Anthony Robert Gizzo (August 4, 1902 – April 1, 1953) was a

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

mobster with the

Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...

and a boss of the

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 Si ...

. Gizzo was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and was known as "Tony". In the early 1920s, after being arrested on a narcotics charge, Gizzo attempted to bribe a federal officer with $10,000 ($ today). Gizzo was convicted and in 1924 served one year and a day at

Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth (USP Leavenworth) is a medium security U.S. penitentiary with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the Unite ...

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,351. It is located on the west bank of t ...

. Gizzo was a close friend of mobster

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 ...

. In 1930, Gizzo and Binaggio were arrested in

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, on a minor charge. During this time, both men were lieutenants to Kansas City North End political boss John Lazia in his

illegal gambling Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, ...

operations. Gizzo soon became known as one of the five "Iron Men" due to his underworld clout. In 1950, with Binaggio's murder, it is believed that Gizzo assumed leadership of the Kansas City family.

Kefauver Committee

Gizzo testified in Kansas City before the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Kefauver Committee The United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce was a special committee of the United States Senate which existed from 1950 to 1951 and which investigated organized crime which crossed state borders in the U ...

in its investigations of organized crime. At one point, a senator asked Gizzo if he belonged to 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 d ...

. Gizzo replied,

What is the Mafia? I don’t even know what the Mafia is.

Later on, Gizzo had the following exchange with the Committee when asked if he knew Balestrere:

"Yes, sir", Gizzo replied. "He is rather widely known as a prominent man in the Mafia, isn’t he?" asked the committee. "That’s what you hear," said Gizzo. "What did you hear?" questioned the committee. "The same thing that you just said there", answered Gizzo.

On April 1, 1953 Gizzo died of a heart attack in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in

References

*"The Mafia Made Easy" by Peter J. Devico, Peter J. De Vico

External links

The American Mafia: Crime Bosses of Kansas City
by Allan May American crime bosses American gangsters of Italian descent Kansas City crime family 1902 births 1953 deaths {{US-crime-bio-stub