Simone "Sam" Scozzari (January 7, 1900 – 1980s) was a Sicilian mobster and a member of the

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 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He served as a soldier in 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 ...

during the 1940s and 1950s. When

Frank DeSimone Frank A. DeSimone (July 17, 1909 – August 4, 1967) was an American attorney and the boss of the Los Angeles crime family from 1956 to 1967. DeSimone was the son of former don Rosario DeSimone. He was sometime referred to as "One Eye" because ...

became boss of the L.A. crime family in 1956, he promoted Scozzari

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 ...

. Scozzari was born on January 7, 1900, in the city of

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 (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

to Salvatore and Rosa Scozzari. He had one brother Frank, and two sisters, Anna and Josephine. He entered 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 territorie ...

illegally in 1923 and eventually made his way west to Los Angeles. His residence while in California was 3056 Sullivan Avenue in

Rosemead, California Rosemead is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 50,245, currently dropping. Rosemead is part of a cluster of cities, along with Alhambra, Arcadia, Temple City, Monterey Park ...

. During his time in Los Angeles, he was arrested several times for illegal bookmaking and once for obstruction of justice. He was also involved in one of the unsuccessful attempts on

Mickey Cohen Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen (September 4, 1913 – July 29, 1976) was an American gangster, boxer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles during the mid-20th century. Early life Mickey Cohen was born on September 4, 1913, in New York City to Je ...

's life. In 1958 he married Theresa Macri (who was 32 years his junior), but the couple had no children. He was also distantly related to

. He owned the Venetian Club in Los Angeles, but was forced to close it down in 1958. He also had large real estate holdings. On November 14, 1957, Scozzari and DeSimone travelled across the country to attend the Apalachin Meeting. When the meeting was raided by police, Scozzari was put on trial and ordered in 1958 to be deported for entering the country illegally. When investigated, Scozzari said he had been unemployed for 20 years and that he was a retired businessman, despite being arrested with $602 in cash and $8,445.30 in

cashier's check A cashier's check (or cashier's cheque, cashier's order) is a check guaranteed by a bank, drawn on the bank's own funds and signed by a cashier. Cashier's checks are treated as guaranteed funds because the bank, rather than the purchaser, is resp ...

s. Scozzari filed an appeal to stay in the country, but was denied. On June 13, 1962, he left the U.S. and landed in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

before moving back to Palermo.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scozzari, Simone American gangsters of Sicilian descent Los Angeles crime family 1900 births Year of death missing Italian emigrants to the United States People from Rosemead, California