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Charles Binaggio
Charles Binaggio (January 12, 1909 - April 6, 1950) was an American gangster who became the boss of the Kansas City crime family and concocted a bold plan to control the police forces in Kansas City, Missouri and St. Louis, Missouri. Early life Born in Beaumont, Texas, Binaggio moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, at an early age. Binaggio grew up in the city's North Side, which was then heavily populated by Sicilian and Italian immigrants. It isn't known when first Binaggio fell in with the mob; when he did join them, he rose quietly to prominence. In December 1930, in Denver, Colorado, Binaggio was arrested for the first time at age 21. The police raided a Denver apartment that Binaggio shared with Anthony Gizzo and Tony Casciola, two well-known Kansas City Mafiosi. Searching the apartment, police found a mini-cache of firearms and charged the three with weapons violations. The charges were later reduced to vagrancy and Binaggio was released on bond. As it turns ...
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Kansas City Crime Family
The Kansas City crime family, also known as the Civella crime family or Kansas City Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia family based in Kansas City, Missouri. 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 rackets shortly after their arrival. Their fortunes greatly improved with the introduction of Prohibition, when they became the only group bootlegging alcohol in Kansas City. Their rackets at this time were controlled by John Lazia, who later became the leading figure when the organisation expanded. The gang was given virtually a free hand to operate by their boss Tom Pendergast, head of the Pendergast Machine that controlled Kansas City's government at the time. Under Pendergast, Kansas City became a wide-open t ...
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Coroner's Jury
A coroner's jury is a body convened to assist a coroner in an inquest, that is, in determining the identity of a deceased person and the cause of death. The laws on its role and function vary by jurisdiction. United Kingdom In England and Wales, all inquests were once conducted with a jury. They acted somewhat like a grand jury, determining whether a person should be committed to trial in connection to a death. Such a jury was made up of up to twenty-three men, and required the votes of twelve to render a decision. Similar to a grand jury, a coroner's jury merely accused, it did not convict. There are no coroners in Scotland, which has its own legal system. The Scottish equivalent of an inquest is a Fatal Accident Inquiry, held where there is a sudden, suspicious, accidental, or unexplained death, which is ordered by a Procurator Fiscal and presided over by a Sheriff without a jury. Since 1927, coroner's juries have rarely been used in England. Under the Coroners Act 1988, a ...
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Charles Gargotta
Charles Gargotta, also known as "Mad Dog", (1900–1950) was a Kansas City, Missouri, gangster who became a top enforcer for the Kansas City crime family. Born in Kansas City, Gargotta joined the criminal organization of boss John Lazia as a young man. Gargotta and his close associate, Charles Binaggio built a gambling ring that grossed as much as $34,500,000 a year on dice and card games, numbers racket, and bookmaking. Gargotta was arrested more than 40 times over a 30-year period for murder, illegal gambling, liquor law violations, carrying a concealed weapon, robbery, auto theft, extortion, attempted burglary, and vagrancy. However, due to Gargotta's political influence, all of these charges were eventually dropped. In 1933, Lazia's control over organized crime in Kansas City was challenged by Joe Lusco and Ferris Anthon, two other Kansas City mobsters. Lazia tasked Gargotta and several other mob associates to kill Anthon. On August 12, 1933, the gunmen shot Anthon as he wa ...
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Washington, D
Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States Washington may also refer to: Places England * Washington, Tyne and Wear, a town in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough ** Washington Old Hall, ancestral home of the family of George Washington * Washington, West Sussex, a village and civil parish Greenland * Cape Washington, Greenland * Washington Land Philippines *New Washington, Aklan, a municipality *Washington, a barangay in Catarman, Northern Samar *Washington, a barangay in Escalante, Negros Occidental *Washington, a barangay in San Jacinto, Masbate *Washington, a barangay in Surigao City United States * Washington, Wisconsin (other) * Fort Washington (disambiguati ...
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Inauguration
In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugural address by the new official. The word ''inauguration'' stems from the Latin ''augur'', which refers to the rituals of ancient Roman priests seeking to interpret if it was the will of the gods for a public official to be deemed worthy to assume office. Public office The inaugurations of public figures, especially those of political leaders, often feature lavish ceremonies in which the figure publicly takes their oath of office (sometimes called "swearing in"), often in front of a large crowd of spectators. A monarchical inauguration may take on different forms depending on the nation: they may undergo a coronation rite or may simply be required to take an oath in the presence of a country's legislature. The "inaugural address" is ...
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Harry Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin Roosevelt and as a United States senator from Missouri from 1935 to January 1945. Assuming the presidency after Roosevelt's death, Truman implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe and established both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism. He proposed numerous liberal domestic reforms, but few were enacted by the conservative coalition that dominated the Congress. Truman grew up in Independence, Missouri, and during World War I fought in France as a captain in the Field Artillery. Returning home, he opened a haberdashery in Kansas City, Missouri, and was elected as a judge of Jackson County in 1922. Truman was elected to the United States Senate from Missouri in 1934. In 1 ...
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Charles Fischetti
Charles "Trigger Happy" Fischetti (March 24, 1901 – April 11, 1951) was a Chicago mobster, Al Capone's bodyguard and cousin. Early life Charles Fischetti was born on March 24, 1901. His mother was named Mary. He had a brother, Nicholas, who was a dentist, and two other brothers, Rocco and Joseph, who were alleged criminals. He was a cousin of Al Capone.son of Ralph Capone, Al Capone's brother, Federal Bureau of Investigatio"Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts Release of Frank Sinatra File # 174-304", part 2bpage 14, accessed October 29, 2009 Career Fischetti started his career as Al Capone's chauffeur in South Brooklyn. In the 1920s, he helped Capone spread his business in Cicero, Illinois. Fischetti attended the 1946 Havana Conference of Cosa Nostra leaders and received the murder contract on Bugsy Siegel. Fischetti was also good friends with singers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, the former as early as the 1940s. Upon Al Capone's death in 1947, Fischetti reporte ...
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La Cosa Nostra
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 organization is 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 (or ''Cosa nostra'') groups from Sicily operating in the United States, as the organization initially emerged as an offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia (known also as ''Cosa nostra'' by its members) formed by Italian immigrants in the United States. However, the organization gradually evolved into a separate entity partially independent of the original Mafia in Sicily, and it eventually encompassed or absorbed other Italian immigrant and Italian-American gangsters and Itali ...
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Forrest Smith
Forrest Smith (February 14, 1886 – March 8, 1962) was an American politician who served as the 42nd governor of Missouri. He was a Democrat. Personal life Forrest Smith was born February 14, 1886, near Hardin in Ray County, Missouri. After receiving his secondary education at Woodson Institute in Richmond, Missouri, Smith attended Westminster College. On October 12, 1915, he married Mildred Williams and they were the parents of two daughters, Forrestine and Mary Josephine. Smith was a Methodist. Career Forrest Smith began his lifelong political career in 1910 when he became deputy assessor for Ray County, Missouri. In 1914 he was elected county clerk for Ray County, a post he held for the next eight years. From 1925 to 1932 Smith served on the Missouri state tax commission, a post that laid the groundwork for a long career in statewide elected office. In 1932 Forrest Smith was elected Missouri state auditor, a post he would hold for the next sixteen years until being elec ...
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Primary Election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the country and administrative divisions within the country, voters might consist of the general public in what is called an open primary, or solely the members of a political party in what is called a closed primary. In addition to these, there are other variants on primaries (which are discussed below) that are used by many countries holding elections throughout the world. The origins of primary elections can be traced to the progressive movement in the United States, which aimed to take the power of candidate nomination from party leaders to the people. However, political parties control the method of nomination of candidates for office in the name of the party. Other methods of selecting candidates include caucuses, internal selection b ...
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Tom Pendergast
Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected office, as an alderman, but his capacity as chairman of the Jackson County Democratic Party allowed him to use his large network of Irish family and friends to help the election of politicians, in some cases by voter fraud, and to hand out government contracts and patronage jobs. He became wealthy in the process, but his addiction to gambling, especially horse racing, later led to a large accumulation of personal debts. In 1939, he was convicted of income tax evasion and served 15 months in a federal prison. The Pendergast organization helped to launch the political career of future president Harry S. Truman, which caused Truman's early enemies to dub him "the senator from Pendergast". Early years Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known t ...
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Jim Pendergast
James Francis Pendergast (January 27, 1856 – November 10, 1911) was a Democratic politician and the first Big City Boss of Kansas City, Missouri. He was the elder brother of Thomas J. Pendergast and Michael J. Pendergast. Early life Pendergast was born on January 27, 1856, in Gallipolis, Ohio to Michael and Mary Pendergast. His family moved to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1859. He was educated at the public schools there. In 1876, Pendergast moved to Kansas City in 1876. Pendergast worked in packing houses and then worked at the Jarboe Foundry. After winning a horse race on a long shot, "Climax," he opened a saloon named after the horse in the West Bottoms. In 1880, he opened a boarding house at 1320-1322 St. Louis Avenue in Kansas City called the old American House. He ran the boarding house for about 31 years. Career In 1884, he was elected as a delegate to represent the sixth ward in the Democratic City Convention. In 1887, he became the Democratic committeeman from the fir ...
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