Tom Dragna (born Gaetano Dragna; ; November 25, 1888 – September 30, 1977) was a

Sicilian-American Sicilian Americans (; ) are Italian Americans who are fully or partially of Sicilian descent, whose ancestors were Sicilians who immigrated to United States during the Italian diaspora, or Sicilian-born people in U.S. They are a large ethnic grou ...

bootlegger and mobster who became a member of 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 ...

. He was the brother of

Jack Dragna Jack Ignatius Dragna (born Ignazio Dragna, ; April 18, 1891 – February 23, 1956) was a Sicilian-American American Mafia, Mafia member, entrepreneur and Black Hand (extortion), Black Hander who was active in both Italy and the United States ...

and the father of

Louis Tom Dragna Louis Tom Dragna (; July 18, 1920 – November 16, 2012) was an Italian-American mobster, nephew of Jack Dragna and son of Tom Dragna. He was active in the Los Angeles crime family from the 1940s until the early 1980s. Early life Louis Tom Dra ...

. He remained an obscure figure until he was featured in '' The Last Mafioso: The Treacherous World of Jimmy Fratianno'' in 1981.

Early life

Dragna was born in

Corleone Corleone (; or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily. Many Sicilian Mafia, Mafia bosses both in Sicily and the United States have come from the town of Corleone, inclu ...

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. ...

in 1888. He was the middle child of Francesco Paolo Dragna and Anna Dragna. He had an older sister, Giuseppa, and a younger brother, Ignazio. At the age of nine, they moved to

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 ...

on November 18, 1898.

Los Angeles

He and his brother Ignazio, who now renamed themselves Tom and Jack, respectively, then moved to Los Angeles. Unlike his brother, Tom became a

naturalized citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

. While in California Tom married Julia Torisco, and fathered three children: Frank Paul, Louis Tom and Anna Dragna. He owned a

ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

West Puente Valley, California West Puente Valley () is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, USA, northwest of La Puente. The population was 22,636 at the 2010 census, up from 22,589 at the 2000 census. The community is ...

. During the 1920s they were involved in bootlegging and were closely allied with

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. ...

. On multiple occasions, Dragna was arrested for violating the national prohibition law. After Ardizzone's disappearance in 1931, Jack became Boss of the Los Angeles crime family and named Tom 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 c ...

. Another close supporter of theirs, Girolamo "Momo" Adamo, was named

underboss Underboss () is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian Mafia, Sicilian and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the Crime boss, boss. The un ...

Consigliere

Dragna was a planner in some unsuccessful attempts on

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

's life. Dragna was an expert at

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

and set up the two bombs that were planted in Cohen's home. The first one didn't go off after the fuse failed to fully light. The second time, the bomb went off, but was placed near a safe, which shielded Cohen. In 1950, Dragna along with his son Louis, and two men named Frank Paul Dragna (his son and nephew, respectively) were arrested after Jack fled the state after being named in the California Crime Commission report as a member of a crime syndicate in Los Angeles. The four along with Girolamo "Momo" Adamo were taken into custody by authorities, who believed they were responsible for bombing Cohen's home or knew who was. After being questioned, none of them were charged and they were released. Dragna bought a desert ranch outside of Las Vegas in 1951 in hopes of turning it into a casino. Jack Dragna was unable to build a casino and his attempt almost led to his deportation. According to the book ''The Last Mafioso'', Dragna had the best aim with a gun in the crime family. As consigliere he was able to get his son Louis to become an official member of the L.A. family. When Jack Dragna died in 1956, Tom resigned from the criminal life when Frank DeSimone was named boss of the family. He still remained close to the crime family afterwards however.

Death

On September 30, 1977, Dragna died of natural causes at the age of 88. He is buried in

Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery located at 10621 Victory Boulevard, straddling the border between the Los Angeles neighborhood of North Hollywood and Burbank, California. The cemetery's East entrance features the Portal of the Fo ...

, Burbank, California.

References

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragna, Tom 1888 births 1977 deaths American gangsters of Italian descent People of Sicilian descent American male criminals Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery Consiglieri Gangsters from Los Angeles Italian emigrants to the United States Los Angeles crime family Naturalized citizens of the United States American gangsters of the interwar period