american gangsters - the rise & fall of the mafia 2014

FROM AL

“SCARFACE”

CAPONE to the

“Dapper Don” John Gotti,

the American Mob’s

history is written in

blood. Lawmen insist

they’ve finally brought

the Mafia to heel, but this

explosive Special Report

from the editors of

The National ENQUIRER

exposes the shocking

truth – the names have

changed but a new

generation of godfathers

pulling the strings in our

cities and spreading

terror on our streets.

And, what’s worse, is they

are even MORE savage

than the racketeers who

built the Syndicate.

INCOLD BLOOD

uJust two weeks into his job,

newly promoted Gambino

Family underboss Thomas

Bilotti got fired the hard

way – with six bullets in the

head and chest – and was left

to bleed out in the street in

front of New York’s trendy

Sparks Steak House. The Dec.

16, 1985, execution sent a very

direct message: John Gotti

now owned the town!

editor in chief

Tony Frost

executive editor

Dan Dolan

design director

Martin Elfers

photo director

Ray Fairall

senior editors

David Gardner, Don Gentile

photo editor

Christine Visoke

designer

Nicole Perron

contributors

Susan Baker, Len Feldman, Christine Reed, Jordan Rodack

chief copy editor

Debbie Ryan

copy editor

Evan Karlan

assistant photo editor

Rochelle Wagener

research director

Mireya Throop

researchers

Stephanie Keiper Barbara Koskie Laurie Miller

Alison Rayman

production director

Matt Skowronski

National Enquirer (ISSN 1056-3482) is

published weekly by American Media, Inc.,

4 New York Plaza, 4th Fl, New York, NY 10004.

Copyright American Media, Inc. 2013.

All rights reserved. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Z

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American Media, Inc.

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Executive V.P./Consumer Marketing

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Executive V.P./Chief Financial

Officer/Treasurer

Chris Polimeni

E.V.P./Chief Digital Officer

Joseph M. Bilman

E.V.P./Digital Media Operations/CIO

David S. Thompson

c o n t e n t s 3-5 rise & fall

6-13 beer barons

14-15 mustache petes

16-17 lucky

luciano

18-19 murder, inc.

20-29 glory days

30-36 mafia hit parade

37 apalachin

38 j. edgar

hoover

39-48 top 20 mob

movies

49 joe valachi

50-53 john gotti

54-55 downfall

56-57 meyer lansky

58-59 mafia’s

new kings

60-62 outlaw bikers

63-67 hip-hop killers

68-69 russian mafia

70-72 los Zetas

73-75 prison gangs

76-77 ms-13

78-80 tv gangsters

6

30

39

60

The underworld ‘Code of Honor’

is a romantic myth masking murder, greed

& corruption

KINGDOM OF SIN

“You always have to use

your brains in this

thing, and you always

have to use your gun.”

That was ruthless

Philadelphia Mob boss

“Little Nicky” Scarfo’s

advice to his real-life

nephew Phil Leonetti,

who went on to big things in the City of

Brotherly Love’s violent underworld.

“Crazy Phil” learned early that secrets,

savvy, violence and bribery were the keys to

becoming a “man of respect” like his Uncle

Nicky. From the time he was a kid, he saw

racketeers as glamorous figures – Regular

Joes with guns – forced by circumstance

to make hard choices to survive.

And he wasn’t alone in that view.

Prohibition had polished the Mafia’s Robin

Hood image and made the gangsters rich

beyond measure.

Sure they were crooks, but the Syndi-

cate provided goods and services – booze,

a m e r i C a n / 3 / g a n g s T e r s

narcotics, sex and gambling – that

were in big demand, but in short sup-

ply. Besides, no one got hurt – except

other gangsters.

So it was easy to look away from

the grim reality: The Mafia actually

fed on murder, corruption, greed

and betrayal and threatened the

nation’s very core.

U N D E R T H E M O B ’ s s P E L L

Even celebs like Frank Sinatra,

Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Lana

Turner, Donna Reed and Phyllis

McGuire fell under the Mob’s

spell. Incredibly, Hollywood’s

movie idols have been proud to

call ruthless killers their pals, or

even lovers!

When Colombo Family boss

Andrew “Andy Mush” Russo was

scooped up by Feds in 2011, actor

James Caan, who played Sonny

Corleone in “The Godfather,”

offered to post his bail.

Revealing the racketeer was

his “Hawaii Five-O” TV star son

Scott Caan’s real-life godfather,

the movie tough guy called Russo

“as good a friend as any person

could ask for.”

But the truth, according to

wise guys and cops, is mobsters

don’t really have friends – or

scruples of any kind. Former

federal prosecutor James Walden

calls the Mob “a pack of rats that

eat anything in their path, including

each other.”

Says a veteran New York City

detective: “The Mafia Code of Honor

is a myth. They kill their brothers,

cousins and uncles. Betrayal is the

Cosa Nostra’s stock in trade. The only

real rule is: Look out for Number One.”

Over the years, lawmen have

exploited mobsters’ self-interest to

bring the Syndicate to its knees. Fac-

ing execution or life without parole,

racketeers have been singing like

canaries to save their own skins and

help put away other “goodfellas.”

As a result, the Mafia’s once-iron

grasp on the nation’s big-money

criminal enterprises has weakened.

New tougher, even more bloodthirsty

gangs have muscled in on the Cosa

Nostra’s turf.

With the rise of the ruthless Rus-

sian Mafia and Latin drug cartels,

the godfathers’ glory days are gone,

and today’s “made men” rule over a

shrinking kingdom of sin.

As TV hood Tony Soprano told his

crew: “It’s good to be in something

from the ground floor. I came too late

for that. But lately, I’m getting the

feeling that I came in at the end. The

best is over.” v

uRacketeer Moe “Mr. Las Vegas” Dalitz (left) was very chummy with Elvis

Presley! The gangster, who got his start as a Cleveland bootlegger, visited The

King on the Hollywood set of “G.I. Blues,” co-starring beautiful Juliet Prowse.

Desert Inn casino owner Wilbur Clark and his wife Toni also stopped by.

Clark “sold” his Cuban casino to crime king Meyer Lansky

uChicago’s big boss Sam

Giancana (above) was singer Phyllis

McGuire’s boyfriend. Lana Turner

(below) was gangster Johnny

Stompanato’s lover

a m e r i C a n / 4 / g a n g s T e r s

u Grinning

ear-to-ear,

Frank Sinatra

gets cozy

with Tommy

“Fatso”

Marson,

Don Carlo

Gambino,

a powerful

New York

godfather,

and wise

guy Jimmy

“The Weasel”

Fratianno,

who ended up

ratting them

all out

uReal-life godfather Andy

“Mush” Russo enjoys a

smoke as he strolls through

Manhattan followed by his

good buddy, James Caan, who

played one of Hollywood’s

most famous mobsters,

Sonny Corleone

Beer, Bullets & BloodshedHow the Mob conquered AMericA

A M e r i c A n / 6 / g A n g s t e r s

On Jan. 17, 1920, the 18th

Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution went into

effect. Prohibition had

arrived. Booze was illegal

– and America was

changed forever.

So convinced were

legislative do-gooders that

alcohol was at the root of all crime, some

towns actually sold their jails because

they thought they wouldn’t be needed.

But, in fact, they really should have

built more!

W H I S P E R A P A S S W O R D

Racketeers took over during Ameri-

ca’s “Noble Experiment,” which lasted

until 1933, by serving up an ocean

of booze to a still-thirsty nation. Un-

told millions poured into the coffers of

Mafia families, Jewish gangs, the Irish

mobs and other outlaws who became the

beer barons of the Roaring Twenties.

Some 30,000 speakeasies, so named

because you had to whisper a pass-

word to get in, opened for business in

the big cities – and even the tiniest town.

Incredibly, President Warren Harding

had an illegal liquor stash in the White

House! Another hilarious indication

Prohibition was doomed to fail occurred

during a bootlegging case in Los Angeles:

The jurors drank the evidence!

S A m P l I n g S E I z E D S tA S H

The 12 thirsty men argued they’d

simply been sampling the seized stash

to determine whether or not it contained

alcohol, which they determined it did.

The case was tossed.

In Chicago, Mafia strongman Al

Capone and rival Irish mobster Bugs

Moran got the beer and liquor trucks roll-

ing, adding bootlegging to their gambling,

theft and prostitution enterprises.

In Detroit, the murderous Purple Gang,

mostly Jewish thugs associated with Ca-

pone, smuggled in whiskey from Canada.

Crime lord Arnold Rothstein oversaw

rum runners that brought in boatloads

of liquor for the New York speakeasies.

His proteges included future Mafia

kingpin Lucky Luciano and Luciano’s Ú

uBeer – and blood – flowed freely

in Prohibition-era America as rival

gangs fought to slake the nation’s

thirst. These two Los Angeles-based

bootleggers had their last supper

interrupted by a hail of bullets

uEven President Warren G. Harding

kept a stash of outlawed booze


It was saId arnold

rothsteIn fIxed the 1919

world serIes, masterminded legendary racehorse Man o’ War’s only loss and was the reason Gene Tunney took the heavyweight boxing title from much-favored Jack Dempsey in September 1926.

True or not, Rothstein won nearly $1 million betting against long odds on those legendary sporting events – and word was he never took chances!

f E A R E D P O O l S H A R k

The son of a Jewish merchant, Arnold didn’t ever want to do real work. He was a feared pool shark by his early teens, then a protege of New York City’s biggest gamblers. In 1904, he opened his own gambling house and soon emerged as the main money man behind Broadway’s floating crap games.

By the time the Chicago White Sox were bribed to lose the championship to

u Barrels of bootleg beer are emptied into

the sewers by cops, who were often hired

by gangsters to intercept – and destroy –

rival racketeers’ shipments

Arnold rothstein rAn out of luck

uGambler Arnold Rothstein was shot and

killed – after refusing to pay a poker debt. His

body was put in a pine box and hauled off for

an autopsy on Nov. 4, 1928


the Cincinnati Reds, Rothstein was the underworld’s leading bail bondsman and was widely whispered to be the secret bankroll behind many rising criminal gangs.

Arnold was never charged in the World Series’ debacle, though it’s believed that – at the very least – he knew “a fix” was in. The scandal brought Rothstein to public attention, and during Prohibition, he remained a familiar figure at the nation’s racetracks and along New York’s Great White Way.

m R . B R O A D W AY

But Rothstein was, indeed, a man who lived in the shadows – like “a big gray rat waiting for his cheese,” said his own criminal defense lawyer William Fallon, who represented Arnold in the World Series fiasco.

Whatever the action was, bootlegging, drugs, bribery and especially gambling, Rothstein’s fingers were sure to be in it.

A cultured man, he was known by many names – A. R., The Fixer, The Big Bankroll, and The Brain. He was Mr. Broadway and had his own booth at the famous Lindy’s restaurant.

But gamblers do drop bundles from time to time, and through October 1928, all Broadway was abuzz with the story of the three-day stud poker game that cost Rothstein more than $300,000.

He was stalling the payoff, and his fellow players were displeased. On the night of Nov. 4, Rothstein was holding court at Lindy’s when he took a phone call at 10:20 p.m.

On the line was one George McManus, a flamboyant Broadway character who’d been present at the marathon stud game.

There would be a brief creditors’ conference in the nearby Park Central Hotel, McManus informed him. Rothstein appeared untroubled by

the prospect. He declined someone’s offer of a handgun and strolled away whistling.

Forty minutes later, a hotel worker found the 46-year-old Rothstein crumpled at the servant’s entrance, his stomach pierced by a single bullet. Through his final, gasping hours, he refused to name his killer.

“You stick to your trade, I’ll stick to mine...Me mudder did it,” he told cops at his hospital bedside.

A headline the next day seemed fitting: “Death – The Only Game He Couldn’t Fix.” v

good friend and partner, Meyer

Lansky.

In Atlantic City, N. J., defiant –

and very corrupt – political boss

Enoch “Nucky” Johnson openly de-

clared his New Jersey seaside resort

a haven for the thirsty.

D R O P - O f f P O I n t

“We have whiskey, wine, women,

song and slot machines. The people

want them,” proclaimed Johnson,

whose city shoreline was a major

drop-off point for illegal liquor

coming from overseas.

Across the country, Mob killers

whose names would become

infamous turned to bootlegging.

There was handsome Johnny

Roselli helping Hollywood’s

stars enjoy a drink. Public Enemy

No. 1, New York’s Dutch Schultz,

warred with rivals Legs Diamond

and “Mad Dog” Coll over booze

distribution. Handsome Bugsy

Siegel got his start with bootleg

booze and would later help make

Las Vegas a Mob town.

In Cincinnati, attorney George

Remus, believed to be the inspira-

tion for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The

Great Gatsby,” was dubbed the

“King of the Bootleggers,” growing

so wealthy he once threw a party

where he gave every male guest a

diamond watch and each of their

wives a new car.

In Tampa, Fla., the city’s numer-

ous inlets and coves became havens

for smugglers bringing liquor in from

Cuba, Mexico and the Bahamas. Ú

uRum runner

George

Remus was an

attorney by

day – and an

outlaw all the

time!

uEnoch “Nucky” Johnson ruled

America’s favorite Roaring

Twenties playground, Atlantic City

uUnderworld

mouthpiece

William J. Fallon

branded Rothstein

a “rat”


dutch schultz: too sAvAge to survivehe was born arthur

flegenheImer but the world knew him as Dutch Schultz, Public Enemy No. 1, New York’s top Prohibition bootlegger and a numbers racket kingpin.

Dutch was the toughest of the tough guys, who earned his reputation settling arguments with a bullet in the mouth – and, in some cases, he was even MORE savage.

When New York saloon keeper Joe Rock refused to buy beer from the Dutchman, Schultz had him kidnapped, beaten and hung by his thumbs on a meat hook. Then a gauze bandage, smeared with discharge from a gonorrhea infection, was wrapped over Rock’s eyes. Soon after Joe’s family paid $35,000 for his release, the saloon keeper went blind.

And Shultz even boasted he once cut a man’s heart out. No one doubted this claim – or dared to challenge it to his face.

B A R B A R I C B R U tA l I t Y

Schultz grew up in The Bronx, N.Y. At 14, he found work with gangsters at a local nightclub. Soon, with a pack of vicious pals, he was robbing illegal gambling dens.

In 1919, the young thug served time for burglary, the only instance he ever went to jail. When he got out, Arthur renamed himself Dutch Schultz, after a deceased gangster known for violent tactics.

And barbaric brutality became Dutch’s trademark as he expanded his underworld contacts in the early 1920s by driving trucks for mobster Arnold Rothstein. By 1928, he owned The Bronx bootlegging business. And when Dutch started taking over rivals’ operations in Manhattan, the streets ran red with blood.

In July 1931, a former Schultz associate, Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll, warred with his onetime boss, slaughtering 20 members of Schultz’s crew. In one round of gunplay, a five-year-old boy was killed. The incident left Dutch so angry that he

walked into a Bronx police station and offered to buy a house for any cop who’d kill the Mad Dog. Dutch eventually found Coll

on his own and sent him to his maker. Coll was nearly cut in half by gunfire as he cowered in a phone booth.

By the end of Prohibition in 1933, Dutch already had $12 million in bootleg cash! He made millions more in the numbers racket, a three-digit lottery based on the total money bet at a local racetrack. Dutch, with the help of a Mob accountant, figured out a way to fix the number results by making last-minute bets.

He also branched out into extortion, using his thugs to collect tribute from frightened Manhattan restaurant owners. But his violent ways caused Schultz to lose favor with other crime kings, in particular Lucky Luciano.

When Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey targeted the Mob in the ’30s, he

set his sights on Schultz, who had more than 100 murder victims to his name. The Dutchman made it known he was going to kill Dewey.

Luciano wouldn’t stand for such lunacy – it was bad for business. While using the restroom at a Newark, N.J., restaurant on Oct. 23, 1935, Dutch, 34, was gunned down. He managed to collect himself and stagger into the main room, where the notorious cheapskate fished a bloody quarter out of his pocket and asked the owner for change – so he could make a five-cent

phone call!Dutch then

collapsed, face down, on a table. He lay there until police arrived, and he was taken to the hospital, where he died two days later. No one, especially his former underworld pals, shed a tear at his passing. But his legacy lingers

today. People are still hunting for a $9 million fortune he’s said to have stashed in New York’s Catskills Mountains so he couldn’t be prosecuted for income tax evasion. v

uVincent “Mad Dog” Coll (left)

was cut down by Schultz, who

was hounded by D.A. Thomas E.

Dewey (right)

u Doctors and lawmen at a Newark, N.J., hospital checked the body

to make sure Arthur “Dutch Schultz” Flegenheimer was really dead

A M e r i c A n / 1 0 / g A n g s t e r s

Even corrupt cops – and there were

many – got in on the action. A Seattle,

Wash., police lieutenant, Roy Olmstead,

became “King of the Puget Sound

Bootleggers” by smuggling liquor from

Canada. He earned more in one week

than he would over 20 years as a cop!

Instead of winning a moral crusade

against booze, Prohibition spawned

immorality. Particularly damning was

the lack of enforcement, which led to

the rise of the Mob, whose members,

like Capone, used bribery, intimidation,

and murder to stay in business and wipe

out the competition.

Prohibition saw some 5,000 lives

taken in bootleg-related mayhem

among rival gangs. Nearly 800 gang-

sters died on the streets of Chicago

alone, the most notable violence occur-

ring on St. Valentine’s Day in 1929.

Seven men associated with Bugs Mo-

ran’s gang were lined up against a garage

wall and machine-gunned to death by

hit men acting on Capone’s orders.

The brutality so shocked the nation

that even the gangsters got worried.

So they had a sit-down in Atlantic City

three months after the St. Valentine’s

Day Massacre to find a way to stop

killing one another and continue

making a lot of money. Ú

Nearly 800gaNgsters

died iN ChiCagO’s

wars

uOn Feb. 14, 1929, Chicago gangster George “Bugs” Moran (right) got a “Valentine”

from Mafia king Al Capone. Seven Moran henchmen were lined up against a wall

and machine-gunned to death


al Capone, amerICa’s

most notorIous

gangster, died 67 years ago, his syphilis-addled mind diminished to that of a 12-year-old.

But to this day, his legend is untouchable.

With his blue pinstripe suit and fedora, cigar-chomping Al was the image of the Roaring Twenties gangster, his fashion sense offsetting the knife marks on his left cheek, which earned him the nickname “Scarface.”

O W n E D C H I C A g O

Through bribery, intimidation and murder, Capone owned Chicago during the Prohibition.

His enforcers carried official cards issued by the city that read: “To the Police Department: you will extend the courtesies of

They came from all over. Capone

was there, even posing for photos on

the city’s Boardwalk. Meyer Lansky,

a newlywed, brought his bride Anne

and got the Presidential Suite at the

Breakers Hotel. He was the one who

called for the sit-down. His friend

Luciano came along, as did Mafia

powerhouses Frank Costello, Vito

Genovese and Albert Anastasia. Dutch

Schultz and Bugsy Siegel also joined

the historic get-together, the first

time an attempt was made to form an

organized National Crime Syndicate.

Town boss Johnson guaranteed no

police presence.

D O W n t O B U S I n E S S

For the first three days of the

underworld gathering, there was a con-

stant round of parties at the hotels as

Johnson supplied plenty of liquor,

food and girls for entertainment. For

the guests who brought their wives

or girlfriends, Johnson provided the

women with fur capes as gifts.

But then it was down to business.

There were several important items

to discuss, including the rival gangs’

constant competition for imported

and bootleg liquor, the desire to end

violence and what to do with the booze

business when Prohibition ended.

The Atlantic City delegates con-

ducted their more serious discussions

and business, in conference rooms

atop the Ritz and Ambassador Hotels.

But some informal talks were held

out in the open, with the delegates

taking their socks off and rolling up

their pants for walks along the beach.

Decisions were made to stop com-

peting with each other, try to pool

resources to maximize profits and

develop a national monopoly in the

illegal liquor traffic.

Once Prohibition ended, the

bosses decided they would reorgan-

ize themselves and their gangs into

cooperating organizations, investing

in legitimate breweries, distilleries and

liquor importation franchises.

The delegates also held discussions

about taking a larger interest in illegal

gambling activities such as bookmak-

ing, horse racing and casinos.

The glory days were still ahead for

organized crime and, with coffers

filled by Prohibition profits, gangsters

expanded their empires and touched

almost every phase of American life.

There was one last decision the

men at that Atlantic City conference

made. At some point, the racketeers

decided America’s two most powerful

Mafia bosses, Salvatore Maranzano and

Joe Masseria, who BOTH weren’t in-

vited to the gathering, would have to go.

They were considered “Mustache

Petes,” old-timers, unwilling to deal

with gangsters who weren’t Italian, and

unwilling to change. Their days were

coming to a violent, savage end. v

u Desperate to end the bloodshed that was

hurting business, mobsters from all over America

gathered in Atlantic City in 1929. It was the first

attempt to create a nationwide crime syndicate


this department to the bearer.” He ran his bootlegging, prostitution

and gambling operations like a business – a syndicate – a model for organized crime lords that followed.

By 1928, Capone’s syndicate was grossing an estimated $105 million a year.

The portly son of a New York barber, Capone cut his criminal teeth as muscle for New York’s Five Points gang. He moved to Chicago and rose from near obscurity when he took over the South Side turf of his crime mentor Johnny Torrio in 1925. Soon Capone was prince of the entire city – after having all his rivals rubbed out.

Al loved the role. His urge to be seen in public was unique among racketeers, who usually abhorred publicity. Capone was a hand-shaking pal to the working class. He contributed to charities. He went to ballgames, posing with the players. He enjoyed nights at the opera.

And he flaunted his riches. He had a mansion in Florida. He operated his business from a posh Chicago hotel

suite, wore an 11.4-carat diamond pinky ring and was chauffeured around in a bullet-proof Cadillac that later became President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s limo.

P O W E R f U l B E Y O n D B E l I E f

In the end, however, Capone would be brought to justice – not for murder, extortion or bootlegging. He wound up in Alcatraz, then the nation’s harshest pen, for failing to pay his income tax.

Treasury Dept. Agent Eliot Ness and his team of untouchables got the credit, but Capone was really brought down by Frank Wilson, the Internal Revenue agent who went over the mobster’s books with a fine tooth comb.

Still, Capone left the streets of Chicago littered with bodies, and got away with that. He was powerful beyond belief.

During a turf war with Chicago’s Irish

mobsters Dean O’Banion and Bugs Moran, a Capone-ordered hit killed an assistant state attorney. Capone was charged, but fixed six grand juries to beat a murder rap.

When seven members of Moran’s gang were slain in 1929’s infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre the Irish mobster, who was the intended target,

said: “Only Capone kills like that.”

Al is still part of American culture – the face of the Mafia. Stars from Rod Steiger to Robert De Niro have played him in movies. He’s currently featured in the cable TV hit “Boardwalk Empire.” His mansion on Palm Island, in Miami Beach – where

he died in 1947 at age 48 – recently sold for more than $7 million. And his grand-niece, Deirdre Capone, published a book in 2012 about pleasant memories of dear old “Uncle Al,” who was cut down by an STD, not a gangland assassin. v

scArfAce cApone: king of chicAgo

uMob kingpin Al Capone was a celebrity – despite a rap sheet that

included an arrest for carrying a concealed weapon (left). During

a 1930 baseball game, Chicago Cubs star Gabby Hartnet eagerly

signed an autograph for the killer’s son, Albert “Sonny” Capone,

who is surrounded by bodyguards. Capone feared kidnapping and

assassination. He had a bullet-proof Cadillac (right) specially-made

to insure he’d survive an ambush

uIRS agent Frank Wilson

(left) and the Treasury

Department’s Eliot Ness

(right) nailed Capone


It was a war both sides lost – but

shrewd gangster Charles “Lucky”

Luciano won! The results forever

changed the face of the Mafia and

organized crime in the U.S.

Known as the Castellammarese

War, after the picturesque Sicilian

fishing village whose main export

was America’s most notorious god-

fathers, the Mob power struggle pitted

Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria, the

self-proclaimed “capo di tutti capi”

(the boss of all bosses) against Salvatore

Maranzano, who wanted Joe’s job.

M U S TA C H E P E T E S

To the underworld’s Roaring Twenties

hipsters, Masseria and Maranzano were

“Mustache Petes,” old-time New York

bosses who didn’t like change and resisted

doing business with anyone who wasn’t

Italian. Younger guys saw profit in doing

business with the Irish and Jewish bad

boys – but Joe and Sal wouldn’t hear of it.

And the terrible twosome had some-

thing else in common besides mutual

hatred: unbridled greed and a lust for

power. Their bootlegging rivalry, which

had triggered bloody skirmishes, became

an all-out war on Feb. 26, 1930, when

Masseria literally iced an ice man.

His name is Gaetano Reina.

He ran his own Mafia crew

– which served up ice and ice

boxes to residents of The Bronx

and the borough’s speakeasies.

People needed someone to

provide ice in the days before

refrigeration and the Mob

cashed in – by making business-

men and families offers they

couldn’t refuse.

Reina had pledged loyalty

to Masseria, but for years

had been secretly working as

a double agent, and feeding

information to his paisano Maranzano,

who was born in Castellamare.

But eventually Joe the Boss fig-

ured things out. As Reina was leaving

his mistress’ Bronx apartment, he was

greeted with a shotgun blast. Maranzano

responded by declaring war – and every-

body “went to the mattresses,” holing up

as rival hit squads roamed the city.

The 1930 New York homicide rate

soared: 421 slayings, up 18 percent

from 1929. At least 66 of the

murders were gang rubouts,

all unsolved.

By spring 1930, bleary-eyed

detectives were fruitlessly

working the slaughters of

nightspot baron Frankie

Marlow, garment boss Jacob

“Little Augie” Orgen and

lower Manhattan East Side

Mob kingpin Abe Wagner,

who was so bold he once had

one of his goons slap around

Masseria’s son! Bad move.

He met his maker when

someone kicked in the door of his digs

at Manhattan’s Hatfield Hotel – and

opened fire.

Next came a shootout at Club Abbey

War to end alTREACHERY AND TERROR

created modern Mafa

uAs part of the war for control of New

York City, gang moll Vivian Gordon, who

ran a Mafia honey trap, was strangled

and dumped in a Big Apple park

uThe murder

of Gunsel

Gaetano Reina

triggered a war

M E R i C A N / 1 4 / g A N g s T E R s

uCharles

“Lucky”

Luciano

owned by Owney Madden, who also ran

Harlem’s famed Cotton Club. There were

many witnesses to the incident, but cops

reported nobody saw a thing. Gang moll

Vivian Gordon, who ran a Broadway

blackmail and sex racket, turned up gar-

roted in a park. Finally, the public – and

the politicians – were starting to notice.

Luciano, a top Masseria lieutenant,

had enough too. The war was hurting

business. He made a deal with Maran-

zano. He’d kill Masseria, but the violence

between the gangs would have to end.

There could be no reprisals.

On April 15, 1931, Joe the Boss joined

Luciano for lunch at a Coney Island

restaurant. The two enjoyed a hearty

meal. Masseria didn’t know it, but he’d be

having lead for dessert!

The twosome started playing cards.

Lucky excused himself to go to the bath-

room as his gunmen entered. Two bullets

to the head and one through the heart left

Masseria dead on the floor – with the

ace of spades clutched in his hand!

When Lucky emerged from the

bathroom, he feigned astonishment,

insisting he had no knowledge of what

had happened. It was reported that the

gunmen were Luciano cronies Albert

Anastasia, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis

and Bugsy Siegel.

Maranzano kept his word. He ended

the war, announced he’d forgiven his

enemies and crowned himself “boss of

all bosses.”

A M A F I A “ C O M M I S S I O N ”

But the title didn’t last long. Luciano,

now a Maranzano underling, got wind

the new king was planning to take him

out – along with other mobsters includ-

ing Al Capone – who might pose a threat

to his leadership.

Crafty Luciano beat him to the

punch and arranged for three hit men,

provided by his partner Meyer Lansky,

to visit Maranzano’s offices on Sept.

10, 1931.

The killers posed as government tax

accountants demanding to see his books.

Maranzano was shot and stabbed to death.

At last, the Mustache Petes were

gone. The winner was Luciano, who

was eager to end the bloodshed, ally

with America’s other Mafia families,

Jewish and Irish gangs across the country

and create a National Crime Syndicate.

And that’s just what Lucky did. There

would be no single head of the Mafia

anymore, no “boss of all bosses.”

Instead, Luciano created a Mafia

“Commission” to work things out. It

was made up of the criminal legends

who headed New York’s five families

– Luciano himself, Vincent Mangano,

Tommy Gagliano, Joseph Bonanno

and Joe Profaci – plus Chicago boss

Capone and Buffalo Mafia kingpin

Stefano Magaddino. They would super-

vise and sanction activities of the other

families around the U.S.

With their ascension to power, organ-

ized crime in America would become a

moneymaking machine that was bigger

than U.S. Steel! v

all Wars!

uIll-fated Joe “The Boss” Masseria (left) lies dead on a restaurant floor – still clutching a playing card

– after being betrayed by his top lieutenant. Salvatore Maranzano took Joe’s place and met a similar fate

(right) five months later

A M E R i C A N / 1 5 / g A N g s T E R s

Charles “Lucky” Luciano ran out of luck when he was

nailed by ambitious gang-buster Thomas Dewey and sent

to prison in 1936 – for being a common pimp!

And Dewey added insult to the injury, humiliating

America’s top mobster by revealing at his New York trial

that Luciano had caught gonorrhea

SEVEN times bedding prostitutes.

But despite his medical issues,

Luciano ran the Big Apple’s biggest

brothels with the same business acumen he

used to rule the national crime commission.

During a meeting with one of his madams,

“Cokey” Flo Brown, the crime czar declared:

“I’m gonna organize the cathouses like the

A&P,” which at the time was one of the first

nationwide grocery store chains. However,

Luciano was still mortified to be publicly branded

a flesh peddler. It hurt his carefully cultivated,

suave chairman-of-the-board image.

In fact, the tough guy visibly cringed

as 40 hookers took the stand against him. Said a pal, he was

being brought down by “a bunch of whores,” and it hurt

his ego because there was no one in the nation’s under-

world who could challenge his power.

He’d wiped out the Mustache Pete older Mafia

uAmbitious

Thomas Dewey

put Lucky away

u Under the

mask of a suave,

sophisticated

businessman,

Lucky Luciano

was really a

coldblooded

killer and flesh

peddler. He

tried to con the

public by posing

for this 1955 photo

cuddling his pet

mini-pin

a m e r i c a n / 1 6 / g a n g s t e r s


bosses, and formed the National Crime Syndicate, which was based on moneymaking skills, not ethnic origin. His childhood buddy was future Mob superstar Meyer Lansky and Jewish underworld kingpin Arnold Rothstein gave him his first big break.

Rothstein turned uneducated Luciano into a New York dandy with a taste for the finer things. Lucky kept a permanent room at ManhattanÕs posh Waldorf-Astoria, wore silk suits and became a well-known figure in Broadway social circles.

a m e r i c a’ s m o s t p o w e r f u l b o s s

ÒArnold taught me how to dress, how to use knives and forks and things like that at the dinner table,Ó said Luciano, who also credited his Mob mentor for telling him Òabout holdinÕ a door open for a girl.Ó But Mr. Lucky was mum about what, if anything, Rothstein taught him about handling prostitutes.

At the time of his trial for being a whoremaster, Lucky sat atop one of New YorkÕs five Mafia crime families. He was AmericaÕs most powerful boss, res-pected by Mobsters across the nation, and pocketing $10 million a year.

But that didnÕt mean ditty in court. When the jury came back, they con-victed a low-life pimp, not a major crime lord. And the judge, well aware that Luciano had to be taken off the streets, slapped the mobster with a minimum 30-year sentence.

However, Luciano con-tinued to run his empire

from prison! Then in early 1946, he got a gift from Uncle Sam. He was paroled for contacting his Mafia contacts in Sicily who helped the U.S. invade Italy during World War II, and for having his mob crews protect the New York docks from Nazi sabotage.

Italian-born Lucky was quickly deported after leaving prison. But just before Christmas 1946, he snuck into Cuba, shook hands with pal Lansky, and attended the Havana Conference, a historic pow-wow of crime lords, fictionalized in the movie, ÒThe Godfather.Ó

Delegates included ChicagoÕs Sam Giancana, Vito Geno-vese and Frank Costello from New York, Santo Trafficante from Tampa, Stefano ÒThe UndertakerÓ Magaddino from Buffalo and Carlos Marcello from New Orleans. Jewish mob-sters from around the country were also present to discuss La Cosa Nostra, and their gangsÕ involvement in narcotics

and the Cuban casinos.Luciano was the honored

guest. He got a suitcase filled with $2 million, a cut of Syndicate funds.

But weeks after the meet-ing ended, the feds got wind that Lucky was in Cuba and pressured the government to chase him back to Italy. He had named Vito Genovese boss of his New York fam-ily and was eyed by Italian cops the rest of his life.

He died in 1962 at age 64, still trying to be a big shot, suffering a heart attack on the floor of the airport in Na-ples, where he was to meet a filmmaker looking to make a movie about the ÒFather of Organized Crime.Ó v

uAt age 64, Luciano died

from a heart attack at the

airport in Naples, Italy

uThe crafty crime kingpin was deported to his Italian homeland in 1946 (left). But the convicted pimp still held an iron grip

on the American Mob while partying with his stylish pals in Rome three years later

Murder was just busi-ness, nothing personal – even if they always liked you!

Organized crime lords in the 1930s needed to whack people – a witness, a belligerent loan shark,

an uncooperative union leader – and, naturally, get away with it. So mob king-pin Lucky Luciano created an outfit of ruthless killers-for-hire that became known as Murder, Inc.

They were a gang of 30 vicious toughs – of Irish, Jewish and Italian ex-traction – from New York’s slums who were under the thumb of top crime lords. During a decade of Mob mayhem, they “rubbed-out” more than 1,000 victims around America. All were hard as nails.

k e p t o n m o b r e ta i n e r

Abe “Kid Twist” Reles, the most feared killer, liked to use an ice pick. Eagle-eyed gunman Gioacchino “Dandy Jack” Parisi was so tight-lipped, one lawman said: “If you hung him up by the thumbs for eight weeks, he might tell you his first name.” Fearsome Seymour “Blue Jaw” Magoon, got his moniker because he always looked like he needed a shave.

Headquarters was a candy store in Brooklyn. Orders came from Luciano’s hand-picked masters – Jewish mobster Louis “Lepke” Buchalter and Albert “The Lord High Executioner” Anasta-sia, who would become the Gambino crime family head.

Murder, Inc.’s “employees” were kept on a mob retainer – $1,000-a-month with bonuses for exemplary killings. It was a staggering amount of money for the times. They lived better than kings as long as they killed willingly.

The business, however, suffered a

hostile takeover attempt after a botched hit on July 25, 1939.

That morning, Parisi and Magoon were outside a Bronx apartment house, set to gun down one of the residents, Philip Orlovsky, a former garment union boss, as he left the building. Orlovsky, however, was already at a barber shop getting a shave.

The killers, instead, whacked another tenant, classical music publisher Irving Penn, who had the horrible misfortune

of resembling the hit team’s target.Irving’s murder was big news. Out-

raged citizens demanded justice. And recently elected crimebuster, New York prosecutor Bill O’Dwyer, started round-ing up every punk in sight.

Naturally, some started spilling the beans. Other Murder, Inc. boys learned their co-workers were squealing too. So Magoon joined the chorus telling the cops: “It looks like I’m on my way out, unless I get into the act.” When O’Dwyer got “Kid Twist” Reles to turn canary, top mobsters cringed. He helped

uLawmen figured they’d

smashed Murder, Inc. when

hitman Abe “Kid Twist” Reles

agreed to sing. But Reles took

a dive from the window of

his sixth-floor room in Coney

Island’s Half Moon Hotel

and landed (circle) on a

roof below. That was the end

of the case

uD.A.

William

O’Dwyer

made

hoods

crack

under

pressure


solve about 85 murders and sent Lepke

to the chair. Reles was about to give up

Anastasia when he had an “accident” on

Nov. 12, 1941, and got a new nickname:

“The canary who sang but couldn’t fly.”

While in an early version of the

witness protection program, with cops

supposedly stationed right outside

his door, Kid Twist fell to his death

from a window of Coney Island’s

Half Moon Hotel just days before he

was scheduled to finger Anastasia to

a grand jury. The official story was

that Reles, who was played by Peter

Falk in the 1960 movie “Murder,

Inc.,” died trying to escape. Cops

claimed he was trying to get away by

shimmying down a rope made from

bedsheets he’d flung out of the window.

But Luciano claimed his “Lord High

Executioner” had killed the rat –

proving you could run, but NEVER

hide, from the Mafia.

And Anastasia learned that lesson

the hard way too. He died in a hail of

bullets in 1957 while getting a shave

in a barber’s chair at a New York hotel. v

You could run,but You couldn’t

hide froM theMafia’s hit Men

uAs New York detectives Albert Beron and Harry States stand guard, dazed assassins

(from left, above) Harry Strauss, Martin “Buggsy” Goldstein, “Kid Twist” Reles and

Harry Malone check out the ammo and weapons scooped up during their arrests. Tough

guys Louis “Lepke” Buchalter and Albert Anastasia (left) ran the outfit


How the Mafa bougHt AMericA


The world was their oyster.

They had the money. They

had the muscle. They had the

politicians in their pocket.

And in the heady days after

Lucky Luciano helped win

World War II, the “made

men” finally had the respect

they’d always craved.

Charismatic gangsters rubbed

shoulders with movie stars in L.A. as

Hollywood turned a blind eye to narcot-

ics, gambling and prostitution rings. The

Mafia lit up the Nevada desert with their

Sin City casinos. And, with a feverish

conga beat, the lavish, legal gambling

havens of Cuba were pouring millions

into the Syndicate’s overflowing coffers.

D A S H I N G B A D B O Y S

By spreading enough dough around,

it seemed like the Mob could get away

with anything. Certainly, Hollywood’s

biggest celebrities were starstruck by

the dashing bad boys – psycho Mickey

Cohen, smooth-talking strong-arm

Johnny “Handsome” Roselli, who

represented the Chicago Outfit’s

interests, and charming killer Benjamin

“Bugsy” Siegel.

Siegel had made the Mob’s methods

violently clear after he was sent West

by longtime pal Meyer Lansky. Bugsy’s

job was to help L.A. Mob boss Jack

Dragna run the gambling joints and

get an iron grip on unions, particularly

those associated with making movies.

While he was at it, Bugsy used Mob

money to start up a wire service that

sent West Coast racetrack results to the

country’s underground bookie joints. Ú

u By September 1959, the

Mob had crapped out in

Cuba, and Las Vegas was

the only legit game in

town. Everyday Americans

flocked to Sin City for a

taste of the action – and

the chance to rub shoulders

with real-life gangsters

and celebrities

uHollywood heavyweight Mickey

Cohen (left) survived a bomb that

destroyed his home. His underworld

buddy Johnny Roselli (right) , who

ran the International Alliance of

Theatrical Stage Employees union,

moved to Vegas


When neW York racketeer

BugsY siegel appeared

on the Las Vegas scene in 1946, gambling was legal, but the city was a dusty backwater catering to cow-pokes. Still, it smelled like money!

So Bugsy got busy. He strong-armed a takeover of the nearly completed Flamingo hotel from businessman William Wilkerson. Then he convinced Meyer Lansky to get Mafia money to turn the place into a palace.

Each bathroom in the 93-room hotel got its own sewer system (cost: $1.1 million). Due to the plumbing alterations, the boiler room had to be enlarged (cost: $113,000). The kitchen was made bigger too (cost: $29,000).

Bugsy was padding the bills – and skimming money off the top.

“ W E O N LY K I L L E A C H O T H E R ”

That made his legit construction contractor Del Webb nervous. When sinister types started showing up as the project neared completion, Bugsy reassured Webb, saying: “Don’t worry, we only kill each other.”

That was all too true. By the time the Flamingo opened in December 1946, Bugsy owed his Mafia masters $6 million – and they decided he’d never make good.

At a historic summit in Havana, Cuba, over the Christmas holidays, the National Commission, including Lansky, put a contract out on his life.

Six months later, as Siegel sat reading the “Los Angeles Times” in his actress galpal Virginia Hill’s Beverly Hills home, a sniper shot him in the head.

Meyer took over the Flamingo, and as the 1950s arrived, “The Strip” began to grow, thanks to Mafia money from New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Mo., and Chicago. To keep peace, each member of the Syndicate gave

He opened a drug route from Mexico

to the U.S., using beautiful starlets

and call girls as mules.

Thanks to Siegel, a major heroin

distribution center went right through

the American heartland, by way of

Kansas City, Mo., turf of Mafia boss

Nicholas Civella, who got rich by

charging a “toll” on shipments.

It was all an open secret and made

for delicious gossip flavored with just

a hint of danger. Siegel was pals with

the biggest stars: Clark Gable, Gary

Cooper, George Raft and Cary Grant,

as well as studio execs Louis B. Mayer

and Jack Warner. Actress Jean Harlow

was a godmother to his daughter

Millicent. Boyhood chum Raft even

arranged for him to get screen tests!

Bugsy led an extravagant life throwing

lavish parties at his Beverly Hills home.

He seduced scores of actresses and the

wife of an Italian count. The love affair

between Bugsy and actress Virginia Hill,

who was said to be a drug courier, would

eventually wind up on a Hollywood

screen in the movie “Bugsy,” with their

parts being played by Warren Beatty and

Annette Bening.

But the movie business was peanuts

to Siegel. He dreamed big, of turning

dumpy little Las Vegas into the world’s

gambling capital. He used his show-

biz connections to help add stardust to

his Las Vegas venture. Ú

uActress Virginia Hill was said

to be a Mafia drug mule – and was

Bugsy Siegel’s main squeeze

uThe Fabulous Flamingo hotel

(above) was built with Mob

money. Gang czar Meyer Lansky

(right) ended up controlling the

once-swanky gambling playpen


other members interlocking shares in their resorts. Everyone got a slice of the pie. And Hollywood golden boy Johnny Roselli was brought in to make sure things ran smoothly.

With financing from the Roselli- controlled Teamsters Union Central States Pension Fund, up went the Tropicana, the Desert Inn, El Cortez, the Sands, the Castaways, the Sundance Hotel and Casino, the New Frontier, Westin Las Vegas, the Fremont, the Stardust, Binions, the Dunes, the Aladdin, the Silver Slipper, Circus Circus and Harrah’s.

S U N N Y L E G A L G E TA W AY S

Legitimate gambling was proving to be as big a moneymaker as Prohibition Era bootleg booze. With Cuban President Fulgencio Batista as a partner, the Mafia had branched out overseas too – setting up a legal offshore haven just 90 miles away from Miami.

Cuban gambling palaces like the Tropicana and the elegant Hotel Nacional provided sunny legal getaways for the rich and very rich. Marlon Brando played congas, Eartha Kitt performed and then-U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy enjoyed a three-call-girl orgy at the Hotel Commodoro, courtesy of notorious

uDapper Benjamin

“Bugsy” Siegel was the

Mafia’s watchdog in

Hollywood. Here, he

relaxes at an L.A. police

station on Aug. 8, 1940,

while being questioned

about the murder of his

boyhood friend Harry

“Big Greenie” Greenberg,

who ran a movie union

racket. Greenberg was

killed in his own driveway

after threatening to talk

about Murder, Inc.

Mafia kingpin Santo Trafficante!But despite the Cuban hijinks, it

was Vegas that cemented the modern Mob’s grip on American pop culture. Sin City was a wide-open town where farmers from Nebraska could be treated like “swells” while rubbing shoulders with celebrities and real-life gangsters.

Best of all, what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas. But there were exceptions: Roselli, the Mob’s eyes and ears in the Nevada desert, was found cut into pieces and stuffed in a 55-gallon drum fished out of the Atlantic Ocean off Miami Beach in 1976. v

uBack in 1955, skin was in at the naughty Tropicana

in Havana, Cuba. Tampa mob boss Santo Trafficante

owned the joint, which created the modern “showgirl.”

Cuban rebels bombed the place in 1956, which was the

beginning of the end for Mafia dominance on the island


Was the MoB poWerful

enough to assassinate

a president?

To this day, many investigators are convinced John F. Kennedy died in Dallas as the result of orders issued by two powerful Mafia bosses, Carlos Marcello of New Orleans and Tampa’s Santo Trafficante. Certainly, both had the motive!

Trafficante seethed after JFK failed to provide firepower to help the CIA-backed “Bay of Pigs” rebels win back Cuba from Fidel Castro in 1961. Two years earlier, Trafficante had lost lucrative investments in the Cuban casinos when the cigar-chomping Communist took over.

Meanwhile, “Little Man” Marcello, knowing Mob muscle had sent Kennedy to the White House by rigging the Illinois presidential vote, felt betrayed when the Commander-in-Chief’s brother Bobby became Attorney General and declared war on the Mafia. Marcello fought back.

Talking about the JFK assassination, Marcello said: “Yeah, I had the son of a bitch killed. I’m glad I did. I’m sorry I couldn’t have done it myself!” And the notion of a Mob

hit is not far-fetched.The House Select Committee

on Assassinations, convened in the mid-’70s to probe JFK’s 1961 murder, took the Mob links very seriously. The committee’s reports noted accused Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald’s New Orleans roots. The documents also revealed Jack Ruby, the strip club owner who gunned

Oswald down, had a relationship with Marcello!

In addition, government investigators detailed meetings – arranged by Jimmy Hoffa – between the New Orleans mobster and Tampa boss Trafficante with the specific goal

of killing Kennedy! Ultimately, the committee

couldn’t rule out that JFK was killed by the Mob. Marcello, in particular, the committee said, had the “motive, means and opportunity to have President John F. Kennedy assassinated.”

Gambino Family godfather Paul Castellano once boasted: “...the president of the United States, if he’s smart and needs help, he’d come to us. I could do a favor for the president.” v

uBlonde Kim

Novak and her

lover Sammy

David Jr. were both

part of Chicago

Godfather Sam

“Momo” Giancana’s

Hollywood stable

uAccused JFK assassin Lee

Harvey Oswald (left) was

killed by Dallas Mob associate

Jack Ruby (right)


uPresident John F. Kennedy won the Oval Office with Mob help.

But once he was in the White House, his FBI director J. Edgar

Hoover and Attorney General brother Bobby went after the

Mafia. Godfathers Santo Trafficante and Carlos Marcello (right)

swore they’d make JFK pay

Ultimately, superstars including

Harry James, Milton Berle, the

Marx Brothers, Peggy Lee, Abbott

& Costello, Eartha Kitt, Judy Gar-

land, Red Skelton, Dean Martin

and Frank Sinatra would all head-

line Mob-run casinos.

T H E M O B O W N E D Y O U

Sometimes it was for cash. Some-

times for favors. And sometimes

it was because the Mob owned

you. Chicago boss Sam “Momo”

Giancana “had a percentage” in

a lot of stars, including blonde

beauty Kim Novak and Sinatra

Rat-Packer Sammy Davis Jr. But

they were united by something

other than their Mob ties: Kim and

Sammy were lovers!

And their then-scandalous

interracial romance didn’t make

Momo happy. He feared it would

hurt his “investment” by ruining

both their careers if word leaked

out. Davis was summoned to a sit-

down with one of Momo’s boys

and ordered to break things off.

He did as he was told. Giancana

had made it clear losing half of his

“property” – one way or the other –

was better than losing it all!

But hanging with the Mafia

wasn’t all Hollywood heartbreak.

“Handsome Johnny” Roselli

knew how to stick up for his

friends. His bedmates included

Betty Hutton, Lana Turner, and

even the seemingly demure Donna

Reed, star of the feel-good movie

“It’s a Wonderful Life.” Ú

moB put contract on JFK!

uLuscious Lana Turner (left) dated

Mob gorilla Johnny Stompanato – who

was stabbed to death by her daughter.

Meanwhile, Donna Reed, who won an Oscar

for “From Here to Eternity,” was Mafiosi

Johnny Roselli’s babe


the naMe frank “leftY”

rosenthal MaY not

ring a Bell, but in Mob-run Las Vegas there were those who bowed to him in honor and others too scared to look him in the eye.

Frank ran four casinos for the Syndicate: the Stardust, Fremont, Marina and Hacienda. The joints were built with $62 million looted from the Teamsters Union by the Kansas City, Mo., Detroit and Chicago Mafia families.

Lefty, a sports handicapping genius who operated the country’s biggest bookie-running operation back in Chicago, arrived in Sin City in 1968. He met Allen Glick, whose dummy corporation owned the Mob casinos on paper, and announced he was in charge.

“If you interfere with anything I do here, you will never leave this corporation alive,” Rosenthal told Glick.

Rosenthal had two sides. He was a gangster who used Mob goons to crush cheaters’ hands with rubber mallets. He was

also a visionary who introduced sports betting to Vegas along with female blackjack dealers, moves that doubled the Stardust’s income in less than a year.

Big acts like Siegfried & Roy were signed to long-term deals by Rosenthal. He even had his own local TV show, where he railed against the ever-growing rules of the Nevada Gaming Commission, and

‘casino’ Boss Beat the odds

Roselli made it VERY clear studio

boss Harry Cohn wouldn’t have a won-

derful life – or ANY life at all – when

the movie mogul refused to put Mob

paisano Frank Sinatra into the film

“From Here to Eternity.” After getting

word from New York Mafia “Prime

Minister” Frank Costello, Roselli

sauntered into Cohn’s office and

explained that “certain people”

wanted Sinatra in the flick, so he’d

better change his mind.

“ L A B O R U N R E S T ”

Unlike the movie tycoon in “The

Godfather,” Cohn didn’t need to find

a horse’s head in his bed to get the

message. He immediately cast Ol’

Blue Eyes in his Oscar-winning role

as Private Maggio.

From Hollywood to Vegas to Chicago

to New York, Mob kingpins could

make or break anybody.

The Syndicate had learned “labor

unrest” was a good way to extort

legitimate businesses. Through corrupt

locals of the longshoreman’s union, Ú

uMafia muscle landed Frank

Sinatra his Oscar-winning role as a

soldier in “From Here to Eternity”

uRosenthal signed Vegas

legends Siegfried &

Roy to a long-term deal


chit-chatted with guests who included Liberace, Bob Hope and Wayne Newton.

As Mafia influence in Vegas began to fade, Milwaukee capo Frank “Mad Bomber” Balistrieri blamed Lefty. He blew up Rosenthal’s car with him in it. Rosenthal survived, retired to Florida, and died peacefully in 2008.

The 1995 Martin Scorsese film “Casino” starring Robert De Niro is based on Lefty’s life. In an interview he gave after quitting, Rosenthal had advice for gamblers: “No human being – zero – can beat a casino. Anyone who says he can is a liar.” But Lefty managed to beat the Mob. v

uMilwaukee Mob

boss Frank “Mad

Bomber” Balistrieri

(above) planted

explosives in Lefty’s

Cadillac. The gambler’s

brush with death

was dramatically

re-created in the 1995

movie “Casino” (left)

uHauled before the U.S. Senate’s

Rackets Subcommittee on Sept.

7, 1961, Mob casino king Frank

“Lefty” Rosenthal refused

to answer questions about an

attempt to fix a college football

game by bribing players


The Mafia’s dirTy Money

wenT ToLas Vegas Laundries

& caMe back cLean

uTeamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa (left)

helped the Mafia loot his union’s

pension funds and build Las Vegas.

With Hoffa and the truckers in their

pocket, Mob leaders could extort

legitimate businesses by shutting

down deliveries or calling strikes

the Mafia controlled America’s docks.

With their partner, Teamsters Union

president Jimmy Hoffa, they controlled

the nation’s highway shipping.

With just a quiet word to the right

labor boss, the godfathers could shut

down food services, commercial

bakeries, laundries, breweries, meat

suppliers, soft drink companies, restau-

rants, hotels, garment centers and the

construction industry.

The Mob collected America’s trash,

paved the nation’s roads and held all

the political strings. There was no

part of American life it did not touch

or corrupt.

But that would change. And like

so many racketeers set up by their

supposed buddies, the arrogant Mob

bosses would never see it coming

– until it was too late. v


THE MOB EATS ITS OWN – and murder is the easy answer to any underworld dispute!

As these chilling hits prove, the Mafia certainly hasn’t suffered a shortage of bullets for snitches, turncoats and rival racketeers who stood in the way of power and profits.

The end can come at any time – in the driver’s seat, a barber’s chair, or even at home. With the Mob, how you are murdered sends a message – and the more public the execution, the better the point is made!

Corpses with heads blown to pieces, restaurant floors running with blood, and cars riddled with bullets all helped cement the power of organized crime bosses.

As Colombo Family “consigliere” (adviser) Salvatore Profaci told an underling during a phone call taped by the FBI: “Goodfellas don’t sue goodfellas, goodfellas kill goodfellas” to settle their business differences.

1928 Frankie Yale

Brooklyn crime boss Frankie Yale crossed Chicago kingpin Al Capone – and paid the price. Yale supplied

most of his pal Capone’s whiskey during Prohibition – until a Capone spy fingered Yale for highjacking some of

the booze. On July 1, goons ambushed Yale on his way home, and sprayed his brand-new coupe with buckshot

and submachine gun bullets. Yale died at the wheel, and crashed the coupe into a brownstone


1936 Jack mcgurn

1929 st. Valentine’s Day massacre

Furious at being indicted for

federal tax evasion, bootlegger

Dutch Schultz asked the Mafia

Commission for permission to

kill special prosecutor Thomas

Dewey. The Commission refused,

and ordered a hit on Schultz

instead. He was gunned down

in the men’s room of the Palace

Chop House in Newark, N.J.,

on Oct. 23. Refusing to die in

a bathroom, Schultz staggered

to his table. He passed away in

a hospital 22 hours later

When Chicago mobster “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn was

implicated in the notorious St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, his

gangster pals turned on him. He was mowed down by three

assassins with machine guns on Feb. 15. Near his body, the killers

tossed a Valentine that read: “You’ve lost your

jewels and cars and handsome houses, but

things could still be worse you know... At

least you haven’t lost your trousers!”

The bloody booze-fueled gang violence in Chicago hit

new heights with a savage slaughter on Valentine’s Day.

That’s when Al Capone – furious his

nemesis George “Bugs” Moran had

rubbed out two top Italian bootleggers

– sent gunmen dressed as cops to a

garage at 2122 North Clark Street.

The thugs announced a “raid,”

lined seven North Siders

against a wall and cut

them to pieces

1935 Dutch schultz


1947 Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ siegel

Handsome and charismatic, Bugsy Siegel was one of the first

“celebrity” gangsters. But even Bugsy’s charm couldn’t spare him

from getting whacked when he ran afoul of the Mob. Siegel was

assassinated on June 20 with a military-style rifle as he sat on his

and mistress Virginia Hill’s couch in Hollywood reading the “Los

Angeles Times.” His killer fired through the window, striking him

five times. One shot blew his left eye right out of its socket!


1951 tony trombino & tony Brancato

The “two Tonys” – Kansas City mobsters Tony Trombino and Tony Brancato – were arrested 46 times on charges ranging from robbery and rape to assault. In May 1951, they stole $3,500 from the sports betting operation at the Mob-controlled Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. L.A. crime boss Jack Dragna ordered a hit – and on Aug. 6, they were found shot to death in the front seat of a car near Hollywood Boulevard

1951 Willie moretti

An underboss of the Genovese crime family, Willie Moretti sealed his fate when he testified before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Organized Crime. He was shot while eating lunch in Cliffside Park, N.J., on Oct. 4. “It was supposedly a mercy killing because he was sick,” government witness Joe Valachi later said. “Crime boss Vito Genovese told me, ‘The Lord have mercy on his soul, he’s losing his mind.’ ”


1957 albert ‘the executioner’ anastasia

1971 Joseph colombo

As the leader of

Murder, Inc., and

boss of the Gambino

crime family for

most of the 1950s

and one of the

members of the National Crime

Syndicate, it’s estimated that

Albert Anastasia was involved in

as many as 200 hits. “The Lord

High Executioner’s” reign came

to an end when two masked

gunman shot him dead as he sat in

a barber’s chair at New York’s Park

Sheraton Hotel on Oct. 25

Head of the Colombo crime

family, Joe Colombo Sr. was

shot three times on June 28

by a street hustler posing as a

photojournalist at an Italian

Unity Day rally in New York.

Rival mobster “Crazy Joe“

Gallo, a minor Big Apple celeb,

was blamed for the hit. He

got whacked 10 months later.

Colombo remained paralyzed

until his death from cardiac

arrest in 1978


1979 carmine galante

Carmine “Cigar” Galante, acting boss

of the Bonanno crime family, invoked

Cosa Nostra leaders’ wrath by taking

over the narcotics market and refusing

to split the profts with the other crime

families. The hood, who was a clinically

diagnosed psychopath, got killed on

July 12 while eating lunch on the patio

of an Italian eatery in Brooklyn, N.Y.

He died with his trademark cigar still

clenched in his teeth


1980 angelo Bruno

1990 eddie Lino

Angelo “The Gentle Don” Bruno

headed the Philadelphia underworld

for two decades. But he fought New

York’s crime families for control of

the lucrative Atlantic City gambling

industry, and it cost him. On March 21,

Bruno was killed by a shotgun blast to

the back of the head as he sat in his car

outside his home in South Philly. New

York Mobster Antonio “Tony Bananas”

Caponigro reportedly ordered the hit

The Don of the Gambino family, “Big Paul” Castellano

was assassinated on Dec. 16 on the order of power-hungry

John Gotti. Castellano and his driver, Tom Bilotti (below),

who had just been appointed underboss, were shot to

death by a hit team wearing white trench coats and black

Russian Ushanka hats. Their bodies were left in front of

the Sparks Steak House in midtown Manhattan

Mob hit men are everywhere! Unlucky Eddie

Lino was gunned down on Nov. 6 by two New York

City Police Department detectives on the Mob’s payroll.

After pulling him over for a bogus traffc violation,

crooked cops Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa

fred nine bullets into Lino as he sat behind the wheel

of his Mercedes. The hit was ordered by another crime

family who wanted to weaken Lino’s pal John Gotti

1985 Paul castellano and tom Bilotti


Bungled Mafa summit was Beginning of the end

U ntil Nov. 14, 1957, most Americans suspectedthere was a National Crime Syndicate running the big-money rackets, but the FBI insisted it didn’t exist!

All that changed when coppers broke up a Mob summit at Joseph Joe “The Barber” Barbara’s 53-acre farm in sleepy Apalachin, N.Y. The spectacle of wise guys running

through cow dung in $500 Italian shoes turned the Mafia into a laughing stock – but proved it was all too real.

B I G D O I N G S

The bust happened by accident. Barbara, the ranking godfather of the Pennsylvania Mafia families, wanted a sit-down to discuss new federal laws against the lucrative narcotics trade, issues in the garment industry, loan sharking, casino operations and disloyal hoods who needed to “disappear.”

It was big doings – and Barbara needed a lot of prime meat to feed his 100 invited guests. The tiny Apalachin butcher

shop was suddenly overwhelmed by his massive order, which made local state trooper Edgar Croswell curious.

So, on the day of the Mob meet, Croswell and a few other lawmen watched Barbara’s place as limo after limo arrived. New York godfather Joe Profaci, 60, was first. He was followed by rising capo Paul Castellano and his boss Gambino. Don Vito Genovese made a grand entrance as did Chicago’s Sam Giancana, Santo Trafficante and Joe Marcello from New Orleans.

Suddenly, a housekeeper spotted Croswell taking down license plate numbers. She told her boss – and the mobsters scattered, racing to their cars, running across fields in $2,000 silk suits and dropping hundred dollar bills.

About 60 gangsters were hauled in. They all said they were visiting a sick friend. They got slapped

with minor fines. But the consequences were major.The summit forced FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to

acknowledge the existence of a National Crime Syndicate. The feds would now declare total war on the Mafia. It was the beginning of the end. v

u Joe “The Barber”

Barbara’s 53-acre ranch in

Apalachin, N.Y., was the

site of a Syndicate summit

that proved the American

Mafia was real. Attendees

included (below, from left to

right) Joseph Barbara, Vito

Genovese, Carlo Gambino,

Santo Trafficante, Sam

Giancana, Paul Castellano,

Joe Profaci and Joe Marcello

uState trooper

Edgar Croswell

caught the Mob

flat-footed

a M e r i c a n / 3 7 / g a n g s t e r s


After his G-men cut down

bank robber John Dillinger

in the summer of 1934,

FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover

elevated fellow thief Charles

Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd

to Public Enemy No. 1

followed by legendary bandits, Baby

Face Nelson, Machine Gun Kelly and

Ma Barker and her sons.

Nowhere on the list were Syndi-

cate kingpins Meyer Lansky, Lucky

Luciano, Bugsy Siegel, Frank Costello,

Louis Lepke, Albert Anastasia and

Joe Profaci, to name just a few of the

vicious hoodlums who ran organized

crime in the United States.

Until the 1957 Apalachin raid caught

100 Mafiosi in one place and officially

revealed the existence of a countrywide

organized crime syndicate, Hoover had

repeatedly told Americans there was no

such thing.

Why?

The legendary

leader of the FBI

certainly wasn’t

dumb – or blind. He had files on top mob-

sters and their politician pals. Hoover,

a betting man, even rubbed shoulders

with the gangsters at various racetracks!

A B I G G E R T H R E AT

So experts say the nation’s top lawmen

DELIBERATELY put his head in the

sand – and lied to America – to avoid

a war against organized crime his

agency didn’t have the manpower or the

money to win!

When the FBI was in its infancy

in the ’30s and ’40s, Hoover

had to fight hard for funds to

increase the size of his staff.

To get the gold, he had to

grab big headlines by catching big name

crooks. He concentrated on those who

were easy to snare.

While bragging that the capture of

small-time hoods and bank robbers proved

the FBI was the

greatest crime-

busting force in

the nation, he

allowed the syndi-

cate to creep into

virtually every

U.S. institution!

After World War

II, as the Cold War

between Russia

and the U.S. heated

up, right winger

Hoover went after

Communists, civil rights leaders and

liberals. The FBI’s bulldog boss believed

“subversives” were a bigger threat to the

country than Mafia chiefs, who were said

to have secret files of their own – document-

ing HIS cross-dressing homosexuality!

But whatever the reason for his silence,

when the rats ran away at the Apalachin

Mob Summit, Hoover couldn’t lie any

longer. He had egg on his face as crit-

ics charged he ignored what every kid

who’d ever seen a gangster movie knew

– the Outfit was real. The FBI was finally

forced to send agents after the Syndicate.

But the war took decades to win – thanks

to Hoover’s big blunder. v

uG-men went after easy targets like

John Dillinger (top) and (left to right

above) Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd,

George “Baby Face” Nelson and George

“Machine Gun Kelly” Barnes instead of

trying to root out the secretive Syndicate

uThe FBI’s powerful

director, J. Edgar

Hoover – who was

betting on horse

races when this photo

was snapped on

May 22, 1954 – had

secrets of his own.

Word is racketeers

had compromising

photos of the closet

homosexual dressed

in drag!

Hollywood is ga-ga over gangsters!Bringing the underworld’s savagery, greed and gore to the silver screen has been big business since former mobster Joe Brown became a silent movie sensation in the early 1920s. But the Mob movie really came into its own during the Great Depression when Americans gobbled up tales of fast living and easy money.

Upcoming actors James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and George Raft, a semi-reformed small-time hood, became TinselTown’s crime kings playing ruthless racketeers in black-and-white dramas like “Public Enemy,” “Little Caesar” and “Scarface.”

The Mob was also flourishing behind the scenes. Handsome hatchet man Bugsy Siegel was dispatched from New York to set up an L.A. gambling operation. But he decided to muscle in on the movie

business too, by taking over a union that specialized in providing extras for film crowd scenes.

Soon Siegel was hanging with old pal Raft, who grew up in New York’s tough Hell’s Kitchen. Raft’s portrayal

of a nickel-flipping thug in 1932’s “Scarface” was so realistic, mobsters have deliberately imitated him ever since.

But Hollywood’s gangland gold standard is the 1972 classic “The Godfather.” The blockbuster and its two sequels chronicled the bloody history of the Corleones, a New York-based organized crime family – and paved

the way for a blood-soaked parade of dramas starring drug dealers (1983’s “Scarface”), crooked cops (“The Departed”), Mafia wiseguys (“Goodfellas”) and urban gangs (“New Jack City”).

uWith a raspy

voice based

on the growl

of real-life

New York Mafia

boss Frank “The

Prime Minister”

Costello, Marlon

Brando became

“The Godfather”

in Francis Ford

Coppola’s 1972

monster hit

married to the

mobHollywood’s

top 20 gangster movies

uMobster Bugsy

Siegel (left) with old

pal, actor George Raft


Little caesarAs murderous thug

Rico Bandello, actor

Edward G. Robinson set

the standard for movie

gangsters. But in real life,

Robinson was a cultured

man passionate about

fine art. On the silver

screen, “Little Caesar”

is gunned down by a cop

after reaching the top

of Chicago’s organized

crime syndicate. His

immortal final words

are: “Mother of mercy,

is this the end of Rico?”

Legend has it that the

anti-Mob Racketeer

Influenced and Corrupt

Organizations Act – or

RICO – got its acronym

from Robinson’s character.

scarfaceLegendary Chicago gangster Al Capone was nicknamed

Scarface, and this blood-soaked chronicle of ’20s gang

warfare was loosely based on his life. Capone liked the

film so much he owned a copy, during an era when having

a movie of your own was literally unheard of. Paul Muni

stars as Italian immigrant Antonio “Tony” Camonte who,

like Capone, battles the city’s Irish gang. In an obvious

reference to the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929,

several men are gunned down in a garage with two

gunmen dressed in police uniforms.

the public enemyIt’s 1920s Chicago – and small-time bootlegger Tom Powers, played by

James Cagney, claws his way up through the city’s brutal underworld.

The film made Cagney a star, and boasts one of gangster cinema’s most

memorable scenes – as Tom blows up at his girl Kitty (actress Mae

Clarke) and shoves a grapefruit in her face. Cagney later said he based his

performance on a real-life Chicago gangster, Irish-American thug Charles

Dean O’Banion, and two New York City hoods he’d known as a kid.

1931

1932

1931


al caponeThe movie’s tagline

read: “It was the age of

speakeasies and jazz...

when everybody sinned,

ginned and broke the

law...while a vicious crime

lord almost took over the

nation!” And actor Rod

Steiger delivered a chilling

portrayal of Capone in this

amazingly accurate biopic.

It chronicled Capone’s rise

through murder, extortion

and political fraud. But

while the iconic gangster

died of advanced syphilis,

Hollywood’s production

code forced the film’s

narrator to attribute his

death to an “incurable

disease.”

Kiss of DeathActor Richard Widmark’s

neurotic, high-pitched laugh

as a psycho hit man inspired

one of the 20th century’s

most brutal real-life Mob

enforcers – “Crazy Joe” Gallo.

In “Kiss of Death,” Widmark’s

character Tommy Udo pushes

a wheelchair-bound old lady

down a flight of stairs to her

death without ever stopping

his maniacal chuckling. New

York mobster Gallo began

mimicking Udo and acting

crazy, giving rise to his “Crazy

Joe” persona. Gallo was

gunned down in Little Italy

in 1972.

1959

1947


murder, inc.Mobsters stop at nothing to keep

their “business” going during the

Great Depression in this gritty

look at New York’s underworld.

The screenplay was based on

a novel about Murder, Inc., a

Brooklyn gang that operated in

the ’30s. The film launched the

career of actor Peter Falk (right),

who earned an Oscar nomination

playing Murder, Inc.’s top hit

man, Abe Reles. Falk chose his

wardrobe from second-hand

stores, saying he searched for

clothes that gave him the “East

Coast ‘wise guy’ look.”

1960

robin and the 7 Hoods In a twist on the

Robin Hood legend, Frank Sinatra plays a gangster who robs from

the rich and gives to the poor in Prohibition Era Chicago. The

Chairman of the Board recruited his Rat Pack pals Sammy Davis Jr.

and Dean Martin for the musical. Sinatra was close to Mob bosses

Carlo Gambino, Sam Giancana and Lucky Luciano. “The Godfather”

character Johnny Fontane, whose career was helped by links to

organized crime, is widely believed to have been based on Sinatra.

1964


the

godfather“I’m gonna make

him an offer he can’t

refuse.” Screen legend

Marlon Brando uttered

that line as Mafia

boss Don Corleone

– and turned “The

Godfather” into an

instant classic. Based

on the novel by Mario

Puzo and directed by

Francis Ford Coppola,

“The Godfather” is

widely recognized

as Hollywood’s top

gangster movie – if

not the best movie of

all time. Actor Gianni

Russo later hinted he

landed the role of The

Godfather’s traitorous

son-in-law, Carlo Rizzi,

by tapping his real-life

Mafia connections.

1972

the godfather: part iiThe word “Mafia” was never spoken in

“The Godfather,” but it’s heard three

times in this blockbuster sequel, which

pits the young “Don” Michael Corleone

(Al Pacino, right) against shrewd

old-timer Hyman Roth. Roth is loosely

based on real-life mobster Meyer Lansky.

Lansky, however, didn’t like how he was

portrayed by legendary acting teacher

Lee Strasberg. After the film’s release,

the miffed mobster reportedly phoned

Strasberg from his Miami home and said:

“Why couldn’t you have made me more

sympathetic? After all, I am a grandfather.”

1974


scarfaceLike the gangsters of the original

“Scarface,” Cuban immigrant Tony

Montana rose through the ranks

to achieve his American dream

– heading a criminal empire. For Tony,

that meant sitting on top of Miami’s

cocaine business. The film inspired

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to name

his international corporation Montana

Management. When a heavily armed

hit squad arrives to kill him, Montana

(Al Pacino) grabs a grenade launcher

and growls the film’s most famous line:

“Say hello to my little friend.”

prizzi’s HonorEven with a post-modern twist, Brooklyn’s Prizzi crime

clan stayed true to the gangster code – and put family

honor above all. The film centers on two professional

killers, Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner, who fall

in love and marry. In the end, the married mobsters are

hired to kill each other. Iconic director John Huston

focused on the film’s black comedy, and the late movie

critic Pauline Kael wrote: “It’s like ‘The Godfather’

acted out by ‘The Munsters.’ ”

1983

1983


the Untouchables Based on the memoir of federal agent Eliot Ness, the

star-studded film tells the story of Ness’ (Kevin Costner) team of federal agents – known

as “The Untouchables” for their fearlessness – and their efforts to bring Chicago kingpin Al

Capone (Robert De Niro) to justice during Prohibition. A stickler for authenticity, De Niro,

who also starred in “The Godfather: Part II” and “Goodfellas,” tracked down Capone’s

original tailors to make him an authentic movie wardrobe.

goodfellas Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci star in this Martin

Scorsese-directed gangster flick about the rise and fall of Lucchese crime family associate

Henry Hill. During filming, Liotta received two (fake) horse heads in his dressing room to

welcome him to the world of Mob flicks – one from De Niro and the other from Frank Sinatra’s

daughter, Nancy. After the film’s release, the real Hill was so proud that he bragged that the

movie was about his life, forcing the FBI to boot him from the Witness Protection Program.

1987

1990


miller’s crossing Tom Reagan

(Gabriel Byrne) is a man with

divided loyalties. The longtime

confidant and adviser of an

Irish political boss (Albert

Finney) during the Prohibition

era, Tom eventually teams up

with his boss’ Italian rival (John

Turturro). During filming in New

Orleans, crooked local cops

would routinely show up to try

to shake down the production

company. Director Joel Coen

later said the modern bad apples

in blue were “acting precisely

like the cops depicted in his film,

and they don’t even care!”

1990

new Jack city Wesley Snipes stars as the

leader of a New York City gang during the crack cocaine

wars of the late 1980s – and Ice-T is the undercover

detective who infiltrates the gang in order to bring it

down. Snipes, who served nearly three years in jail for

failing to file federal tax returns, came close to facing

drug charges in real life. Cops believed the actor tossed a

package of marijuana from his motorcycle during a now

infamous high-speed chase in 1994. But since there were

no fingerprints or other proof, no charges were ever filed.

1991


casino Robert De

Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon

Stone star in this tale of

greed, corruption and

murder in 1970s Las Vegas.

Pesci’s character gets

whacked in the flick. The

actor almost got a taste of

real-life Mob justice in the

early ’80s after skipping

out on a hotel bill. Mobster

Anthony “The Animal” Fiato

was approached by actor

James Caan to “take care of”

Pesci for stiffing the Miami

hotel, which was owned

by one of Caan’s pals. The

incriminating conversation

was reportedly caught on

FBI tape.

american me

Edward James Olmos directs

and stars in the fictional

account of the rise of

the Mexican Mafia in the

California prison system.

Soon after the film’s release,

three of Olmos’ consultants

were killed execution-style,

and it was reported that

Olmos was also on the

gang’s hit list for making

the movie. In a 1996 federal

racketeering case against

the Mexican Mafia, it was

revealed that the group

had extorted money and

property from the actor,

possibly in exchange for his

and his family’s safety.

1995

1992


the Departed An undercover cop (Leo

DiCaprio) who infiltrates

Boston’s deadly Irish mob

and a police mole (Matt

Damon) each set out to

uncover the other’s

identity before they’re

exposed. The Martin

Scorsese film also stars Jack

Nicholson, Martin Sheen,

Alec Baldwin and Vera

Farmiga. Nicholson based

his role as vicious Irish

mobster Frank Costello

on real-life South Boston

gang boss James “Whitey”

Bulger, who was sentenced

last year to two life

sentences for racketeering

and masterminding

eleven murders.

2006

Donnie Brasco The true story

of FBI legend Joe Pistone, who infiltrated the

New York-based Bonanno crime family as

“Donnie Brasco” in the 1970s, stars Al Pacino

and Johnny Depp. Although the real Pistone

still lives under the radar and refuses to travel

to cities with a high Mob presence because of

a contract on his life, he went to the Big Apple

during the filming to coach Pacino and Depp

in their roles.

road to perdition Tom Hanks plays

Irish Mob enforcer Michael Sullivan who, along with

his young son, seeks revenge for the murder of his

family. The film also stars Paul Newman, giving the

final movie performance of his career as Mob boss

John Rooney. Daniel Craig and Jude Law also play

vicious outlaws. The rain-swept cinematography

– for which Conrad Hill was posthumously awarded

an Oscar – and the decision to film on location in

the Windy City gave the film an air of “Capone-era

Chicago” authenticity that critics loved.

1997

2002


Joseph Valachi came along at the right time for lawmen and the wrong time for the Mob.

“Joe Cargo” killed people for mobster Vito Genovese, and when he turned informer in 1963, he became the first-made Mafia

member to squeal. Testifying at the congressional “McClellan Hearings,” Valachi gave Americans their first look inside La Cosa Nostra.

Then-Attorney General Robert Ken-nedy, gangland’s greatest enemy in Washington, hailed Valachi’s televised

testimony as “the biggest single intel-ligence breakthrough yet in combating or-ganized crime and racketeering in the United States.”

When Valachi broke “omerta,” the Mafia’s sacred code of silence, in ex-change for a lesser sentence on a murder

rap, America learned how Mafia mem-bers were “made” in a secret ritual after killing for their boss.

As Americans were glued to their TVs, he revealed how there was a “Com-mission” of five Mafia families in New York, which moderated Mob disputes nationwide. He disclosed how the Mafia families were a well-organized empire of evil, with soldiers on the bottom to caporegimes (lieutenants) in the middle and consiglieres as advisers to the dons.

T h e F I R S T M A F I A R AT

Thanks to “The Godfather” movies, the Mafia’s structure is now com-mon knowledge to most Americans, but Valachi’s testimony was a big deal. The first Mafia rat made it necessary for lawmen to admit that they were facing a well-oiled crime corporation governed by rules and regulations.

Valachi also introduced a new expres-sion into the language when asked if the crime families called themselves the Mafia.

“No,” Valachi said. “We call it ‘Cosa Nostra.’ Our Thing.”

Valachi exposed Mob families in New York City, New Jersey, Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Detroit, Tampa, Fla., Boston and Providence, R.I., identi-fying bosses and senior men in each

The mob unmasked!‘Joe Cargo’ Valachi spills the beans on tV

group. He confirmed there were at least 2,000 “made men” in the Big Apple, and personally identified 289 of the 383 hoodlums that had been profiled by crime-busting investigators.

Over the past 30 years, Va-lachi’s testimony – both on an off the record – helped the FBI do significant damage to the Mob. The Cosa Nostra in California has almost com-pletely disappeared. Denver, Kansas City, Mo., Dallas, Cleve-land, Pittsburgh, Rochester, N.Y., crews are nonexistent too.

New Orleans, Tampa. Buf-falo and New England are shadows of their former selves. The gangs in Detroit, Philadelphia and New Jersey are on their knees.

The once-powerful Chicago Syn-dicate is greatly reduced in numbers and effectiveness. Only in New York

does the Mob maintain momentum.Until Valachi, there had been several

bureaucratic attempts to investigate and define just what organized crime was:

most notably the congres-sional Kefauver Committee which roamed the country interviewing gangsters like Frank Costello, who refused to talk. They exposed some political corruption, but never established proof that the Mafia existed.

Joe’s shocking disclosures came as the Mob’s reign in Las Vegas faded, when reclu-

sive billionaire Howard Hughes decided he wanted to be king of “Sin City” and bought 17 resorts. The syndicate’s power was eroding. Genovese put a $100,000 price on the turncoat’s head. But it was never collected. Valachi died in 1971 at a federal prison in Texas of a heart attack. v

uFed-up with

the Mob life and

trying to avoid

a government

death sentence,

made-man

Joe Valachi

told Congress

everything he

knew about

the Mafia

uVito

Genovese

was Valachi’s

boss

uFrank

Costello

wouldn’t sing

a m e r i C a n / 4 9 / g a n g s t e r s

Known as the “Teflon Don” for his ability to escape prosecution, and as the “Dapper Don,” for his habit of wearing $2,000 silk suits, New York’s most ruthless racketeer John Gotti died alone from cancer in one

of the federal government’s most secure prison facilities.

His passing in 2002 marked the Mafia’s high water mark. As the all- powerful head of New York’s Gambino crime family, Gotti was the last true American Godfather, thought to be pulling the strings right up until the day he died.

In truth, Gotti was a celebrity and a superstar – embodying everything Americans loved, feared and hated about the Mob. He was tough, loyal and refused to turn squealer. He was a vicious,

the last godfather

‘Dapper Don’ John Gotti clawed his way to the top &

DieD a Mafia superstar

uSurrounded by his crew, brazen

crime lord John Gotti (circled

below) hangs around outside

his Bergin Hunt and Fish Club

headquarters. An artist sketched

the moment (right) in 1992 when

he received a life sentence from

Judge I. Leo Glasser

a M e r i c a n / 5 0 / G a n G s t e r s

Gotti was everythinGamericans

loved, feared and hated

about the mob

uImmaculately

groomed and

decked out in

expensive Italian

designs, the

“Dapper Don”

looked more

like a corporate

executive than

a bloodthirsty

Mafia boss. The

underworld czar

continued to run

his rackets from

behind bars in

a federal pen


heartless killer who loved the good life. And for a while, at least, it seemed like he could get away with anything!

News organizations chronicled his every public move and fascinated Amer-icans couldn’t get enough of the smug, confident crime lord. Gotti played his role with swagger and defiance.

His headquarters weren’t a secret. Everyone knew it was a social club in Little Italy. Everybody knew he had another “clubhouse” in Queens called the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club. He didn’t lurk in shadows. He basked in the limelight.

A S M I R K O N H I S F A C E

Every day, Gotti sat on his clubhouse throne, a barber’s chair, and got his hair trimmed to perfection. He wore pure white shirts with his silk suits and $200 hand-painted ties. During courthouse appearances, he sat most days with a smirk on his face, the contemptuous sneer of a coldblooded murderer who knew the fix was in.

A high school dropout turned truck hijacker, Gotti was sworn into “La Cosa Nostra” in 1973. He whacked a gang traitor at the behest of his boss, Carlo

Gambino, who then was top dog on the national crime Commission.

Don Carlo, a well-read mobster who liked to quote Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” appreciated Gotti’s “piece of work” and even promoted him to head one of his two dozen crews of soldiers. But Gambino distrusted the unedu-cated, foul-mouthed thug. Don Carlo’s successor, cousin Paul Castellano, liked Gotti even less. John was dealing in heroin and that broke a Castellano rule. Wiseguys whispered Gotti wasn’t long for the world.

The ambitious capo figured he needed to land the first punch. And in

1985, he got some help from an unlike-ly source. In an unprecedented move, the Feds arrested and put on trial the heads of the five New York families, the so-called “Commission” which ruled the Big Apple and, by extension, the rest of America’s criminal syndi-cates.

In court together were Gambino Family boss Castellano; Colombo Family head Carmine “Junior” Persico, Anthony “Tony Ducks” Corallo of the Lucchese Family, Philip “Rusty” Rastelli from the Bonanno gang and Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno from the Genovese Mob. Salerno was nailed

DEAL WITH THE DEVIL!

Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, nicknamed for his thick neck and stocky torso, made his Mafia reputation by killing 19 people AND for being the highest-ranking “made man” ever to turn rat.

Gravano was the underboss for the Gambino Crime Family, second only to gang leader John Gotti, when he turned canary in exchange for a life in the federal Witness Protection Program.

In 1992, the feds sent Gotti away for life after Gravano

took the stand and testified he had killed time and again on his boss’ orders – even rubbing out his own brother-in-law! Gravano and Gotti planned the hit on former Gambino

Sammy The Bull did19 hits – but got slapon the wrist afterratting out his boss

uGodfather Gallery: Carlo Gambino, Paul “Big Paulie” Castellano, Carmine

“Junior” Persico, Anthony “Tony Ducks” Corallo and Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno

(from left to right) all ran New York crime families

uColdhearted killer Sammy

Gravano took the witness stand and

put away John Gotti – in what many

say was the death blow against the

modern Mafia in New York


instead of the REAL Genovese boss, Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, the bath-robe-wearing mobster who feigned mental illness.

Prosecutors had damning wiretap evidence obtained under the mob-busting R.I.C.O. law which proved the “Commission” was a criminal conspiracy dealing in murder and racketeering. All the dons went to jail except Castellano. Gotti made sure his boss would never see the inside of a cell – by rubbing him out BEFORE the trial ended.

“ I F O R G O T T I ”

Big Paulie was gunned down on Dec. 16, 1985 outside a Manhat-tan restaurant as Christmas shoppers scattered. Gotti watched from a near-by limo. He was now head of a crime family that grossed about $500 million a year, from gambling, loan-sharking, stock fraud, extortion from unions, gar-ment manufacturers, garbage-carting companies and food suppliers.

But a year after taking over the Gam-bino gang, Gotti was in court accused of assault. Not surprisingly, the victim testified he couldn’t identify Gotti.

Case dismissed. “I Forgotti,” said a headline the next day. Smart thing too. John Favara, a neighbor who’d ac-cidentally run over and killed Gotti’s 12-year-old son Frank in 1980, was snatched off the street, stuffed into a van and never heard from again.

Godfather Gotti’s next trial was marked by a bomb scare and witness intimidation. Cocksure John knew he’d get off as he sat smirking in court. He’d bribed a juror with $60,000. The ver-dict: not guilty!

Arrested again, this time for assault-ing a union official and conspiracy, Gotti told cops: “I’ll lay you three to one I beat it.” He did. Not surprisingly, the victim actually gave evidence FOR THE DEFENSE!

A fourth trial was different, how-ever. This time the Feds had a Mob rat to bolster their wiretap evidence: Salvatore “Sammy The Bull” Gravano – Gotti’s good friend and underboss who turned squealer to save his own skin after being charged with murder.

Gotti got a life sentence – and the smirk was finally wiped off his face for keeps. v

family boss Paul Castellano, and the two watched the rubout go down.

Mob experts say Gravano turned informant because he was fed up with all the attention the publicity-seeking Gotti was bringing to “La Cosa Nostra.” But Gravano brought even MORE attention to the outfit as scores of other Mafia affiliates went down with Gotti as a result of his testimony. However, despite his murder confessions, Sammy served less than five years for racketeering. For a time, he disappeared with a new identity and a new life set up by the Feds.

But The Bull got antsy living far from New York. He missed the “respect” he once commanded on the streets and, ironically, missed the notoriety of being a gangster. He agreed to a book about his life.

In 1997, Gravano plugged the book in a TV interview with Diane Sawyer and even dared Mafia hit men to come looking for him at his Arizona hideaway. He said he would have a deadly welcome for them – if they were stupid enough to try to

collect the contract on his life.Miraculously, the Mafia did not

assassinate him – sending a message he was now “small potatoes” and beneath contempt. But Sammy the Snitch turned out to be his own worst enemy, proving that once you’re used to easy money it’s hard to work for a living like a regular guy.

In 2000, the former wiseguy was charged along with his son, Gerard, appropriately nicknamed Baby Bull, of masterminding an Ecstasy ring in Arizona. Sammy, now 68, sits in a cage, serving 20 years. Feds say it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. v

uAs part of his plan to convince

lawmen he was harmless, Mafia

family boss Vinny “The Chin” Gigante

wandered the streets around his

Manhattan apartment muttering to

himself and wearing a bathrobe. He

was arrested and imprisoned anyway

uLike father,

like son; In

2002, Sammy

The Bull and

his kid Gerard

were sent to

the slammer

in Arizona

for running

a massive

drug ring.

Now balding

and ravaged

by Graves’

Disease,

Sammy got

20 years. His

boy got nine

– and is now

out of the

Big House


DECIMATED by decades of relentless federal prosecution, turncoats and harsh c o m p e t i t i o n from ruthless new underworld

organizations, the American Mafia is battered, bruised – and disrespected.

Gone are the days of ruling the underworld – enforcing their will with savage efficiency – while laughing at lawmen who were either bought off or powerless to stop them. Other crime syndicates have taken over huge chunks of the Mob’s turf – and Mafia kingpins have finally lost their ability to cheat justice.

A N E W S U P E R W E A P O N

Winning battles against the Mafia wasn’t easy until the 1970s when authorities got a new superweapon, the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which imposes heavy penalties specifically for either directing – or taking part in – the Syndicate’s traditional crimes.

By the 1980s, Mafia power was further diminished when the FBI helped cut off the Mob’s Las Vegas money stream. The Feds also

loosened the gangs’ stranglehold on truck- ing, bartending and construction unions, removing a power base that helped Mafia big shots blackmail legitimate businesses in exchange for labor peace.

“We aggressively attack them, and the sentences are very large,” said David Shafer, special agent

who supervises FBI organized crime investigations in New York.

Those long prison sentences are convincing the Mafia thugs to

testify against their partners in crime rather than go to prison – where even Godfather John Gotti was beaten so badly by another inmate he needed hospitalization!

In the old days, that type of “disrespect” would’ve never been tolerated by the Mob. But squealing wasn’t tolerated, either: It was an automatic underworld death sentence. The Mob proved, time and again, it could reach anyone, anywhere.

But the lawmen running the federal Witness Protection Program learned to outwit the Mafia, so today’s “rats” have no fear of retribution – even when they’re exposed like New Jersey crime kingpin-turned-snitch Vincent “Vinny Ocean” Palermo. He was outed in 2009 as “Vincent Cabella,”

the owner of a controversial Houston strip club.

Palermo is still living large as is former Bonanno family godfather Joe “The Ear” Massino, who became the first head of a New York crime family ever to turn canary when he faced a murder rap. In return for his help nailing other gangsters and turning over $7 million in ill-gotten gains, Massino got out of prison last year and is now living undercover.

“ T h E y ’ v E l O S T A l l R E S P E c T ”

“These days, nobody is really terrified of the American Mafia. They’ve lost all respect and street cred,” said a law enforcement source. “They don’t have the money – or the muscle – to call all the shots anymore. Now other bad guys from other ethnic groups are taking away their play.”

And there’s not much the Mob can do to stop it! Changing demographics

uMob squealer Vincent “Vinny

Ocean” Palermo (left) is now living

openly in Texas after helping put New

Jersey gangsters away. Even former

godfather Joe “The Ear” Massino

(above) thumbed his nose at former

associates by testifying for the Feds.

However, he’s living undercover

uFBI crime

buster David

Shafer


and the assimilation of Italian-

Americans into U.S. society has limited

the Mafia’s traditional recruitment base.

Now the Russian Mafia, Chinese

triads, Mexican drug cartels and

urban street gangs like the Crips and

the Bloods have taken over many

of the Syndicate’s former rackets

and business ventures. In Chicago,

politicians openly court the support of

gangbangers like the Vice Lords, Black

Disciples, Black Gangsters and Cobras

in the same way their Prohibition-era

ancestors romanced Al Capone.

However, the Mafia still has a

limited presence in the Windy City, the

Northeast, and parts of Canada. The

Syndicate’s coast-to-coast domination

is a thing of the past.

However, law enforcement officials

aren’t ready to count the Mafia out

– and many still consider the Mob

the largest organized crime group

in the U.S. And, depending on who

you listen to, the Mafia is poised to

make a comeback.

“It will regroup,” says a former

mobster, who asked not to be

identified. “Everybody will lay low

and see what happens. Then all of a

sudden, little by little, they’ll come

out and they’ll start regrouping. They

gotta. There’s too much money, and

you gotta remember their egos won’t

let them walk away.” v

GoinG, GoinG, Gone!

mafia getting erased

by coppers and new crime

cartels

BattereD,BruiseD

anDDisrespecteD


NEW YORK’S

BIG FIVE

Bonanno – Active New York, Arizona, Connecticut & FloridaColombo – Active New York, Connecticut & FloridaGambino – Active New York, Connecticut & FloridaGenovese – Active New York, Connecticut & FloridaLucchese – Active New York, Connecticut & Florida BIRMINGHAM

Crime family eradicated BUFFALO

Magaddino – Active CHICAGO

The Outfit – Active in Illinois & Las Vegas CLEVELAND

Porrello – Active DALLAS

Crime family eradicated DENVER

Crime family eradicated DETROIT

Zerilli – Active KANSAS CITY

Civella – Active Missouri & Las Vegas

LOS ANGELES

DeSimone – active MILWAUKEE

Balistrieri – On the ropes NEW ENGLAND

Patriarca – Active in Boston & Providence, R.I. NEW JERSEY

DeCavalcante – On the ropes NEW ORLEANS

Marcello – On the ropes PENNSYLVANIA

Bruno – Active in Philadelphia & Atlantic CityBufalino – On the ropesLaRocca – Active in Pittsburgh & Ohio ROCHESTER

Crime family eradicated SAN FRANCISO

Crime family eradicated SAN JOSE

Cerrito – On the ropes SEATTLE

Colacurcio – Active ST. LOUIS

Giordano – Active TAMPA

Trafficante – Active

Standing just over 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing less than 140 pounds, Meyer Lansky hardly looked the part of a ruthless Mafia kingpin.

Yet despite his small stature, he loomed large as the brains of the most notorious, richest and savage criminal empire of the 20th Century.

For nearly five decades, Lansky manipulated, strong-armed and worked his magic on a host of illicit underworld endeavors – from Prohibition

bootlegging, to gambling operations, labor racketeering and hundreds of other ventures around the globe.

Known as the Mob’s Accountant for his financial wizardry, the Jewish gangster was one of the founders and heads of the notorious National Crime Syndicate, though he took a back seat to the egotistical Italian godfathers.

But in the end, he outlasted them all!As one of the organization’s major overseers and its

banker, Lansky applied his Midas touch and laundered millions through foreign accounts.

Some lawmen insist Lanksy enriched himself to the tune of a whopping $300 million. He hid most of his loot in Swiss banks away from the Internal Revenue Service’s prying eyes – so he wouldn’t follow in Al Capone’s footsteps by getting nailed on a tax rap.

“ B I G G E R T H A N U . S . S T E E L”

And in the days before electronic money transfers, he was said to keep a gangland associate as his full-time bagman, ready to carry millions in a briefcase to any place in the globe – at any time.

“We’re bigger than U.S. Steel,” Lansky once boasted. His famous line was repeated in the movie “The Godfather: Part II,” where his character tries to sucker his Italian-American partner played by Al Pacino.

In real-life, Lansky was just as slick. His prowess was so impressive, he was both loathed and admired by the very people who were trying to put him behind bars.

“He would have been chairman of the board of General Motors if he’d gone into legitimate business,” an FBI agent once begrudgingly said of Lansky.

Amazingly, Lansky was able to evade authorities and was only jailed once – for two months in 1953 – on a gambling conviction.

Born in 1902, Lansky worked his way out of poverty in New York City’s Lower East Side through the ranks of organized crime. After doing odd jobs, he teamed up with friends Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano in 1918. Together, they ran a floating craps game.

Soon, they moved onto more lucrative projects such as rum running and selling muscle to more established mobsters. Lansky’s successes didn’t go unnoticed. By 1928, he had attracted a gang of his own and developed a squad of elite hit men for hire, which would later become known as Murder, Inc.

With the Syndicate gaining more influence and power, Lansky developed gambling operations in the United States

uCuban dictator

Fulgencio Batista

was in Meyer’s

pocket

A M E R I C A N / 5 6 / G A N G S T E R S

and Cuba, where he arranged to pay off Cuban dictator

Fulgencio Batista. It would take Fidel Castro’s rise to power in

1959 to topple Lansky’s operations in the Caribbean country.

He also financed his friend Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo hotel

casino development in Las Vegas. And even though Lansky

rarely picked up arms himself after his youth, he was the one

who finally authorized Siegel’s execution in 1947 – in part to

save himself from his Syndicate partners who were livid over

the business disaster.

But Vegas ultimately boomed and other gambling oppor-

tunities emerged in the Bahamas and London, where Meyer

made sure he had a slice of the pie.

Lansky funneled the cash he earned from

gambling, drug smuggling, prostitution and loan-

sharking into legitimate enterprises such as hotels

and golf courses. His underworld partners joined

him in these ventures too.

But by 1970, fearing federal indictments for

income-tax evasion and other charges, Lansky

fled to Israel seeking to gain permanent residency.

His request for asylum sparked a 26-month-battle

between the Jewish nation and the U.S.

Ultimately, Israel expelled him and he wound

up back in America to face several indictments.

He was cleared of all charges, partly because of his

chronic ill health.

He spent his final years living modestly in

Miami Beach, Fla., before dying on Jan. 15, 1983,

of lung cancer at age 81. The Mafia’s golden era

was buried with him. v

Mastermind Meyer Lansky died in bed —

and took glory days with him

uShrewd and ruthless Meyer Lansky, a bootlegger, killer and

gambler, owned a string of hotels in Cuba. He used his ill-gotten

gains to take over legit businesses – and move into Vegas

A M E R I C A N / 5 7 / G A N G S T E R S

uSurrounded by federal

agents and New York cops,

Domenico “Greaseball” Cefalu

was cuffed during a 2008 raid

that nailed him and 60 other

thugs for murder, extortion and

racketeering. Amazingly, Cefalu

only did about two years in jail.

After he got out, the “bakery

salesman” became godfather of

the Gambino Crime Family

A m e r i c A N / 5 8 / g A N g s t e r s

Today, the Mafia’s most

powerful godfathers have

retreated to the shadows.

Gone are the days when

the crime kingpins basked in

their notoriety and flaunted

their wealth. But only their

public profile has changed.

Modern Mob bosses

still are driven by greed and the

lust for power. And they are still

absolutely ruthless.

Right now, Sicilian-born Gambino

Family crime boss Dominico “Greaseball”

Cefalu is among the most influential

mobsters in America, according to law

enforcement sources.

Incredibly, the 66-year-old lives with

his mother and works at a New York

City bakery supply company! Police say

he only became head of John Gotti’s old

outfit after wise guy Frank Cali turned

the job down. Word is Cali didn’t want

to be a target for federal prosecutors.

A M U C H L O W E R P R O F I L E

“That’s how it is these days. The

Mob has finally learned to keep a much

lower profile,” says Ed Scarpo, editor

and founder of the respected Cosa

Nostra News website.

The other New York families are

trying to follow suit. But it hasn’t

always worked.

The Bonannos named Michael

“Mikey Nose” Mancuso their boss last

year even though he’s doing fifteen

years in prison.

Crippled by government prosecutions,

the Lucchese group answers to Steven

“Wonderboy” Crea who did time for

running labor rackets. Crea has stayed

under the radar since his probation

ended in 2009.

But Andrew “Mush” Russo, head

of the Colombo Family, got sent away

for 33 months last year. Talk on the

streets says his New York City prison

cell is his new office.

Meanwhile, Daniel “The Lion” Leo,

73, is the cagey boss of the Genovese

gang. Despite serving five years

for loan sharking and

racketeering, The Lion is

so far under the radar few

made men will even admit

his role at the top of the

nation’s most powerful

crime family.

Chicago boss John

“No Nose” DiFronzo is

cut from the same cloth.

He’s managed to stay one

step ahead of the Feds for

decades – and ordered his

henchmen never to talk

about him in public!

Joseph “Uncle Joe”

Ligambi, 74, is the current

king of Philadelphia’s under-

world. He’s known as “old

school,” insisting mobsters avoid splashy

displays of money, power and blood that

attract the law.

Still, experts say the Mafia has a

leadership crisis. “Part of the problem

the modern Mob faces is that many of

the best and the brightest second- or

third-generation family members are

becoming doctors and lawyers. They’re

not interested in becoming gangsters,”

said George Anastasia, a newsman

and author who specializes in covering

organized crime.

“The American Mafia is now a brand,

like Prada or Versace. It’s a part of pop

culture, and that’s not a good thing if

you are supposed to be a criminal secret

society. The smarter ones are realizing

that it’s better to stay in the

shadows.”

But don’t rule out the

rise of another Boss of

All Bosses, says Scarpo.

There’s too much money,

power and ego at play. And

the idea of a Don Corleone-

style Godfather still feeds

gangsters’ imaginations

as much as it also attracts

the spotlight from lawmen.

“I think the Mob is

tired of the fat, lazy Italian

Americans who turn into

rats,” said a law enforcement

source. “I wouldn’t be sur-

prised if more natural-born

Sicilians or members of the

Italian-based ‘Ndrangheta crime syndi-

cate make a major push in the U.S. and

force a return to the old days of Omerta

– and make their point in blood.” v

uLabor racketeer Steven ÒWonderboyÓ Crea (left) is the top dog in the Lucchese Family, which was the brains behind the heroin

ring made famous by the 1971 movie ÒThe French Connection.Ó Andrew ÒMushÓ Russo (in FBI custody, above) is currently running

the Colombos from behind bars. Chicago boss John ÒNo NoseÕ DiFronzo owes his looks to cops. Word is he sliced off his honker while

crawling through a broken window during a 1949 burglary Ð and police gave it back! He then had it surgically re-attached

uPhilly godfather

ÒUncle JoeÓ

Ligambi beat

two federal

racketeering raps

earlier this year

A m e r i c A N / 5 9 / g A N g s t e r s

The feud extends across the world

to other countries with Hells Angels

chapters, like Germany, Denmark, Aus-

tralia, England and Israel. In January

this year, a Hells Angel was arrested

for launching a series of bomb attacks

on rival gang members in Melbourne,

Australia.

The biker gangs revel in their image

as “Easy Rider” outlaws living free out-

side the confines of society, nicknam-

ing themselves the “one-percenters.”

But Cook, past president of the

Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang

Investigators Association and current

vice president of the International As-

sociation of Undercover Officers, says

they are fundamentally criminal enter-

prises.

“I have interviewed many of these

guys from different motorcycle gangs

and every single one of them says they

Motorcycle gangs are

more organized,

more sophisticated

and more danger-

ous than they have

ever been since the

first Hells Angels

chapter was

f o u n d e d

in California more than 60

years ago.

And while they may cul-

tivate the outlaw image of

lone wolf desperados, the

Angels and rival biker gangs

like the Mongols and the

Pagans have strong ties with

the most feared organized

crime groups in America – in-

cluding the Italian Mob, the

Mexican drug cartels and even

Russian and Ukrainian gangsters.

That’s the disturbing insight of Kan-

sas City Metro Police Detective Steve

Cook, the country’s top police expert on

outlaw motorcycle gangs and an under-

cover officer who has busted countless

bikers on drug and gun charges.

The underworld alliances range from

drug running to protection shakedowns,

extortion, kidnapping, prostitution,

armed robbery and even murder.

But the bikers specialize in intimida-

tion. And that’s what makes them still

so “extremely dangerous” to the public,

says Cook. “They don’t care where they

settle their rivalries,” he said in an ex-

clusive interview. “Innocent members

of the public can easily be hurt. That’s

not something that matters to them.”

The Hells Angels, in particular,

have a historic allegiance to certain

Mob families, often provid-

ing muscle or roughing up

people who have crossed the

wise guys.

Supervisory Special FBI

Agent Jeffrey Sallet, of the

Providence, R.I., office,

said mobsters consider biker

gangs as valuable assets in

one very specific area.

C R E AT I N G F E A R

“They create fear,” said

Sallet. “And I think that’s

something outlaw motorcycle

groups specialize in, is creating fear.”

Other gangs may carry out their

crooked operations in the shadows, try-

ing not to attract attention. But outlaw

bikers roar up full throttle in their leath-

er jackets daring anybody to stop them.

“They advertise who they are,” says

Agent Sallet. “That’s how they generate

their fear.”

“They are kind of a unique sub-

group,” adds Cook, who said the Hells

Angels are currently “at war” with the

Pagans, the Mongols, the Vagos, the

Outlaws and the Bandidos.

uBeefy biker Andrew Lozano (above), who rode with the Vagos, was collared

by California cops in 2011. A judge dismissed all charges but outlaw motorcycle

clubs have been in police crosshairs since the 1950s

uBiker gang

expert

Steve Cook


The Angels Are AT WAr WITh The

MOngOls, PAgAns AnD BAnDIDOs

uA horde of Hells Angels rolled into San Jose, Calif., for

the 2011 funeral of club member Steve Tausan. Police

said he was shot down while attending the send-off of

ANOTHER biker, Jethro Pettigrew, who was murdered in

Nevada during a showdown with members of the Vagos

Born to Be wild!

Outlaw bike gangs run drugs,

hookers &errands for mob


are involved in organized crime. That’s just how it is. All of them are involved in drugs – it’s easy revenue for them,” he said.

The cop, who rides motorcycles himself, has successfully prosecuted members of the Hells Angels, the Sons of Silence, El Forastero, and Galloping Goose motorcycle gangs for metham-phetamine and firearms charges.

“It’s all about organized crime – although some of the members will say

it is disorganized crime because it’s not always that well run,” he said.

“The outlaw motorcycle gangs link up with the other organized crime groups because they are all operat-ing in the same territory. There is always going to be a nexus of these groups.

“Generally the motorcycle gangs now are smarter. They think things through. Individually they are not as bad as they were. You had some members who were completely hardcore and would do anything without fear of the conse-quences. Now they are more criminally sophisticated.”

H e av i ly - t a t t o o e d Sonny Barger, at 75 one of the Hells Angels’ two oldest members, is prob-ably the best-known old school member. The founding mem-ber of the Oakland, California, chapter, he’s served two stretches totaling 13 years in maximum security prison with convictions for assault with intent to

commit murder, conspiracy and other offences.

Now, as Cook explains, the leaders keep a lower profile, focusing on mak-ing money rather than bolstering their tough guy reputations.

I N T E R C E P T E D A P L A N E

He also says the Angels criminal net has spread much wider. On Oct. 13, 2010, U.S. drug agents intercepted a plane flying from Los Angeles to Mon-

treal and discovered $5.5 million in cash – repayment of a loan provided by the Mafia so bikers could buy co-caine from Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.

The Angels’ $1 bil-lion cocaine, marijuana and Ecstasy empire was orchestrated by the Riz-zuto crime family in Canada – with muscle provided by the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

It’s all a far cry from the Hollywood glamor

of Marlon Brando’s Black Rebel Mo-torcycle Club in the 1953 classic, “The Wild One.”v

u The Hells Angels provided security at the Dec. 6. 1969, Altamont Rock Festival in California, reportedly for $500 worth of beer. While Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones were performing “Sympathy for the Devil” (above), a crazed, gun-toting fan tried to storm the stage and was stabbed to death by an Angel, who was cleared of any charges


uIn 1953, Marlon Brando became an anti-hero in “The Wild One”

uAngel Sonny Barger is a founder of the Oakland chapter

The crowds had flocked to

Las Vegas to watch Mike

Tyson in his prime take

just seconds to win an-

other knockout bout at the

MGM Grand.

But a very different

kind of fight was brewing

behind the scenes, a grudge

match between two heavyweight street

gangs in a turf war that had spread

an aura of intimidation and violence

across the entire country.

On this night, Sept. 7, 1996, the

most famous rapper in the world,

Tupac Shakur, a member of the notori-

ous Bloods, was about to become the

world’s most famous victim of modern

street gang warfare.

And, like other gangland killings

stretching back to Prohibition, the

hit man, a member of the rival Crips,

would get away with murder! But vio-

lent, mysterious death was nothing new

in the drug -peddling gangs’ 40-year

feud, which was marked by drive-by

shootings and savage beatings. It’s a

dog-eat-dog world.

The Bloods dress in red, the Crips Ú

Gangbangers turn the hood into war zonE

hip-hop hit men!

uArmed and dangerous,

these men dress in the style

of gang members – blue for

the Crips and red for the

Bloods – as they celebrate

a “thug life” glorified

by millionaire hip-hop

music stars. The criminal

organizations frequently

clash over control of their

local drug trade – and

innocent victims are

caught in the crossfire

a m E r i c a n / 6 3 / G a n G s t E r s

u“Gangsta” rapper Biggie Smalls (above) ran with the

Crips and put a bounty on rival musician Tupac Shakur

(right), a notorious Blood. Both men died in a hail of lead

– about six months apart. Biggie’s GMC Suburban (below)

was riddled by bullets on March 9, 1997


wear blue. They

may live doors

apart, but they

are sworn

enemies. And

while both groups

are passionate about

hip-hop, the urban

street music that

glorifies the “gangsta life,” the war

even extended to the recording busi-

ness – making stars marked men!

When 25-year-old Tupac headed to

Vegas for the Tyson fight, he was the

most successful hip-hop artist ever,

with a hit Hollywood movie under his

belt. But Shakur, under contract to

California’s Death Row Records, was

caught up in a bitter feud with rapper

Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls,

who was signed by New York’s Bad

Boy Records and linked to the Crips.

The rift was all the more raw for

Tupac because he’d been robbed and

shot five times at a New York recording

studio two years earlier. He blamed

the ambush on Smalls. So when he

and his entourage spotted a well-

known Crips gang member after the

Tyson fight, they beat him to a pulp in

the MGM lobby.

The attack signed Shakur’s death

warrant. Minutes later, the rapper and

his ex-con record company boss Suge

Knight were driving down Vegas’

Strip in a black BMW. A Crips assas-

sin pulled up next to them in a white

Cadillac. Four bullets hit Tupac in the

chest, and he died six days later.

Knight was wounded in the head,

but survived. When Smalls, whose

real name was Christopher Wal-

lace, got killed six months later in a

March 9, 1997, Los Angeles drive-by,

there was little doubt in anyone’s mind

that it was retribution from the Bloods

for Tupac’s violent end.

According to a “Los Angeles Times”

investigation, Smalls, then just 24,

was tight with Crips gang leaders and

even offered to pay handsomely for any

gangbanger willing to “hit” Shakur.

Cops believe Orlando Anderson,

the Crip beaten at the MGM by Tupac

and his posse, and Wardell “Poochie”

Fouse, a Blood enforcer, are the gun-

men in the tit-for-tat murders. Both

later died in gang-related violence –

without spilling the beans.

e s c a p e d t h e c r o s s f i r e

In modern street gangs, no one

talks. Ever. While Tupac and Smalls

were both killed in public places

with numerous witnesses, no one

was ever charged in connection with

their deaths, which are still officially

unsolved.

But some rappers have escaped the

crossfire with their lives – even if only

by dumb luck.

Snoop Dogg, real name Calvin

Broadus Jr., frequently ran into Ú

uThe brutal life detailed in Tupac’s hip-hop lyrics caught up with him

in Las Vegas (above) when he was killed in a drive-by shooting after

confronting a rival gangster. Just hours before, Tupac and his Death Row

Records producer Suge Knight (right) had swapped their “thug life”

outfits for tuxedoes to attend a championship prize fight


trouble with the law as a teenager. He

was said to be a member of the feared

Rollin’ 20 Crips gang in his native

Long Beach, Calif. And, like Tupac, he

was a Death Row Records star with a

rags-to-riches rise.

When Snoop and his bodyguard

went on trial for murder in Febru-

ary 1996, Tupac turned up in court

to support his “homies,” who were

charged with murdering rival gang-

ster Philip Woldemariam. The victim

was gunned down Aug. 25, 1993, after

making a bad mistake – flashing a

rival gang sign at the rapper’s posse.

Snoop was acquitted, and the

November 1996 release of “Tha

Doggfather,” his second album, only

helped burnish his gangsta creden-

tials among his fans, who ate up

uncompromising rap lyrics with

references to urban gangs, guns,

hookers and dope deals.

s h o t N i N e t i M e s !

But sometimes rap music’s words

can be too close to the bone. A New

York drug lord was suspected of mas-

terminding the hit on 50 Cent, real

name Curtis Jackson, because his

lyrics exposed the gangster’s criminal

activities!

Jackson, who began dealing drugs

at the age of 12, survived the 2000

murder attempt despite being shot

nine times!

But hip-hop pioneer DJ Jam Master

Jay, born Jason Mizell, wasn’t as lucky.

The turntable wizard, who performed

with Run DMC, was executed gang-

style in his Queens, N.Y. recording

studio on Oct. 30, 2002. Word is he,

too, angered the dope peddler who

had 50 Cent shot. But Jay’s killer was

never identified.

Cops say that’s not unusual in

America’s meanest neighborhoods,

where the savage gangs have become

a law to themselves – and even police

don’t dare patrol. In modern Chicago,

the politicians have new gangland mas-

ters to replace the aging Mafia.

In a recent report, it emerged 30

politicians seeking office in the

citywide 2011 elections met with

street gang representatives to seek

their support and a seemingly harm-

less organization, The Black United

Voters of Chicago, REALLY repre-

sented perverted posses like the Vice

Lords, Gangster Disciples, Black

Disciples, Cobras, Black P Stones and

Black Gangsters.

But bloodshed is finally wash-

ing away some of the gangsta glam-

our. Even Snoop Dogg appeared to

be changing his tune when he said:

“These youngsta’s that’s in it right now

don’t understand the consequences.

They don’t realize that their life is on

the line every five minute.” v

uBodyguard McKinley Lee and his rapper boss Snoop Dogg await the verdict in their Feb. 20, 1996, murder trial. Both beat

the rap for killing a gangbanger from another crew

u50 Cent was shot nine times

– apparently by a gangster

he had angered


Rap music’shisToRy

is soaked in blood

uWith Joe “Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels,

Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell (above right) became a

hip-hop superstar in the group Run DMC. Mizell was

fatally shot in the head at his Queens, N.Y. recording

studio (right). Although there were five other people

there, the gunmen were never identified


The bloodthirsty Russian Mafia is using murder, kidnapping, blackmail and white-collar crime to extend evil tentacles to every corner of the United States!

The vicious gangsters are so coldblooded, they even strike fear into the Cosa

Nostra, which can seem soft and cuddly by comparison!

“These days Italian organized crime in the U.S. is a pimple on a horse’s butt compared with Russian organized crime in America and around the world,” says Robert I. Friedman, author of the book “Red Mafia.”

Police agree. Investigators say the incredible scope of ruthless Russians’ crimes – pulling off brilliant billion- dollar financial scams that destroy companies or executing rival drug dealers – is what makes the thugs so dangerous.

A G R E AT E R T H R E AT

In fact, lawmen call the Russians, who now control the world’s dope trade, money laundering, teen prostitution rackets and arms dealing, the “most dangerous people on Earth.” Ameri-can intelligence officers even claim the gangsters may be a greater threat to U.S. security than even global terrorism!

Certainly, the mobsters see America as ripe for the plucking.

Four members of the Russian Mob, Iouri Mikhel, Jurijus Kadamovas, Petro Krylov and Ainar Altmanis, were con-victed for the 2001 torture murders of five wealthy people in Stockton, Calif. The gangsters were first drawn to L.A. by what they saw as “easy money” in the movie business.

But when they weren’t slick enough to scam Hollywood producers by offering $50 million in seed money – that didn’t exist – for a movie project, they moved on to more basic tricks – like kidnapping.

Incredibly, five victims were snuffed

and dumped in the New Melones Reservior – even though the gangsters collected $1.2 million in ransom!

The Russian mobsters’ terrible thirst for blood has sent shock waves through America’s underworld.

In the Russian neighborhood of Brighton Beach, N.Y., mob crew leader Semion Raichel once threw a naked prostitute into a bathtub and threatened to electrocute her, by tossing a plugged-in appliance into the water, unless she handed over part of her income.

Amazingly, she reported the assault to

Meaner than the Mob

Russian Mafa is now MoRe poweRful than the Americans who taught them

uLurking among the immigrant community in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach

neighborhood, Russian gangsters use strong-arm tactics to enforce their will.

Crew leader Semion Raichel made the FBI’s Most Wanted List (above) after

being accused of vicious crimes

A M e R i c A n / 6 8 / g A n g s t e R s

New York City cops – and Raichel was busted. But before his trial, her phone rang, and a man who said he was calling from her parents’ house in Ukraine, told the woman “someone wanted to talk to her.” Her three-year-old child screamed into the phone: “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, they will kill me!” The charges against Raichel were dropped – when the hooker refused to testify.

Since then, the Russians have become even MORE brazen.

Emerging during the latter stages of the Soviet Union when thousands of hardcore criminals were released from Siberian labor camps, the Russian orga-nized crime syndicates eventually left the Eastern Bloc for new homes in America.

Working under the protection of the

original American Mob, the Russians set up in Brighton Beach graduating from prostitution, drugs and protection rackets to more sophisticated crimes!

Now the Russians run guns, master-mind penny stock manipulations, control big parts of the diamond trade, smuggle cigarettes, direct health care and credit card fraud, launder money, run pornogra-phy rings, cyber blackmail and gasoline tax frauds. The gangsters even lured pro athletes, movie stars and Wall Street ex-ecutives to an illegal $100 million poker ring that funneled profits overseas.

Russian racketeer Vadim Trincher, 53, cut a deal with Feds after his gambling operation – based in a swank New York condo – was taken apart. Actors Tobey Maguire and Leonardo

DiCaprio, both poker fanatics, were linked to his high-stakes games.

So was Russian fugitive Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, who is wanted by the Feds for bribing an Olympic offi-cial at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt

Lake City. The Russian fat cat is said to have raked in $20 million from

the betting ring. But despite their slick scams

and celebrity veneer, brutal vio-lence always lurks beneath the surface when you are dealing with the Russian Mafia.

And it will stop at nothing. “Italian organized crime has

an unwritten rule that they don’t go after cops,” says Friedman. “They

don’t go after prosecutors. They don’t go after American journalists. The Russians go after everybody. One retired cop in New York told me, ‘They’ll shoot you just to see if their gun works.’ ”

Adds an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the gang: “They have no qualms about murdering people. They will even sell their souls to the devil if it means a big payday.”

That was never more evident than events surrounding the arrest of notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was captured in Thailand in 2008.

Despite the 9/11 bloodbath that killed thousands, the Russian conspired to sell weapons to a terrorist group target-ing America. He was convicted and is serving a 25-year sentence.

“Greed drives everything,” the under-cover FBI agent says. “It’s all available for the right price. The Russian Mafia has no heart.” v

uA Russian mobster hides behind a gas mask as he displays his

wares. The Red Mafia deals in arms world-wide – and boss Viktor

Bout (right) was convicted of conspiring to sell weapons to

terrorists who were specifically targeting Americans

A M e R i c A n / 6 9 / g A n g s t e R s

Merciless drug cartel

is building mountain of headless corpses

What was expected

to be a leisurely

day on the water

exploded into sav-

age violence and

heartbreak for

David and Tiffany

H a r t l e y – a n d

ultimately thrust

the ruthless Los Zetas Mexican drug

gang into the American spotlight.

In September 2010, the young

American married couple traveled

to Falcon Lake, a dammed section

of the Rio Grande river that straddles

the border between Texas and Mexico

and is near the heartland of Los

Zetas’ operations.

The lake is a popular recreation

destination. However, in recent

years it’s been plagued by drug cartel

violence so intense U.S. officials have

urged citizens to be careful on Falcon’s

warm waters.

Tiffany says she and her mate had

heard the warnings, but went out

boating anyway, believing it was safe

because “there’d been no problems”

in the months before their vacation.

“We figured everything had kind of

calmed down,” she says wistfully. Sadly,

the violence was only heating up.

As David, 30, and Tiffany, then

29, were riding jet skis toward

Guerrero Viejo, a half-submerged

ghost town on the Mexican side of

the water, Los Zetas “soldiers” began

chasing them. David was shot in

the head.

David’s body was never found.

Tiffany narrowly escaped to the

U.S. side of the lake. Lawmen believe

the Hartleys had stumbled into the

middle of a drug transaction.

H E A D W A S C U T O F F

Cops on both sides of the border

turned up the heat – demanding justice

for the innocent American. But shortly

after the slaying, the lead Mexican

investigator’s head was cut off – and

delivered in a suitcase to a local

military post!

Two years later, lawmen finally

arrested a regional Los Zetas leader for

Hartley’s murder and for assassinating

the investigator.

While the Hartley tragedy was the

first exposure many people in the U.S.

had to the merciless Mexican cartel,

Los Zetas were already well-known

by authorities for leaving a terrifying

trail of murder and mayhem through

Mexico – and across the border.

Formed by deserters from an

elite Mexican army special

forces unit and rogue


law enforcement officials, Los Zetas

originally served as enforcers for the

Gulf Cartel. But the two organizations

had a violent split in 2009.

Since then, Los Zetas have quickly

assumed the title of the most feared

drug gang in Mexico – unleashing a

brutal wave of terror in a nation already

rocked by barbaric killings.

“The Zetas have assumed the

role of being the No. 1 organization

responsible for the majority of the

homicides, beheadings, kidnappings

and extortions that take place in

Mexico,” says Ralph Reyes, the U.S.

Drug Enforcement Agency’s chief for

Mexico and Central America.

The Zetas are feared – on both sides

of the border – for their indiscriminate

use of violence. They

kidnap civilians at random,

murder without thought

and deliberately mutilate victims

to terrorize their enemies and build

mountains of skulls.

G R U E S O M E T R O P H I E S

The dismembered bodies of Zetas’

victims are often found hanging from

bridges throughout Mexico. Members

of rival cartels, law enforcement

officials and innocent victims caught

in the wrong place at the wrong time

are routinely beheaded. The gruesome

uSavage members of Mexico’s Los Zetas killed David Hartley – right in front of his wife Tiffany – as they jet-skied on Falcon Lake (left),

where lawmen hunted for his body. The outlaws were armed with weapons purchased in Texas (above) and sent across the border to

slaughter innocents. Victims were beheaded (below) and warnings were attached to their bodies with stakes driven into their chests!


trophies are mounted on poles – or

even used instead of a ball in terrifying

soccer matches that have been caught

on film.

“The Zetas are determined to gain

the reputation of being the most

sadistic, cruel and beastly organization

that ever existed,” said George W.

Grayson, a professor of government

at the College of William & Mary that

specializes in Mexican drug gangs.

“Many of Mexico’s existing drug

cartels will kill their enemies, but not

go out of their way to do it. The Zetas

look forward to inflicting fear on

their targets. They won’t just cut off

your ear, they’ll cut off your head and

think nothing of it.”

N O L O N G E R L O O K E D L I K E H U M A N S

That was never more apparent than

in December 2009, when the thugs

laid waste to a back street on the border

town of Reynosa, Mexico – just across

the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas.

They didn’t just murder their victims

– they hacked up the bodies to the point

they no longer looked like humans. Deep

lacerations tore deep into their bloodied

torsos and their heads were beaten in

like pinatas. The road was lined red with

blood as butchered limbs lay scattered

across the tarmac.

And it’s not just their savage murder

methods that spread fear, but also the

sheer volume of their bloodlust.

In April 2011, Mexican authorities

dug up 127 bodies from mass

graves in the northeastern state

of Tamaulipas, just across the border

from Brownsville, Texas.

The victims, Mexicans and Central

and South American migrants, were

targeted because they refused to work

for Los Zetas as gunmen or

drug mules, officials believe.

Women were raped while

men were forced to fight for

their lives in gladiator-like

death matches.

But as Tiffany Hartley found

out, the gang is no longer just

Mexico’s problem.

They’re growing more

powerful and their reach

is expanding northward

– spanning the United States

from Texas to Baltimore

and more than 276 cities

in between.

And they are very cagey about

planning their invasion. Los Zetas use

America’s prison system to recruit

operatives who don’t have Hispanic

roots and can escape the scrutiny Latin

gang members often attract.

An even more insidious strategy

calls for Los Zetas soldiers to enter

the U.S. and take advantage of the

proposed national amnesty on illegal

immigrants. Once granted the special

status, the gangsters will then run drug

operations inside America! So far, two

illegal immigrants have been linked to

the plot – and lawmen in other states

are conducting investigations.

But the Zetas want immediate

results, too. In their attempt to wrest

control of drug routes in America and

protect their operations, Los Zetas

has ordered assassinations and other

acts of violence against U.S. law

enforcement officers.

In 2011, a hit squad ambushed

two U.S. Immigration and Customs

Enforcement agents on a

major Mexican highway

250 miles north of Mexico

City. Jaime Zapata was

fatally shot three times in

the chest while his partner

Victor Avila Jr., was wounded

twice in the leg.

Federal officials say the

cartel represents the most

serious organized crime

threat confronting the

U.S. The Federal Bureau

of Investigation recently

issued the following

warning: “The FBI judges

with high confidence that Los

Zetas will continue to increase its

recruitment efforts to maintain

their drug-trafficking and support

operations, which may increase

violence along the Southwest

border posing a threat to U.S.

national security.” v

uNine bodies were hung from a bridge across the river from Laredo, Texas, (above) as

a grim warning to people who want to fight the cartel. Los Zetas was responsible for

shipping a pyramid of pot and cocaine (left) into Colorado

uU.S. customs

agent Jaime

Zapata was

murdered by

Los Zetas


Joaquin “El Chapo”(“The Short One”) Guzman has been officially branded Chicago’s Public Enemy Number One by the city’s Crime Commission – a distinction last

held by Al Capone in 1930.But the horrific murders

and butchery of Guzman’s feared Sinaloa Mexican drug cartel leaves Capone’s noto-rious Prohibition-era Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, which claimed the lives of seven mobsters, in the shade.

Guzman’s trademark is his gruesome warning messages to rivals.

Two years ago, in the Mexican resort city of Aca-pulco, the headless bodies of 15 people were found near a shopping mall with personal threatening notes to rival traf-fickers from Guzman himself.

Five heads were also left in a sack and placed outside an elementary school as an ulti-matum to teachers who were failing to give up half of their salaries to Mexico’s most powerful cartel.

A C T O F I N H U M A N I T Y

And in a ghastly act of inhu-manity, Sinaloa gang members kidnapped a 26-year-old man in 2010 and chopped up his body. They then sliced the skin from his face and stitched it onto a soccer ball.

There was a note with the body that read “Happy New Years because this will be your last.”

Under “The Short One’s” ruthless command are notorious henchmen suspected of committing more than 1,000 murders across Mexico, including the kill-

ing of cocaine rival Rodolfo Car-rillo Fuentes of the Juarez Cartel.

“What Al Capone was to beer and whiskey, Guzman is to narcotics, says Art Bilek, the Chicago Crime Commis-sion’s executive vice president.

But the drug lord “is clearly more dangerous than Al Ca-pone was at his height,” adds Bilek, whose city has been named the nation’s No. 1 destination for heroin ship-ments and a major hub for marijuana, cocaine and meth-amphetamine. Guzman calls Chicago his gang’s “home port” and loves the Windy City because the 70 local

street gangs are a ready-made retail network.

The 56-year-old, 5-foot-6 crime billionaire – named the world’s most wanted fugitive after Osama bin Laden’s death in 2011 – has been on the run for years using a vast collection of hideouts and underground fortresses to escape authori-ties. He’s currently ranked the 67th most powerful

person on the planet by “Forbes” magazine.

And he is happy to throw his cash around to retain his freedom. Guzman once boasted he spends $5 million a month in bribes to law enforcement officers.

After fighting vicious turf wars in Mexico, the Sinaloa cartel came out on top and pushed into the U.S. However, his gang has been in-creasingly challenged by the equally sav-age Los Zetas. But right now, El Chapo’s organization peddles heroin, cocaine and meth to more than 1,000 U.S. cities.

In fact, more than half of the drugs entering America from Mexico are supplied by the Sinaloa cartel. In Chicago alone, Guzman is thought to control 70 to 80 percent of the drug trade.

“Virtually all of our major investigations at some point lead back to him,” said Jack Riley, director of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Chicago office.v

‘El Chapo’ is world’s most wanted fugitive

more dangerous than capone!uVicious Joaquin

Guzman, known as

“The Short One,” is

armed to the teeth.

A suspected rival

was kidnapped,

killed and skinned

(below). The victim’s

face was sewn on a

soccer ball

a m E r i C a n / 7 3 / g a n g s t E r s

O riginally formed by inmates

who wanted protection and

influence while serving

time, America’s notorious

prison gangs rapidly

evolved into criminal

enterprises that have sunk

tenacious roots into the

nation’s mean streets.

The gangs, split almost exclusively

along racial lines, are heavily involved

in the drug trade, prostitution, extortion

and murder. They have become a law

enforcement nightmare, both inside

and outside U.S. penitentiaries.

Behind bars, authorities often strug-

gle to find punishments tough enough

to tame crime bosses and their hench-

men – who are facing life without

parole and have no hope of ever being

free. And inmates who DO get released

follow orders without question because

the gangs are relentless.

Quite often, the only way to be

accepted into a prison gang is to carry

out a murder behind bars. And death is

the ONLY way out, especially in what

lawmen say are the five most dangerous

organizations.

■ Aryan BrotherhoodThe white supremacist group was

founded in 1964 by a group of Irish

bikers at California’s San Quentin

prison in response to what they

saw as the racial segregation of

America’s lock-ups. Also known as

AB or the Brand, the Brotherhood

is thought to have about 20,000

exclusively white male members, some

behind bars and some on the outside.

Despite making up about 1% of the

nation’s prison population, the gang

is thought to be behind 20% of all

prison murders. Distinctive tattoos in-

clude the numbers 666 and shamrocks.

Charles Manson, probably the most

famous member, carved a swastika on

his forehead and was given protection

from other gangs by the AB.

■ Mexican MafiaOne of the oldest and deadliest

prison gangs in the U.S. was formed

in 1957 when 13 Mexican street hood-

lums teamed up in a juvenile prison

in Tracy, Calif. The number 13 is

used as a symbol by the gang, which

also goes under the name ‘La Eme’

prison powerh

In the slammerIt’s Often just

a matter Of kIll Or be kIlled


– Spanish for the letter M. It is probably

the most powerful gang in California

and Texas slammers. In San Antonio

alone, members are responsible

for 10% of the city’s total mur-

der rate! Members have an alliance

with the Aryan Brotherhood as the

two are sworn enemies of the Black

Guerilla Family.

■ Black guerilla FamilyWhile some black street gangs like

the Bloods and the Crips may fight turf

wars on the outside, they come togeth-

er behind bars to unite against other

racial groups as members of the Black

Guerilla Family. The club was formed

by former Black Panther George

Jackson in San Quentin in 1966, and

it is the largest and most politically

active of the American prison gangs.

There are estimated to be at least 300

full-time BGF members and as many

as 50,000 associates, all of them

black. They are involved in a range of

criminal operations including drug

peddling, car theft and murder.

■ netaHispanic members claim to be part

of an education-orientated group

focusing on teaching Latin culture.

But while some of the estimated

8,000 associates may be active with

inmate rights, the gang’s chief source

of income is through the jailhouse

sale of heroin, crack cocaine and

methamphetamine. Launched in Puerto

Rico’s Oso Blanco prison in 1970,

Neta is now active on the east coast of

the U.S.

■ nazi Low ridersThe Nazi Low Riders are willing

to do anything necessary to prove

themselves more violent and more

extreme than the more established

Aryan Brotherhood. The NLR has

about 1,000 members, mainly in the

Los Angeles and Orange County

areas, and has fast earned a fear-

some reputation for the severity of

attacks on both fellow inmates and

prison staff. Formed by young white

supremacists in California’s juvenile

halls, it is now one of the state’s fast-

est growing gangs – and is believed

to have spread into the Southwest and

America’s heartland. v

u Tattoos show gang allegiance.

White supremacists in the Aryan

Brotherhood often use the

Nazi swastika, which psycho

Charles Manson had inked into

his forehead after joining the

pack. Other crews have more

elaborate symbols (left)

rhouses

Violent crime clans extend their

eViL grip to America’s streets


With terrifying tattoos covering their faces and bodies, MS-13 gangsters make no attempt to pretend they are a secret society.

These thugs don’t wear Italian suits or $200 Nike sneakers. They belong to Amer-ica’s most brutal gang – and they want you to know all about it.

Formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s by immigrant Salvador-

ians, they pride themselves on their notoriously ruthless behavior.

They even have their own sign

language to go with their distinctive body ink. The size of the tattoos marks the seniority of the member, with older or more prominent leaders boasting the biggest designs.

The body art sends a clear message: Keep away or pay the consequences.

And the consequences are not very pretty! An Oklahoma teen was tortured and killed in 2011 when she balked at joining an MS-13 prostitution ring. Cops say other girls were forced to witness the murder to enforce obedience.

Ruthless MS-13 “soldiers” prey on kids. They actively seek out recruits who are much younger than those asked to join other outlaw groups.

P A S S A h A z i n g r i t u A l

Gang-busting detectives say MS-13 – meaning Mara Salvatrucha (Salvadorian Crew Gang) – sends members to hang around middle schools to lure kids into its web with “skip parties” offering sex, drugs and alcohol

to students who play hooky.But if the youngsters want to join the gang they must first

pass a hazing ritual, being beaten by other members. Before they are fully accepted, recruits must then carry out a mission

– usually some kind of violent act – ordered by a gang boss.Once you’re in, it’s supposed to be for life. One of the few exceptions is if the member has a child and

wants to settle down with a family. But even then you just can’t walk away.

When a California-based member

tattooed te

u Former gang-banger Christian Antunez

joined MS-13 after it spread from

Los Angeles to Honduras. He found

religion and quit, but still remembers the

organization’s secret sign language


Bloodthirsty ms-13 preys on kids & thrives

on revenge

of the gang tried to quit last year,

lawmen say he was ordered to buy his

“freedom” for a hefty sum – or watch

his children be tortured and killed!

MS-13 began among Salvadorian

refugees as a way to band together

to protect themselves from Mexican

gangs in the U.S. Many of the origi-

nal members had escaped the brutal

civil war in their native country.

Now the gang embraces Hondurans,

Guatemalans and Nicaraguans.

The gang is especially prevalent

in urban areas of Los Angeles, San

Francisco, Washington, D.C., Bos-

ton, New York, Maryland and Houston, Texas. The organization

has 30,000 members. About 10,000 live in the U.S.

MS-13 is heavily involved in burglaries, auto thefts, drug

dealing, home-invasion robberies, human trafficking, weapons

smuggling, illegal firearm sales, carjackings, extortion, murder,

rape, prostitution, assault and witness intimidation.

Their trademark is a blue or black bandanna around the

neck, wrist or forehead, and they often wear sports jerseys

with the number 13, 23 or 3. Favorites are basketball star Allen

Iverson’s number 3 jersey and former NFL quarterback Kurt

Warner’s number 13.

Leaders impose a strict code of behavior enforced by

bloodthirsty revenge and retri-

bution for any real or imagined

slights. The punishment for

disobedience can be death.

Certainly, the gang has bla-

tant disregard for human life.

Edwin Ramos, a 21-year-old

MS-13 die-hard, shot dead

Anthony Bologna, 47, and his

two sons, Michael, 20, and

Matthew, 16, after they acciden-

tally blocked his car from turning

down a narrow San Francisco

street as they drove home from

a family barbecue.

Ramos was sentenced to life behind bars – and cheered

by gang mates for his killing spree when he arrived in a

California prison to begin his sentence. His bloodthirsty

murders made him “a man of respect.”

Meanwhile, a two-year undercover FBI investigation ended

last year with the arrest of 19 MS-13 members. The sting

revealed close links with a Mexican Mafia prison gang.

“These aren’t low-level drug dealers. We bought weapons,

we bought narcotics and we conducted undercover trans-

actions to target this gang, and to develop our way up to the

important leadership,” said Timothy Delaney, special agent

in charge of the Los Angeles FBI criminal division. v

rrors

u Intricate

ink is a badge

of honor for

members of

MS-13, who

use tattoos to

reveal their

gang seniority,

loyalty and

crimes. The

larger the skin

art, the more

status a member

has Ð and the

more respect he

commands on

the street and

in prison

uA pre-teen

member of

American-

born MS-13

hides behind

a bandanna at

a 2013 public

gang rally in

El Salvador

Sopranos gave gangSterS a

good name

Until HBO BrOUgHt new Jersey wisegUy

Tony Soprano into America’s living rooms in 1999, TV gangsters were portrayed as flashy tough guys with itchy trigger fingers, black fedoras and the peculiar habit of talking out of the sides of their mouths. But Tony made mobsters human – the misunderstood guy next door, stepping out of his house in a bathrobe to fetch the morning paper.

Viewers instantly identified with Tony’s struggle to be a good husband and a “good provider” for his family. He was just like them: fighting to make ends meet against long odds. OK, so he’s a killer. But he had a conscience, right? Why else would he be seeing a therapist for his emotional issues.

TV critic Len Feldman called the crime drama “an American morality tale, which made the nation very aware of the real organized crime presence in suburban America.” But it also made racketeers the ultimate anti-hero, said Feldman.

“‘The Sopranos’ was trendsetting TV,” Feldman explained. “Its catchphrase, ‘Fuggetaboutit,’ became a household word. The drama’s slick ad campaigns featuring the cast dressed to the nines and lined up like a Mob crew, arms folded with tough expressions, has been imitated by practically every reality show from ‘Pawn Stars’ to ‘Wicked Tuna.’ The same goes for Mob-related docudramas like ‘Growing up Gotti,’ ‘Mob Wives’ and the new ‘The Capones.’”

“Unfortunately, these alleged reality TV gangsters and their relations are depicted living ‘the good life’ in a rowdy, clownish, petty and embarrassing light. Tony Soprano would have shot himself in the head if he had to live with any of them! Bada-bing, bada-boom!”

a m e r i c a n / 7 8 / g a n g S t e r S

THE SOPRANOS

Flanked by his soldiers

Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri

(real-life tough guy Tony

Sirico) and Banda Bing strip

club owner Silvio Dante

(Steven Van Zandt), Tony

Soprano (James Gandolfini)

took care of business after

assuming control of his New

Jersey-based crime family in

the HBO series’ 2000 season.

While struggling to keep his

wife Carmela (Edie Falco)

happy, deal with Mob rats

and lawmen, Soprano

THE CAPONES

Reelz Channel’s reality TV

“gangsters” are as cheesy as the pizza

they serve in their Lombard, Ill., eatery,

according to critic Len Feldman. Featuring

a wild family run by patriarch Dominic

“The Boss” Capone (center), who claims

his great-great-grandfather was Al

Capone’s uncle, this 2014 launch is a

blatant attempt to cash in on Mobster

chic. Meanwhile, ANOTHER Capone clan

(not on TV) claims they’re “Scarface’s” real

heirs! Sounds like trouble! “The Capones”

has a few funny moments, but will

probably wind up sleeping with the fishes.

Says critic Feldman: “Fuggetaboutit!”

MOB WIVES

Good girls gone bad make awful TV! That’s the assessment of critics who find

the VH1 cable series launched in 2011 hard to swallow. Featuring (left to right, below)

Angela “Big Ang” Raiola, Drita D’Avanzo, Renee Graziano, Alicia DiMichele Garofalo

and Natalie Guercio, the “Wives” aren’t necessarily married to the Mob! Big Ang has

only dated wiseguys! The others have racketeer relatives – or husbands – put away

for Mob-related crimes. Renee’s ex, Hector Pagan Jr., is now a gangland rat. The self-

confessed hit man is the feds’ star witness against reputed New York hoods Richard

Riccardi and Luigi Grasso, who are facing racketeering charges.


retained an iron grip on his

crew until the show stopped

in 2007 with a controversial

fade to black and no real

ending. Despite the final

episode, “The Sopranos” was

widely proclaimed the best TV

series of all time!


GROWING UP GOTTI

Starring “Dapper Don” John Gotti’s grandsons

(from left: Frank, Carmine and John Agnello) and

daughter Victoria, a critic said this 2004 A&E reality

series had “the warmth of an ice pick.” Victoria and

her kids, fathered by notorious racketeer Carmine

Agnello, lived large for 41 episodes in a garish Long

Island, N.Y., mansion that eventually went into

foreclosure after their show was snuffed. Victoria

later appeared on “Celebrity Apprentice,” where she

was eliminated after two weeks. She did a 2013 guest

spot on “Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Her sons

are still trying for a TV comeback.

THE UNTOUCHABLES

Launched in 1959, this ABC crime drama (right) told the story of

G-man Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) and his team of investigators as they

battled Chicago’s notorious criminal underworld during Prohibition.

TV critic Len Feldman gives high ratings to the series for its “realistic”

and “hard-hitting” portrayal of gangsters, including Al Capone. But not

everyone loved the show. Superstar Frank Sinatra joined a nationwide

crusade against “The Untouchables,” claiming it painted Italian-

Americans as criminals. The show was canceled in 1963 – apparently after

the producers and sponsors were made offers they couldn’t refuse!

BOARDWALK

EMPIRE

Based on the antics of Atlantic

City’s Prohibition-era crime

czar Enoch “Nucky” Johnson,

this HBO drama starring Steve

Buscemi is a smash hit in the

tradition of “The Sopranos,”

winning 17 Emmy Awards since

its 2010 launch. Gritty and dark,

the drama takes a non-holds-

barred look at the racketeer

lifestyle in the 1920s and 1930s

that mixed a potent cocktail of

illegal booze and politics. In real

life, Johnson went to prison on

federal income tax charges. He

was released in 1945 and died

in a New Jersey nursing home,

apparently flat broke, in 1968.

Tony Soprano will alwayS be The

godfaTher of TV crime dramaS

“You can get much farther with a kind word and

a gun than You can with a kind word alone.”

– Al CApone

american gangsters - the rise & fall of the mafia 2014

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