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Mja Inc Investigations

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MAFIA GANGSTERS

Al Capone

Capone was an American gangster who attained fame during the Prohibition era as the co-founder & boss of the Chicago Outfit...

Capone's seven-year reign as crime boss ended when he was 33 years old...

He was considered a Five Points Gang member who became a bouncer in organized crime premises such as brothels...

In Capone's early twenties he moved to Chicago & became bodyguard and trusted factotum for Johnny Torrio..

Torrio was the head of a criminal syndicate that illegally supplied alcohol & was politically protected through the Unione Siciliana...

A conflict with the North Side Gang was instrumental in Capone's rise and fall...

Capone apparently reveled in attention such as the cheers from spectators when he appeared at ball games...

The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of gang rivals resulting in the killing of seven men in broad daylight damaged Chicago's image as well as Capone's..

Leading influential citizens to demand governmental action & newspapers to dub him "Public Enemy No. 1"...

The federal authorities became intent on jailing Capone & they prosecuted him for tax evasion in 1931 a federal crime & a novel strategy during the era...

Capone was convicted & sentenced to 11 years in federal prison...

Al Capone was already showing signs of syphilitic dementia early in his sentence & he became increasingly debilitated before being released after eight years...

On 1-25-1947 Capone died of cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke...

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Carlo Gambino

Gambino was the Boss of Gambino Crime Family from 1957 to 1976..

The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City in the United States & within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra)...

The rise of The Gambino Crime Family began in 1957..

Experts believe it has to do with the Hit On Albert Anastasia who Carlo Gambino was Anastasia's Underboss..

Experts believe that Anastasia's underboss Carlo Gambino helped orchestrate the hit to take over the family...

Gambino partnered with Meyer Lansky to control gambling interests in Cuba...

The family's fortunes grew through 1976 when Gambino appointed his brother-in-law Paul Castellano as boss upon his death...

By all accounts Vito Genovese was angling to become boss of all bosses..

He believed that Gambino would support him...

Gambino however had his own mind...

He secretly joined forces with Charles Luciano & Frank Costello to get Genovese out of the way as well..

Castellano infuriated upstart capo John Gotti who orchestrated Castellano's murder in 1985....

Gotti's downfall came in 1992 when his underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano decided to cooperate with the FBI...

Gravano's cooperation brought down Gotti, along with most of the top members of the Gambino family...

Carlo Gambino lived to the age of 74..

He died of a heart attack in bed "in a state of grace," according to a priest who had given him the Last Rites of the Catholic Church...

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Albert Anastasia

Anastasia was one of the most ruthless & feared Cosa Nostra mobsters in United States history...

A founder of both the American Mafia & Murder Inc. during the prewar era and during most of the 1950s..

Anastasia was boss of what would become the modern Gambino crime family...

Anastasia was perhaps the most feared hit-man of the Italian American Cosa Nostra's golden era, earning the infamous nicknames "the Mad Hatter" & "Lord High Executioner..."

Anastasia was also in control of the New York waterfront for most of his criminal career including the dockworker unions..

Anastasia was sentenced to death for a 3-17-1921 Murder & was sent to Sing Sing State Prison in Ossining New York to await execution...

Due to a legal technicality Anastasia won a retrial in 1922...

Because four of the original prosecution witnesses had disappeared in the meantime, Anastasia was released from custody in 1922..

By the late 1920s Anastasia had become a top leader of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), controlling six union local chapters in Brooklyn...

Anastasia allied himself with Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria, a powerful gang leader in Brooklyn New York ... 

Anastasia soon became close associates with future Cosa Nostra bosses Joe Adonis, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Vito Genovese & Frank Costello...

In 1928, Anastasia was charged with a murder in Brooklyn but the witnesses either disappeared or refused to testify in court....

In May 1939, Anastasia allegedly ordered the murder of Morris Diamond an official of a trucking union in Brooklyn....

Diamond was a Teamsters Union official who had opposed mobster Louis Buchalter's attempts to maintain control of the Garment District in Manhattan...

In the summer of 1939, Anastasia allegedly organized the murder of Peter Panto, an ILA activist...

Panto had been leading a movement for democratic reforms in the ILA locals & refused to be intimidated by ILA officials...

On 7-14-1939 Panto disappeared & his body was later recovered on a farm in New Jersey...

To take control of the Luciano family Genovese needed to kill Frank Costello...

However Genovese could not kill Costello without also eliminating Anastasia...

To do that Genovese needed allies...

Vito Genovese used Anastasia's brutal behavior against him in an effort to woo away his supporters..

Portraying Anastasia as an unstable killer who threatened to bring law enforcement pressure on the Cosa Nostra...

On the morning of 10-25-1957 Anastasia entered the barber shop of the Park Sheraton Hotel at 56th Street & 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan...

Anastasia's driver parked the car in an underground garage & then took a walk outside leaving Anastasia unprotected...

As Anastasia relaxed in the barber chair two men—scarves covering their faces—rushed in-- shoved the barber out of the way & fired multiple shots at Anastasia until he was dead..

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Joe " Mad Dog " Sullivan

Sullivan was an Irish-American hitman who acted as a contract killer for the Mafia in New York City & was also rumored to be involved in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa...

Sullivan began his criminal career at a young age after his Policeman Father had died...

Sullivan was the first & still is the only inmate to escape from Attica Correctional Facility in Upstate New York in April 1971...

He was recaptured several weeks later in New York City...

When Sullivan won his parole in December 1975 Sullivan was hired by Anthony Salerno of the Genovese crime family to be a Hit-Man..

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Sullivan's first Hit was to assassinate Tom Devaney, Eddie "the Butcher" Cummiskey & Tom "the Greek" Kapatos, three underlings of Mickey Spillane, boss of the the Westies...

This move was an effort by Salerno to take control of the hiring & construction contracts at the yet unbuilt Jacob K. Javits Convention Center located in Hell's Kitchen...

After the assassinations of his four top enforcers Spillane's criminal enterprises were drastically weakened...

Spillane later moved his family to Woodside Queens for their own safety...

According to mob hitman Donald Frankos, a former partner of Sullivan's who later became a government witness claims Sullivan was responsible for disposal of the body of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa..

It is believed that Sullivan killed between 20 to 30 people...

A consummate professional he trained before completing an assignment...

Sullivan handled his final hit in 1981...

He was hired to kill John Fiorino a Teamsters Union official & reported mafia member...

Waiting outside a restaurant near Rochester New York Sullivan shot Fiorino with a shotgun...

Trying to flee the scene his car got stuck in a snowbank...

After his eventual arrest, the police then linked him to two other murders that took place on Long Island..

Sullivan was convicted of the Fiorino murder and two other killings in 1982...

He was given three life sentences...

Today, Sullivan is an inmate at Sullivan Correctional Facility located in Fallsburg New York...

He will be eligible for parole in 2069 a veritable life sentence for a convicted killer in his seventies...

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Joseph Anthony "Joe" Colombo, Sr.

Joe Colombo was the boss of the Colombo Crime Family one of the "Five Families" of the Cosa Nostra in New York...

Colombo followed in his father foot steps & joined into the Profaci  Crime Family...

Joe Colombo became one of the family's top enforcers & soon became a capo...

In 1961, Joe Gallo & his crew kidnapped Colombo & other members of the Profaci leadership...

Gallo was demanding a more equitable split of income from Profaci Crime Family..

After several weeks of negotiation Profaci & the Gallo brothers reached a deal...

Colombo & the other hostages were released...

Profaci reneged on the deal & the First Colombo War started..

On 6-6-1962 Profaci died & Joseph Magliocco succeeded him as boss...

Magliocco was soon drawn into a plot with Bonanno crime family boss Joseph Bonanno to murder Lucchese crime family boss Tommy Lucchese and Gambino crime family boss Carlo Gambino...

Joe Colombo revealed a plot to Lucchese & Gambino that Joseph Magliocco gave the contract to Colombo to Kill them..

The Mafia Commission forced Magliocco to retire & named Joe Colombo as the new boss...

At the age of 41 Colombo was one of the youngest crime bosses in the country. ..

He was also the first American-born boss of a New York crime family...

Unlike his fellow bosses he wasn't shy about confronting law enforcement. ..

On 5-9-1966 Colombo was sentenced to 30 days in jail for refusing to answer questions from a grand jury about his financial affairs..

This would be Colombo's first & last jail sentence...

On 6-28-1971 Colombo was shot & seriously wounded at the second Italian Unity Day rally..

As Colombo was approaching the podium to address the crowd when Jerome Johnson a black street hustler approached Colombo...

Wearing press credentials from the league & disguised as a photojournalist Johnson fired three shots from an automatic pistol into Colombo's head and neck. ..

One of Colombo's bodyguards quickly reached Johnson & shot him in the stomach several times...

Colombo remained paralyzed for the next seven years. ..

On 5-22-1978 Colombo died of cardiac arrest at St. Luke's Hospital (later St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital) in Newburgh, New York...

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Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel

Siegel was a Jewish American mobster...

Siegel was known as one of the most "infamous and feared gangsters of his day"..

Described as handsome and charismatic he became one of the first front-page-celebrity gangsters..

Siegel was also a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip..

Siegel was not only influential within the Jewish mob but like his friend & fellow gangster Meyer Lansky he also held significant influence within the Italian-American Mafia & the largely Italian-Jewish National Crime Syndicate...

Bugsy Siegel was one of the founders and leaders of Murder, Inc. & became a bootlegger during Prohibition...

After Prohibition was repealed in 1933 Bugsy turned to gambling...

In 1936 he left New York & moved to California..

His time as a mobster (although he eventually ran his own operations) was mainly as a hitman & muscle he was noted for his prowess with guns & violence..

Bugsy was also a boyhood friend to Al Capone..

When there was a warrant for Capone's arrest on a murder charge Siegel allowed him to hide out with an aunt..

Siegel traveled to Las Vegas Nevada where he handled & financed some of the original casinos..

He assisted developer William Wilkerson's Flamingo Hotel after Wilkerson ran out of funds..

Siegel took over the project & managed the final stages of construction with Mob Money..

The Flamingo opened on 12-26-1946 to poor reception & soon closed...

It reopened in March 1947 with a finished hotel...

Three months later on June 20, 1947, Siegel was shot dead at the Beverly Hills home of his girlfriend Virginia Hill...

No one was charged with the murder & the crime remains officially unsolved..

One theory posits that Siegel's death was the result of his excessive spending & possible theft of money from the mob....

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Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria

Joe Masseria : The Boss was was an early Mafia Boss in New York City...

He was boss of what is now called the Genovese Crime Family one of the New York Mafia's Five Families from 1922 to 1931...

He waged a bloody war to take over the criminal activities in New York City gaining considerable power for himself...

He then became part of the Morello Crime Family that operated out of Harlem and parts of Little Italy in southern Manhattan...

Masseria was contemporaries with other captains of that mafia famiglia such as Salvatore D'Aquila and Gaetano Reina...

Masseria & D'Aquila became rivals for power in New York...

By the early 1920s they were at war with each other...

On August 9, 1922, Masseria walked out of his apartment at 80 2nd Avenue & was rushed by two armed men who opened fire on him...

Masseria ducked into a store at 82 2nd Avenue with the gunmen in pursuit but got away..

Masseria survived the point-blank hit attempt unscathed & was found by police in his upstairs bedroom shell-shocked...

He was sitting up in his bed dazed his ears were ringing from the proximity of the weapon fire & there were two bullet holes through his straw hat which he was still wearing on his head...

D'Aquilla was accosted in the street by three men after his regular visit to the doctor..

The discussion became heated & one of the men drew a gun & shot D'Aquilla dead...

Alfred Mineo & his enforcer Steve Ferrigno, allies of Joe Masseria, then took over leadership of the D'Aquilla Crime Family...

A conflict between Masseria & Maranzano was cutting into their business..

Other mafia gangs not involved in the conflict called a meeting of representatives in December 1930 in Boston...

They stripped Masseria of his Boss of bosses title & temporarily gave it to Boston mafia chief Gaspare Messina...

They also tried to broker a peace between Masseria & Maranzano but Maranzano refused any overtures while Masseria was still alive & made overtures to Masseria gang members to defect and kill their boss..

On 4-15-1931 Joe Masseria was murdered by 3 men at a restaurant called Nuova Villa Tammaro on Coney Island...

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Meyer Lansky

Lansky was known as the "Mob's Accountant"...

Meyer Lansky was a major organized crime figure who along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...

Lansky developed a gambling empire that stretched across the world. He was said to own points (percentages) in casinos in Las Vegas, Cuba, The Bahamas & London..

Although a member of the Jewish Mob, Lansky undoubtedly had strong influence with the Italian Mafia and played a large role in the consolidation of the criminal underworld..

Despite nearly fifty years as a member-participant in organized crime Lansky was never found guilty of anything more serious than illegal gambling..

He has a legacy of being one of the most successful (in terms of finance) gangsters in American history...

Lansky met Bugsy Siegel when they were teenagers...

They became lifelong friends as well as partners in the bootlegging trade & together with Lucky Luciano, formed a lasting partnership...

Lansky was instrumental in Luciano's rise to power by organizing the 1931 murders of Mafia bosses Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano....

As a youngster Siegel saved Lansky's life several times a fact that Lansky always appreciated...

The two adroitly managed the Bugs & Meyer Mob with its reputation as one of the most violent Prohibition gangs...

By 1936 Lansky had established gambling operations in Florida, New Orleans & Cuba..

Lansky attended a secret meeting in Havana Cuba in 1946 to discuss his friend Siegel's management of the Flamingo Hotel..

It was running far behind schedule & costing Siegel's Mafia investors a great deal of money...

While the other bosses wanted to kill Siegel, Lansky begged them to give his friend a second chance...

Despite this reprieve Siegel continued to lose Mafia money on the Flamingo Hotel...

On 6-20-1947 Siegel was shot & killed in Beverly Hills California...

Twenty minutes after the Siegel hit, Lansky's associates, including Gus Greenbaum and Moe Sedway, walked into the Flamingo Hotel and took control of the property.

Lansky's last years were spent quietly at his home in Miami Beach...

He died of lung cancer on 1-15-1983 at the age of 80 leaving behind a widow and three children..

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Posted by :

Mja Inc Staff