Onofrio Sciortino was an Italian-American mobster and boss of the

San Jose crime family The San Jose crime family, also known as the Cerrito crime family or San Jose Mafia, was one of the two families that controlled organized crime in San Jose, California, within the nationwide criminal organization known as the Mafia (or La Cosa ...

Early career

The date of his accomplishments was considered to be 1942. It is almost certain that organized crime existed before this date. Sciortino would derive a majority of his profits from

loansharking A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

and

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

. He was considered the first official La Cosa Nostra crime boss of San Jose until his death from natural causes on September 10, 1959.

His successor

Sciortino's successor was his

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 underbo ...

, Joseph Cerrito. Cerrito came to America from Sicily during the 1920s and moved to the San Jose area in the early 1940s. During the November 1957 Appalachian Summit of mob bosses, Cerrito was one of many who was caught by law enforcement and would answer to a grand jury on the matter in 1959. In October 1964, Cerrito was identified when he was found meeting Bonanno LCN Family former

consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel ''The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a c ...

Frank Garofalo, at a hotel in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, Sicily. It was believed that the two were discussing the ensuing war within the

Bonanno crime family The Bonanno 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, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as the A ...

, which would later be dubbed as the "Banana War." Cerrito was a well-accomplished businessman with two car dealerships in San Jose and one in

Los Gatos Los Gatos (, ; ) is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located in the San Franci ...

. In the late 1960s, Cerrito and "made" soldier, Pete Misuraca, were implicated but never tried for attempted extortion plot against of a Reno-based resort. In 1968, LIFE Magazine publicly identified Cerrito as the crime boss over San Jose. He sued for libel, but the case was eventually dismissed. He died on September 8, 1978 from natural causes as one of the most successful crime lords over a very small family.

Addiction

Sciortino was reportedly a gambling addict, often squandering upwards of a million dollars per day. To support his habit, he engaged in extensive racketering, ranging from

counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

ing and shylocking to prostitution and

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

throughout San Jose.

Death

Sciortino died from a massive heart attack in his Sicilian while reading a newspaper.

References

''San Jose crime family''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sciortino, Onofrio American gangsters American gangsters of Italian descent 1959 deaths Year of birth uncertain Criminals of the San Francisco Bay Area People from San Jose, California