In fact, Florida had the dubious distinction of being home to a decades-old Mafia criminal network: the Trafficante Family. Frank Albano, 52, who once owned the Claiborne Restaurant in South Tampa and now works in sales for a vending company in Tampa. The elder Trafficante was a virtual unknown to law enforcement for most of the early 20th century. But considering the fiercely anti-Soviet atmosphere of the Cold War, its not that hard to believe. "What the hell is the matter with you people?" There are few indicators that the family is still an active crime network. Despite law enforcement's disagreement over the power structure, on one point they are unanimous: The La Cosa Nostra is alive and growing in Tampa since Trafficante's death. But on June 5, 1950, a Ford sedan pulled alongside Lumia's car, parked along Tampa's waterfront. His first arrest was spurred by his involvement in a loan-sharking operation run out of check-cashing stores throughout South Florida. Other Mafia leaders, as well as newer organized crime networks, took over many of the rackets the family ran throughout the 20th Century. Despite his arrest, Trafficante managed to escape charges and continue to fly under the laws radar. A grand jury did. After this look at Santo Trafficante Jr., read the gruesome story of the murderous American dentist, Benjamin Salomon, of World War II. Steve Raffa was one of the handful of mobsters that actually committed suicide I think. Despite the fact that they were now the most powerful force in Tampas underworld, what became known as the Trafficante Family still worked side and side and sometimes came into conflict with other ethnic criminal groups prominent in the city. One of the earliest established Mafia Families in the United States was the criminal network that formed down in Tampa, Florida. According to Iorio, Tampa witnesses produced a list of 105 officially protected outlets that law enforcement officials were not allowed to tamper with., The moral of the Tampa story is this, Estes Kefauver, the senator who led the nationwide investigation, wrote in his final report, if good citizens of a community shut their eyes to wholesale violation of a law law enforcement and honesty in public office will go to hell in a handcart., Subscribe to our free How They Lived newsletter. Button Guys of The New York Mafia. One small gang, led by Italian immigrant Santo Trafficante Senior, profited from the illegal lottery-style games they ran across Tampa. But an FBI affidavit in a cocaine case provides a peek into a new type of local mob _ one that is more pedestrian and more likely to be involved in local drug dealing than international intrigue. Michael Napoli pleaded guilty in that case to using four Hillsborough bars as fronts for cocaine distribution. In 1948, gangster Jimmy Velasco was shot and killed in Ybor as his wife and daughter looked on. Yes I do - I worked for Doug. Batista let Trafficante and other mobsters build as many casinos and hotels as they wanted in exchange for a cash kickback. by Lisa Babick and The Other Guy. In 1950, the aging Trafficante Sr. began to slow down. Italian and Sicilian immigrants offer bolita games and slot machines throughout the city. Damn what was the name of that place. The Broward County Sheriff's Office lists LoScalzo as the head of the Tampa mob. And you're "dealing with some shit"? Trafficante was a ruthless mob boss, and quickly consolidated control over the criminal networks in Tampa. His new attorney general his beloved brother, Robert F. Kennedy went after organized crime with a vengeance. Do you remember Dinos Show Place of the Stars on South Dale Mabry in the 70's. His son, Santo Trafficante Jr., took over the crime family and became tangled in a web of conspiracies to kill the leader of revolutionary Cuba and, it is rumored, President John F. Kennedy. Trafficante crime family. 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 . I live in Tampa and sometimes wonder if there's still an Italian presence. Following his death, Mobster Vincent LoScalvo took over the Trafficante familys criminal network in Florida. Wikimedia CommonsPresident John F. Kennedy, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Trafficante was a respected member of organized crime's commission of local bosses, an associate of the early leaders of the Bonanno and Gambino families. While the senior Trafficante had been a major mobster in his own right, nobody could have expected the heights that were going to be reached by his son. He moved to Cuba in 1955 where he met the countrys authoritarian ruler Fulgencio Batista. In interviews, all three men denied any connection to the mob. Son of Santo Trafficante and Maria Giuseppa Trafficante This was proven in 1953 when he eliminated the last contender to the Tampa mob throne: Joe Antinori, son of the late Ignacio. Dwyane Wade says he left Florida because family would not be accepted, Assembly line of Triple-A arms somehow has kept Rays atop the standings. Santo Trafficante was wanted in 48 states by the time he was 43. Trafficante Jr. was nonetheless a ruthless and old-school mob boss. Santo Trafficante Sr. took control of local gambling but died of natural causes in 1954, leaving his second son, Santo Jr., to carry on the family business. Father of Private and Private // , Report an Issue | Santo Trafficante then categorically denied every allegation about stating he wanted RFK or JFK dead and got off scot-free. Conversations were restrained and in Italian. Gambling becomes big business in Tampa, turning some streets into full-time casinos. Santo Trafficante Senior died in 1954. Popularized in the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino, the Trafficante crime family for decades was the main mob family operating in Florida and Cuba. "It indicates perhaps that they are not as well-connected as they once were.". Trafficante family used to own Florida, now there are others that have inherited the businesses. As such, Trafficante Sr. controlled gambling rackets for bolita, a lottery game popular in Florida and Cuba, until 1940 when the murder of Tampa boss Ignacio Antinori pushed the Trafficantes to assume ultimate power in the Florida underworld. prosecution, fled temporarily to Cuba. Mamone pleaded not guilty last week and was released on bond, the Palm Beach Post reports. Tampa politician and gambler Jimmy Velosco murdered in a war over control of the city's gambling. The callous Florida Legislature should check it out. Ed Giorandino/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesSanto Trafficante arrives at Queens Supreme Court in Kew Gardens. One small gang, led by Italian immigrant Santo Trafficante Senior, profited from the illegal lottery-style games they ran across Tampa. Do you have any information on that? He convicted infamous criminal labor union head, Jimmy Hoffa. Two Hollywood men 39-year-old Galina Rozenberg and 58-year-old Michael Rozenberg were arrested on Feb. 6, attempting to board a flight to Moscow, prosecutors said. They are: Frank Diecidue, a 76-year-old Tampa businessman and longtime underboss to Trafficante. In addition, mobsters such as Florida mobster Santo Trafficante Sr. soon set up rival smuggling rings. Like Trafficante Jr. before him, had many close calls with law enforcement, but always escaped serious charges. An "informant" visited Joseph Puglisi's Ybor City . A Pinellas school regains its name, and Black history, after 55 years, Bolita, Tampas illegal lottery, was deadly and lucrative, Velasco used illegal gambling money to fund candidates who would ignore the mafias crimes, I tried to spend the night in Tampas most haunted building. Each family had an operation going in Florida. Trafficante was a ruthless mob boss, and quickly consolidated control over the criminal networks in Tampa. Before it was Dino's it was owned by my parents and known as Tony's Famous restaurant which they bought as a small corner store in '52. The Columbia Restaurant is the Tampa landmark. Like many of the most prominent mobsters of the 20th century, his father, Santo Trafficante Sr., grew up in Sicily, Italy but became a major player in the criminal world after migrating to America. They raided my apartment, they were looking for money, they tore up all the furniture, they used to come and get me at nighttime, take me out in the woods, trying to tell where I had my money, this and that, until I finally went into hiding.. Victim/Witness Assistance Program will answer your questions and give you information or refer you to agencies in your community for services that . Frank Diecidue is identified in U.S. Senate testimony as the new head of the Tampa mob. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Her father was Nick Nuccio. I grew up in Tampa. Each faces a variety of charges, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He leads a modest lifestyle. Harris & Ewing/Library of Commons/Wikimedia Commons. Santo, Sr. arrived in Tampa in 1902 and settled in the Ybor City . was supposedly built by Santo Traficante. An editor and public historian, Carly Silver has written for Smithsonian, Narratively, The Atlantic, Atlas Obscura, and Archaeology, among other publications. Lumia was engaged in a war for control of the lucrative gambling districts with Jimmy Velasco, a Tampa politician who was murdered in 1948. Instead, they used private radio waves as part of an effort to cloak their efforts from deputies believed to be in cahoots with the mafia. 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 New York City. Tampa oil company executive Jimmy Lumia, the first man the FBI identified as leader of Tampa's La Cosa Nostra, is gunned down in his car, the 15th person to die in mob violence in Tampa between 1930 and 1950. And the Trafficante Crime family found out that it had an unusual ally in their concerns about Castro: the Central Intelligence Agency. "He is not in the Mafia and he never has been," she said recently. A city where it is necessary for a vigilante or crime commission to exist is not a healthy city, the Tampa Times reported he said. They cope with it; I guess we have to.". "It may be that they don't have such a formal structure anymore, you may have LoScalzo running one part of the operation and Frankie Albano running another," said Lt. Dave Green, an organized crime investigator with the Broward County Sheriff's Office. His family said he was murdered by the notorious Trafficante crime family because he was growing too powerful. Albano is married to the former Lucille Trafficante, the daughter of Santo Trafficante Jr. Albano, who once owned Majestic Cleaners in Tampa and the Claiborne Restaurant on South Howard Avenue, recently managed the Mercedes Cafe and is now working in sales for a vending company. Mob Fireside Chat BGs Official YouTube Channel, Racketeer Snapshot Tampa, FL Boss Salvatore (Turiddo) Scaglione, Racketeer Snapshot: Los Angeles Mafioso Joe Dipollito. Rather, court records and testimony say, three men share control. Home Mafia Charts The Trafficante Family Leadership Chart. Its still there today. People are always putting bulls--- about them in the paper, too. The twister killed hls mother when lt touched down about 6, honored Wednesday us the nation's sute legislator. He allegedly spent $28,000 on the 1947 Tampa election and $29,000 on the 1948 Hillsborough election. The Trafficante Family Under Santo Junior. John Mamone, a soldier in Florida's Trafficante crime family, was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison Tuesday despite his cooperation with federal authorities. Then, check out these photos of the aftermath from some of the bloodiest mob hits. Originally Posted By: Mickey_MeatBalls_DeMonica. With Velasco dispatched, Lumia had the run of the waterfront. Nearly three years after opening it's door, the SA FJC serves as a national best practice model of community trust building and victim . Are they left over from the Trafficante days?
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