1943_in_organized_crime

1940s in organized crime

1940s in organized crime

Overview of the events of the 1940s in organized crime

This is a list of organized crime in the 1940s, arranged chronologically.

Quick Facts List of years in organized crime ...

1940

Events

  • James J. Hines, the leader of Tammany Hall, the New York City Democratic organization, goes to prison for arranging political protection for Dutch Schultz's policy and numbers rackets in Harlem, New York.
  • Brooklyn mobster Seymour "Blue Jaw" Magoon agrees to become a government informant and provides information on the Murder, Inc. organization.
  • After a failed attempt on his life, New Jersey racketeer Max Rubin agrees to cooperate with law enforcement.
  • Brooklyn racketeer James "Dizzy" Feraco is murdered by rival gunmen.
  • February 2 – Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, a member of Murder, Inc., is arrested. District Attorney William O'Dwyer charges Reles with robbery, assault, possession of narcotics, burglary, disorderly conduct, and eight charges of murder. In exchange for a reduced sentence, Reles would agree to testify against the members of Murder, Inc., and provides information on the National Crime Syndicate. Phil and Martin Goldstein, Emmanuel Weiss, and Murder Inc. leader Louis "Lepke" Buchalter are some of the mobsters who would be convicted by Reles' testimony.
  • April – George Scalise, New York labor racketeer and president of the Building Service and Employee's International Union of New York, is indicted for extortion.
  • May 23 – Murder, Inc. members Harry Maione and Frank Abbandando, based on the testimony of Abe Reles, are convicted of the 1937 murder of Brooklyn loan shark George "Whitey" Rudnick. While the decision would be overturned on appeal, a second trial would find them guilty and result in death sentences for both men.
  • July 31 – Whitey Krakower, a government informant, is murdered by New York mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

Arts and literature

Births

Deaths

  • James Feraco "Dizzy", New York (Brooklyn) racketeer
  • July 10 – Fred Burke aka Frederick Dane "Killer", Member of Egan's Rats and freelance syndicate hitman
  • July 31 – Whitey Krakower, government informant

1941

Events

  • Syndicate hitman Charles "The Bug" Workman, a suspect in the murder of Dutch Schultz, is imprisoned.
  • February – Emil Nizich, a minor organized crime figure involved in labor racketeering, is shot three times from behind and left in a gutter while on his way to a basketball game in Manhattan.
  • February 6 – Benjamin "Benny the Boss" Tannenbaum, an associate of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro, is murdered while babysitting at a friends house.
  • June 12 – Murder Inc. members Harry Strauss and Martin Goldstein are executed by electrocution for the murder of gambler "Puggy" Feinstein.
  • November 12 – Abe Reles, co-boss of Murder, Inc. turned informant, mysteriously plummets to his death from his guarded hotel room after Albert Anastasia promises a $100,000 reward for his demise.

Births

Deaths

1942

Events

Births

Deaths

1943

Events

  • January 11 – Carlo Tresca, editor of the Socialist Italian-language newspaper Il Martello, is murdered in Manhattan after seeking political asylum in the United States. Tresca's assassination, supposedly carried out by mobster Carmine Galante, was said to have been arranged by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's fascist government.
  • January 25 – New York mobster Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese becomes a naturalized US citizen despite efforts of the U.S. government to thwart it.
  • February 2 – Chicago's "Queen of the Dice Girls" and Outfit-associate girlfriend, Estelle Carey, is found brutally murdered and burned, possibly in connection to The Outfit – Hollywood extortion scandal then under federal investigation.
  • March 18 – Several high-ranking members of the Chicago Outfit including Francesco "Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti" Nitto, Felice "Paul 'The Waiter' Ricca" DeLucia, Phil D'Andrea, Charles "Cherry Nose" Gioe, Lou Kaufman, Louis "Little New York" Campagna and Filippo "John 'Handsome Johnny' Roselli" Sacco are indicted by a federal grand jury in connection to extortion operations against Hollywood movie studios by Outfit turncoat William Morris "Willie" Bioff.
  • March 19 – Shortly after being indicted for extortion, Outfit boss Francesco "Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti" Nitto commits suicide near a Riverside, Illinois railroad yard. Nitti kills himself because underboss Paul Ricca insists that Nitti take responsibility for the Hollywood extortion operation and serve the prison term, because Nitti brought the likes of Outfit turncoat William Morris "Willie" Bioff into the Hollywood scheme. However, Nitti suffers from severe claustrophobia. Antonino "Tony," "Joe Batters" Accardo succeeds Nitti as the day-to-day boss of the organization, while Ricca gets a prison sentence.
  • July 9–10 – The Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) ends August 17 in an Allied victory. Sicilian Mafia boss Calogero Vizzini allegedly helps the American army during the invasion. In the US, the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) had recruited Mafia support to protect the New York waterfront from Axis Powers sabotage since the US had entered the war in December 1941. The ONI collaborated with Charles "Lucky" Luciano and his partner Meyer Lansky, a Jewish mobster, in what was called Operation Underworld. The resulting Mafia contacts were also used by the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) – the wartime predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – during the invasion of Sicily. Popular myth has it that a US Army airplane had flown over Vizzini’s home town Villalba on the day of the invasion and dropped a yellow silk handkerchief marked with a black L (indicating Luciano). Two days later, three American tanks rolled into Villalba after driving thirty miles through enemy territory. Vizzini climbed aboard and spent the next six days traveling through western Sicily organizing support for the advancing American troops. As General Patton's Third Division moved onward the signs of its dependence on Mafia support were obvious to the local population. The Mafia protected the roads from snipers, arranged enthusiastic welcomes for the advancing troops, and provided guides through the confusing mountain terrain.[1][2] Many historians are inclined to dismiss this legend nowadays.[3] The American Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT) looking for anti-fascist notables to replace fascist authorities made Don Calogero Vizzini mayor of Villalba, as well as an Honorary Colonel of the US Army. Because of his excellent connections, Vizzini also became the ‘king’ of the rampant post-war black market.[2] AMGOT relied on mafiosi who were considered staunch anti-fascists because of the repression under Benito Mussolini. Many other mafiosi, such as Calogero Vizzini and Giuseppe Genco Russo, were appointed as mayors of their own home towns. Coordinating the AMGOT effort was the former lieutenant-governor of New York, Colonel Charles Poletti, whom Luciano once described as "one of our good friends." The US Military grants Michele Navarra, the Mafia boss of Corleone, permission to collect abandoned military vehicles left by the Italian army during the allied invasion of Sicily.
  • October 28 – Former leader of the New Orleans crime family Carlo Matranga dies in Los Angeles, California of natural causes.
  • December 22 – Paul Ricca, Louis Campagna, John Roselli and four other defendants are convicted of extortion with each fined $10,000 and received prison sentences ranging from seven-to-10 years. They "walk" after three years, because of some dubious, behind-the-scenes mischief between The Outfit and the U.S. Justice Department, during the Truman Administration.

Births

Deaths

1944

Events

  • New York mobster Joe Adonis leaves Brooklyn eventually moving to Palisades Park, New Jersey.
  • January 14 - Benjamin "Zookie the Bookie" Zuckerman, a member of the Chicago syndicate involved in illegal gambling, is killed.
  • March 4 - Emmanuel "Mendy" Weiss, a syndicate hitman and a suspected gunman in the murder of Dutch Schultz, is executed.
  • March 4 – Murder, Inc. leader Louis Buchalter is sent to the electric chair and executed by the state of New York. He is the last member of Murder, Inc. to be executed.
  • April 22 – Frank Abatte, a major racketeer of Calumet City, Illinois who has been missing since Feb. 24, is found murdered near Hot Springs, Arkansas.
  • April 23 – Rocco Perri disappeared, and his body never found
  • August 6 - Chicago Outfit enforcer William Daddano, Sr. arrested for attempted robbery of three million war ration stamps.
  • August 7 – Vito Genovese, eluding U.S. authorities for over a decade following his indictment for the 1934 murder of Ferdinand Boccia, is finally apprehended in Italy and deported back to the United States to stand trial. However, shortly after his arrival on June 1, 1945, the governments star witness dies of an "overdose of sedatives" while in protective custody. Genovese was eventually acquitted of charges on June 10, 1946.
  • September 16 – Leaders of the Blocco del popolo (The Popular Front) in Sicily, the communist Girolamo Li Causi and socialist Michele Pantaleone, went to speak to the landless labourers at an election rally in Villalba, challenging Mafia boss Calogero Vizzini in his own personal fiefdom. Li Causi denounced the unjust exploitation of the peasantry by the Mafia. The rally ended in a shoot-out which left 18 people wounded including Li Causi and Pantaleone. In the following years, left-wing leaders in Sicily were killed or otherwise attacked, culminating in the killing of 11 people and the wounding of over thirty at the May 1, 1947, labour parade in "Portella di Ginestra", the vale between three villages. The attack was attributed to the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano. However, the Mafia was suspected of involvement in many of the attacks on left wing labour leaders.
  • October 19 – Cleveland crime syndicate Alfred "Big Al" Polizzi pleads guilty for failing to pay federal liquor taxes and, following his release from prison in 1945, retires to Coral Gables, Florida. John Scalish assumes Polizzi's role as head of the Cleaveland family, shortly after Polizzi's imprisonment.

Births

Deaths

1945

Events

  • Vito Genovese, after living in Sicily for several years, returns to the United States. He is finally tried for the 1937 murder of Ferdinand Boccia and is acquitted. Soon after the trial, Genovese establishes himself in the Luciano crime family where he would compete for dominance against Frank Costello.
  • February 24 – Cleveland racketeer Nathan Weisenberg, the "Slots King of Ohio", whose monopoly on vending and slot machines stretches as far as Arizona and Colorado, is murdered by members of the Cleveland crime syndicate.

Births

Deaths

1946

Events

Births

Deaths

  • June 24 – James M. Ragen, Chicago mobster and co-founder of the Ragen's Colts street gang
  • April 13 – Tommy Vescetti, Los Angeles mobster, assassinated in cafe.

1947

Events

  • New York gangster Albert Anastasia moves to Palisades Park, New Jersey, where he becomes an associate of Joe Adonis and meets regularly with other New Jersey organized crime figures such as Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo and the Moretti brothers.
  • Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro dies in prison while serving a life sentence. Shapiro had been a leader of the Murder Inc. organization in New York.
  • Carl Shelton, co-founder of the Prohibition-era Shelton Gang, is murdered by former gang member Frank "Buster" Wortman.
  • Edwin Rogers Lowenstein, supported by Cleveland mobsters Moe Dalitz and Morris Kleinman, establishes bookmaking operations under E.R. Lowe & Co. with Harold Fischer and Fred Kreisler in Tucson, Arizona and Albuquerque, New Mexico This becomes one of the earliest syndicate criminal activities in the Southwestern United States and is eventually known as the "Tucson Front". The Tucson Front would later include front businesses such as the hotel chain run by George Gordon.
  • January 8 – Andy Hintz, a New York stevedore and local waterfront hiring boss, is shot six times and severely wounded by three unidentified men while leaving his Greenwich Village apartment. Hintz survives the shooting and identifies his assailants as longshoreman John M. "Cockeye" Dunn, Andrew "Squint" Sheridan and Danny Gentile. On January 29, Hintz would finally die from his wounds.
  • January 25 – Al Capone dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in his Miami, Florida estate as a result of advanced syphilis.
  • February 22 – U.S. mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano is arrested by Cuban authorities under pressure from the United States Government. Deported to Italy after World War II, Luciano had become a Cuban resident October 1946. While in Cuba, Luciano was reportedly in contact with high ranking U.S. organized crime figures including Vito Genovese, Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia, Tony Accardo, Carlos Marcello and Meyer Lansky. On March 20, Cuba would deport Luciano back to Italy.
  • March 27 - Thomas Buffa, a drug trafficker and associate of Tony Lopiparo, is killed in Lodi, California.[6]
  • May 1 – At the labour parade in Portella della Ginestra, Sicily, 11 people are killed and over thirty are wounded. The attack would later be attributed to Salvatore Giuliano, the Sicilian bandit and separatist leader. Mafia leaders like Calogero Vizzini had initially supported Guiliano and his separatist movement. However, when it became clear that Sicily would never achieve independence, Vizzini changed sides and joined the Italian Christian Democrat (DC – Democrazia Cristiana) party. Bernardo Mattarella, one of the party’s leaders, had welcomed Vizzini in a 1945 article in the Catholic newspaper Il Popolo. Vizzini’s support for the DC would never be a secret. During the crucial 1948 elections that would decide Italy’s post-war future, Vizzini and Mafia boss Giuseppe Genco Russo would share a table with leading DC politicians attending an electoral lunch. In 1950, Vizzini would allegedly help Italian police capture and kill Giuliano.
  • May 5 – The "Black Diamond Meeting" is held in New Orleans to name a successor to "Silver Dollar" Sam Carolla, who would soon be deported from the United States. Attendees include Carolla underboss Frank Todaro; capos Thomas Rizzuto, Nick Grifazzi, Joseph Capro and Frank Lombardino; Carolla's son Anthony Carolla, and Carlos Marcello. During this meeting, Carolla passes his leadership role to Todaro. However, by 1950 underboss Carlos Marcello would control organized crime in New Orleans.
  • May 7/9 – Nicholas DeJohn, a Chicago mobster and San Francisco crime leader, is found strangled to death in the trunk of a car in San Francisco. Leonard Calamia, a syndicate gunman and known drug trafficker, is charged with his murder, but is later acquitted.
  • June 20 – Mobster Benjamin Siegel is killed by an unidentified gunman at the Beverly Hills, California home of girlfriend Virginia Hill. Siegal had built The Flamingo hotel and casino in Las Vegas using millions of dollars in Mafia money.
  • September 20 – New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, a major opponent of organized crime, dies of cancer.

Arts and literature

Births

Deaths

1948

Events

Deaths

  • July 16 – Charles Yarnowsky, Jersey City, New Jersey syndicate mobster
  • August 10 – John DiBiaso, Charles Yarnowski lieutenant

1949

Events

  • September 16 – Philip "Little Farfel" Kavolick, a member of Meyer Lansky's syndicate organization, is murdered in Valley Stream, New York.
  • November 25 – Robert "Tinman" Sneddon, notorious Irish gangster, evades police in Boston, Massachusetts after a warrant is issued for his arrest.

Arts and literature

Births

Deaths

References

  1. [1]
    Hoodlums & History[permanent dead link], Time Magazine, August 5, 1966, review of the book "The Mafia and Politics" by Michele Pantaleone.
  2. [2]
    The Mafia Restored: Fighters for Democracy in World War II Archived 2011-04-17 at the Wayback Machine, The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, Alfred W. McCoy.
  3. [3]
    Lupo, History of the Mafia, p. 187
  4. [4]
    "Puparo's Gangland History of the Chicago Boroughs Part 3". Gangsters Inc. September 25, 2013. Chicago killers Lenny Patrick and David Yaras. They shot and killed 14 January 1944 Ben Zuckerman "Zuckie the Bookie" (his financial backer Willie Galatz) in font [sic] of his home at 4042 Wilcox street. The killers are thought to have been Lenny Patrick and David Yaras. Also Lawrence "Dago" Mangano was a suspect in the murder of Ben Zuckerman.
  5. [5]
    "Gambler Killed; Pal Dies," by Frank Cipriani, The Chicago Tribune, Jan. 15, 1944
  6. [6]
    "Tom Buffa Shot While in Car," Lodi News-Sentinel, March 28, 1947.
  7. [7]
    "Former Convict Found Stabbed," Bergen Evening Record (Hackensack, NJ), July 17, 1948.
  8. [8]
    "Police Work on Slim Clues in Gangland-Type Shooting," Bergen Evening Record (Hackensack, NJ), August 11, 1948.
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