Jack Dragna
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Jack Ignatius Dragna (born Ignazio Dragna, ; April 18, 1891 – February 23, 1956) was a Sicilian-American
Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...
member, entrepreneur and Black Hander who was active in both
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in the 20th century. He was active in bootlegging in California during the Prohibition Era in the United States. In 1931, he succeeded
Joseph Ardizzone Joseph "Joe Iron Man" Ardizzone (born Giuseppe Ernesto Ardizzone; ; November 19, 1884 – disappeared October 15, 1931, declared dead 1938) was an Italian-born early American mobster, who became the first Boss of the Los Angeles crime family. ...
as the
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...
of the
Los Angeles crime family The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the Dragna crime family, the Southern California crime family or the L.A. Mafia, and dubbed "the Mickey Mouse Mafia" by former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, is an Italian American Mafia crime fa ...
after Ardizzone's mysterious disappearance and death. Both James Ragen and
Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 30th governor of California from 1943 to 1953 and as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presid ...
dubbed Dragna the "Capone of Los Angeles". Dragna remained the boss of the Los Angeles crime family from 1931 until his death in 1956.


Biography


Early life

Dragna was born to Francesco Paolo Dragna and Anna Dragna in
Corleone Corleone (; or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily. Many Sicilian Mafia, Mafia bosses both in Sicily and the United States have come from the town of Corleone, inclu ...
,
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
, on April 18, 1891. On November 18, 1898, Dragna came to the United States on the S.S. ''Alsatia'' with his parents, older sister Giuseppa, and older brother Gaetano. They stayed in East Harlem, in Manhattan, with his mother's cousin Antonio Rizzotto's family, also from Corleone. It is unknown when Dragna's father arrived in the United States. Dragna stayed in New York for ten years before returning to Sicily. As a young man, he joined the
Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...
and later the
Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a secret society, criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of ...
. In 1914, Dragna returned to America. He appears to have had a relationship with
Gaetano Reina Gaetano Reina (; September 27, 1889 – February 26, 1930) was an Italian-American gangster. He was an early American Mafia boss who was the founder of what has for many years been called the Lucchese crime family in New York City. He led the fa ...
, who eventually led his own crime family in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
and
the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
. That same year, Dragna petitioned for naturalization as Charles Dragna, and was a suspect in the murder of Jewish
poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...
dealer
Barnet Baff Barnet Baff ( – November 24, 1914) was a poultry dealer in New York City who was murdered by organized crime that represented the "poultry trust" in New York that extorted $10 per truckload of poultry from merchants. His death led to an investig ...
. After the killing, Dragna fled to California. He was extradited to New York, but never went on trial. In 1915, Dragna was arrested for Black Hand extortion of a
Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
man and served three years in prison. Dragna was arrested as Ignazio Rizzotto, leading to the assumption he was the brother of his criminal associate, Benigno Rizzotto, with whom he had lived in New York City. During the
Prohibition Era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...
, Dragna and his brother Gaetano (now named Tom) ran extortion and illegal liquor distillation operations. In 1922, Dragna married his second cousin, Francesca Rizzotto. After his prison stint, he worked closely with
Joseph Ardizzone Joseph "Joe Iron Man" Ardizzone (born Giuseppe Ernesto Ardizzone; ; November 19, 1884 – disappeared October 15, 1931, declared dead 1938) was an Italian-born early American mobster, who became the first Boss of the Los Angeles crime family. ...
, a prominent mobster in Los Angeles.


Mafia Don

In 1931, Dragna succeeded
Joseph Ardizzone Joseph "Joe Iron Man" Ardizzone (born Giuseppe Ernesto Ardizzone; ; November 19, 1884 – disappeared October 15, 1931, declared dead 1938) was an Italian-born early American mobster, who became the first Boss of the Los Angeles crime family. ...
as boss of the
Los Angeles crime family The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the Dragna crime family, the Southern California crime family or the L.A. Mafia, and dubbed "the Mickey Mouse Mafia" by former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, is an Italian American Mafia crime fa ...
. It was rumored that Dragna was involved in Ardizzone's disappearance and presumed murder. The
American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society and organized crime group. The terms Italian Mafia and Italian Mob apply to ...
wanted to make inroads in California, and supported Dragna, as opposed to the " Mustache Pete" Ardizzone. His brother Tom became his
consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel ''The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a c ...
. As boss, Dragna's chief source of income came from extorting local
bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...
s for "protection" money, although he was also the main
illegal gambling Gambling law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law ...
operator in the city. Other businesses including running
gambling ship A gambling ship is the term for a ship stationed offshore in or transiting to international waters to evade local anti-gambling laws that is dedicated to games of chance. This applies both to ships which are permanently moored somewhere outside ...
s, a
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
smuggling operation, and collecting extortion money. His close supporters included Girolamo "Momo" Adamo and
John Roselli John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli (sometimes spelled Rosselli; born Filippo Sacco; July 4, 1905 – August 7, 1976) was an Italian-born mobster for the Chicago Outfit who helped that organization exert influence over Hollywood and the Las Vegas Str ...
. Roselli had been a member of the
Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or the Organization, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family based in Chicago, I ...
, but left for California and worked with Dragna in gambling. In the 1950s, Roselli left California and became the Mafia's main representative in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. An old bootlegging associate of Dragna's, Anthony Cornero ran
gambling ship A gambling ship is the term for a ship stationed offshore in or transiting to international waters to evade local anti-gambling laws that is dedicated to games of chance. This applies both to ships which are permanently moored somewhere outside ...
s off the coast of California.
Tommy Lucchese Thomas Gaetano Lucchese (born Gaetano Lucchese, ; December 1, 1899 – July 13, 1967), nicknamed "Tommy Three-Finger Brown", was an Italian-American gangster who was a founding member of the Mafia in the United States, an offshoot of the '' Cosa ...
, of the
Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey, within the nationwide c ...
, was Dragna's main contact in New York. Dragna also controlled unions in the
laundromat A self-service laundry, coin laundry, or coin wash, is a facility where clothes and some household textiles are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, ...
business and dress importing companies.


Siegel and Cohen

As boss, Dragna often had to do business with representatives from the more powerful Cosa Nostra families in New York. When
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (; February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was an American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Siegel was influential within the Jewish Mob, along with his childhood friend and fel ...
, an associate of the New York
Luciano crime family The Genovese crime family (), also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Ma ...
, relocated to the West Coast during the late 1930s, he started his own rackets and formed an uneasy relationship with Dragna. Siegel brought in much more income for the Los Angeles family and generated a great deal of 'respect', which Dragna resented. Although many sources speak of a rivalry between them, Dragna and Siegel worked closely together, especially at organizing a racing wire service on the West Coast. In June 1947, the East Coast crime families murdered Siegel in
Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...
due to his failure to properly manage the new
Flamingo Hotel Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly the Flamingo Hilton) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The Flamingo includes a casino and a 28-story hotel with 3,460 rooms. The res ...
in Las Vegas.
Mickey Cohen Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen (September 4, 1913 – July 29, 1976) was an American gangster based in Los Angeles and boss of the Cohen crime family during the mid-20th century. Early life Mickey Cohen was born on September 4, 1913, in New York ...
, who had been serving as Siegel's bodyguard, immediately took over Siegel's rackets and refused to accept Dragna's authority. Dragna ordered several murder attempts on Cohen, but he managed to survive them all. On February 14, 1950, the California Commission on Organized Crime singled out Dragna as the head of a crime syndicate that controlled crime in
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
. Soon after, several Los Angeles family members were arrested for the bombing of Mickey Cohen's home. Dragna fled the state to avoid questioning. He later surrendered to authorities, and was questioned in the U.S. Senate
Kefauver hearings Carey Estes Kefauver ( ; July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the U.S. Senate from 1949 until hi ...
, but denied all accusations against him. Cohen was also questioned in the hearings, and as a result was convicted of federal
tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...
and was forced to give up control of his rackets to the Los Angeles family.


Private life and death

In 1953, the federal government ordered Dragna to be deported to
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
. Back in 1932, Dragna had violated immigration law by illegally entering the United States at the San Ysidro border crossing in
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
after a three-day stay in
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. However, at the time of his death Dragna was still living in California, appealing against the
deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or is under sen ...
order. Dragna was a very private boss who eschewed flashiness and attention. However, in the 1950s, the
Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
(LAPD) under Chief William H. Parker engaged in a campaign of
harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...
against organized crime figures. Dragna and his family were frequently arrested. When his wife Frances died in 1953, Dragna lost interest in running the Los Angeles family and instead focused on meeting new women. On one occasion, several members of the LAPD stationed themselves outside a trailer where Dragna and a girlfriend were having sex. Using listening devices, officers gained enough evidence to arrest Dragna for engaging in
lewd Lascivious behavior is sexual behavior or conduct that is considered crude and offensive, or contrary to local moral or other standards of appropriate behavior. In this sense, "lascivious" is similar in meaning to "lewd", "indecent", "lecherous", ...
acts. On February 23, 1956, Dragna died of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
in Los Angeles. His body was interred at Calvary Cemetery in
East Los Angeles, California East Los Angeles (), or East L.A., is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) situated within Los Angeles County, California, United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, ...
. Dragna was survived by two children. His son Frank Paul Dragna was a
USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...
graduate and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
veteran who lost an eye in the war and was nicknamed "One Eye" to distinguish him from his cousin who had the same name ("One Eye" also had a
glass eye An ocular prosthesis, artificial eye or glass eye is a type of craniofacial prosthesis that replaces an absent natural eye following an enucleation, evisceration, or orbital exenteration. Someone with an ocular prosthesis is altogether blind ...
).


In popular culture

*Dragna appears as a character in
James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, ...
's fictional ''
L.A. Quartet The L.A. Quartet is a sequence of four crime fiction novels by James Ellroy set in the late 1940s through the late 1950s in Los Angeles. They are: * (1987) ''The Black Dahlia (novel), The Black Dahlia'' * (1988) ''The Big Nowhere'' * (1990) ''L.A ...
'' novels, specifically '' The Big Nowhere'' (1988) and ''
White Jazz ''White Jazz'' is a 1992 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. It is the fourth in his L.A. Quartet, preceded by '' The Black Dahlia'', '' The Big Nowhere'', and '' L.A. Confidential''. James Ellroy dedicated ''White Jazz'' "TO ''Helen Knode''." ...
'' (1992). *Though he does not make an actual appearance, he is mentioned several times in the 2011 video game '' L.A. Noire''. *A character by the same name appears in the sixth episode of the second series of the 1960s cult British spy-fi TV series ''
The Avengers Avenger(s) or The Avenger(s) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of "The Infinity Sag ...
'' portrayed by Reed De Rouen. *Dragna appears in the 2013 film '' Gangster Squad'', where he is played by actor
Jon Polito Jon Raymond Polito (December 29, 1950 – September 1, 2016) was an American actor. In a film and television career spanning 35 years, he amassed over 220 credits. His television roles included Detective Steve Crosetti in the first two seasons ...
. *In the 1991 film ''
Bugsy ''Bugsy'' is a 1991 American biographical crime drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by James Toback. Starring Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Bebe Neuwirth, and Joe Mantegna, the f ...
'', the highly fictionalized story of Bugsy Siegel, Dragna is played by Richard C. Sarafian. *
Paul Ben-Victor Paul Ben-Victor (born ) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Greek mobster Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'', Alan Gray in '' Entourage'' (2005–2008), and Ray in '' Body Parts'' (1991). Early lif ...
plays Dragna in the
neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...
2013 TV series ''
Mob City ''Mob City'' is an American neo-noir crime drama television series created by Frank Darabont for TNT. It is based on real-life accounts of the L.A.P.D. and gangsters in 1940s Los Angeles as chronicled in John Buntin's book ''L.A. Noir: The Str ...
''.


Sources


References

* Demaris, Ovid. ''The Last Mafioso: The Treacherous World of
Jimmy Fratianno Aladena James Fratianno (born Aladena Fratianno; November 14, 1913 – June 29, 1993), also known as "Jimmy the Weasel", was an Italian-born American mobster who was acting boss of the Los Angeles crime family. After his arrest in 1977, Fratian ...
''. Bantam Books, 1981. * Fisher, David. ''Joey the Hitman: The Autobiography of a Mafia Killer''. Da Capo Press: Massachusetts, 2002. * Lewis, Brad, ''Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster. The Incredible Life and Times of Mickey Cohen'', Enigma Books: New York, 2007. * Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia, Third Edition'', Checkmark Books: New York, 2005. * Warner, Richard N. "The First Mafia Boss of Los Angeles? The Mystery of Vito Di Giorgio, 1880-1922." ''On The Spot Journal'' (Summer 2008), 46–54.
Dragna background (Part I)
at Crimefile. Copyright Gatecitypublishing, 2010.


Further reading

*


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragna, Jack 1891 births 1956 deaths American crime bosses American gangsters of Italian descent People of Sicilian descent American male criminals Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles) Gangsters from Los Angeles History of Los Angeles Italian emigrants to the United States Los Angeles crime family People extradited within the United States American gangsters of the interwar period