Ignacio Antinori (February 17, 1885 – October 23, 1940) was an Italian-born American mobster who built one of the earlier narcotics trafficking networks in Florida. Antinori was regarded as the first boss of the Tampa crime family, later known as the

Trafficante crime family The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida, United States. The most notable boss was Santo Trafficante, Jr. who ruled Tampa and the crime family with an iron fist. ...

. Although much of his early life is unknown, Antinori was one of the first mobsters to emerge in Florida during the Prohibition era. By the 1930s, Antinori was one of the largest heroin traffickers in the country, with close ties to French- Corsican heroin traffickers and American mafia bosses. Antinori established a drug pipeline from

Marseille, France Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

through Cuba into

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. According to the

Federal Bureau of Narcotics The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, established in the Department of the Treasury by an act of June 14, 1930, consolidating the functions of the Federal Narcotics Control Board a ...

, the drugs were subsequently distributed in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

, primarily through

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

mobster Thomas Buffa and Kansas City mobsters Nicola Impastato, James DeSimone and Joseph Deluca. Law enforcement soon began to concentrate on Antinori's operation. In addition, mobsters such as Florida mobster Santo Trafficante Sr. soon set up rival smuggling rings. Antinori was eventually eclipsed by Trafficante, who held his own strong connections to

Mangano crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Ame ...

boss

Vincent Mangano Vincent Mangano (born Vincenzo Giovanni Mangano; ; March 28, 1888 – disappeared April 19, 1951, declared dead October 30, 1961) was an Italian-born mobster also known as "Vincent The Executioner" as named in a Brooklyn newspaper, and the head of ...

and

Profaci crime family The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was duri ...

boss

Joseph Profaci Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci (; October 2, 1897 – June 6, 1962) was an Italian-born New York City Cosa Nostra boss who was the founder of what became the Colombo crime family. Established in 1928, this was the last of the Five Families to be organi ...

in New York. On October 23, 1940, Ignacio Antinori was sipping coffee at the Palm Garden Inn in Tampa with a friend and a young female companion. Suddenly, a gunman appeared and fired two shotgun blasts at Antinori, blowing off the back of his head. The gunman was allegedly sent by one of Antinori's dissatisfied customers, the

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, ...

criminal organization. Antinori had sent the Outfit a poor quality shipment of narcotics. When the Outfit complained, Antinori refused a refund. At that point, the Outfit put a murder contract on Antinori.

References

Bibliography

#Sifakis, Carl ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. #Deiche, Scott M. ''Cigar City Mafia - A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld'', Barricode Books, 3-25-2004, ASIN# 8004449516.

External links

American Mafia.com The KC/Tampa Drug Connection
By Scott M. Deitche {{DEFAULTSORT:Antinori, Ignacio 1885 births 1940 deaths Gangsters from Palermo Trafficante crime family Murdered American gangsters of Sicilian descent People murdered in Florida Male murder victims Deaths by firearm in Florida Italian emigrants to the United States People murdered by the Chicago Outfit