San Francisco crime family
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The San Francisco crime family, also known as the Lanza crime family or San Francisco Mafia, was an
American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its membe ...
crime syndicate 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 ...
in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. The syndicate was organized in the early 1930s by Francesco "Frank" Lanza. The San Francisco family was a small organization with 20–25 made members.


History

On April 28,
1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
, a gang war started in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
when bootlegger Jerry Feri, San Francisco's leading crime lord, was
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
ed in his apartment. His suspected murderer, Alfredo Scariso, was an accomplished bootlegger as well, and he too was murdered on December 19 of that year. His body was found with multiple gunshot wounds and dumped in the area of Fair Oaks. On December 23, Mario Filippi, a suspect behind the Scariso murder, was found shot to death. Frank Boca, another suspect in Scariso's death, was found murdered in his car on July 30, 1929. The next murder was that of the so-called "Al Capone of the West", Genaro Broccolo, who was found dead on October 30, 1932. The final murder was of Luigi Malvese. He had made a reputation as a hijacker, bootlegger and gun running racketeer. He was shot down on May 18, 1932, while walking through an Italian neighborhood in the middle of the day.


Francesco Lanza

Francesco "Frank" Lanza became San Francisco's first crime boss after the initial war ended in 1932. Lanza guided the crime family during the prohibition era. He was the co-owner of
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
's Fisherman's Wharf and a bootlegger,
pimp Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...
,
loan shark 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 ...
and
drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by ...
. The Lanza gang proved to be the strongest gang after murdering San Francisco gang leader Luigi Malvese on May 18, 1932. Lanza derived his income from loansharking, gun running, prostitution, gambling and narcotics. Lanza founded the famous Fisherman's Wharf along with his partner Giuseppe Alioto. After Lanza's death on July 14, 1937, he was succeeded by Anthony Lima.


Lima and Abati

Anthony Lima took over the crime family. Lima and his underboss, Michael Abati, planned the murder of Chicago gangster, Nick DeJohn. Both were arrested for the murder. The charges were dropped when District Attorney
Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he w ...
dismissed the jury and called a mistrial due to a lack of confidence in key witness, Anita Venza. Lima lost power after he was convicted on April 27, 1953, of grand theft and sentenced to a California State Prison. Michael Abati replaced Lima as boss. His underboss James "Jimmy the Hat" Lanza was one of many Mafia leaders spotted by the police at the 1957 Apalachin Meeting. In 1961, Abati was deported to Italy for being involved in criminal activity and died of natural causes on September 5, 1962.


Jimmy "the Hat" Lanza

Francesco Lanza's son,
James Lanza James "Jimmy the Hat" Lanza (October 23, 1902 – February 14, 2006) was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the San Francisco crime family. He was the son of the first known boss of the San Francisco crime family and took over in 1961. It is ...
, became the syndicate's new head. Lanza held the position from 1961 to 2006 during which he extended the family's connection through other syndicates. ''LIFE Magazine'' published his picture and listed him as the crime boss of San Francisco in the late 1960s. Lanza had a close friendship with San Francisco mayor
Joseph Alioto Joseph Lawrence Alioto (February 12, 1916 – January 29, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 36th mayor of San Francisco, California, from 1968 to 1976. Biography Alioto was born in San Francisco in 1916. His father, Giuseppe ...
. This allegation has been denied by Alioto.The Times News, September 6, 1969 Lanza was well connected in Las Vegas via his friend William "Bones" Remmer, a Jewish associate with ties to the Genovese crime family of New York. Lanza became wary of the serious damage that defectors could cause and took precautions against the risk of turncoats like
Joseph Valachi Joseph Michael Valachi (September 22, 1904 – April 3, 1971) was an American mobster in the Genovese crime family who is notable as the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to acknowledge its existence publicly in 1963. He is credited wit ...
. As a result, he brought very little new blood into the San Francisco mob as the membership aged. Lanza also made solid ties with other bosses, including Joseph Civello of Dallas and Joseph Cerrito of San Jose. His longtime underboss, Gaspare "Bill" Sciortino was the cousin to the underboss 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 earl ...
Samuel Sciortino. In his book, "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno said he reported to Lanza in 1973 when he moved to the Bay Area after his release from prison. A few years later, Lanza ended his friendship with Fratianno. Lanza complained about him being in San Francisco. In 1977, when Fratianno heard he had a hit on him, one of the charges was that he was bringing too much attention to the existence of the San Francisco crime family. Lanza was believed to have given permission for the murder of former New England crime family associate turned government witness Joseph Barboza in 1976. By 1990, there were only a few made men left in the San Francisco mob, one was Sergio Maranghi, who was involved in cocaine and heroin trafficking. Maranghi moved to the U.S. from Florence, Italy in 1975 and eventually settled in San Francisco in 1978. He first began working as an employee of Starfish Co., a small fish processing company, which did a lot of business with Alioto's Restaurant. In 1980 Maranghi opened the Anchor Bay Cafe in North Beach. Lanza quickly noticed Maranghi's ability as a money maker and soon made him a member of the crime family. Maranghi was spotted many times meeting with Lanza and other San Francisco mob figures at the Anchor Bay Cafe until it closed down in 1983. He was one of many involved in a cocaine bust in October 1991. Maranghi decided to become an FBI informant instead of serving a long prison sentence and told federal agents of cocaine transactions he had had with his associates over a period of several years. Another man arrested was Gaetano Balistreri, a San Francisco mob associate, who owned the Portofino Cafe on Columbus Ave. Balistreri was arrested for distributing cocaine, but the charge was eventually dropped. In 1994, the San Francisco Police raided the Portofino and arrested Balistreri again, this time for running an illegal gambling operation with video poker machines. Another made member still living at the time was Steve Trifiro, who ran a small gambling operation near
Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
. Lanza died of natural causes on February 14, 2006. He was 103.


Historical leadership


Boss

*1932–1937 — Francesco "Frank" Lanza — died on July 14, 1937 *1937–1958 — Anthony Lima — imprisoned *1958–1961 — Michael Abati — deported *1961–2006 —
James Lanza James "Jimmy the Hat" Lanza (October 23, 1902 – February 14, 2006) was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the San Francisco crime family. He was the son of the first known boss of the San Francisco crime family and took over in 1961. It is ...
— died on February 14, 2006


Underboss

*1932–1937 — Anthony Lima — became boss *1937–1953 — Michael Abati — became boss *1953–1961 —
James Lanza James "Jimmy the Hat" Lanza (October 23, 1902 – February 14, 2006) was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the San Francisco crime family. He was the son of the first known boss of the San Francisco crime family and took over in 1961. It is ...
— became boss *1961–unknown – Gaspare Orlando "Bill" Sciortino — stepped down


See also

*
North Beach, San Francisco North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown, the Financial District, and Russian Hill. The neighborhood is San Francisco's "Little Italy" and has historically been home to a large Italian American pop ...
*
Organized crime in California Crime in California refers to crime occurring within the U.S. state of California. State statistics In 2019, there were 1,096,668 crimes reported in California including 1,679 murders, 14,720 rapes and 915,197 property crimes. In 2019, there were ...
*
Crime in California Crime in California refers to crime occurring within the U.S. state of California. State statistics In 2019, there were 1,096,668 crimes reported in California including 1,679 murders, 14,720 rapes and 915,197 property crimes. In 2019, there were ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Francisco Crime Family Former gangs in San Francisco Italian-American crime families it:Famiglia di San Francisco