Santo Trafficante then categorically denied every allegation about stating he wanted RFK or JFK dead and got off scot-free. Trafficante, 72, who police said headed a Tampa crime family whose activities ranged from contract killing to gambling and narcotics, died at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston following. The Trafficante crime family also known as the Tampa Mafia, is the only original Mafia crime family in the state of Florida. In the 1920's Charlie Wall, son of a former governor and born into a wealthy white family, spearheaded organized crime by profiting off of the game bolita, bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, and other illegal activities. In October 2000, 19 Tampa LCN members and associates, including Steve Raffa and John Mamone, were indicted in Florida on charges of illegal gambling, loansharking, money laundering through check-cashing stores, and a massive financial fraud scheme run out of South Carolina , that reportedly brought in $32 million in profits. The old family membership has died and the Tampa Mob has fallen into the shadows of the New York mobs. He is buried in Tampa's Oaklawn Cemetery. Tampa crime started with Charlie Wall who in the 1920s controlled a number of gambling rackets and corrupt government officials. Edward Charles Deegan was born in January 1930. But considering the fiercely anti-Soviet atmosphere of the Cold War, its not that hard to believe. Thomas Gaetano Lucchese, sometimes known by the nicknames "Tommy", "Thomas Luckese", "Tommy Brown" or "Tommy Three-Finger Brown" was an Italian-American gangster and founding member of the Mafia in the United States, an offshoot of the Cosa Nostra in Sicily. The charges were later dropped and then reinstated. "The Everything Mafia Book, Second Edition". Although the Trafficante Family was based in Tampa and St. Petersburg, they also operated down in South Florida around Miami Beach in Dade County and the island nation of Cuba. Peter Moruzzi/Wikimedia Commons The glamorous casino in the Hotel Nacional De Cuba in Havana in 1958. You need to be a member of Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org to add comments! [2]. Lazzara was known in Ybor City as a collector of graft and a worker of rackets for various high-ups among county officials. With Lumia eliminated Trafficante took over again. The Lucchese crime family (pronounced [lukkeze]) is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra ). Are they left over from the Trafficante days? He was convicted in 1999, and was sentenced to 60 days in prison. "Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld". Recently statements have spread across Florida that John A. I live in Tampa and sometimes wonder if there's still an Italian presence. E-mail me when people leave their comments , Former Trafficante crime family mobster charged with pilfering $3.8 million in Medicare fraud, When the American government asked the Mafia for a favor, How The Hells Angels Actually Works | How Crime Works | Insider, Bonannos go to war in New York: Shooting in Long Island tied to Mikey Nose and Joe C. beef, Watermelons, submarines & sex toys: The craziest ways cartels traffic drugs, How China Is Fuelling America's Drug Epidemic. Mob Fireside Chat BGs Official YouTube Channel, assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, The Frank Piccolo Regime Leadership Chart, Racketeer Snapshot: Shadowy Buffalo Hood Joe LaBarba. He sought treatment for stomach cancer and was ready to hand power over to a trusted lieutenant. With the untimely Kefauver hearings and Charlie Wall testifying in 1950, both Trafficantes fled to Cuba. Among those convicted in the murder conspiracy was Frank Diecidue, identified by a U.S. Senate committee as the underboss of Tampa's Trafficante crime family. Four months after a former soldier for the Trafficante crime family was indicted in connection with a $3.8 million health care fraud scheme, another 10 South Florida residents have been charged . With the Kefauver hearings and Charlie Wall testifying in 1950, both Trafficantes fled to Cuba. During the early 1920s, Charlie Wall created an organized crime syndicate in Tampa, where he controlled a large number of illegal gambling rackets and corrupted many Tampa government officials through bribery. Some people also alleged that Trafficante Jr played a role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy due to his anti-organized crime efforts, but Trafficante Jr. always denied it. He shares the same nickname as real-life Lucchese crime family mob associate Joe Manri who was involved in the 1978 Lufthansa heist. Thanks for the reply. The old family membership has died and the Tampa Mob has fallen into the shadows of the New York mobs. The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida. He was killed, beaten with a baseball bat, and his throat slit, on April 18, 1955. 19401948 Salvatore "Red" Italiano fled in Mexico. This Family first came to the attention of federal law enforcement in the early 1950s, while under the leadership of "Capo" Santo Trafficante Sr. Shit dude, try kicking hammer. Whether or not a Mafia conspiracy was behind the assassination of Kennedy is still up for debate. One small gang, led by Italian immigrant Santo Trafficante Senior, profited from the illegal lottery-style games they ran across Tampa. After the hearings ended the Trafficantes returned to Tampa to find out that Italiano had just fled to Mexico, leaving Jimmy Lumia the biggest mobster in the city. In 1963, the Mob allegedly had enough of Kennedy. Please check your browser settings or contact your system administrator. Despite his arrest, Trafficante managed to escape charges and continue to fly under the laws radar. He stood back in the shadows, while men like Ignazio Antinori and Charlie Wall were well-known crime figures about town. SD provides an endless parade of mafiadom, crime personalities and corrupt officials. Who better than his son, Trafficante Jr., to inherit his throne? [11] The indictment stated that Gotti Jr. along with the other men had been involved in various criminal activities in Tampa and New York during the early 2000s. Santo Jr. started the family's south Florida crew in the early 1980s, he put Steven Bruno Raffa in charge. So, who was this so-called Silent Don who wielded enough power to allegedly kill the President? As law enforcement pressure increased on the Mafia in the late 1940s, Santo, fearing. 2008, Deitche, Scott. However, LoScalzo was nonetheless able to expand the families criminal reach into new locations across Florida, and took advantage of alliances with other Mafia families to ensure the mob maintained its hold on criminal activities. The Trafficante connection with New York was strong and lucrative . Trafficante accepted. November 25, 2007, United States House Select Committee on Assassinations, "Deitche, Scott. Century, Tampa was a small but growing city, and the organized crime it faced was modest. In those early days, there were violent conflicts between Tampas competing racketeers as they gained a foothold in America. Trafficantes chance came in the 1960s when he became acquainted with mobster John Handsome Johnny Roselli. Seit dem Jahr 2008 gilt die Familie als inaktiv. Interestingly, Trafficante who was worth about $25 billion at his height in the '80s lived a fairly reserved, modest lifestyle. He started off life as a down and out kid who rose to lead what is today known as the Genovese Crime Family. In a 1978 legal testimony, Trafficante discussed how quickly Castro shut it all down, then reopened the casinos on his own terms. He headed the Trafficante crime family and controlled organized criminal operations i. These included a contingent of native-born redneck southerners who resented the Sicilians encroaching on their perceived territory, independent Italians, Cubans, other varied Hispanics, Blacks, and White southerners. He worked to expand the crime familys business holding and territory he was particularly interested in Cuba as a location for gambling, hotels and night clubs and worked to cement good ties with his fellow mobsters in. Santo, Jr. was born in the United States on Nov. 15, 1914 and was one of five sons of Mafia boss Santo Trafficante. In the mid-2000s, he would say he was a legitimate businessman, citing his ownership of a car dealership, and employment at various restaurants and night clubs over the years. Roselli was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a plot to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Trafficante was a ruthless mob boss, and quickly consolidated control over the criminal networks in Tampa. One small gang, led by Italian immigrant Santo Trafficante Senior, profited from the illegal lottery-style games they ran across Tampa. Trafficante crime family. New York: Barricade Books. 19541987 Santo Trafficante, Jr. died on March 17, 1987. Santo, Jr. never spent a day in jail, and he died of natural causes in 1987. In Trafficante Sr.'s adult life he portrayed himself as a successful Tampa cigar factory owner. Antinori took notice of Santo Trafficante and invited him into his organization and together they expanded the Bolita games across the state. Trafficante family used to own Florida, now there are others that have inherited the businesses. By the late 1800s to early 1900s, Italian immigrants from Sicily were drawn to the City of Tampa and a tight-knit Little Italy-type community soon developed. Under pressure of a court order granting him immunity from prosecution, but threatening him with contempt if he refused to talk, Trafficante admitted to a Congressional committee in 1975 that he had in the early 1960s recruited other mobsters to assassinate Castro. Trafficante Sr. passed away four years later, leaving Jr. his Tampa and Cuba-based criminal empire. Add traficante details Synonyms for traficante Add synonyms . In 1953 Santo Jr. survived a shooting. - Trafficante crime family. 1954 - Santo Trafficante, Jr., (Nov. 15, 1914, to March 17, 1987), became Tampa Mafia boss upon the death of his father. Trafficante crime family (Tampa area) The Five Families of New York have crews operating in South Florida Bonanno crime family - is operating in South Florida President John. And while cocaine-fueled Latin American criminal networks have been a serious problem in Florida for decades, the Trafficante familys illicit activities were quite infamous as well. Wall's closest associate, Evaristo "Tito" Rubio was shot on his porch on March 8, 1938. Antinori was regarded as the first boss of the Tampa crime family, later known as the Trafficante crime family. That was in part due to his lifestyle. The conference had a major impact on the future direction of the criminal underworld and it held more importance and significance than the Havana Conference of 1946 and the Apalachin meeting of 1957. The conference was held during the week of December 22, 1946, at the Hotel Nacional. God Bless you bro Scott is a very talented guy. After the death of Santo Jr . [10], On August 5, 2008, the Tampa and New York FBI indicted John A. Trafficante had already set up Bolita games throughout the city and was a very powerful man. 2. The weapon showed up on the x-ray scanner. In 1987, Vincent LoScalzo became boss of the Trafficante family and Florida was declared an open territory, meaning that the Five Families of New York City could operate in any city in Florida. Finally, in 1987, Trafficante died at the age of 72. - Listen to Episode 92: Narco Journalist Ioan Grillo by The Sit Down: A Crime History Podcast instantly on your tablet, phone or browser - no downloads needed. When you think of Florida and organized crime, it is difficult to avoid conjuring up images of Tony Montana in Scarface, or the heyday of Miami Vice. Even though there's always a few people who try to ruin it. In 1950, the aging Trafficante Sr. began to slow down. Against All Odds: Oscar Goodman and the Jimmy Chagra Murder Trial, Drug trafficker Peter Shue on coke vs. heroin, doing 21 years, Suge, Alpo, Keith Sweat, Madonna & Mike Tyson, Inside Italy's biggest Mafia trial in decades. October 16, 2006, Van Sickler, Michael. Joseph "Baldie" LoPiccolo was an American criminal and member of the New York Gambino crime family and a capo under Santo Trafficante, Jr.'s criminal organization. Hoffa said to me, This has to be done.'. Santo Sr. had Lumia killed after finding out he had been bad mouthing him while he was in Cuba. In fact, Florida had the dubious distinction of being home to a decades-old Mafia criminal network: the Trafficante Family. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Interpol, the CIA, and the FBI also say Santo Trafficante Jr. was suspected of conducting criminal activities at destinations as far-flung as Haiti, Dominican Republic, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Vietnam, where he was suspected of setting up drug smuggling routes. Trafficantes partnership with Batista was profitable for both parties and so the mobsters fate became inextricably tied to that of Cubas political climate. Copyright 2019-2022. 2007, Weimar, Carrie. Frank had many connections in the political arena which helped his influence in the underworld. When his son, Santo Jr., took over the family operations, he was also a regular fixture at the Columbia. 0:00 2:11 Four months after a former soldier for the Trafficante crime family was indicted in connection with a $3.8 million health care fraud scheme, another 10 South Florida residents have. 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