Jack Ignatius Dragna (born Ignazio Dragna, ; April 18, 1891 – February 23, 1956) was an

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 organization is often referred to by its memb ...

member and Black Hander who was active in both

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 ...

and 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., ...

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 Los Angeles 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, a ...

of the

Los Angeles crime family The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the L.A. Mafia or the Southern California crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Los Angeles as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Since its inception in the ea ...

after Ardizzone's mysterious disappearance and death. Both

James Ragen James Matthew Ragen, Sr. (August 9, 1880 – August 15, 1946) was an Irish businessman and co-founder of the Chicago-based street gang and political club Ragen's Colts. Biography After taking control of the social organization ''Ragen's Athlet ...

and

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitutio ...

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 (; scn, Cunigghiuni or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily. Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack ...

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

, 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 safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

and later the

Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...

. 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 f ...

, who eventually led his own crime family in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

. 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 their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, qu ...

dealer

Barnet Baff Barnet Baff (c. 1863 – November 24, 1914) was a poultry dealer in New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. ...

. 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 city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

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'd 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 manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic be ...

, 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

, a prominent mobster in Los Angeles.

Mafia Don

In 1931, Dragna succeeded

as boss of the

. It was rumored that Dragna was involved in Ardizzone's disappearance and presumed murder. The

wanted to make inroads in California, and supported Dragna, as opposed to the "

Mustache Pete A Mustache Pete is a member of the Sicilian Mafia who came to the United States (particularly New York City) as an adult in the early 20th century. History Unlike the younger Sicilian-Americans, known as the "Young Turks," the old-guard Mustache ...

" 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 ...

. 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 off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookm ...

s for "protection" money, although he was also the main

illegal gambling Gaming 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 a sea vessel of any kind on which gambling takes place. Historically, international waters began just from land in many countries. Gambling ships, like offshore radio stations, would usually be anchored just outside the th ...

s, a

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and bro ...

smuggling operation, and collecting extortion money. His close supporters included Girolamo "Momo" Adamo and

John Roselli John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli (born Filippo Sacco; July 4, 1905 – August 7, 1976), sometimes spelled Rosselli, was an influential mobster for the Chicago Outfit who helped that organization control Hollywood and the Las Vegas Strip. In the ear ...

. 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-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, ...

, 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 (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

. An old bootlegging associate of Dragna's,

Anthony Cornero Anthony Cornero Stralla also known as "the Admiral" and "Tony the Hat" (August 18, 1899 – July 31, 1955) was a bootlegger and gambling entrepreneur in Southern California from the 1920s through the 1950s. During his varied career, he bootlegge ...

ran

s off the coast of California.

Tommy Lucchese Thomas Gaetano Lucchese (born Gaetano Lucchese; ; December 1, 1899 – July 13, 1967), 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

Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon know ...

, was Dragna's main contact in New York. Dragna also controlled unions in the

laundromat A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Unit ...

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 not only influential within the Jewish Mob, but along with his childhood fri ...

, an associate of the New York Luciano crime family, 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 Los Angeles due to his failure to properly manage the new

Flamingo Hotel Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly The Fabulous Flamingo and Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The property includes a casino along with 3,4 ...

in Las Vegas.

Mickey Cohen Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen (September 4, 1913 – July 29, 1976) was an American gangster, boxer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles during the mid-20th century. Early life Mickey Cohen was born on September 4, 1913, in New York City to Je ...

, 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 region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

. 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 The United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce was a special committee of the United States Senate which existed from 1950 to 1951 and which investigated organized crime which crossed state borders in the Un ...

, 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 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 reduce the tax ...

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

. Back in 1932, Dragna had violated immigration law by illegally entering the United States at the

San Ysidro San Ysidro (Spanish for " St. Isidore", ) is a district of the City of San Diego, immediately north of the Mexico–United States border. It neighbors Otay Mesa West to the north, Otay Mesa to the east, and Nestor and the Tijuana River Valley ...

border crossing in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

after a three-day stay in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. 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 from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

order. Dragna was a very private boss who eschewed flashiness and attention. However, in the 1950s, the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-lar ...

(LAPD) under Chief William H. Parker engaged in a campaign of

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...

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 blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in Los Angeles. His body was interred at Calvary Cemetery in

East Los Angeles, California East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

. Dragna was survived by two children. His son Frank Paul Dragna was a

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses ** South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

graduate and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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. The prosthesis fits over an orbital implant and under ...

). Dragna had a daughter Anna Rosalia Dragna, who later married and changed her surname to Niotta.

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 ...

'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'' * (1988) '' The Big Nowhere'' * (1990) ''L.A. Confidential'' * (1992 ...

'' novels, specifically ''

The Big Nowhere ''The Big Nowhere'' is a 1988 crime fiction novel by American author James Ellroy, the second of the L.A. Quartet, a series of novels set in 1940s and 1950s Los Angeles. Plot The plot centers around three characters: L.A. Deputy Sheriff Danny U ...

'' (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 video game ''

L.A. Noire ''L.A. Noire'' is a 2011 action-adventure video game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. Set in 1947 Los Angeles, the game follows detective Cole Phelps's rise among the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department as he so ...

''. *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'' portrayed by

Reed De Rouen Reed De Rouen (10 June 1917 – 11 June 1986) was an American actor and screenwriter who worked mostly in the British film and television industry. He appeared in the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Gunfighters'' in 1966 as Pa Clanton, as well as writ ...

. *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 character actor. In a film and television career spanning 35 years, he amassed over 220 credits. Notable television roles included Detective Steve Crosetti in the fir ...

. *In the 1991 film ''

Bugsy ''Bugsy'' is a 1991 American biographical crime drama film chronicling the life of American mobster Bugsy Siegel and his relationship with Virginia Hill. It is directed by Barry Levinson, written by James Toback, and stars Warren Beatty as Siegel ...

'', the highly fictionalized story of Bugsy Siegel, Dragna is played by

Richard C. Sarafian Richard Caspar Sarafian (April 28, 1930 – September 18, 2013) was an Armenian-American film director and actor. He compiled a versatile career that spanned over five decades as a director, actor, and writer. Sarafian is best known as the direct ...

. *

Paul Ben-Victor Paul Ben-Victor (born July 24, 1965) 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). ...

plays Dragna in the

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

2013 TV series '' Mob City''.

Sources

References

* Demaris, Ovid. ''The Last Mafioso: The Treacherous World of Jimmy Fratianno''. 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.

External links

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