Frank Coppola (born Francesco Paolo Coppola), known as Frank Three Fingers (1899 in

Partinico Partinico ( Sicilian: ''Partinicu'', Ancient Greek: ''Parthenikòn'', Παρθενικόν) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. It is from Palermo and from Trapani. Main sights *Church of ''S ...

– 26 April 1982 in

Aprilia Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles ...

), was an

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

mobster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

and

crime boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...

Background

Frank Coppola was born in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1899. In 1926 he emigrated clandestinely to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and settled in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. He worked as a laborer and then as a seller of fruit and vegetables, before entering the mob. He was known as Frank Three Fingers because he lacked two, the left ring finger and little finger after his fingers had slipped inside the door of a safe during a robbery and had to be cut off with a knife before the police arrived. He later claimed, in an interview with the Italian

Antimafia Commission The Italian parliamentary Antimafia Commission ( it, Commissione parlamentare antimafia) is a bicameral commission of the Italian Parliament, composed of members from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The first commission, formed in 1963, was ...

in 1971:

Drug trafficking

He was a major drug trafficker with strong ties to the

Detroit Partnership The Detroit Partnership (also known as the Detroit crime family, Detroit Combination, Detroit Mafia, Zerilli crime family, and the Tocco–Zerilli crime family) () is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Detroit, Michigan, and ...

with Angelo Meli and the St. Louis crime family particularly Anthony "Tony" Giordano. He was also a close associate of

Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975; declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971. ...

. His activities soon led him to be on the FBI list of most wanted criminals.

Expelled to Italy

In 1948 he was expelled from the

and sent back to

. He settled in Ardea, near

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he invested all the money accumulated, in real estate. In Italy, he allegedly dealt with clean business, however according to the judicial authorities, he was at the center of large drug trafficking operations. In the last period of life because of poor health, Coppola was hospitalized for over a year in an Aprilia clinic. He died on April 26, 1982.

Reference

{{US-crime-bio-stub American gangsters of Sicilian descent American drug traffickers 1899 births 1982 deaths Italian emigrants to the United States