Chronicles of Events and Biographies Related to the American Mafia
When discussing the most dangerous men in American organized crime, names like Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, and John Gotti often dominate the conversation. Yet few gangsters inspired the fear that surrounded Harry “Pittsburgh Phil” Strauss. Unlike the famous bosses who built criminal empires and controlled powerful crime families, Strauss built his reputation through violence. He…
The Kansas City Crime Family, also known as the Civella crime family, rose to power during the Prohibition era in the 1920s.
On March 7, 2019, Carmine Persico died at the Duke Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. At the time of his death, Persico had spent over 30 years in prison for crimes committed as the head of the Colombo Crime Family. However, despite the fact that he’d been behind bars for decades, Persico had remained…
Simone DeCavalcante The New Jersey Mafia is a shadow of what it once was. It fell victim to its own hubris, and to new law enforcement technologies that allowed police and FBI agents to maintain relentless pressure on it. However, in the 1960s the New Jersey mob was riding high. Long a “wild west” area…
The popular Sopranos television series may helped make New Jersey’s connections to the Mafia and organized crime a popular discussion topic at dinner tables across America. However, long before the Sopranos there was an actual mafia network running criminal activities across the Hudson River that divides New Jersey from New York (and the Five Families…
Ralph Capone Sr. was born on January 12, 1894 in Angri, Italy. He was one of nine siblings born to Gabriel and Teresa Capone, and the older brother to Al “Scarface” Capone, future boss of the Chicago outfit. Ralph, his brother Vincenzo, and his mother arrived in the United States at Ellis Island on June…
On July 13, 1967 Gaetano “Tommy” Lucchese developed a fatal brain tumor and died at his home in Long Island. Over 1000 mourners attended his funeral including several levels of Mafia associates, politicians, and placement. Gambino organized the funeral and hand-picked Carmine “Gribbs” Tramunti as Lucchese’s successor. On June 28, 1971 Joe Colombo boss of…
Mickey Cohen was the mob king of Los Angeles, the Jewish gangster who once ran the Hollywood underworld. Renowned for his violent temper and tabloid exploits, he was one of the premier gangsters on the West Coast, and worked with such high-profile names as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and Al Capone. Meyer Harris Cohen was born…
Aniello “Neil” Dellacroce was born in New York on March 15, 1914 to Italian American immigrants named Francesco and Antoinette Dellacroce. He had had one brother, Carmine and grew up in Little Italy, a section of Manhattan. As an adult he would sometimes wear a priest uniform to throw off law enforcement as he climbed…
Carmine Tramunti also known as “Mr. Gribbs” was born on October 1, 1910 in Manhattan, New York. He lived most of his early years in a tenement building in Harlem. In 1930 at 20 years old, Tramunti accosted a rent collector in his neighborhood robbing him for his collections. He was arrested but later released due…
Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo was born in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York on April 7, 1929 and is one of three sons to Prohibition bootlegger Umberto Gallo. His brother’s Larry and Albert “Kid Blast” Gallo were never deterred from entering a life of crime from their parents. Subsequently each of the brother’s…
Alphonse Gabriel “Al Capone” led Chicago’s Mafia during its Prohibition heyday, rising from obscurity as a Brooklyn tough to become the best-known mobster in America. Capone’s empire encompassed illegal liquor, gambling and prostitution in Chicago during the 1920s. He reaped a reputation among many as the most violent man in the country while convincing others…
Nicolo Terranova was born in Corleone Italy in 1890. When he was two years old his family, including his brother’s Ciro, Vincenzo and four sisters immigrated to the United States. They arrived in New York on March 8, 1893 joining their step brother Guiseppe Morello who arrived six months earlier. The Terranova family stayed in…
Greg Scarpa, Sr., was born on May 8, 1928 near Venice, Italy and immigrated to the United States with his parents and brother Salvatore at a young age. The 1950’s were a busy time for Scarpa. He married Connie Forrest and had four children, maintained a relationship with girlfriend Linda Schiro having two more children,…
Thomas Anthony DeSimone was born on May 24, 1950. He was an Italian- American mobster that worked as an associate of the Lucchese crime family of New York and was one of the real-life goodfellas. Tommy or “Two-Gun Tommy” because he always had two guns, had three siblings, a sister named Delores and two brothers,…