Santo Trafficante Sr. (May 28, 1886 – August 11, 1954) was a Sicilian-born mobster, and father of the powerful mobster Santo Trafficante Jr. Santo Trafficante Sr. gained power as a mobster in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

and ruled the

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 ...

in Tampa from the 1930s until his death in 1954. Trafficante was heavily involved in the operation of illegal

bolita Bolita ( Spanish for ''Little Ball'') is a type of lottery which was popular in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries in Cuba and among Florida's working class Hispanic, Italian, and black population. In the basic bolita game, 100 small numb ...

lotteries A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...

. During his reign, Trafficante was a well-respected boss with ties to Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Thomas Lucchese. During the 1940s, Trafficante Sr. maintained a strong alliance with

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 ...

, the boss 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 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Lucchese would help train his son Trafficante Jr. in the mafia traditions. Trafficante died of stomach cancer on August 11, 1954; he was a member of L'Unione Italiana, and he was buried in L'Unione Italiana Cemetery in

Ybor City Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mai ...

. His son, Santo Trafficante Jr. subsequently took over the crime family.

References

External links

Cuban Information Archives: Santo Trafficante Jr.
includes U.S. Treasury Department records of Santo Trafficante Sr.
Creative Loafing: The Mob -- A Drive-By Historical Tour of Tampa's Notorious Wise Guys
by Scott Deitche * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trafficante, Santo Sr. 1886 births 1954 deaths Gangsters from the Province of Agrigento American crime bosses American gangsters of Italian descent People of Sicilian descent Deaths from stomach cancer in Florida People from Tampa, Florida Trafficante crime family Italian emigrants to the United States

References

Further reading

External links