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 U.S. state of Florida. The city'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 the seat of Hillsborough C ...

and ruled the

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of ...

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 number ...

lotteries. 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, the boss of the

Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Italian-American Mafia, 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 crimi ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. 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 L'Unione Italiana, The Italian Club, is a historic social society in Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood. The group's building was designed by Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott. It is located at 1731 East Seventh Avenue. History Originally founded as ...

, and he was buried in L'Unione Italiana Cemetery in Ybor City. 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 Sicilian descent Deaths from cancer in Florida Deaths from stomach cancer People from Tampa, Florida Trafficante crime family Italian emigrants to the United States

References

Further reading

External links