Rosario DeSimone (; 11 December 1873 – 15 July 1946) was the head of an Italian American crime family during the 1920s to 1940s that was the predecessor to 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 ...

of 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 ...

. Rosario was the father of the future California mob boss, Frank DeSimone. He is not to be confused with the Chicago Italian Timothy Rosario DeSimone.

Biography

DeSimone was born in

Salaparuta Salaparuta is a town and ''comune'' in South-Western Sicily, Italy, in the valley of the Belice river, administratively part of the province of Trapani. In 1968, the original site of the town was near the epicentre of the Belice Valley earthqu ...

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. ...

, Italy, on 11 December 1873. After immigrating to the United States, he initially settled in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

before moving to

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The ...

. In Pueblo he was part of that city's Mafia organization. He became a close ally of

Vito Di Giorgio Vito Di Giorgio (; March 19, 1880 – May 13, 1922) was an Italian-born crime boss based in Los Angeles. Originally from Palermo, Sicily, Di Giorgio lived most of his life as a grocer in New Orleans, where he was also an active Black Hander. Wh ...

in Los Angeles. Upon Di Giorgio's death in Chicago in 1922, DeSimone took power. His empire spanned over

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

. His rule in Los Angeles was brief, and he stepped down around 1925. He later became a legitimate businessman who settled in

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program and Taco Bell. It is ...

. DeSimone died of natural causes in 1946 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery.

Family

DeSimone married twice and fathered several children. His second son, Frank DeSimone, became a criminal attorney and later don of the crime family, reigning from 1956 to 1967.

References

*Gentile, Nick, with Felice Chilanti. ''Vita Di Capomafia''. Rome:

Editori Riuniti Editori Riuniti is an Italian publishing house based in Rome that publishes books and magazines on the history of socialism, socialist thought, physics and mathematics theory, and the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. History ...

, 1963. *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. *''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' obituary for Rosario DeSimone, July 17, 1946 {{DEFAULTSORT:Desimone, Rosario 1873 births 1946 deaths American crime bosses American gangsters of Italian descent People of Sicilian descent American male criminals Gangsters from Los Angeles History of Los Angeles Italian emigrants to the United States Los Angeles crime family People from Downey, California People from the Province of Trapani American gangsters of the interwar period