Nicholas Civella (born Giuseppe Nicoli Civella; March 19, 1912 – March 12, 1983) was an American mobster who became a prominent leader 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 ...
.
Early life
Civella was born to Italian immigrants in Kansas City. He was the younger brother of mobster
Carl "Cork" Civella and the uncle of mobster
Anthony Civella. Nicholas Civella began his criminal career as a teenager in the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
"Northeast" neighborhood of Kansas City. Civella's first arrest was at age 10, after which he dropped out of school. Before he reached age 20, Civella had been arrested for
auto theft
Motor vehicle theft (also known as a car theft and, in the United States, grand theft auto) is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle. Nationwide in the United States in 2020, there were 810,400 vehicles reporte ...
,
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, ...
, robbery, and
vagrancy
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
.
In 1932, Civella spent two months in prison for
bootlegging. In 1934 Civella married Katherine, his wife for almost fifty years. He had no children of his own. In the early 1940s, Civella became a
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
precinct worker on the North Side of Kansas City and became friends with Kansas City
crime boss,
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
...
.
Rise to power
By the 1950s, Civella dominated criminal activity in Kansas City. In 1950, he was identified as a figure in the
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
society during 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 pow ...
Kefauver hearings
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 Un ...
. Although Kansas City remained a satellite of the larger
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, Civella attended the ill-fated 1957
Apalachin Meeting of
mob boss
A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization.
Description
A crime boss typically has absolute or near ...
es in
Apalachin, New York
Apalachin ( ) is a census-designated place within the Town of Owego in Tioga County, New York, United States. The population was 1,131 in the 2010 census. The CDP is named after Apalachin Creek. ''Apalachin'' means "from where the messenger retur ...
. Civella's involvement with organized crime led to the
Nevada Gaming Commission The Nevada Gaming Commission is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of casinos throughout the state, along with the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
In 1959, the Nevada Gaming Commission ("Commission") was created by the pas ...
listing Civella as one of the first entries in the Black Book, prohibiting him from entering casinos in Nevada. Later, due to his acquaintance with Teamsters president
Roy Lee Williams
Roy Lee Williams (March 22, 1915 – April 28, 1989) was an American labor leader who was president of the Teamsters from May 15, 1981, to April 14, 1983.
Early life and career
Born in Ottumwa, Iowa, Williams was one of 12 children in a very po ...
, Civella played an important role in controlling the Central States Pension Fund of the
Teamsters Union
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the un ...
and in the skimming of casino gambling profits in
Las Vegas, Nevada
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 Vega ...
.
Arrests and convictions
In 1959, Civella was sent a summons before a
grand jury and subsequently convicted of
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 ...
. In the two Missouri state tax evasion cases, he was convicted and fined $150 in one case, while the other case was dismissed. During this period, Civella built relations 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 ...
families in
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 ...
,
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
, and
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.
In 1966, Civella was called to appear before a
Clay County, Missouri
Clay County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 253,335, making it the fifth-most populous county in Missouri. Its county seat is Libe ...
grand jury. Afterwards, the news media asked him why it took him 15 minutes to address the group. Civella replied that he "stopped in the men’s room," where he "was drawing dirty pictures on the wall." Law enforcement agencies did not appreciate Civella’s humor or his ability to elude conviction. This would result in their constant surveillance of him for the rest of his life.
In 1977, Civella was convicted of illegal gambling charges and sent to prison. The key to the conviction was a telephone conversation recorded via wiretap during
Super Bowl IV. Whereas the hometown
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division.
The ...
were 12-point underdogs to the heavily favored
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...
, local action favored the hometown team. When Civella phoned his bookie to determine just how much they had lost (almost $40,000), authorities used this recorded call to move on Civella and place him under arrest.
In 1980, Civella was convicted of attempting to
bribe
Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...
a prison official to transfer his nephew Anthony to a minimum-security prison in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
.
Death
In February 1983, Nicholas Civella received a medical release due to poor health from the
Federal Medical Center, a prison medical facility, at
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...
. Two weeks later, on March 12, 1983, Civella died of
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
in Kansas City. Upon his death, his brother
Carl "Cork" Civella became head of the Kansas City family.
2011 revelations
In 2011, a 900-page report by the
Kansas City Police Department
The Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) is the principal law enforcement agency serving Kansas City, Missouri. Jackson County 16th Circuit Court Circuit Court Judge Jen Phillips swore in Stacey Graves as the 46th chief of police of the KCPD on ...
on the assassination of civil rights leader and politician
Leon Jordan concluded that Civella had given the order to kill Jordan.
Further reading
*Pileggi, Nicholas, and Shandling, Larry, ''Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas ''Simon & Schuster (October 12, 1995)
*Neff, James. ''Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI''. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989 .
References
*Kelly, Robert J. ''Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000.
External links
NewYorkTimes.com - Reputed Mob Leader Paroledby Selwyn Raab
*
ttp://www.americanmafia.com/Cities/Kansas_City.html Americanmafia.com - Nick Civella: Kansas City Chiefby Allen May, Crime Historian (January 31, 2000)
*
1912 births
1983 deaths
People from Kansas City, Missouri
American gangsters of Italian descent
Kansas City crime family
American crime bosses
American people convicted of tax crimes
American people who died in prison custody
Prisoners who died in United States federal government detention
Deaths from lung cancer in Missouri
{{Kansas City crime family