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Joe Massei
Joseph D. Massei (1899 – May 1971), or Joe Massey, was an American gangster of Italian-Irish origins. He was involved in the Detroit bootleg liquor trade in the Prohibition era and was arrested many times, but was only imprisoned once. In 1936 he moved to Miami Beach, Florida, and became a central figure in illegal gambling. He was a ''consiglieri'' of the mob, and helped resolve disputes between the gangsters. He acted as the Detroit mob's money man, funneling illegal earnings into legitimate businesses in Miami. He died at home in Miami Beach at the age of 71. Detroit Joe Massei was born in 1899 to Daniel Massei, an Italian immigrant, and Margaret Daisey from Ireland. He joined the Mafia as a "soldier". He was arrested in Detroit on charges of armed robbery on May 24, 1920, and August 11, 1921, but was discharged on both occasions. He was arrested for suspected involvement in a murder on August 31, 1925, but was discharged. In 1930 Massei was named Public Enemy #1 in Detroit. ...
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Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the United States. The metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second-largest in the Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area, and the 14th-largest in the United States. Regarded as a major cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to music, art, architecture and design, in addition to its historical automotive background. ''Time'' named Detroit as one of the fifty World's Greatest Places of 2022 to explore. Detroit is a major port on the Detroit River, one of the four major straits that connect the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The City of Detroit anchors the second-largest regional economy in t ...
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Jake Guzik
Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik (March 20, 1886 – February 21, 1956) was the financial and legal advisor, and later political " greaser," for the Chicago Outfit. Early life Guzik was born near Kraków, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary on March 20, 1886, to parents who were German Jews from Katowitz, in Prussian Silesia. Guzik emigrated to the United States in the early 20th century and later became involved in prostitution, and allegedly sexual slavery, in the South Side of Chicago's Levee red light district with his brother Harry, eventually driving North Side Gang-linked rival Jack Zuta out of business. He later became a powerful political boss and " fixer", who operated out of St. Hubert's Old English Grill and Chop House. There, Guzik received "bagmen," who delivered scheduled payoffs to various police precincts and city officials. Chicago Outfit In the early 1920s, Guzik, supposedly overhearing a plan to murder Al Capone, informed him and later ...
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Leonard Patrick
Leonard "Lenny" Patrick (October 6, 1913 – March 1, 2006) was Jewish-American organized crime figure affiliated with the Italian-American Chicago Outfit. Patrick was involved in bookmaking and extortion and later a government informant. Emigrating with his family from England. Patrick grew up in the Jewish neighborhood of Lincoln Park, in Chicago's Near North Side and during Prohibition, eventually becoming an associate and later partner of Greek-American loanshark, extortionist, and political fixer Gus Alex. Patrick was imprisoned on June 28, 1933 for robbing a bank in Culver, Indiana Culver is a town in Marshall County, Indiana, United States. Culver is part of Union Township, which also includes the communities of Burr Oak, Hibbard, Maxinkuckee and Rutland. The population of Culver was 1,129 at the 2020 United States Censu ..., and was suspected of participation in six gangland slayings. Patrick was paroled on March 11, 1940, and he continued working for the Chicago O ...
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Frank Milano (mobster)
Frank Milano (born Ciccio Milano; ; February 27, 1891 – September 15, 1970) was a Calabrian emigrant to the United States who was boss of the Cleveland crime family in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1930 to 1935. He fled to Mexico, and in the early 1960s returned to the United States where he took up residence in Los Angeles, California. He became a criminal associate of the Cohen crime family and the Luciano crime family. Early life Ciccio Milano was born on February 27, 1891, in the village of San Roberto in the Province of Reggio Calabria in Italy to Pietro and Grazia ( Mazza) Milano. He had an older brother, Antonio. He emigrated from Italy to the United States in 1907, and was arrested on counterfeiting charges in 1912. He was not convicted. Cleveland crime family Mayfield Road Mob and rise to power Milano moved to Cleveland in 1913. He became involved in criminal activities immediately after arriving in the city, joining the newly formed Mayfield Road Mob. He and his brother Ant ...
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Sam Maceo
Salvatore V. "Sam" Maceo (; March 1, 1894 – April 16, 1951) was an American business entrepreneur, power broker and racketeer in Galveston, Texas, who controlled both the government and organized crime in the city for almost 30 years. During the 1920s and 1930s, Galveston emerged as a nationally known resort city, because of the gambling, prostitution and free flowing liquor, vices that were offered at the backrooms of restaurants and nightclubs, a period known as Galveston's ''Open Era''. His organization, often called the Maceo Syndicate or the Maceo Organisation, was involved in illegal gambling, prostitution, numbers racket and bootlegging and he received substantial income from these activities. At the height of his power, he was able to control both the government and organized crime in the city. Sometimes known as the "Velvet Glove," Sam held considerable criminal and political influence in Southeast Texas and soon expanded his empire throughout the state. During his ...
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Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife. The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serves as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its luxurious and extremely large casino-hotels together with their associated activities. It is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any other city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one ...
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Desert Inn
The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was the fifth resort to open on the Strip, the first four being El Rancho Vegas, The New Frontier, the still-operating Flamingo, and the now-defunct El Rancho (then known as the Thunderbird). It was situated between Desert Inn Road and Sands Avenue. The Desert Inn opened with 300 rooms and the ''Sky Room'' restaurant, headed by a chef formerly of the Ritz Paris, which once had the highest vantage point on the Las Vegas Strip. The casino, at , was one of the largest in Nevada at the time. The nine-story St. Andrews Tower was completed during the first renovation in 1963, and the 14-story Augusta Tower became the Desert Inn's main tower when it was completed in 1978 along with the seven-story Wimbledon Tower. The Palms Tower was completed in 1997 ...
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Joseph Fischetti
Rocco Fischetti, also known as "Rocky" and "Ralph Fisher" (March 24, 1903 – July 5, 1964), was a Chicago mobster with the Chicago Outfit criminal organization who ran many illegal gambling operations. Fischetti also accompanied singer Frank Sinatra on two trips to Havana, Cuba. Early life Rocco Fischetti was born on March 24, 1903. He was a cousin of Al Capone. Career In the 1920s, the New York-raised Fischetti and his two brothers, Charles Fischetti and Joseph Fischetti moved to Chicago to join their first cousin Al Capone in the Outfit. During this period, the Fischetti brothers alternated between driving for Capone, acting as his bodyguards, and distilling bootleg alcohol. After Prohibition ended, Rocco Fischetti started running illegal gambling operations for the Outfit. In 1932, Rocco was acting as a bodyguard for John Capone, Al's brother, when the two men were arrested on the streets of Chicago for a minor offense. Rocco Fischetti was soon operating some of the l ...
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Tony Accardo
Anthony Joseph Accardo (; born Antonino Leonardo Accardo, ; April 28, 1906 – May 22, 1992), also known as "Joe Batters" and "Big Tuna", was an American longtime mobster. In a criminal career that spanned eight decades, he rose from small-time hoodlum to the position of day-to-day boss of the Chicago Outfit in 1947, to ultimately becoming the final Outfit authority in 1972. Accardo moved the Outfit into new operations and territories, greatly increasing its power and wealth during his tenure as boss. Early life Accardo was born on April 28, 1906, in Chicago's Near West Side, the second of six children of shoemaker Francesco Accardo and Maria Tilotta Accardo. One year prior to his birth, the Accardos had emigrated from Castelvetrano, in the Province of Trapani, Sicily, Italy to America. At age 14, Accardo left school and started loitering around neighborhood pool halls. He soon joined the Circus Cafe Gang, run by Claude Maddox and Tony Capezio, one of many street gangs in the poor ...
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Palm Island (Miami Beach)
Palm Island is a neighborhood in the city of Miami Beach on a man-made island in Biscayne Bay, Florida, United States; just south of Hibiscus Island. It is a residential neighborhood with high property values, solely accessible by land via the MacArthur Causeway. The entire island has an area of . Education Palm Island is zoned to schools in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Zoned schools include: * South Pointe Elementary School * Nautilus Middle School * Miami Beach High School Notable people * Gabrielle Anwar * Al Capone * Sam Coslow * Ana Gabriel * Rajat Gupta * Nick Nolte * Scott Storch Scott Spencer Storch (born December 16, 1973) is an American record producer and songwriter. He started off as a keyboardist for the group the Roots. Early life Storch was born on Long Island, New York. He was raised in South Florida and Ph ... * Barbara Walters * Bryan "Birdman" Williams Gallery Image:Palm Island from Hibiscus Island.jpg, Palm Island as seen from Hibis ...
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Joe Sonken
Joseph Sonken (b. 1910 — d. June 1990), was a notorious alleged American Mafia figure, owner of the Gold Coast Restaurant and Lounge in Hollywood, Florida. Biography His father was Russian and his mother Polish. Before moving to Miami in the mid-1940s, Joseph Sonken was involved in a prostitution ring in Chicago. Allegations imply that Joseph Sonken was close to Al Capone and fled to Florida to flee police busts in Chicago.Matthew PearlHow One Famed Hollywood Restaurant Became the National Center for the Mob ''Miaminewtimes.com'', 30 January 2018 In Miami, Joseph Sonken opened the Mother Kelly's nightclub and became a public figure. The nightclub went out of business in 1948, and Joseph Sonken moved to Hollywood Florida to open the Gold Coast Restaurant and Lounge. According to police reports, the Gold Coast was heavily used as a meeting point for Mafia members. Joseph Sonken denied those allegations in front of a Kefauver committee in 1968. Among the famous guests were Mafia mem ...
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Alfred Polizzi
Alfred Polizzi (born Alfonso Polizzi; ; March 15, 1900 – May 26, 1975) was a Sicilian emigrant to the United States who was boss of the Cleveland crime family in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1935 to 1945. He stabilized the Cleveland crime family after a period of revenge killings, and was one of the most influential mobsters in the United States. He retired to Florida in 1945, where he was involved in the construction industry. He used several aliases, including "Big Al" and Albert Allen. Early life Alfonso Polizzi was born in Siculiana, Sicily, Italy, on March 15, 1900, to Raimondo and Giovannina ( Indelicato) Polizzi. He emigrated from Italy to the United States with his family in 1909. His father, a blacksmith, settled the family on Woodland Avenue in one of Cleveland's Italian enclaves. He quit school at the age of 14 to sell newspapers on the street for the ''Cleveland News''. The ''News'' was in a major circulation war with ''The Plain Dealer'' and the ''Cleveland Press''. The ''N ...
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