In the late 1950s, banks in Miami were utilized by crime syndicates to conceal and launder money. It's still a great chart on the Tampa Mob. Trafficante crime family - Wikipedia Trafficante tried to win Castro over to his side, but that didnt work. They are: Frank Diecidue, a 76-year-old Tampa businessman and longtime underboss to Trafficante. Want more of our free, weekly newslettersinyourinbox? 2021 Cigar City Magazine. The glamorous casino in the Hotel Nacional De Cuba in Havana in 1958. One of the earliest established Mafia Families in the United States was the criminal network that formed down in Tampa, Florida. "I guess that we (the Trafficantes) are just like the Kennedys. REPUTED FLORIDA GODFATHER TRAFFICANTE, 72, DIES - Sun Sentinel The twister killed hls mother when lt touched down about 6, honored Wednesday us the nation's sute legislator. The family was taken over by Santo Trafficante Sr. after Antinori was murdered by rival gangster Charlie Wall in 1940, and Wall would himself be killed in 1955 by the Trafficante family. Century, Tampa was a small but growing city, and the organized crime it faced was modest. One small gang, led by Italian immigrant Santo Trafficante Senior, profited from the illegal lottery-style games they ran across Tampa. It is unclear if the Vice Squad investigated him. LoScalzo was born in Sicily and moved with his family to New Orleans and then Tampa as a young man. Scott's favorite cocktail is the Negroni. Nearly 20 years after he was placed in a federal witness protection program for snitching on his fellow mobsters, a former soldier for the Trafficante crime family returned to court this month to . what they into into these days the tampa italians that is. The conviction of Diecidue, who died . In the mid-2000's, 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. From city to city and state to state, Button Guys of The New York Mafia breaks down the history of organized crime in America. According to Det. The sedan driver honked the horn; a gunman in the passenger seat fired a shotgun at Lumia, who died on the way to the hospital. And you're "dealing with some shit"? He headed the Trafficante crime family and controlled organized criminal operations in Florida and Cuba, which had previously been consolidated from several rival gangs by his father, Santo Trafficante Sr. Scott has been featured on The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, A&E, C-SPAN, and both national and local news and radio shows. Do you remember Dinos Show Place of the Stars on South Dale Mabry in the 70's. Jimmy Lumia was an oil company executive who controlled gambling rackets in Tampa in the 1940s. It said the informant witnessed four possible organized crime associates answering a phone in the backroom during the 30 minutes he first investigated the barbershop. "I recently received some intelligence that Gotti's people had been in that area.". I have never been involved in drugs in my life.". ", The informant, one of three who provided information to the FBI during the investigation, said LoScalzo gave him $24,000 worth of cocaine from a safe in the office at Brother's. 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. He was the first identified La Cosa Nostra leader here. Immigrating right along with these hard-working early Sicilian immigrants came a band of shadowy criminal figures from their homeland. In 1953, they said police chief Matt Beasleys soft stance on bolita led to an innocent man being murdered during a gangland shootout. A fellow mobster claimed that Trafficante was part of a group of La Cosa Nostra principals who arranged Kennedy's murder. Chronicles of Events and Biographies Related to the American Mafia. Beasley and the Trafficantes told newspapers that the committees motives were political, backed by those who financially supported it. He has never been charged with a crime, although state alcohol agents have forced him to give up one liquor license, and Tampa police sought an injunction that led to the closing of Ernesto's Bar and Package in 1985. A grand jury did. 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, Inside the Montreal underworld: The Rizzuto Mob & the Hells Angels, On the trail of the Italian mafia's dirty money, The "secret" murder of Philly mob boss Joey Merlino's crew, Documentary | Millennials in Mexico - born into the world of drug cartels, How New York gangs use social media to recruit, intimidate and to glamorize their lifestyle, Narco-Propaganda is Fuelling Mexicos Drug War, Meeting With A Sinaloa Cartel Hitman Goes Wrong: Inside Los Chapitos vs Rafael Caro Quintero, How The Hells Angels Actually Works | How Crime Works | Insider. Mamone pleaded not guilty last week and was released on bond, the Palm Beach Post reports. Santo, Sr. arrived in Tampa in 1902 and settled in the Ybor City . "What the hell is the matter with you people?" Diecidue, LoScalzo and Albano are not among them. 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. If it is still there I would love to know. He has written seven books and more than 50 articles on organized crime for local and national publications. Copyright 2019-2023, Button Guys of The New York Mafia. Peter Moruzzi/Wikimedia Commons The glamorous casino in the Hotel Nacional De Cuba in Havana in 1958. 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. The Trafficante Family - American Mafia History They are among the most powerful men in Tampa, but few people know their names. In the 1960 presidential election, Kennedy family patriarch Joe Kennedy Sr. used his ties to organized crime to secure votes for his son, John F. Kennedy. What was left of the family was mostly broken up over the past decade. 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. According to the account of Judith Exner, however, one of JFKs many mistresses, it was she who introduced Kennedy to Chicago boss Giancana. prosecution, fled temporarily to Cuba. Frank Ragano and Santo Trafficante Jr. (right). By this point, Trafficante Jr. had fully taken over the oversight of drugs shipped between Florida, Cuba, and the rest of the States. I grew up in Tampa. For nearly seven decades, Santo Trafficante, Sr. and his son, Santo, Jr. were prominent gangsters on the Tampa crime scene. He maintained all of the lucrative casinos in Cuba, further cemented ties with powerful Mafia families he had established as a young man in New York, and ruthlessly put down any attempts to usurp his territory or power. Afterwards, the son he had groomed to take his place, Santo Trafficante Jr., took the reins of the Trafficante crime family. But according to declassified documents released in 1992, Santo Trafficante Jr. made a deathbed confession of his involvement in the Presidents murder. Purchase an annual subscription for unlimited access to the full Button Guys library! He leads a modest lifestyle. 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. Scott M. Deitche is the author of 5 books and on organized crime, including Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld, and The Silent Don: The World of Santo Trafficante Jr. guests, and 4 And it was the favorite eating establishment of the enigmatic Santo Trafficante Sr, as well as his son and namesake, Santo Jr. Harold Holderith, 813-376-5516, floridahusky@yahoo.com. It is unclear when he returned to South Florida. After spending a brief time in a Cuban jail after Castro's coup, Trafficante returned to Tampa and took part in a CIA plot to poison the Cuban leader. Prosecutors allege 70-year-old John Mamone stole around $3.8 million by submitting phony bills to Medicare for knee, shoulder and wrist braces. He moved to Cuba in 1955 where he met the countrys authoritarian ruler Fulgencio Batista. Do you have any information on that? He stood back in the shadows, while men like Ignazio Antinori and Charlie Wall were well-known crime figures about town. July 26, 1931 - Angelo Lazzara was an early member of the Trafficante crime family. Antinori was eventually eclipsed by Trafficante, who held his own strong connections to Mangano crime family boss Vincent Mangano and Profaci crime family boss Joseph Profaci . The original site of La Tropicana Cafe, shown here in 1974, was across Seventh Avenue in Ybor City from its current location. Tampa residents once took on corruption that turned city into 'hell in Santo Trafficante Sr., a 'Sicilian of the old school,' ruled Tampa's You need to be a member of Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org to add comments! This is the full chart of the Trafficante Mafia Family of Tampa, FL. Broward County organized crime investigators name restauranteur Vincent LoScalzo as the power behind Tampa's mob. Gambling becomes big business in Tampa, turning some streets into full-time casinos. The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected his request to travel to Las Vegas for business and to attend a wedding. Lazzara was known in Ybor City as a collector of graft and a worker of rackets for various high-ups among county officials. But on June 5, 1950, a Ford sedan pulled alongside Lumia's car, parked along Tampa's waterfront. He allegedly spent $28,000 on the 1947 Tampa election and $29,000 on the 1948 Hillsborough election. With Velasco dispatched, Lumia had the run of the waterfront. Do you know why he was never charged? His new attorney general his beloved brother, Robert F. Kennedy went after organized crime with a vengeance. Trafficante is indicted in Tampa on charges he tried to illegally take control of garbage collection on the Suncoast. Trafficantes chance came in the 1960s when he became acquainted with mobster John Handsome Johnny Roselli. was supposedly built by Santo Traficante. After a violent mob war left several of Trafficantes rivals dead or weakened, his gang rapidly rose to prominence in Tampa. Husband of Private Victim Referral Services - Orange County Sheriff's Department 'Versace on my sneaks' and COVID-19 in jail: Gifford rap star YNW Melly Finally, in 1987, Trafficante died at the age of 72. He was among a group of mob leaders in attendance when police raided a . lucianos partner port of tampa ditaliano salvatore the red, All For Subscribers: 'Spine crime': Patients say Lake Worth-area back doctor did 'fake surgeries,' left them in pain, Sober homes: "I'm greedy": Ex-sober home operator remorseless in testifying against doctor, Patient brokering: 'Chillin' like a Villain': Medical lab owner caught off Bahamas pleads guilty to patient brokering. He wasnt a captain or a high-ranking member, but he certainly had some pull, Tampa mob expert and author Scott Deitche told the Palm Beach Post. Trafficante along with 56 other mobsters was arrested in New York while discussing what to do about the recent death of Gambino family head, Albert Anastasia. TheTrafficante crime familyis a family of the American Mafia from the city of Tampa, Florida, founded in 1925 by Ignacio Antinori. Trafficante enjoyed life in Cuba, developed a relationship with its strongman, the dictator Fulgencio Batista, and helped the Trafficante Crime family garner even more profits from its legitimate gambling operations there. After a violent mob war left several of Trafficantes rivals dead or weakened, his gang rapidly rose to prominence in Tampa. Category:Trafficante crime family - Wikipedia Fifteen years following the assassination, Trafficante testified in front of the United States House Select Committee on the murder of JFK in exchange for immunity. In those early days, there were violent conflicts between Tampas competing racketeers as they gained a foothold in America. In fact, Florida had the dubious distinction of being home to a decades-old Mafia criminal network: the Trafficante Family. Santo Trafficante Jr. had long followed in his fathers footsteps, and proved to be an even more effective Mafia kingpin. And, back then, barbershops were hangouts.. Trafficante's Mafia family was one of 26 organized-crime groups that federal law-enforcement agencies have linked to a 55-year-old national crime syndicate with roots in Sicily. Mafia Books Born in Tampa in 1915, Diecidue was identified by the FBI as early as 1957 as the "underboss" of Trafficante's crime family. // ]]>, Report an Issue | Suspicious cash flow was observed in accounts owned by associates of high-profile individuals, including Santo Trafficante Jr. (pictured above) the boss of the Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa Mafia. "He just knows some people who are.". 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. 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 and the size of the alleged scam has swelled to $67 million. In 1950, the aging Trafficante Sr. began to slow down. Wikimedia CommonsPresident John F. Kennedy, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. At the same time, in addition to his criminal work for Ignacio Antinori, he began to invest heavily in his own bolita numbers rackets, beginning in . Meet Santo Trafficante: The Silent Don Who Tried To Kill Fidel Castro And May Have Ordered JFKs Assassination. The same informant returned the following month to find Henry Trafficante there with three unidentified associates. At least 26 people with ties to the Trafficante family and the New York-based Mafia have been convicted in Central and South Florida since Trafficante's death, federal court records show. In 1981, in Miami, he was indicted for skimming money from the health and welfare funds of the Labor International Union. A murder case without a body? That arrest also led Cuban authorities to become warier of the mobster, especially as the political tides seemed to be turning there. CRIME FAMILY SOLDIER SENTENCED TO PRISON - Sun Sentinel Albano laughed, then got serious. [1] Author Scott Deitche reported that Santo Jr. was involved with the CIA to plot assassination attempts on . Bud? Her father was Nick Nuccio. Santo Trafficante Jr. continued to develop his interests in Cuba serving as Luciano and Lanskys local liaison. His two sons also face charges in this case. And despite relatively small time beginnings, Trafficante proved to be a shrewd mobster. TAMPA A business connected by family to a prominent local politician was investigated for links to organized crime in November 1953. An FBI agent in Tampa names Diecidue as the new "boss". In May 1987, the informant told agents that Diecidue had asked him to "watch Vincent LoScalzo, Michael Napoli and Frank Albano as he (Diecidue) does not think he is receiving his fair share of the cocaine profits. Mons Venus was the little bar. Central District of California | 3 Mexican Mafia Members and 28 He convicted infamous criminal labor union head, Jimmy Hoffa. I'm sure not many these days will remember the place. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. The Trafficante family was involved with drug trafficking, racketeering, loansharking, corruption, prostitution, money laundering, and bookmaking during the 21st century, and it had around 20 members. Lazzara was killed because he was had learned inside details of the workings of an arson ring. Nicknamed "The Dapper Don" by New York media to reflect his fondness for $1,500 suits, Gotti is in prison awaiting trial. However, while the Latin American drug trade has figured prominently in the sunshine states less savory history, so has the Mafia. When you think of Florida and organized crime, it is difficult to avoid conjuring up images of Tony Montana in. Hillsborough sales tax refund includes legal fees - but for whom? Conversations were restrained and in Italian. I-Team: Murder probe's legacy is debated The east coast of Florida was a loosely knit conglomerate of New York family interests with links to Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Angelo Bruno, Carlos Marcello, and Frank Ragano. Once, flying from Miami to Tampa, Trafficante purchased an airline ticket in the name of an agent who was supposed to be trailing him undercover. That was in part due to his lifestyle. Thanks for the reply. "I have never used drugs, or dealt drugs or had anything to do with drugs," he said in an interview. He died in 1955. Domestic Violence Assistance Program - Temporary Restraining Order Assistance Resource and Referral Counseling - (714)935-7956. Read the entire story about Mamones life of crime and current legal troubles written by Jane Musgrave in the Palm Beach Post. His first arrest was spurred by his involvement in a loan-sharking operation run out of check-cashing stores throughout South Florida. Santo Trafficante Sr. dies of natural causes and leaves his gambling enterprise to Santo Jr. Trafficnate and Frank Diediue are seen during a police raid on a Mafia summit in Apalachian, N,Y. he said when a reporter asked about the FBI's claim that he heads the local mob. The local mob once was known for its assassinations. They are the new local leaders of La Cosa Nostra, the Mafia in the United States. The Trafficante crime family is a family of the American Mafia from the city of Tampa, Florida, founded in 1925 by Ignacio Antinori. Trafficante family used to own Florida, now there are others that have inherited the businesses. 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. Interestingly, Trafficante who was worth about $25 billion at his height in the 80s lived a fairly reserved, modest lifestyle. The mafiosos that made up the family are either retired, in prison, or have died due to old age. Many big Nashville stars played there. Nuccio, who was not mentioned in the report, served eight years on city council and 19 years on the Hillsborough County Commission before successfully running for mayor in 1956. Trafficante dies in a Houston hospital following surgery. Mobster dies, two nations. But before Trafficante testified, someone conveniently killed Roselli. But a federal judge recently said Mamone will remain here for the foreseeable future. Florida lawmakers OK $1.85 million for Tampa mans wrongful conviction. 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. Father of Private and Private * underboss. Trafficante had now not only lost an ally but a significant portion of his income as his casinos were closed by the Marxist revolutionary.

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