The Tampa mob made a considerable amount of money in Cuba, but never achieved its ambition of making the island part of its territory. Late in life, LoScalzo denied any connections to organized crime. The war between the two continued on for years, until October 23, 1940, when Ignacio Antinori was shot and killed by a shotgun blast to the head at the Palm Garden Inn in Tampa. Are they left over from the Trafficante days? Santo, Jr. never spent a day in jail, and he died of natural causes in 1987. He figured prominently in such important FBI investigations as the 1957 Apalachin Mafia Meeting after he was captured with other Mafia leaders in Upstate New York, underworld infiltration of Cuban gambling casinos, the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963, and his attendance at the 1966 Little Apalachin Meeting of Cosa Nostra bigwigs in Queens, New York. Terms of Service, 2023Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org The. Trafficante was an intimate of top Mafia leaders throughout the country, but he numbered among his closest friends and confidantes such iconic Cosa Nostra leaders as Louisiana boss Carlos Marcello, Texas boss Joseph Civello, New York leader Joseph Profaci, and Chicago's Sam Giancana . Antinori was regarded as the first boss of the Tampa crime family, later known as the Trafficante crime family. 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. 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. Santo, Jr. never spent a day in jail, and he died of natural causes in 1987. Not only was it a potential cash cow but his men did not have to be involved in the day-to-day running of the operation. This is good money for not a big crew, I'm going to Google some stuff, see if I can find this indictment. Please check your browser settings or contact your system administrator. Antinori took notice of Santo Trafficante and invited him into his organization and together they expanded the Bolita games across the state. Deegan was part of the Bonanno crime family, and was the maternal uncle of American academic administrator Gerard T. Indelicato, who served as education advisor to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. 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 Unbelievable Story Of Richard Lee McNair The Man Who Mailed Himself Out Of Prison, What JFK's Mob-Affiliated Mistress May Have Known About His Assassination, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. A ninety-year period of continuous underworld activity. His positioning in Florida was prime for drug shipping as the product often passed through these ports en route to elsewhere in America. However, while the Latin American drug trade has figured prominently in the sunshine states less savory history, so has the Mafia. In the mid-2000s, he would say he was a legitimate businessman, citing, Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo - De Facto Boss of the Chicago Outfit, Giacomo Black Jack Tocco - Last of the Old School Detroit Partnership, Joseph Iacobacci - "Joe Loose" of the Cleveland Mob, John "Sonny" Franzese - A Colombo Family Legend. 19201940 Santo Trafficante, Sr. promoted to boss. Interestingly, Trafficante who was worth about $25 billion at his height in the 80s lived a fairly reserved, modest lifestyle. Alongside Chicago boss Sam Giancana, Roselli and Trafficante came up with some truly insane plots to kill Fidel Castro. Prosecutors allege 70-year-old John Mamone stole around $3.8 million by submitting phony bills to Medicare for knee, shoulder and wrist braces. Trafficante tried to win Castro over to his side, but that didnt work. Many of the familys gangsters were in prison, or too old to be effective. [8] As the new boss LoScalzo maintained control of criminal interests in illegal gambling, prostitution, narcotics, union racketeering, hijacking and fencing stolen goods. While he had several close calls with law enforcement including the famed FBI, Late in life LoScalzo denied any connections to organized crime. The Havana Conference is considered to have been the most important mob summit since the Atlantic City Conference of 1929. Finally, after the infamous failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, the CIA gave up on their attempts to kill the Cuban dictator and thus Trafficantes attempts at revenge never materialized. In 1978, Trafficante was called to testify before members of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations investigating possible links between Lee Harvey Oswald and anti-Castro Cubans, including the theory that Castro had President John F. Kennedy killed in retaliation for the CIA's attempts to assassinate Castro. The Trafficante connection with New York was strong and lucrative . [9] Raffa the leader of the familys Miami faction committed suicide on November 16, 2000. // Jt Survivor Drugs, Articles T