offered then President Carlos Prío Socarrás a bribe of U.S. $250,000 to step down, so Batista could return to power.

Once Batista retook control of the government he quickly put gambling back on track. The dictator contacted Lansky and offered him an annual salary of U.S. $25,000 to serve as an unofficial gambling minister.

By 1955, Batista had changed the gambling laws once again, granting a gaming license to anyone who invested $1 million in a hotel or U.S. $200,000 in a new nightclub.

Unlike the procedure for acquiring gaming licenses in Vegas, this provision exempted venture capitalists from background checks. As long as they made the required investment, they were provided with public matching funds for construction, a 10-year tax exemption, and duty-free importation of equipment and furnishings.

The government would get U.S. $250,000 for the license, plus a percentage of the profits from each casino.

Cuba’s 10,000 slot machines were to be the province of Batista’s brother-in-law, Roberto Fernandez y Miranda. Fernandez was also given the parking meters in Havana, as an extra.

Import duties were waived on materials for hotel construction, and connected Cuban contractors made windfalls by importing much more than was needed, and selling the surplus to others for hefty profits.

It was rumored that periodic payoffs were requested (and received) by corrupt politicians.

Hospitality

Lansky set about reforming the Montmartre Club, which soon became the “in” place in Havana. He had also long expressed an interest in putting a casino in the elegant Hotel Nacional, which overlooked El Morro, the ancient fortress guarding Havana harbor.

Lansky planned to take a wing of the 10-story hotel and create luxury suites for high-stakes players.

Batista endorsed Lansky’s idea over the objections of American expatriates such as Ernest Hemingway, and the elegant hotel opened for business in 1955 with a show by Eartha Kitt. The casino was an immediate success.

Once all the new hotels, nightclubs and casinos had been built, Batista wasted no time collecting his share of the profits.

Nightly, the “bagman” for his wife collected 10 percent of the profits at Trafficante’s interests: the Sans Souci cabaret, and the casinos in the hotels Sevilla-Biltmore, Commodoro, Deauville and Capri (part-owned by the actor George Raft).

His take from the Lansky casinos – his prized Habana Riviera, the Nacional, the Montmartre Club and others – was said to be 30 percent. The slot machines alone contributed approximately U.S. $1 million to the regime’s bank account.

What Batista and his cronies actually received in total by way of bribes, payoffs, and profiteering has never been established.

The Castro Revolution

The 1959 Cuban revolution and the rise of Fidel Castro changed the climate for mob investment in Cuba.

On New Year’s Eve of 1958, while Batista was preparing to flee to the Dominican Republic and then on to Spain (where he died in exile in 1973), many of the casinos (including several of Lansky’s) were looted and destroyed.

On January 8, 1959, Castro marched into Havana and took over, setting up shop in the Hilton.

Lansky had fled the day before for the Bahamas and other Caribbean destinations.

The new Cuban president, Manuel Urrutia Lleó, took steps to close the casinos.

In October 1960, Castro nationalized the island’s hotel-casinos and outlawed gambling.

This action essentially wiped out Lansky’s asset base and revenue streams. He lost an estimated $7 million.

With the additional crackdown on casinos in Miami, Lansky was forced to depend on his Las Vegas revenues.

Lansky’s Later Years

In his later years, Lansky lived a low-profile, routine existence in Miami Beach.

He dressed like the average grandfather, walked his dog every morning, and portrayed himself as a harmless retiree.

Lansky’s associates usually met him in malls and other crowded locations.

Lansky would change drivers (who chauffeured him around town to look for new pay phones to contact his associates), almost every day.

Attempted Escape to Israel

In 1970, Lansky fled to Herzliya Pituah, Israel, to escape federal tax evasion charges.

Although the Israeli Law of Return allows any Jew to settle in the State of Israel, it excludes those with criminal pasts.

Two years after Lansky fled, Israeli authorities deported him back to the U.S.

The U.S. government brought Lansky to trial with the testimony of loan shark Vincent “Fat Vinnie” Teresa, an informant with little or no credibility.

Lansky was acquitted in 1974.

The Death of Meyer Lansky

Lansky’s last years were spent quietly at his home in Miami Beach.

He died of lung cancer on January 15, 1983, age 80, leaving behind a widow and three children.

On paper, Lansky was worth almost nothing. At the time, the FBI believed he left behind over $300 million in hidden bank accounts – but they never found any money.

His biographer Robert Lacey concluded from evidence (including interviews with the surviving members of the family) that Lansky’s wealth and influence had been grossly exaggerated, and that it would be more accurate to think of him as an accountant for gangsters, rather than a gangster himself.

According to Hank Messick, a journalist for the Miami Herald who had spent years investigating Lansky, “Meyer Lansky doesn’t own property. He owns people”.

Messick, the FBI and District Attorney Robert Morgenthau all believed that Lansky had kept large sums of money in other people’s names for decades, and that keeping very little in his own was nothing new to him.

$300 million.

He didn’t take it with him.

Anyhow, that’s it, for this one.

Hope you’ll join me, for the next.

Till then.

Peace.

Gangsters: Lucky Luciano

Charles “Lucky” Luciano (born Salvatore Lucania, November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962), was an Italian-born, naturalized American mobster.

Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States, for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and for the establishment of the first Commission.

He was the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family.

He was, along with his associate Meyer Lansky, instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States.

In the 1997 film “Hoodlum”, Luciano was portrayed by Andy García.

Video comes courtesy of YouTube. It’s overdubbed in Russian, I think; in case you’re wondering about the overlapping audio:

That’s what Hollywood had to say.

Here’s what history has to tell us:

Luciano’s Early Life

Salvatore Lucania was born on November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily.

Luciano’s parents, Antonio and Rosalia Lucania, had four other children: Bartolomeo, Giuseppe, Filippia, and Concetta. Luciano’s father worked in a sulfur mine in Sicily.

When Luciano was 10 years old, the family emigrated to the United States. They settled in New York City in the borough of Manhattan on its Lower East Side, a popular destination for Italian immigrants.

At age 14, Luciano dropped out of school and started a job delivering hats, earning $7 per week. However, after winning $244 in a dice game, Luciano quit his job and took to earning money on the street. That same year, Luciano’s parents sent him to the Brooklyn Truant School.

While a teenager, Luciano started his own gang.

Unlike other street gangs whose business was petty crime, Luciano offered protection to Jewish youngsters from Italian and Irish gangs for ten cents per week. It was during this time that Luciano met Jewish teenager Meyer Lansky, his future business partner.

Charlie “Lucky”

Soon after emigrating, Luciano changed his forename to Charlie, or Charles, which he felt to be more “American” sounding than Salvatore.

It is not clear how Luciano earned the nickname “Lucky”.

It may have come from his surviving a severe beating by three men in the 1920s, as well as a throat slashing.

From 1916 to 1936, Luciano was arrested 25 times on charges ranging from assault, to illegal gambling, to blackmail, as well as robbery, but spent no time in prison. Lucky breaks, all.

The name “Lucky” may have also been a mispronunciation of Luciano’s surname “Lucania”.

Prohibition

On January 17, 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. As there was still a substantial demand for alcohol, this provided criminals with an additional source of income.

By 1921, Luciano had met many future Mafia leaders, including Vito Genovese and Frank Costello (his longtime friend and future business partner), through the Five Points Gang. Also in 1921, Brooklyn gang boss Joe Masseria recruited Luciano as one of his gunmen.

Luciano soon left Masseria and started working for gambler Arnold “the Brain” Rothstein. Rothstein immediately saw the potential from Prohibition and educated Luciano on running bootleg alcohol as a business.

With financing and mentoring from Rothstein, Luciano, Costello, and Genovese started their own bootlegging operation.

By 1925, Luciano was grossing over $12 million a year. He had a net income of around $4 million each year after the costs of bribing politicians and police.

Luciano and his partners ran the largest bootlegging operation in New York – one that also extended into Philadelphia. He imported Scotch whisky from Scotland, rum from the Caribbean, and whisky from Canada. Luciano was also involved in illegal gambling.

On November 2, 1928, a bookkeeper shot and killed Rothstein over a gambling debt.

With Rothstein’s death, Luciano pledged loyalty again to Masseria.

The Young Turks

Luciano soon became a top aide in the Masseria organization.

By the late 1920s, Masseria’s main rival was boss Salvatore Maranzano, who had come from Sicily to run the Castellammarese clan activities. This rivalry escalated into the Castellammarese War, which raged from 1928 to 1931, and resulted in 60 mobster deaths.

Masseria and Maranzano were so-called “Mustache Petes” – older, traditional Mafia bosses who had started their criminal careers in Italy. They believed in upholding the supposed Old World Mafia principles of “honor”, “tradition”, “respect”, and “dignity”. These bosses refused to work with anyone who was not Italian or Italian-American, and were even skeptical of any man who was not Sicilian or Sicilian-American.

Luciano, by contrast, was willing to work with Jewish and Irish gangsters, if there was money to be made.

Luciano began cultivating ties with other younger mobsters who had started their criminal careers in the United States.

Known as the Young Turks, they chafed at their bosses’ conservatism. Luciano wanted to use lessons he learned from Rothstein to turn their gang activities into criminal empires.

As the war progressed, this group came to include future mob leaders such as Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Joe Adonis, Joe Bonanno, Carlo Gambino, Joe Profaci, Tommy Gagliano, and Tommy Lucchese.

Luciano’s vision was to form a national crime syndicate in which the Italian, Jewish, and Irish gangs could pool their resources and turn organized crime into a lucrative business for all.

Repercussions

In October 1929, Luciano was forced into a limousine at gun point by three men, beaten and stabbed, then dumped on a beach on Staten Island. He somehow survived the ordeal, but was forever marked with a scar and droopy eye. The identity of his abductors was never established.

When picked up by the police after the beating, Luciano said that he had no idea who did it. However, in 1953, Luciano told an interviewer that it was the police who had kidnapped and beat him. Another theory was that Maranzano ordered the attack.

The most important consequence of this episode was the press coverage it got, which introduced Luciano to the New York public.

Power Play

In early 1931, Luciano moved to eliminate Masseria. The war had been going badly for him, and Luciano saw an opportunity to switch allegiance.

In a secret deal with Maranzano, Luciano agreed to engineer Masseria’s death, in return for receiving Masseria’s rackets and becoming Maranzano’s second-in-command.

On April 15, 1931, Luciano invited Masseria and two other associates to lunch in a Coney Island restaurant. After finishing their meal, the mobsters decided to play cards. At that point, Luciano went to the bathroom.

Four gunmen – Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, and Joe Adonis – then walked into the dining room and shot and killed Masseria and his two men.

With Maranzano’s blessing, Luciano took over Masseria’s gang, and became Maranzano’s lieutenant. The Castellammarese War was over.

The Five Families

With Masseria gone, Maranzano divided all the Italian-American gangs in New York City into Five Families.

The five newly formed crime families were headed by Maranzano, Luciano, Profaci, Gagliano, and Vincent Mangano.

Maranzano promised that all the families would be equal, and free to make money. However, at a meeting of crime bosses in Upstate New York, Maranzano declared himself capo di tutti capi – the absolute boss of all of the crime families. Maranzano also whittled down the rackets of the rival families in favor of his own.

Takeover Bid

Luciano appeared to accept these changes, but was merely biding his time.

By September 1931, Maranzano realized that Luciano was a threat, and hired Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll, an Irish gangster, to kill him. However, Lucchese alerted Luciano that he was marked for death.

On September 10, Maranzano ordered Luciano and Genovese to come to his office at 230 Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Convinced that Maranzano planned to murder them, Luciano decided to act first. He sent five Jewish gangsters dressed as government agents to Maranzano’s office.

While two of the “agents” disarmed Maranzano’s bodyguards, the other three stabbed Maranzano multiple times, before shooting him.

Reorganizing the Mafia

With the death of Maranzano, Luciano became the dominant organized crime boss in the United States.

Luciano now had his own crime family, which controlled lucrative criminal rackets in New York City such as illegal gambling, bookmaking, loan-sharking, drug trafficking and extortion. Luciano also became very influential in labor and union activities, and controlled the Manhattan Waterfront, garbage hauling, construction, Garment Center businesses, and trucking.

Luciano abolished the title of Capo Di Tutti Capi, insisting that the position created trouble between the families. Luciano preferred to quietly maintain control through unofficial alliances with other family bosses.

Luciano felt that the ceremony of becoming a “made-man”, or an amico nostro (literally “our friend”), in a crime family was a Sicilian anachronism that should be discontinued. However, Meyer Lansky persuaded Luciano to keep the practice, arguing that young people needed rituals to promote obedience to the family.

Luciano also stressed the importance of omertà, the oath of silence.

In addition, Luciano kept the five crime families that Maranzano had instituted.

Luciano elevated his most trusted Italian associates to high-level positions in what was now the Luciano crime family. The feared Vito Genovese became underboss (chief lieutenant), and Frank Costello consigliere (chief counsel). Michael “Trigger Mike” Coppola, Anthony Strollo, Joe Adonis, and Anthony Carfano all served as caporegimes (secondary lieutenants).

Because Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel were non-Italians, neither man could hold official positions within any Cosa Nostra family. However, Lansky was a top advisor to Luciano, and Siegel a trusted associate.

The Commission

Under the urging of former Chicago boss Johnny Torrio, Luciano set up the Commission, to serve as the governing body for organized crime.

The Commission was originally composed of representatives of the Five Families of New York City, the Philadelphia crime family, the Buffalo crime family, Los Angeles crime family, and the Chicago Outfit of Al Capone. Later, the Detroit crime family and Kansas City crime family were added. The Commission also provided representation for the Irish and Jewish criminal organizations in New York.

All Commission members were supposed to retain the same power and had one vote – but in reality some families and bosses were more powerful than others.

In 1935 – in its first big test – the Commission ordered gang boss Dutch Schultz to drop his plans to murder Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey. Luciano argued that a Dewey assassination would bring undue pressure from the law.

When Schultz announced that he was still going to kill Dewey, or his Assistant David Asch, the Commission quickly arranged Schultz’s murder.

On October 24, 1935, Dutch Schultz was murdered in a tavern in Newark, New Jersey.

In hindsight, this may have been a costly move.

Prostitution Loophole

During the early 1930s, Luciano’s crime family started taking over small scale prostitution operations in New York City.

In June 1935, New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman appointed U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Dewey as a special prosecutor to combat organized crime in New York City. Dewey realized that he could attack Luciano – the most powerful gangster in New York – through this prostitution network, with the assistance of his aide David Asch.

On February 2, 1936, Dewey launched a massive police raid against 200 brothels in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Ten men and 100 women were arrested.

Unlike previous vice raids, Dewey did not release the suspects. Instead, he took them to court, where a judge set bails of $10,000 – far beyond their means to pay.

By mid March, several defendants had implicated Luciano. Three of the prostitutes named Luciano as the ringleader, who made collections, although David Betillo was in charge of the prostitution ring in New York, and any money that Luciano received was from Betillo.

In late March 1936, Luciano received a tip that he was going to be arrested, and fled to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Unfortunately for Luciano, a New York detective in Hot Springs on a different assignment spotted Luciano, and notified Dewey.

On April 1, 1936, Luciano was arrested in Hot Springs on a criminal warrant from New York. The next day, Dewey indicted Luciano and his accomplices on 90 counts of compulsory prostitution. Luciano’s lawyers in Arkansas then began a fierce legal battle against extradition.

On April 6, someone offered a $50,000 bribe to Arkansas Attorney General Carl E. Bailey to facilitate Luciano’s case. Bailey refused the bribe and immediately reported it.

On April 17 – after all of Luciano’s legal motions had been exhausted – Arkansas authorities handed Luciano to three New York City Police Department detectives, for transport by train back to New York for trial.

When the detectives and their prisoner reached St. Louis, Missouri and changed trains, they were guarded by 20 local policemen to prevent a mob rescue attempt. The men arrived in New York City on April 18, and Luciano was held without bail.

Prosecution for Pandering

On May 13, 1936, Luciano’s pandering trial began.

He was accused of being part of a massive prostitution ring known as “the Combination.”

During the trial, Dewey exposed Luciano for lying on the witness stand through direct questioning, and records of telephone calls. Luciano also had no explanation for why his federal income tax records claimed he made only $22,000 a year, while he was obviously a wealthy man.

Dewey ruthlessly pressed Luciano on his long arrest record and his relationships with well-known gangsters such as Ciro Terranova, Louis Buchalter, and Joseph Masseria.

On June 7, 1936, Luciano was convicted on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution.

On July 18, 1936, Luciano was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in state prison, along with Betillo and others.

Many observers questioned the pandering charges against Luciano. It would have been significantly out of character (they said) for him to be directly involved in any criminal enterprise – let alone a prostitution ring.

In her memoirs, New York society madam Polly Adler said that if Luciano had been involved with “the Combination,” she would have known about it. Bonanno – the last surviving contemporary of Luciano’s who wasn’t in prison – also denied that Luciano was directly involved in prostitution in his book, “A Man of Honor”.

Prison Time

Luciano continued to run the Luciano crime family from prison, relaying his orders through acting boss, Vito Genovese.

When Genovese fled to Naples, Italy in 1937 to avoid an impending murder indictment in New York, Luciano appointed his consigliere, Costello as the new acting boss and overseer of Luciano’s interests.

Luciano was first imprisoned at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, but was moved later in 1936 to Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York – far away from New York City.

At Clinton, co-defendant Dave Betillo prepared special dishes for Luciano in a kitchen set aside by authorities. Luciano himself was assigned a job in the prison laundry.

Luciano used his influence to help get the materials to build a church at the prison, which became famous for being one of the only freestanding churches in the New York State correctional system, and also for the fact that on the church’s altar are two of the original doors from the Victoria – the ship of Ferdinand Magellan.

Legal appeals of Luciano’s conviction continued until October 10, 1938, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his case.

At this point, Luciano stepped down as boss, and Costello formally took over the family.

Freedom and Deportation

During World War II, the U.S. government struck a secret deal with the imprisoned Luciano.

In 1942, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence was concerned about German and Italian agents entering the United States through the New York waterfront. They also worried about sabotage in these facilities.

Knowing that the Cosa Nostra controlled the waterfront, the Navy contacted Meyer Lansky about a deal with Luciano. To facilitate negotiations, the State of New York transferred Luciano from Clinton prison to Great Meadow Correctional Facility, which was much closer to New York City.

The Navy, the State of New York, and Luciano eventually concluded a deal.

In exchange for a commutation of his sentence, Luciano promised the complete assistance of his organization in providing intelligence to the Navy. Luciano ally Albert Anastasia (who controlled the docks) allegedly promised no dockworker strikes during war. And in preparation for the 1943 allied invasion of Sicily, Luciano allegedly provided the U.S. military with Mafia contacts in Sicily.

On January 3, 1946, Governor Thomas E. Dewey reluctantly commuted Luciano’s pandering sentence, on condition that he did not resist deportation to Italy.

Luciano accepted the deal – although he still maintained that he was a U.S. citizen and not subject to deportation.

On February 2, 1946, two federal immigration agents transported Luciano from Sing Sing prison to Ellis Island in New York Harbor, for deportation proceedings.

On February 10, 1946, Luciano’s ship sailed from Brooklyn harbor for Italy. This was the last time he would see the United States.

On February 28, Luciano’s ship arrived in Naples. On arrival, Luciano told reporters he would probably reside in Sicily.

During his exile, Luciano frequently encountered US military men and American tourists during train trips in Italy. Luciano enjoyed these meetings and gladly posed for photos and signed autographs.

The Havana Conference

In October 1946, Luciano secretly moved to Havana, Cuba.

Luciano first took a freighter from Naples to Caracas, Venezuela, then flew to Rio De Janeiro. He then flew to Mexico City and doubled back to Caracas, where he took a private plane to Camaguey, Cuba, finally arriving on October 29. Luciano was then driven to Havana, where he moved into an estate in the Miramar section of the city.

Luciano’s objective in going to Cuba was to be closer to the United States, so that he could resume control over American Cosa Nostra operations and eventually return. Lansky was already established as a major investor in Cuban gambling and hotel projects.

In December 1946, Lansky called a meeting of the heads of the major crime families, in Havana. The ostensible purpose was to see singer Frank Sinatra perform. However, the real reason was to discuss mob business with Luciano in attendance.

The three topics to discuss were: the heroin trade, Cuban gambling, and what to do about Bugsy Siegel and the floundering Flamingo Hotel project in Las Vegas.

The Conference took place at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, and lasted a little more than a week.

Deported, Again

Soon after the Havana Conference began, the U.S. government learned about Luciano’s presence in Cuba, which was no secret; Luciano had been publicly fraternizing with Sinatra, as well as visiting numerous nightclubs.

The U.S. started putting pressure on the Cuban government to expel him.

On February 21, 1947, U.S. Narcotics Commissioner Harry J. Anslinger notified the Cuban government that the United States would block all shipment of narcotic prescription drugs to Cuba while Luciano was there.

Two days later, the Cuban government announced that Luciano was in custody, and would be deported to Italy within 48 hours.

Luciano was placed on a Turkish freighter that was sailing to Genoa, Italy.

Operating in Italy

After Luciano’s secret trip to Cuba, he spent the rest of his life in Italy under tight police surveillance.

Despite the law enforcement surveillance, Luciano was able to greatly expand narcotics trafficking to the United States, making it one of organized crime’s most lucrative ventures.

Between October 10 and October 14, 1957, Luciano oversaw a parley of more than thirty Sicilian and American Mafia leaders to draw up plans for the smuggling and distribution of heroin into the United States.

According to Selwyn Raab, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, it was at the Luciano meeting (held in the Grand Hotel et des Palmes in Palermo, Sicily) that a plan was put into place through which Sicilians were responsible for distributing heroin in the U.S., while the American mobsters collected a share of the income as “franchise fees”.

Luciano’s plan included a scheme to expand the tiny heroin and cocaine market in the U.S. by reducing the price and focusing on working class white and black urban neighborhoods.

American Power Struggle

By 1957, Genovese felt strong enough to move against Luciano and his acting boss in New York, Frank Costello. He was aided in this move by Anastasia crime family underboss Carlo Gambino.

On May 2, 1957, Costello was shot and slightly wounded by a gunman outside his apartment building. Soon after this attack, Costello conceded control of what is today called the Genovese crime family to Genovese. Luciano was powerless to stop it.

On October 26, 1957, Genovese and Gambino arranged the murder of Albert Anastasia, another Luciano ally.

Gambino took over what is now called the Gambino crime family.

Genovese now believed himself to be the top boss in the Cosa Nostra.

The Apalachin Meeting

In November 1957, Genovese called a meeting of Cosa Nostra bosses in Apalachin, New York to approve his takeover of the Luciano family, and to establish his national power.

Instead, the Apalachin Meeting turned into a terrible fiasco, when law enforcement raided the venue.

Over 65 high ranking mobsters were arrested, and the Cosa Nostra was subjected to publicity and numerous grand jury summons.

The enraged mobsters blamed Genovese for this disaster, opening a window of opportunity for Genovese’s opponents.

Counter-Moves

Costello, Luciano, and Gambino met in a hotel in Palermo, Sicily, to discuss their plan of action. In his own power move, Gambino had deserted Genovese.

After their meeting, Luciano allegedly paid an American drug seller $100,000 to falsely implicate Genovese in a drug deal.

On April 4, 1959, Genovese was convicted in New York of conspiracy to violate federal narcotics laws.

Sent to prison for 15 years, Genovese tried to run his crime family from prison until his death in 1969. Meanwhile, Gambino now became the most powerful man in the Cosa Nostra.

Death and Legacy

On January 26, 1962, Luciano went to Naples International Airport to meet with American producer Martin Gosch about a film biography.

After the meeting with Gosch, Luciano was stricken with a heart attack, and died.

Unbeknownst to Luciano, Italian drug agents had followed him to the airport in anticipation of arresting him on drug smuggling charges.

Three days later, 300 people attended a funeral service for Luciano in Naples.

Luciano’s body was conveyed along the streets of Naples in a horse-drawn black hearse.

After receiving permission from the U.S. government, Luciano’s relatives brought his body back to New York for burial.

He was buried in St. John’s Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens. More than 2,000 mourners attended his funeral.

Luciano’s longtime friend, Gambino crime family boss Carlo Gambino, eulogized him at the funeral.

In 1998, Time magazine characterized Luciano as the “criminal mastermind” among the top 20 most influential builders and titans of the 20th century.

And here ends this titanic tale.

Hope you’ll be here, for our next story.

Till then.

Peace.

The Gunfighters: Robert Ford

Robert Newton “Bob” Ford (January 31, 1862 – June 8, 1892) was an American outlaw best known for killing his gang leader, Jesse James, in 1882.

In the Oscar-nominated film, “The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford” (2007), Casey Affleck (who bears a striking resemblance to the historical figure) played Robert Ford, opposite Brad Pitt, as Jesse James.

The film is considered as one of the most historically accurate portrayals of Jesse James and Robert Ford, even by James’ descendants, who found both performances more realistic and true to history than the dozens that came before them.

Video comes courtesy of YouTube:

That was Hollywood’s view.

Here’s the history:

Ford’s Early years

Robert Ford was born in Ray County, Missouri, to James Thomas Ford and his wife, the former Mary Bruin.

As a young man, he became an admirer of Jesse James for his American Civil War record, and for James’s criminal exploits. In 1880, he finally met James.

Ford’s brother Charles is believed to have taken part in the James gang’s Blue Cut train robbery in Jackson County near Glendale, Missouri (now part of Independence), on September 7, 1881.

Joining the James Gang

In November 1881, Jesse James moved his family to St. Joseph, Missouri. He intended to give up crime, but first wanted to stage one last robbery at Blue Cut, Missouri.

The James gang had been greatly reduced in numbers by that time. Some had fled the gang in fear of prosecution, and many of the original members were either dead or in prison after a botched robbery in Northfield, Minnesota. After the train robbery, Frank James decided to retire from crime, settling in Lynchburg, Virginia.

By the spring of 1882, with his gang depleted by arrests, deaths and defections, James thought that he could only trust the Ford brothers.
Charles had been out on raids with James before, but Bob was an eager new recruit.

The Fords resided in St. Joseph with the James family, where Jesse went by the alias of Thomas Howard. The Ford brothers passed themselves off as Bob and Charles Johnson, Howard’s cousins.

Betrayal

Hoping to keep the gang alive, James invited the Fords to take part in the robbery of the Platte City Bank, but the brothers had already decided not to take part, looking instead to collect the $10,000 bounty placed on the James brothers by Governor Thomas T. Crittenden.

In January 1882, Robert Ford and Dick Liddil surrendered to Sheriff James Timberlake at their sister Martha Bolton’s residence in Ray County. They were brought into a meeting with Crittenden for being in the presence of the James’s cousin, Wood Hite, the day Hite was murdered.

Crittenden allegedly promised Ford a full pardon, if he would also kill Jesse James – who was by then the most wanted criminal in the USA.

Killing Jesse James

On April 3, 1882, after eating breakfast, the Fords and James went into the living room in preparation for the trip to Platte City.

While reading the daily newspaper, James had just learned of gang member Dick Liddil’s confession for participating in Hite’s murder – and grew increasingly suspicious of the Fords for never reporting this matter to him.

According to Robert Ford, it became clear to him that James had realized they were there to betray him.

However, instead of confronting the Fords, James walked across the living room to lay his revolvers on a sofa. He then turned around and noticed a dusty picture above the mantle, and stood on a chair in order to clean it. Robert Ford then drew his weapon, and shot the unarmed Jesse James in the back of the head.

James’ wife Zerelda Mimms ran into the room and screamed, “You’ve killed him.”

Robert Ford’s immediate response was “I swear to God I didn’t.”

After The Assassination

After the assassination, the Fords wired Crittenden to claim their reward. They surrendered themselves to legal authorities, but were dismayed to find that they were charged with first degree murder.

In one day, the Ford brothers were indicted, pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to death by hanging. But two hours later, Crittenden granted them a full pardon.

Despite the deal that was made with Crittenden, the Ford brothers received only $500 – a fraction of the money they were originally promised.

Ford’s Later Years

For a time, Bob Ford earned money by posing for photographs as “the man who killed Jesse James” in dime museums. He also appeared on stage with his brother Charles, reenacting the murder in a touring stage show – but his performance was not well received. The way he had killed James – while his back was turned and he was unarmed – earned Ford much enmity from the residents of the various towns where they performed.

Charles, terminally ill with tuberculosis and addicted to morphine, committed suicide on May 4, 1884.

Soon afterward, Bob Ford and Dick Liddil relocated to Las Vegas, New Mexico, where they opened a saloon. By early 1885, Bob Ford had become a Las Vegas city policeman.

According to legend, Ford had a shooting contest with Jose Chavez y Chavez, a comrade-in-arms of Billy the Kid during the Lincoln County War. Ford lost the contest and left town.

On December 26, 1889, Ford survived an assassination attempt in Kansas City, Kansas, when an assailant tried to slit his throat.

Within a few years, Robert Ford had settled in Colorado, where he opened a saloon-gambling house in Walsenberg. When silver was found in Creede, Ford closed his saloon and opened one there.

On the eve of Easter 1892, Ford and gunman Joe Palmer, a member of the Soapy Smith gang, were drinking in the local saloons and proceeded to shoot out windows and street lamps along Creede’s Main Street. With the help of friends and business partners of Smith, they were soon allowed to return.

Ford purchased a plot of land in the city, and on May 29, 1892, opened Ford’s Exchange, said to have been a dance hall. Six days later, the entire business district, including Ford’s Exchange, burned to the ground in a major fire. Ford opened a tent saloon, until he could rebuild.

The Death of Robert Ford

Three days after the fire, on June 8, 1892, Edward Capehart O’Kelley entered Ford’s tent saloon with a shotgun.

According to witnesses, Ford’s back was turned.

O’Kelley said, “Hello, Bob.” As Ford turned to see who it was, O’Kelley fired both barrels, killing Ford instantly.

O’Kelley thus became “the man who killed the man who killed Jesse James.”

O’Kelley’s sentence was commuted because of a medical condition, and he was released on October 3, 1902.

He was subsequently killed on January 13, 1904 while trying to shoot a policeman.

Robert Ford was buried in Creede, but was later exhumed and reburied in Richmond in his native Ray County at Richmond Cemetery.

What goes around comes around.

I hope you’ll be around, for our next installment.

Till then.

Peace.

The Gunfighters: Doc Holliday

John Henry “Doc” Holliday (August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887) was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

In the years since his death, debate has continued about the exact crimes he may have committed during his life. And how many gunfights he was actually involved in.

Holliday’s cousin by marriage was Margaret Mitchell, who wrote “Gone With the Wind”.

A portrait, taken at the age of 20, supports accounts that Holliday had ash-blond hair. In early adulthood, he stood about 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) and weighed about 160 pounds (73 kg).

At the movies, Doc Holliday has been portrayed many times over the years. Among the most memorable performances was the one given by Val Kilmer, in the 1993 film, “Tombstone”. Video is courtesy of YouTube:

That’s the Hollywood version.

Here’s the history:

Early life and Education

John Henry Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia, to Henry Burroughs Holliday and Alice Jane Holliday (née McKey), on August 14, 1851. His father served in the Mexican–American War and the Civil War. His family baptized him at the First Presbyterian Church in 1852.

In 1864 his family moved to Valdosta, Georgia.

Holliday’s mother died of tuberculosis on September 16, 1866, when he was 15 years old. Three months later his father married Rachel Martin.

While in Valdosta, Holliday attended the Valdosta Institute, where he received a strong classical secondary education in rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, history, and languages – principally Latin, but also French and some Ancient Greek.

In 1870, the 19-year-old Holliday left home to begin dental school in Philadelphia.

On March 1, 1872, at the age of 20, he met the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery (which later merged with the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine). He graduated 5 months before his 21st birthday – which would have been problematic, since this age was needed both to hold a D.D.S. degree or to practice dentistry as anything other than a student under a preceptor, in Georgia.

After graduation, Holliday did not go home, but worked as an assistant with a classmate, A. Jameson Fuches, Jr., in St. Louis, Missouri.

By the end of July he had moved to Atlanta, where he lived with his uncle and his family while beginning his career as a dentist.

A few weeks before his birthday, the Atlanta papers carried an announcement by noted dentist Arthur C. Ford that Holliday would fill his place in the Atlanta office while he was attending dental meetings. This was the beginning of Holliday’s career in private practice as a dentist, but it lasted only until December.

Health Complications

Shortly after beginning his dental practice, Holliday was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

He may have contracted the disease from his mother, although he may also have caught it from a coughing or sneezing patient. Little or no precaution was taken against this during dental procedures, as tuberculosis was not known to be contagious until 1885.

He was given only a few months to live, but considered that moving to the drier and warmer southwestern United States might slow the deterioration of his health.

Gambler and Gunman

In September 1873, Holliday moved to Dallas, Texas, where he opened a dental office with fellow dentist and Georgian John A. Seegar. Their office was located between Market and Austin Streets along Elm Street, about three blocks east of the site of today’s Dealey Plaza.

Holliday soon began gambling and realized this was a more profitable source of income, since patients feared going to his office because of his persistent cough.

On May 12, 1874, Holliday and 12 others were indicted in Dallas for illegal gambling. He was arrested in Dallas in January 1875 after trading gunfire with a saloon-keeper, but no one was injured and he was found not guilty.

He moved his offices to Denison, Texas, and after being found guilty of, and fined for, “gaming” in Dallas, he decided to leave the state.

Holliday’s Travels

Holliday made his way to Denver, traveling the stage routes and staying at Army outposts along the way, practicing his trade as a gambler.

In the summer of 1875 he settled in Denver under the alias “Tom Mackey”, working as a Faro dealer for John A. Babb’s Theatre Comique at 357 Blake Street. Here he heard about gold being discovered in Wyoming, and on February 5, 1876 he relocated to Cheyenne, working as a dealer for Babb’s partner, Thomas Miller, who owned a saloon called the Bella Union.

In the fall of 1876, Miller moved the Bella Union to Deadwood (site of the gold rush in the Dakota Territory) and Holliday moved with him.

In 1877, Holliday returned to Cheyenne and Denver, eventually making his way to Kansas to visit an aunt.

He left Kansas and returned to Texas setting up as a gambler in the town of Breckenridge. On July 4, 1877 he got involved in an altercation with another gambler named Henry Kahn, whom Holliday beat with his walking stick repeatedly. Both men were arrested and fined, but later in the day, Kahn shot Holliday, wounding him seriously.

The Dallas Weekly Herald incorrectly reported Holliday as dead, in its July 7 edition.

His cousin, George Henry Holliday moved west to take care of him during his recovery.

Friends, at Fort Griffin

Fully recovered, Holliday relocated to Fort Griffin, Texas, where he met “Big Nose Kate” (Mary Katharine Horony) and began his long-time involvement with her.

In Fort Griffin, Holliday was initially introduced to Wyatt Earp through mutual friend John Shanssey.

Earp had stopped at Fort Griffin, Texas, before returning to Dodge City in 1878 to become the assistant city marshal, serving under Charlie Bassett.

The two began to form an unlikely friendship; Earp more even-tempered and controlled, Holliday hot-headed and impulsive.

This friendship was cemented in 1878 in a saloon at Dodge City, Kansas, where both Earp and Holliday had traveled to make money gambling with the cowboys who drove cattle from Texas. Holliday defended Earp in a saloon against a handful of cowboys out to kill Earp, and earned his lifelong gratitude.

Holliday was still practicing dentistry on the side from his rooms in Fort Griffin and in Dodge City, as indicated in an 1878 Dodge newspaper advertisement (he promised money back for less than complete customer satisfaction) – but this is the last known time he attempted to practice.

Gunfighter, or…?

Holliday was primarily a gambler.

Modern research has only identified three instances in which he shot someone.

One documented instance happened when Holliday was employed during a railroad dispute.

On July 19, 1879, Holliday and noted gunman John Joshua Webb were seated in a saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico when a former U.S. Army scout named Mike Gordon tried to persuade one of the saloon girls to leave her job and come away with him. When she refused, Gordon stormed outside and began firing into the building.

Holliday followed him and killed him before he could get off a second shot.

Holliday was placed on trial for the shooting but was acquitted, mostly based on the testimony of Webb.

In three of his four known pistol fights, he shot one opponent (Billy Allen) in the arm, one (Charles White) across the scalp, and missed one man (saloon keeper Charles Austin) entirely.

In an early incident in Tombstone in 1880, shortly after he arrived in town, a drunken Holliday managed to shoot Oriental Saloon owner Milt Joyce in the hand, and his bartender Parker in the toe (neither was the man Holliday originally quarreled with). For this, Holliday was fined for assault and battery.

With the exception of Mike Gordon in 1879, there are no newspaper or legal records to match the many unnamed men whom Holliday is credited with killing in popular folklore; the same is true for the several tales of knifings credited to Holliday by early biographers.

Some scholars have argued that Holliday may have allowed his reputation to remain as it was, and in reality may not have killed anyone.

Tombstone

Holliday, by this time, was as well known for his prowess as a gunfighter as for his gambling – although the latter was his trade, and the former simply a reputation.

Through his friendship with Wyatt and the other Earp brothers (especially Morgan and Virgil), Holliday made his way to the silver-mining boom town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, in September 1880. The Earps had been there since December 1879.

Some accounts state that the Earps sent for Holliday when they realized the problems they faced in their feud with the Cowboy faction.

In Tombstone, Holliday quickly became embroiled in the local politics and violence that led up to the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in October 1881.

O.K. Corral

The gunfight happened in front of, and next to, Fly’s boarding house and picture studio (where Holliday had a room), the day after a late night of hard drinking and poker with Ike Clanton. The Clantons and McLaurys collected in the space between the boarding house and the house west of it, before being confronted by the Earps. Holliday likely thought they were there specifically to assassinate him.

It is known Holliday carried a coach gun from the local stage office into the fight; he was given the weapon just before the fight by Virgil Earp, as Holliday was wearing a long coat which could conceal it. Virgil Earp in turn took Holliday’s walking stick. By not going visibly armed, Virgil was seeking to avoid panic in the citizenry of Tombstone, and in the Clantons and McLaurys.

An inquest and arraignment hearing determined the gunfight was not a criminal act on the part of Holliday and the Earps.

Aftermath of The Gunfight

The situation in Tombstone soon grew worse, when Virgil Earp was ambushed and permanently injured in December 1881. Morgan Earp was ambushed and killed in March 1882.

Holliday and Wyatt Earp stayed in Tombstone to exact retribution on Ike Clanton and the remaining Cowboys.

Their efforts culminated in the Earp Vendetta Ride, where Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a posse of their friends killed at least four men, in two weeks.

Holliday and four other members of the posse were still faced with warrants for the death of Frank Stilwell, a notorious Cowboy. The group elected to leave the Arizona Territory for New Mexico and then Colorado.

While in Trinidad, Colorado, Wyatt Earp and Holliday parted ways, going separately to different parts of Colorado.

Holliday arrived in Colorado in mid-April 1882.

Denver Extradition Hearing

On May 15, 1882, Holliday was arrested in Denver on the Arizona warrant for murdering Frank Stilwell.

Wyatt Earp – fearing that Holliday would not receive a fair trial in Arizona – asked his friend Bat Masterson, Chief of Police of Trinidad, Colorado, to help get Holliday released. The extradition hearing was set for May 30.

Late in the evening of May 29, Masterson needed help getting an appointment with Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin. He contacted E. D. Cowen, capital reporter for the Denver Tribune, who held political sway in town.

After meeting with Masterson, Pitkin was persuaded by whatever evidence he presented, and refused to honor Arizona’s extradition request.

Masterson took Holliday to Pueblo, where he was released on bond two weeks after his arrest.

Holliday and Wyatt met briefly after Holliday’s release, during June 1882 in Gunnison.

The Death of Johnny Ringo

On July 14, 1882, Cowboy stalwart Johnny Ringo was found dead in the crotch of a large tree in West Turkey Creek Valley, near Chiricahua Peak, Arizona Territory, with a bullet hole in his right temple and a revolver hanging from a finger of his hand.

The book, “I Married Wyatt Earp”, supposedly written by Josephine Marcus Earp, reported that Wyatt Earp and Holliday returned to Arizona to find and kill Ringo. Actually written by Glen Boyer, the book states that Holliday killed Ringo with a rifle shot at a distance, contradicting the coroner’s ruling that Ringo’s death was a suicide.

However, Boyer’s book has been discredited as a fraud and a hoax that cannot be relied upon.

Official records of the Pueblo County, Colorado District Court indicate that both Holliday and his attorney appeared in court there on July 11, 14 and 18, 1882.

Author Karen Holliday Tanner, in “Doc Holliday, A Family Portrait”, speculated that Holliday may not have been in Pueblo at the time of the court date, citing a writ of habeas corpus issued for him in court on July 11. She believes that only his attorney may have appeared on his behalf that day, in spite of the wording of a court record that indicated he may have appeared in person.

There is no doubt that Holliday arrived in Salida, Colorado on July 7, as reported in a town newspaper. This is 500 miles (800 km) from the site of Ringo’s death – six days before the shooting.

The End of the Line

Holliday spent the rest of his life in Colorado. After a stay in Leadville, he suffered from the high altitude. He increasingly depended on alcohol and laudanum to ease the symptoms of tuberculosis, and his health and his ability to gamble began to deteriorate.

In 1887, prematurely gray and badly ailing, Holliday made his way to the Hotel Glenwood, near the hot springs of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He hoped to take advantage of the reputed curative power of the waters, but the sulfurous fumes from the spring may have done his lungs more harm than good.

As he lay dying, Holliday is reported to have asked the nurse attending him at the Hotel Glenwood for a shot of whiskey. When she told him no, he looked at his bootless feet, amused. The nurses said that his last words were, “Damn, this is funny.”

Holliday died at 10am, November 8, 1887. He was 36.

Although the legend persists that Wyatt Earp was present when Holliday died, Earp did not learn of Holliday’s death until two months afterward. Big Nose Kate later said she attended to him in his final days, but it is also doubtful that she was present.

In a newspaper interview, Holliday was once asked if his conscience ever troubled him. He is reported to have said, “I coughed that up with my lungs, years ago.”

Big Nose Kate, his long-time companion, remembered Holliday’s reaction after his role in the O.K. Corral gunfight. She reported that Holliday came back to his room, sat on the bed, wept and said, “that was awful – awful”.

Complex, and contradictory.

That wraps it up, for this one.

I hope you’ll join me, for the next installment.

Till then.

Peace.