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Jack LoCicero
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 family based in Los Angeles, California as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Since its inception in the early 20th century, the family has spread throughout Southern California. Like most Mafia families in the United States, the Los Angeles crime family gained wealth and power through bootlegging alcohol during the Prohibition era. The L.A. family reached its peak strength in the 1940s and early 1950s under Jack Dragna, although the family was never larger than the New York or Chicago families. The Los Angeles crime family itself has been on a gradual decline, with the Chicago Outfit representing them on The Commission since the death of boss Jack Dragna in 1956. The sources for much of the current information on the history of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. He was involved in a long-standing feud with the Matranga family. He once claimed to have killed 30 men. Early life Ardizzone was born on November 19, 1884, in Piana dei Greci (today Piana degli Albanesi), in the Province of Palermo, Sicily, to Antonino Ardizzone. The Ardizzones were of Arbëreshë origin, being related to several other families and they would maintain contact in America. Those families included the Cuccias and the Matrangas. Early years in America The Ardizzone family came to America at different times. Antonino came in the later 19th century, landing in Louisiana then taking the train to southern California. He became a wealthy farmer and wine maker. His other children, including Stefano and Francesco also moved to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kansas City Crime Family
The Kansas City crime family, also known as the Civella crime family or the Kansas City Mafia or the Clique, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family based in Kansas City, Missouri, and throughout the Greater Kansas City area. The organization formed during the early 1910s. It is named after Nicholas Civella, the family’s longest serving boss from 1953 until his death in 1983. History Early history The Italian-American organized crime family began when two Sicilian ''mafiosi'' known as the DiGiovanni brothers fled Sicily to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1912. Joseph "Joe Church" DiGiovanni and Peter "Sugarhouse Pete" DiGiovanni began making money from a variety of criminal operations or racket (crime), rackets shortly after their arrival. Their fortunes greatly improved with the introduction of Prohibition in the United States, Prohibition, when they became the only group bootlegging alcohol in Kansas City. Their rackets at this time were cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 these US-based organizations, as well as the separate yet related Sicilian Mafia or other organized crime groups in Italy, or ethnic Italian crime groups in other countries. These organizations are often referred to by its members as Cosa Nostra (, "Our Thing" or "This Thing of Ours") and by the American government as La Cosa Nostra (LCN). The organization's name is derived from the original ''Mafia'' or ''Cosa Nostra'', the Sicilian Mafia, with "American Mafia" originally referring simply to Mafia groups from Sicily operating in the United States. The Mafia in the United States emerged in impoverished List of Italian-American neighborhoods, Italian immigrant neighborhoods in New York's East Harlem (or "Italian Harlem"), the Lower East Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Americans
Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern urban areas, metropolitan areas, with significant communities also residing in many other major U.S. metropolitan areas. Between 1820 and 2004, approximately 5.5 million Italians migrated to the United States during the Italian diaspora, in several distinct waves, with the greatest number arriving in the 20th century from Southern Italy. Initially, most single men, so-called birds of passage, sent remittance back to their families in Italy and then returned to Italy. Immigration began to increase during the 1880s, when more than twice as many Italians immigrated than had in the five previous decades combined. Continuing from 1880 to 1914, the greatest surge of immigration brought more than 4 million Italians to the United States. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daryl Gates
Daryl Francis Gates (born Darrel Francis Gates; August 30, 1926 – April 16, 2010) was an American police officer who served as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1978 to 1992. His length of tenure in this position was second only to that of William H. Parker. Gates is credited with the creation of SWAT teams alongside fellow Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer John Nelson, who others claim was the originator of SWAT in 1965. Gates also co-founded the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. After the arrest of Rodney King and the subsequent riots, Gates resigned from the LAPD. Much of the blame for the riots was attributed to him. According to one study, "scandalous racist violence... marked the LAPD under Gates's tempestuous leadership." Early life and education Gates was born in Glendale, California, to a Mormon mother and a Catholic father on August 30, 1926; he was raised in his mother's faith. He grew up in Glendale and Highland Park, in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cohen Crime Family
Cohen () is a surname of Jewish, Samaritan and Biblical origins (see: Kohen). It is a very common Jewish surname (the most common in Israel). Cohen is one of the four Samaritan last names that exist in the modern day. Many Jewish immigrants entering the United States or United Kingdom changed their name from Cohen to Cowan (sometimes spelled " Cowen"), as Cowan was a Scottish name. The name "Cohen" is also used as a given name. Origin Bearing the surname often (although not always) indicates that one's patrilineal ancestors were priests in the Temple of Jerusalem. Although not all Kohenic lines stem from Aaron, the brother of Moses, he is generally regarded as the patriarch of the lineage and the first Kohen. A single such priest was known as a Kohen, and the hereditary caste descending from these priests is collectively known as the Kohanim. As multiple languages were acquired through the Jewish diaspora, the surname acquired dozens of variants. Not all persons with related su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th century until its eventual decline beginning in the early 1980s. At its peak, it had more than 6,000 media subscribers. Since the first of several sales and staff cutbacks in 1982, and the 1999 sale of its broadcast client list to its main U.S. rival, the Associated Press, UPI has concentrated on smaller information-market niches. History Formally named United Press Associations for incorporation and legal purposes but publicly known and identified as United Press or UP, the news agency was created by the 1907 uniting of three smaller news syndicates by the Midwest newspaper publisher E. W. Scripps. It was headed by Hugh Baillie (1890–1966) from 1935 to 1955. At the time of his retirement, UP had 2,900 clients in the United States, and 1, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexican Mafia
The Mexican Mafia (Spanish: ''Mafia Mexicana''), also known as ''La eMe'' (Spanish for "the M"), is a predominantly Mexican American prison gang and criminal organization in the United States. Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia has no origins in Mexico and is entirely a U.S. prison-based organization. Law enforcement officials report that the Mexican Mafia is the deadliest and most powerful gang within the California prison system.Harris, D. (2004). ''Gangland: The growing gang epidemic in America's cities''. Oakland, TN: Holy Fire Publishing, . Government officials state that there are currently 350–500 official members of the Mexican Mafia with thousands of hitmen and associates within prison and an estimate of more than 50,000 loyal foot soldiers who also carry out its illegal activities on the streets in the hopes of becoming full members. The Mexican Mafia has immense influence and control over every Hispanic street gang in Southern California, including the notoriously ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hells Angels Motorcycle Club
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in California whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Common nicknames for the club are the "H.A.", "Red & White", and "81". With a membership of over 6,000, and 592 charters in 66 countries, the HAMC is the largest outlaw biker club in the world. The Hells Angels have a history of involvement in organized crime, such as drug trafficking, and engaging in violent conflict with other outlaw motorcycle clubs. Involvement in organized crime and violence has historically extended to the organization's most senior leadership. Many police and international intelligence agencies, including the United States Department of Justice, the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, the Australian Federal Police, and Europol, consider the club an organized crime syndicate. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armenian Power
Armenian Power 13, also known as AP, the Armenian Mob, or Armenian Mafia is an Armenian criminal organization and street gang founded and currently based in Los Angeles County, California.Krikorian, Michael (August 17, 1997)Violent Gang Is a Stain on a Proud Ethnic Community Series: The rise of a small street gang, Armenian Power, is causing a tragic cycle of fear and death.''Los Angeles Times'' They are involved in drug trafficking, murder, assault, fraud, identity theft, illegal gambling, kidnapping, racketeering, robbery and extortion. They are believed to have around 200 members and hundreds of associates, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. They are also well known for their connections with the Mexican Mafia. History Armenian Power is believed to have been co-founded in the early 1990s by Armenian-American gangster Armen “Silent” Petrosyan. When 15-year-old Armen Petrosyan arrived in East Hollywood from Armenia in 1989, he encountered larger, long-established s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Jose Crime Family
The San Jose crime family, also known as the Cerrito crime family or the San Jose Mafia, was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in San Jose, California. The San Jose family was one of the two families that controlled organized crime in San Jose, within the nationwide criminal organization known as the American Mafia (or "La Cosa Nostra"); the other family that ran organized crime in the city was the Bonanno crime family of New York. The family consisted of around 25 " made" members in the 1960s. History Early history In the early 1940s Onofrio Sciortino founded the first probable organized crime in San Jose, California. Sciortino would derive a majority of his profits from loansharking, gambling, counterfeiting, shylocking, prostitution and extortion. He would rule over the San Jose area from the early 1940s until his death on September 10, 1959. Cerrito and the Bonanno family Joseph Cerrito took over the crime family after the death of Sciortino. Cerrito emigrat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco Crime Family
The San Francisco crime family, also known as the Lanza crime family or the San Francisco Mafia, was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in San Francisco, California. The syndicate mainly originated in the Little Italy neighborhood of North Beach and was organized in the early 1930s by Francesco "Frank" Lanza. The membership of the San Francisco family peaked at around 15 or 20 " made men" under the leadership of James "Jimmy the Hat" Lanza, who became boss of the family in 1961. History On April 28, 1928, a gang war started in San Francisco when bootlegger Jerry Feri, San Francisco's leading crime lord, was murdered in his apartment. His suspected murderer, Alfredo Scariso, was an accomplished bootlegger as well, and he too was murdered on December 19 of that year. His body was found with multiple gunshot wounds and dumped in the area of Fair Oaks. On December 23, Mario Filippi, a suspect behind the Scariso murder, was found shot to death. Frank Boca, another suspect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
