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Joe Ardizonne
Joseph "Joe Iron Man" Ardizzone (born Giuseppe Ernesto Ardizzone; ; November 19, 1884 – disappeared October 15, 1931, declared dead 1938) was an Italian-born early Los Angeles mobster, who became the first Boss of the Los Angeles crime family. He was involved in a long-standing feud with the Matranga family. He once claimed to have killed 30 men. Early life Ardizzone was born on November 19, 1884 in Piana dei Greci (today Piana degli Albanesi), in the Province of Palermo, Sicily, to Antonino Ardizzone. The Ardizzones were of Arbëreshë origin, being related to several other families and they would maintain contact in America. Those families included the Cuccias and the Matrangas. Early years in America The Ardizzone family came to America at different times. Antonino came in the later 19th century, landing in Louisiana then taking the train to southern California. He became a wealthy farmer and wine maker. His other children, including Stefano and Francesco also moved to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mug Shot
A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is arrested. The original purpose of the mug shot was to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of an arrested individual to allow for identification by victims, the public and investigators. However, in the United States, entrepreneurs have recently begun to monetize these public records via the mug shot publishing industry. Photographing of criminals began in the 1840s only a few years after the invention of photography, but it was not until 1888 that French police officer Alphonse Bertillon standardized the process. Etymology "Mug" is an English slang term for "face", dating from the 18th century. Mug shot can more loosely mean any small picture of a face used for any reason. Description A typical mug shot is two-part, with one side-view photo, and one front-view. The background is usua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles
Sunland-Tujunga is a Los Angeles city neighborhood within the Crescenta Valley and Verdugo Mountains. Sunland and Tujunga began as separate settlements and today are linked through a single police station, branch library, neighborhood council, chamber of commerce, city council district, and high school. The merging of these communities under a hyphenated name goes back as far as 1928. Sunland-Tujunga contains the highest point of the city, Mount Lukens. Geography Setting The neighborhood lies between the Verdugo Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains. It is contiguous on the east with La Crescenta-Montrose. Sunland and Tujunga are divided by Mount Gleason Avenue, with Sunland on the west and Tujunga on the east. Mount Lukens, located within Tujunga, is the highest point in Los Angeles, at . Thoroughfares By 1927, half of the streets had been paved, and a state highway ran through the town. Streets within the Sunland and Tuna Canyon annex to Los Angeles were renamed in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Etiwanda, Rancho Cucamonga, California
Etiwanda is the easternmost of three formerly unincorporated communities that became part of Rancho Cucamonga, California, in 1977.City of Rancho Cucamonga: "History of Rancho Cucamonga"Hickcox, Robert L.: "Dates in the History of Etiwanda, California" History In November 1881 George and William Chaffey purchased the land from Joseph Garcia, a retired Portuguese sea captain. The town was named for a Native American tribe living on the shores of Lake Michigan. As the first town planned by the Chaffey brothers, Etiwanda became their test bed. The Etiwanda Water Company, a mutual water company, and pipe system of irrigation designed by George Chaffey became the standard for water system management in southern California. Two other events are a further testament to the Chaffeys' innovation. The first long-distance telephone call in southern California was completed between San Bernardino and Etiwanda in 1882 and the Chaffey-Garcia house boasted electric lights on December 4, 1882. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Bompensiero
Frank "Bomp" Bompensiero (October 29, 1905 – February 10, 1977) was a Mafia hitman and longtime caporegime in the Los Angeles crime family. In 1956, with the death of boss Jack Dragna, Bompensiero was demoted to the rank of soldier by the new boss, Frank DeSimone. He was the older brother of associate Salvatore "Sam" Bompensiero. Bompensiero made a name for himself for the many killings he committed on the orders of his superiors. Jimmy Fratianno, a close associate, once said that Bompensiero "had buried more bones than could be found in the brontosaurus room of the Museum of Natural History.""Frank Bompensiero: San Diego Hit Man, Boss and FBI Informant" Crime Magazine by Allen May Early life and family Bompensiero's family ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castellammare Del Golfo
Castellammare del Golfo (; scn, Casteddammari; la, Emporium Segestanorum or ) is a town and municipality in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the harbor. The nearby body of water conversely takes its name from the town, and is known as Gulf of Castellammare. Heading upwards from its marina/harbour called "Cala Marina", with many restaurants and bars, the urban plan is made of steps and winding streets that lead to Piazza Petrolo in one direction or towards the main central gardens, where the town center lies with many shops, cafes and restaurants. The main street is called Corso Garibaldi. Castellammare del Golfo has been described as probably having the most beautiful peninsula in all of Sicily. History According to the opinion of historians and geographers such as Ptolemy, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, Castellammare del Golfo was born as Emporium Segestanorum, port of Segesta, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvatore Bonanno
Salvatore Vincent "Bill" Bonanno (November 5, 1932 – January 1, 2008) was an American mobster who served as consigliere of the Bonanno crime family, and son of crime boss Joseph Bonanno. Later in life, he became a writer and produced films for television about his family. Early life Bonanno was the first child of Joseph and Fay (née Labruzzo) Bonanno, born on November 5, 1932, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. His father had come from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Italy, along with his mother Catherine and father Salvatore. His father became boss of the Bonanno crime family a year before he was born.The Mafia Encyclopedia By Carl Sifakipg.28–29/ref> In 1938, after his father purchased property in Hempstead, Long Island, he next attended school there after the family relocated. At the age of 10, Bonanno developed a severe mastoid ear infection. In order to aid in treating this ailment, his parents enrolled him in a Catholic boarding school in the dry climate of T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Bonanno
Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; ; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. Bonanno was born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, where his father was also involved in organized crime. At the age of three, Bonanno immigrated to New York City with his family, for about 10 years before he moved back to Italy. He later slipped back into the United States in 1924, by stowing away on a Cuban fishing boat bound for Tampa, Florida. After the Castellammarese War, Salvatore Maranzano was murdered in 1931, and Bonanno took control of most of the crime family, and at age 26, Bonanno became one of the youngest-ever bosses of a crime family. In 1963, Bonanno made plans with Joseph Magliocco to assassinate several rivals on the Mafia Commission. When Magliocco gave the contract to one of his top hit men, Joseph Colombo, he revealed the plot to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Gentile
Nicola Gentile (; June 12, 1885 – November 6, 1966), also known as Nick Gentile, was a Sicilian mafioso and an organized crime figure in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. He was also known for publishing his memoirs which, violating the mafiosi code known as '' omerta'', revealed many details of the Sicilian and American underworld. Gentile was born in Siculiana, a small village on the south coast of Sicily in the province of Agrigento. He immigrated to the United States arriving in New York at age 18, in 1903. Gentile fled the country in 1937 while out on $15,000 bail after an arrest for heroin trafficking and returned to Sicily to become a boss in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. In the US, he was known as "Nick" and in Sicily as "Zu Cola" (Uncle Cola). Arrival in the United States Gentile was born on June 12, 1885 in Siculiana, Sicily, Italy. Gentile immigrated to the United States in 1903, where he quickly associated with the Black Hand during the early 20th century, Gentil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvatore Maranzano
Salvatore Maranzano (; July 31, 1886 – September 10, 1931) was an Italian-American mobster from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss who led what later would become the Bonanno crime family in New York City. He instigated the Castellammarese War in 1930 to seize control of the American Mafia, winning the war after the murder of rival faction head Joe Masseria in April 1931. He then briefly became the Mafia's ''capo di tutti capi'' ("boss of all bosses") and formed the Five Families in New York City, but was murdered on September 10, 1931, on the orders of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who established an arrangement in which families shared power to prevent future turf wars: The Commission. Early life Salvatore Maranzano was the youngest of 12 children born to Domenico Maranzano and Antonina Pisciotta. Five of his siblings lived to adulthood: Mariano, Angelo, Nicolo, Giuseppe, and Angela. As a youngster, Maranzano had wanted to become a priest a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Masseria
Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria (; January 17, 1886April 15, 1931) was an early Italian-American Mafia boss in New York City. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York City Mafia's Five Families, from 1922 to 1931. In 1930, he battled in the Castellammarese War to take over the criminal activities in New York City. The war ended with his murder on April 15, 1931, in a hit ordered by his own lieutenant, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, in an agreement with rival faction head Salvatore Maranzano. Early life Giuseppe Masseria was born on January 17, 1886, in Menfi, Province of Agrigento, Sicily, in a family of tailors. When he was young, he moved to the town of Marsala, in the Province of Trapani. Masseria arrived in the United States in 1902. He then became part of the Morello crime family based in Harlem and parts of Little Italy in southern Manhattan. Masseria was a contemporary of other captains of that mafia family such as Gaetano Reina. In 1909, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castellammarese War
The Castellammarese War () was a bloody power struggle for control of the Italian-American Mafia that took place in New York City, New York, from February 1930 until April 15, 1931, between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and those of Salvatore Maranzano. The war was named after the Sicilian town of Castellammare del Golfo, the birthplace of Maranzano. Maranzano's faction won and divided New York's crime families into the Five Families; Maranzano declared himself '' capo di tutti i capi'' ("boss of all bosses"). However, Maranzano was murdered in September 1931 on orders of Lucky Luciano, who established a power-sharing arrangement called the Commission, a group of Mafia families of equal stature, to avoid such wars in the future. Background In the 1920s, Mafia operations in the United States were controlled by Giuseppe "Joe The Boss" Masseria, whose faction consisted mainly of gangsters from Sicily, along with Calabria (the 'Ndrangheta) and Campania (the Camorra) regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
