Anthony Milano (December 5, 1888 – August 5, 1978) was an American mobster who rose to power working for the
Cleveland crime family
The Cleveland crime family or Cleveland Mafia is the collective name given to a succession of Italian-American organized crime gangs based in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. A part of the Italian-American Mafia (or ''Cosa Nostra'') phenom ...
underboss
Underboss ( it, sottocapo) is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian, Greek, and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss. The under ...
in the Cleveland crime family from 1930 until his retirement in 1976. He was the godfather of future Cleveland crime family underboss
Angelo Lonardo
Angelo Anthony Lonardo (January 21, 1911 − March 31, 2006) was a mobster who became the acting boss of Cleveland crime family in the early 1980s.
Lonardo was born in 1911 in Cleveland to Joseph and Concetta Lonardo. His godfather was Anthony ...
.
Milano was born on December 5, 1888, in Reggio Calabria in Southern
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
to Pietro and Grazia Milano (née Mazza). His family eventually immigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and made their way to Cleveland, Ohio. Milano and his brother Frank were active in Black Hand extortion and bootlegging during prohibition. His younger brother Frank was leader of the "Mayfield Road Mob", an Italian gang that fought the Porrello crime family for control of criminal rackets in Ohio. In the early 1930s, the Porrello family was defeated and Frank became boss of the Cleveland crime family, being an original member of The Commission. Anthony served as his underboss. In 1935, Frank fled the country due to
tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
charges. Alfred Polizzi took over as boss of the family and kept Anthony on as underboss. Milano remained underboss for decades despite the changes in leadership over the years.
Milano had significant control over several local labor unions in Cleveland due to his connection to
Jackie Presser
Jackie Presser (August 6, 1926 – July 9, 1988) was an American labor leader and president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1983 until his death in 1988. He was closely connected to organized crime, and allegedly became presiden ...
. As the years went on, Milano spent less time involved in the Cleveland crime family and he began to take on more of an advisory role while other influential crime family members served as acting underbosses. Even so, he kept the title of underboss until his retirement in 1976.
Milano became a naturalized citizen on June 27, 1924. He married Josephine DiSanto and had four sons:
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
, Frank, John and Carmen. His wife and kids moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s while he split time between Los Angeles, Cleveland and Las Vegas. Milano had many legitimate and criminal business interests in all three cities. His eldest son Peter was a member of the
Los Angeles crime family
The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the L.A. Mafia or the Southern California crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Los Angeles as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Since its inception in the ea ...
and the Milanos' relationship strengthened the ties between the two crime families. His niece's husband John Nardi, an influential associate of the
Cleveland crime family
The Cleveland crime family or Cleveland Mafia is the collective name given to a succession of Italian-American organized crime gangs based in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. A part of the Italian-American Mafia (or ''Cosa Nostra'') phenom ...
, went against the Cleveland family in the 1970s and sided with the Irish gang led by
Danny Greene
Daniel John Patrick Greene (November 14, 1933 – October 6, 1977) was an Irish-American organized crime figure based in Cleveland, Ohio. Greene gained power first in the local chapter of the International Longshoremen's Association, where h ...
.
He died of natural causes on August 5, 1978, at Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland. He was buried at All Souls Cemetery in