Cleveland crime family

The Cleveland crime family, also known as the Scalish crime family or the Cleveland Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Cleveland, Ohio and throughout the Greater Cleveland area. The organization formed during the 1900s, and early leadership turned over frequently due to a series of power grabs and assassinations. In 1930, Frank Milano became boss and was able to bring some stability to the family. Under the control of the family's longest-serving boss, John T. Scalish, who led the organization from 1945 until his death in 1976, the Cleveland Mafia exerted influence over the Teamsters union, profiting from labor racketeering and the skimming of revenue from Las Vegas casinos. The family's membership peaked at around 60 "made men" during the 1950s.^[2]

Cleveland crime family

Founded	c. 1920; 104 years ago (1920)
Founder	Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo
Founding location	Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Years active	c. 1920–present
Territory	Primarily Greater Cleveland, with additional territory throughout Ohio, Northern Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania and Western New York, as well as South Florida and Las Vegas^[1]
Ethnicity	Italians as "made men" and other ethnicities as associates
Membership (est.)	60 made members (1950s)^[2]
Activities	Racketeering, murder, bombing, drug trafficking, skimming, labor racketeering, extortion, prostitution, illegal gambling, construction, garbage collection, loansharking, bookmaking, bribery, assault^[3]
Allies	Bufalino crime family Chicago Outfit DeCavalcante crime family Detroit Partnership Gambino crime family Genovese crime family Kansas City crime family Los Angeles crime family Milwaukee crime family New Orleans crime family Pittsburgh crime family Hells Angels MC^[4]
Rivals	Celtic Club and various other gangs in the Cleveland area

Scalish died unexpectedly during heart surgery without naming a successor in 1976, leaving the Cleveland family in turmoil. Following his death, a violent gang war erupted in the streets of Cleveland during the late 1970s when Irish mobster Danny Greene attempted to take over criminal rackets in the city. James T. Licavoli, who became boss of the family after Scalish's death, hired hitman Ray Ferritto to kill Greene.^[5] After several failed attempts on Greene's life, Ferritto succeeded in killing Greene with a car bomb, ending the mob war. The war drew significant law enforcement attention, however, reducing membership and influence of the Cleveland family. Much of the family's weakening can be attributed to Jimmy Fratianno, who turned government witness and provided the FBI with incriminating information on the organization.^[6]

Following a series of convictions, including those of Cleveland Mafia bosses Licavoli, Angelo Lonardo and John Tronolone, the family nearly ceased to exist in the 1980s and 1990s. Lonardo became the highest-ranking member of the Mafia to turn government witness when he began cooperating with authorities in 1983.^[7] During the early 2000s, law enforcement agencies believed the Cleveland family was a smaller group but was attempting to rebuild itself. In the 2020s, the organization has been characterized as a small crime family involved in illegal gambling and loansharking.^[8]

History

Early organized crime in Cleveland

Semi-organized Sicilian American- and Italian American-run "Black Hand" extortion rackets first emerged in Cleveland about 1900. The Cleveland Division of Police soon established an "Italian squad" (also known as the "Black Hand squad") to deal with the problem. After a series of Black Hand-related murders in the city in 1906, this police unit largely suppressed this first expression of organized crime in Cleveland.^[9][a]

Loosely organized gangs emerged in the 1910s. An Italian American gang known as the Mayfield Road Mob formed in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood about 1913.^[11] At roughly the same time, another Italian American gang, the Collinwood Crew, formed in the Collinwood neighborhood. This gang centered its activities around the intersection of St. Clair Avenue, E. 152d Street, and Ivanhoe Road.^[12] Out of a drug store in Cleveland's Big Italy neighborhood,^[13][b] notary public Angelo Serra ran the "Serra Gang". It was primarily an automobile theft ring which relied on Serra to forge titles to the cars and create fake vehicle registration plates. At one point in the mid-1910s, it did $500,000 ($14,000,000 in 2023 dollars) a year in vehicle thefts. The gang also engaged in other crimes such as extortion, illegal gambling, the numbers racket, and robbery.^[17] In the late 1910s, the "Benigno Gang" formed under Dominic Benigno in Little Italy. The gang specialized in payroll robberies, and in 1919 and 1920 monopolized payroll robberies by intimidating or murdering anyone who tried to pull off a heist without Benigno's permission.^[18][19][c] A less organized and more fluid criminal organization was the "reservoir gang", a group of criminals engaged in armed robbery, automobile theft, burglary, and other property crimes which met at Cleveland's Baldwin Water Treatment Plant reservoir in order to plan crimes, exchange stolen goods, and disperse profits from crime.^[20]

Prohibition began in Ohio on May 27, 1919,^[21] and nationally throughout the United States on January 16, 1920.^[22] Many small, organized gangs emerged between 1919 and 1921 to circumvent the liquor law by importing liquor from Canada, diverting alcohol from legitimate purposes (such as medicine and industry), and distilling and distributing home-brewed beer and liquor.^[23] Small bootlegging operations were run by formerly legitimate businessmen like Michelino Le Paglia, August L. Rini, and Louis Rosen.^[24] A number of small bootleg gangs, run by Jewish residents, began operating in the "Little Hollywood" area of the Hough neighborhood,^[25] an area bounded by Lexington and Hough Avenues between E. 73rd and E. 79th Streets.^[26] The brothels, gambling halls, and speakeasies of Little Hollywood became the favorite place to relax for small gang leaders throughout Cleveland, many of whom established their offices in the tiny red-light district.^[25] Larger organizations included an Italian American gang centered on Woodland Avenue and E. 55th Street, and an Italian American gang centered on Woodland and E. 105th Street.^[d] The Mayfield Road Mob also grew larger as it focused more on bootlegging.^[23]

The Lonardo and Porrello brothers

 

The Lonardo family plot at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio

The four Lonardo brothers (Joseph, Frank, John, and Dominic) and seven Porrello brothers, including Joseph Porello, immigrated to the United States from Licata, Sicily. The Lonardo and Porrello brothers first established themselves as legitimate businessmen. The two groups dabbled in various criminal activities including robbery and extortion, before prohibition, but were not yet considered a major organization.^[27]

At the start of Prohibition, Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo was the boss of the Cleveland crime family.^[27] He was the second oldest of the four Lonardo brothers. He and his brothers began by supplying Cleveland's bootleggers with the corn sugar they needed to produce liquor. His top lieutenant was Joseph Porrello, who supervised various bootlegging and other criminal operations throughout the early to mid-1920s.^[28]

Split factions (1926–1927)

In 1926, the Porrello brothers (Rosario, Vincenzo, Angelo, Joseph, John, Ottavio, and Raymond) broke away from the Lonardo family and formed their own faction. They established their headquarters on upper Woodland Avenue, around E. 110th St. In 1927, hostilities between the Lonardo and Porrello families escalated as the families competed in the corn sugar business. During Prohibition, corn sugar was the prime ingredient in bootleg liquor.^[28]

In the summer of 1927, Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo, boss of the Lonardo faction at the time, left for Sicily, Italy amongst rising tension between the two families. He left his brother John and adviser, Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro, as acting heads of the Cleveland family. When Lonardo returned, a sitdown was scheduled between the Lonardos and the Porrellos. On October 13, 1927, Joseph Lonardo and his eldest brother John were to meet with Angelo Porrello in a Porrello-owned barber shop. Inside the barbershop, when Joseph and John Lonardo relaxed into playing a game of cards, they were ambushed and killed by two Porrello gunmen.^[29][30] This allowed Joseph Porrello to take over as boss of the Cleveland crime family and become the most influential corn sugar baron in the Cleveland area.^[28]

The Porrellos (1927–1930)

 

The grave marker for Joseph and Vincenzo Porrello at Calvary Cemetery (Cleveland, Ohio).

Through late 1927 and much of 1928, the remaining Lonardo faction loyalists, which included an up-and-coming Mafia group known as the Mayfield Road Mob (led by Frank Milano) and various Jewish allies within the Cleveland Syndicate, continued to rival the Porrello family for the leadership within the Cleveland underworld. They vied for control of the most lucrative rackets outside of the corn sugar business, which included gambling, the most profitable hustle for American Mafia crime families after bootlegging.^[28]

To establish dominance, the Porrellos needed backing from the top Mafia bosses in New York, as well as other leading Mafia families across the United States. On December 5, 1928, a high-level American Mafia meeting was held at the Statler Hotel in Cleveland. Joseph Porrello, with the help of one of his top lieutenants Sam Tilocco, hosted the event in hopes that the top Mafia bosses from across the United States would declare him the official Mafia boss of Cleveland.^[28]

The attendees of the Cleveland meeting became participants to one of the first known La Cosa Nostra summits in American history. Some of the powerful bosses who attended included Joe Profaci and Vincent Mangano of New York.^[28] However, the meeting turned into a fiasco as some of the well-known attendees were recognized by local law enforcement and arrested along with their associates. Meanwhile, Mafiosi continued to arrive from across the country for the Mafia summit.^[31]

The Porrello brothers arranged for their associates to be bailed out of jail. In spite of the chaos, Joseph Porrello was declared the boss and recognized nationwide as head of the Cleveland crime family. On June 11, 1929, Porrello family Lieutenant Sam Todaro was murdered.^[32] At the end of Prohibition, most of the Porrello brothers and their supporters had been killed or had sided with the Mayfield Road Mob.

On July 5, 1930, Joseph Porrello was invited to a sitdown with Frank Milano at the Milano-owned Venetian Restaurant. Gunfire erupted and boss Joseph Porrello and his underling were killed.^[31] Vincenzo "Jim" Porrello succeeded his brother as Cleveland Mafia boss. Three weeks after his brother's murder, Vincenzo was shot in the back of the head and murdered in a grocery store on East 110th Street and Woodland Avenue in an area considered a Porrello stronghold. Raymond Porrello declared revenge, and on August 15, 1930, an explosion leveled Raymond's home. He was not home at the time.

Mayfield Road Mob (1930–1944)

 

Cleveland's Public Square, 1930.

In the early 1930s, Frank Milano and the "Mayfield Road Mob" of Cleveland's Little Italy had replaced the Porrellos as the Cleveland area's premier Mafia group.^[31] The Mafia faction was even mentioned by its old name in the movie The Godfather Part II as the Lakeview Road Gang, as Lakeview Cemetery borders Mayfield Road Hill which marks the beginning of Little Italy in Cleveland. This area is also referred to as "Murray Hill" by locals. This Mafia family was formed in the late 1920s and was headed by Frank Milano.

In 1931, Milano joined the National Crime Syndicate, a network of powerful criminals from around the country, such as Charlie Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Milano was now the official boss of Cleveland crime family. By 1932, Milano had become one of the top American Mafia bosses in the country and a charter Commission member.^[31]

On February 25, 1932, Milano made sure the Porrello family and their gang were finished for good by having Raymond and Rosario Porrello, along with their bodyguard, Dominic Gueli, murdered in a smoke shop on East 110th Street and Woodland Ave. in their old territory while they were playing cards.^[31] After this, the remaining Porrello brothers backed out of the Cleveland underworld and fled the area.

In 1935, Milano fled to Mexico after being indicted for tax evasion.^[31] Alfred Polizzi, another leading member of the Mayfield Road mob, seized power and reigned as boss until 1944 when he was convicted of tax evasion.^[31]

Collinwood Crew

The Collinwood Mob, also known as the Young Turks, was based in Cleveland's South Collinwood Neighborhood, was at times integrated with the Mayfield Road Mob and has a Mafia history as old as that of the Mayfield Road Gang. The most notorious of the Collinwood Crew was the late Alfred "Allie Con" Calabrese. Allie Con was feared and respected in both neighborhoods and known as a stand-up guy, a "true gangster". His crew consisted of Joe "Joey Loose" Lacobacci, the late Butchie Cisternino and others from an area that stretched from the 152nd Street bridge, up Five Points and Ivanhoe Road, down Mandalay across London Road to Wayside and over to Saranac bordering the Collinwood Train Yards.

Scalish era (1944–1976)

John Scalish held the longest reign of any Cleveland mob boss. He took control of the family in 1944, and remained the boss for thirty-two years, until his death in 1976. During his time as the crime family's leader, the group developed ties with important crime figures like Shondor Birns, Moe Dalitz, Meyer Lansky, and Tony Accardo. The family also became allies of the extremely powerful Chicago Outfit and Genovese crime family. Additionally, the Cleveland mob also expanded its influence to areas throughout the Midwest, as well as California, Florida, and Las Vegas.^[33] The Cleveland crime family helped finance the construction of the Desert Inn hotel and casino in Las Vegas in the late 1940s and received a percentage of profits from the resort in exchange for providing protection.^[34]

In the 1950s, the family reached its peak in size, with about 60 "made" members, and several times as many associates.^[2] By the 1970s, the family's membership began to decrease because Scalish didn't induct many new members.^[34] During the 1970s, the Cleveland Mafia's main sources of income came from two primary sources; a partnership with other Midwestern crime families which allowed the organization to profit from the "skim" of various Las Vegas casinos, and an arrangement with the Pittsburgh crime family under which the Cleveland mob was entitled to twenty-five percent of the profits of the Pittsburgh mob's Youngstown, Ohio rackets.^[35] The Cleveland, Kansas City and Milwaukee crime families exerted influence over the multibillion-dollar Central States Pension Fund of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and in 1974, the three groups backed a $62.75 million Pension Fund loan to buy two Las Vegas casinos.^[36] Additionally, the Cleveland family collected protection money from casinos in Western Pennsylvania and Northern Kentucky.^[37]

Scalish died during open heart surgery in 1976 and failed to name a successor beforehand.^[33]

War with Danny Greene and decline (1976–1990s)

 

FBI chart of Cleveland crime family in 1983

After the death of John Scalish, it was decided by the family's members that James "Jack White" Licavoli would take over as boss.^[37] Licavoli worked for the infamous Purple Gang in Detroit during Prohibition before moving to Cleveland, where he gradually rose up the ranks of the city's underworld.

During Licavoli's reign, an Irish gangster named Danny Greene began competing with the Mafia for control of rackets.^[38] Greene partnered with John Nardi, a rogue Mafia associate and Teamster, who arranged the murder of Calogero "Leo Lips" Moceri, Licavoli's underboss.^[38] Moceri disappeared after attending a Feast of the Assumption festival in Cleveland's Little Italy on August 22, 1976 and his blood-stained car was found in Akron days later, although his remains were never recovered. Moceri was allegedly killed by Keith Ritson, an enforcer for Danny Greene.^[39] This resulted in a violent mob war between the Mafia and the Danny Greene gang, during which there were almost 40 car bombings in Cleveland. This time period earned Cleveland the unofficial title of "Bomb City U.S.A.".^[40] Nardi was killed on May 17, 1977, by a car bomb in the parking lot of the Teamster Hall in Cleveland.^[41]

Eventually, Licavoli decided that he needed to get rid of Greene for good. Licavoli and his crew began attempting to kill him. On one occasion, bombs were planted around Greene's home, one in the front and one in the back. The first bomb went off, but the second bomb failed, which allowed Greene and his young girlfriend to escape.^[42] After several failed attempts to kill Greene, it became evident that Licavoli's outfit needed outside help.^[41] After contacting hitman Ray Ferritto, Licavoli and his men began plotting for Greene's murder.

On October 6, 1977, Danny Greene was murdered after a scheduled visit to his dentist. While Greene was in the dentist's office, a car with a bomb placed in its door was parked next to his. Upon return to his vehicle the radiofrequency bomb was exploded remotely by Ferritto and Ronald “Ronnie the Crab” Carabbia.^[43] The two men were seen by a woman named Debbie Spoth, who was able to help the police identify Ferritto, even though they quickly drove away.^[44] Greene lay under the ruins of his vehicle in the parking lot for at least an hour before his corpse was removed.^[45] After Greene's assassination, Ferritto heard that the Cleveland Crime Family wanted him dead and in response became an FBI informant. The information that he provided led to the arrests of many high ranking mafia members, including Jack Licavoli himself.^[46]

In 1978, Cleveland police warned then-mayor Dennis Kucinich that local Mafia members had put out a hit on him because of some of his mayoral initiatives were hindering money-making opportunities. Police told Kucinich that a hitman was planning on shooting the mayor while he marched in The Columbus Day Parade in October 1978. Kucinich missed the parade as he was hospitalized with a ruptured ulcer.^[47] However, he took note of the threat and began keeping a gun in his home for protection.^[48]

Emboldened by the sudden death of Anthony "Tony Dope" Delsanter, the Cleveland crime family consigliere and representative in the Mahoning Valley, from a heart attack in August 1977, Vincent "Two-Gun Jimmy" Prato, the Pittsburgh crime family's caporegime in the area, attempted to establish a monopoly over gambling and extortion rackets in Youngstown, a territory which had historically been shared between the two families, resulting in a mob war which lasted two and a half years between 1978 and 1981.^[49] The Cleveland Mafia faction in Youngstown was headed by the brothers Charles "Charlie the Crab" Carabbia and Orlando "Orlie the Crab" Carabbia.^[50] Twelve murders took place during the conflict.^[51] The Pittsburgh Mafia emerged victorious in the war after the disappearances of Charles Carabbia in December 1980 and his crew's top hitman, Joseph DeRose, Jr., in April 1981.^[52] According to testimony from Pittsburgh mobster-turned-government witness Lenny Strollo, Carabbia was lured to a meeting at a Youngstown donut shop and killed on the orders of Prato and his chief underling, Joseph "Little Joey" Naples, in order to give the Pittsburgh faction undisputed control over Youngstown. The killing, as per Strollo's testimony, was carried out with the permission of the Cleveland family leadership.^[53]

Eventually, Licavoli was sent to prison for RICO charges related to the murder of Danny Greene in 1982.^[33] Angelo Lonardo, the son of Prohibition mob boss Joseph Lonardo, took control of the Cleveland crime family. He led the family until 1984 when he was convicted of running a drug ring and was sentenced to life in prison. He then became an informant, making him the highest-ranking Mafia turncoat up to that time. He informed on powerful Mafiosi from numerous families while in prison, and caused serious damage to the Mafia's infrastructure.^[54]

After Lonardo became an informant, the Cleveland crime family's boss was John "Peanuts" Tronolone, a long-time Miami Beach resident who prior to becoming the boss, was a South Florida point man for the New York-based Genovese crime family and other mobsters. He was also closely associated with Meyer Lansky. In 1989, he became the only Mafia boss to have the distinction of being arrested in a hand-to-hand undercover transaction by local law enforcement. He accepted jewelry from Dave Green, an undercover Broward County deputy in exchange for bookmaking and loan-sharking debts. He died before he could start his nine-year state prison sentence.^[55]

The Cleveland Mafia was dismantled by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies so aggressively in the 1980s that by 1990 the family had no made members who were not imprisoned and the organization was reported to be virtually defunct.^[54][55][56] In addition to convictions, defections and deaths, the loss of the family's influence over the Teamsters Union also significantly weakened the Cleveland Mafia.^[57] After Tronolone's death in 1991, Anthony "Tony Lib" Liberatore took over the remnants of the Cleveland crime family until he was imprisoned for racketeering and money laundering in 1993.^[56][58]

Current position

Following the imprisonment of Liberatore, two Mafiosi who had been inducted into the family by Angelo Lonardo in 1983 – Joseph "Joe Loose" Iacobacci and Russell "R.J." Papalardo – became the leading figures in the Cleveland Mafia.^[56] Iacobacci, along with Alfred "Allie" Calabrese, was convicted of bank fraud and sentenced to three years in federal prison in 1995, during which time Papalardo served as acting boss of the family.^[54][58]

In May 1998, Anthony P. Delmonti, an associate of the Cleveland crime family and the Rochester, New York faction of the Bonanno crime family, became a confidential informant for the Cleveland office of the FBI and provided the bureau with information on a Mafia-controlled Rochester-to-Cleveland stolen car ring, a Los Angeles-to-Cleveland cocaine ring headed by Cleveland businessman Robert E. Walsh, and a $10 million-per-year numbers racket operated by Virgil Ogletree, a former associate of Shondor Birns and Don King.^[56][59][60] Delmonti covertly recorded over 500 audio and videotapes which led to the seizure of $100,000 in illicit gambling money, $250,000 in stolen vehicles and 700 kilograms of cocaine, and over a hundred convictions in Cleveland and Rochester between 2000 and 2002.^{[59][61][62][63]}

Despite the imprisonment of Iacobacci in the late 1990s, he and Papalardo were reportedly able to steadily rebuild the organization in the 21st century with the assistance of the Chicago Outfit.^[56][54] Iocobacci inducted new members into the family, forged ties with the Chicago, Detroit and DeCavalcante families, and reportedly oversaw rackets in Cleveland, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, and Rochester.^[64][65] He retired in the 2000s after he reportedly relinquished much of his family's territory to the Chicago Mafia.^[8] Papalardo succeeded Iacobacci as boss of the Cleveland crime family upon Iacobacci's retirement.^[56][66] In 2020, the crime reporter Scott Burnstein described the organization as: "These days, the Cleveland crime family is a small group of mostly old-timers, bookies and loansharks".^[65] According to Burnstein, the Cleveland Mafia is an "almost-benign group ... with a limited formal structure".^[8]

Historical leadership

Boss (official and acting)

• 1920–1927 – Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo – murdered in 1927.^[66]
• 1927–1929 – Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro – murdered in 1929.^[66]
• 1929–1930 – Joseph "Big Joe" Porrello – murdered in 1930.
• 1930–1935 – Frank Milano – fled to Mexico in 1935, moved to California in the late 1950s; died of natural causes in 1970.^[66]
• 1935–1945 – Alfred "Big Al" Polizzi – arrested in 1944, retired to Florida in 1945, died of natural causes in 1975.^[66]
  • Acting 1944–1945 – John T. "John Scalise" Scalish - died of complications during heart surgery in 1976.
• 1945–1976 – John T. "John Scalise" Scalish^[66]
• 1976–1985 – James "Jack White" Licavoli – imprisoned in 1981, died of natural causes in 1985.^[66]
  • Acting 1981–1983 – Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo – turned informant in October 1983, died of natural causes in 2006.^[66]
  • Acting 1983–1985 – John "Peanuts" Tronolone
• 1985–1991 – John "Peanuts" Tronolone – died of natural causes in 1991^[66]
• 1991–1993 – Anthony "Tony Lib" Liberatore – imprisoned in 1993, died of natural causes in 1998.^[66][58]
• 1993–2004 – Joseph "Joe Loose" Iacobacci – retired, died 2020^[66][64]
• 2004–present – Russell "R.J." Papalardo^[66]

Underboss

• 1930–1976 – Anthony Milano – retired in 1976, deceased in 1978.^[67]
• 1976 – Calogero "Leo Lips" Moceri – disappeared and murdered in 1976.
• 1976–1983 – Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo – turned informant in October 1983, deceased in 2006.^[58]
• 1983–1985 – John "Peanuts" Tronolone – became boss in 1985.
• 1985–1991 – Anthony "Tony Lib" Liberatore – became boss.
• 1991–1995 – Alfred "Allie" Calabrese – imprisoned in 1995.
• 1995–2004 – Russell "RJ" Papalardo – became boss

Consigliere

• 1930–1972 – John DeMarco – died in 1972^[67]
• 1972–1973 – Frank "Frankie B" Brancato
• 1973–1977 – Anthony "Tony Dope" Delsanter - died of natural causes in August 1977^[58]
• 1977–1983 – John "Peanuts" Tronolone – became underboss in 1983.
• 1983–1993 – Louis "Bones" Battista aka "The Bulldog" (deceased)
• 1999–2010 – Raymond "Lefty" LaMarca (deceased 2010) ^[68]

Current family members

Administration

• Boss – Russell J. "R.J." Papalardo – born on July 4, 1941.^[69] Papalardo was inducted into the family in 1983.^[70] In 1986, he was convicted for his role in a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring operated by the Cleveland crime family and served four years in federal prison.^[71] Papalardo was made acting boss while Joseph "Joe Loose" Iacobacci was imprisoned in the late 1990s and he succeeded Iacobacci as boss of the family in the mid-2000s.^[54][66]

Former family members

• Alfred "Allie Con" Calabrese – former underboss. Calabrese survived an attempted car bombing in September 1976 when an explosive device attached to his vehicle detonated and killed his neighbor when the neighbor tried to move Calabrese's car.^[72]
• John Calandra – former capo^[57]
• Ronald "Ronnie the Crab" Carabbia – took control of the Youngstown faction for the family following the death of Anthony Delsanter in August 1977.^[72] Carrabia was an accomplice to Ray Ferritto in the October 6, 1977 car bomb murder of Danny Greene.^[73] In May 1978, he was convicted of aggravated murder for the killing.^[74] Carrabia was paroled from Chillicothe Correctional Institution on September 24, 2002. He died on December 22, 2021, aged 92.^[75]
• Eugene J. "The Animal" Ciasullo – former soldier. Ciasullo was raised in Collinwood and became a debt collector, bookmaker and loan shark in the family under John Scalish and James Licavoli.^[76] He was believed by the FBI to have been a hitman.^[77] On July 21, 1976, Ciasullo was severely wounded in a bombing at his home in Richmond Heights.^[78] He died of natural causes in August 2016, at the age of 85.^[76][79]
• Pasquale "Butchie" Cisternino – former soldier. Cisternino assembled the bomb which killed Danny Greene.^[72] He died in 1990.
• Anthony "Tony Dope" Delsanter – former consigliere and leader of the Youngstown faction
• William E. "Billy D" DiLeno – former soldier. DiLeno was a member of the Eastside faction of the Cleveland family. He was initiated into the family in the early 1990s.^[8] DiLeno died of natural causes at the age of 85, on April 6, 2022.^[80]
• Joseph Gallo – former capo^[57]
• Joseph "Joe Loose" Iacobacci – powerful member of the family, serving as boss from 1993 to 2005. Iacobacci was able to partially rebuild the family, with the help of the Chicago Outfit. He died in April 2020.^[81]
• Calogero "Leo Lips" Moceri – former underboss and leader of the family's Akron faction.^[72] In 1952, he was arrested and questioned over the murder of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.^[72] Moceri disappeared on August 22, 1976; his killing was arranged by John Nardi and carried out by Keith Ritson, an enforcer for Danny Greene.^[38][39]
• Milton "Maishe" Rockman^[77] – former associate, Rockman was a Jewish-American organized crime figure affiliated with the Cleveland crime family.^[82] Rockman was the brother-in-law of Cleveland crime family bosses John T. Scalish^[77] and Angelo Lonardo, and was a top Cleveland crime family associate involved in labor racketeering and the Las Vegas casino interests of the Cleveland Mafia.^[83]
• Thomas Sinito – former capo^[57]

Government informants and witnesses

• Anthony P. Delmonti – associate involved in narcotics trafficking. He was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in 1987 after being informed on by his cocaine supplier, Carmen Zagaria. Owing $150,000 in restitution and addicted to drugs, Delmonti became a confidential informant for the FBI in 1998.^[59] Following a series of successful prosecutions resulting from Delmonti's cooperation, he went into hiding in Marco Island, Florida and died from a heart attack on April 26, 2007, aged 61.^[56][63]
• Ray Ferritto – associate and hitman who turned government witness after being implicated in the murder of Danny Greene in 1977.^[73]
• Angelo Lonardo – acting boss of the family; turned government witness in 1983 after being sentenced to life imprisonment for drug trafficking and racketeering.
• Jackie Presser – associate. Presser was a labor union official and Teamsters president under control of the Cleveland family who became a confidential informant for the FBI in 1972.^[84][85][86]
• Carmen "Mr. C" Zagaria – soldier and leader of a drug ring who turned government witness after being indicted on several murders.^[59]

List of murders committed by the Cleveland crime family

Name	Date	Reason
Salvatore Todaro	June 11, 1929	Cleveland crime family boss Todaro was shot by Angelo Lonardo and Dominic Sospirato, the son and nephew, respectively, of Joseph Lonardo, as revenge for killing the elder Lonardo.^[28]^[39]
John Nardi	May 17, 1977	Cleveland crime family associate Nardi was killed with a car bomb after aligning himself with the Irish mob boss Danny Greene in a war against the family.^[39]
Danny Greene	October 6, 1977	Rival gang boss Greene was killed in a car bombing by Ronald Carabbia and Ray Ferritto after starting a mob war against the Cleveland crime family over control of local rackets.^[39]
Charles F. Grisham	December 3, 1978	Pittsburgh crime family associate Grisham was killed with a sniper rifle by Joseph DeRose, Jr. in Howland Township, Ohio after he and James "Peeps" Cononico attempted to take over gambling rackets in Warren, Ohio controlled by Cleveland crime family associate Joseph Perfette.^[49]^[51]^[52]^[87]
James Cononico	January 11, 1979	Cononico, an associate of Charles "Spider" Grisham, was shot by Joseph DeRose, Jr. in Youngstown, Ohio.^[49]^[52]^[87]
Jack R. Tobin	July 25, 1979	"Black Jack" Tobin, a bookmaker, nightclub owner and Pittsburgh crime family associate, was killed with a shotgun after engaging in a gunfight with by Joseph DeRose, Jr. in Austintown Township, Ohio during a gang war between the Cleveland and Pittsburgh crime families over racket territory in the Mahoning Valley.^[49]^[52]^[87]
John Magda	January 6, 1980	An enforcer for Jack Tobin, Magda was asphyxiated by Joseph DeRose, Jr. and his body was found in a garbage dump in Struthers, Ohio.^[49]^[52]^[87]^[88]
Robert J. DeCerbo	February 13, 1980	DeCerbo was killed with a shotgun by Joseph DeRose, Jr. in Beaver Township, Ohio after switching sides from the Cleveland faction to the Pittsburgh faction during the Mahoning Valley mob war.^[49]^[52]
David Perrier	January 4, 1981	Cleveland crime family associate David "Cowboy" Perrier was shot by Thomas Sinito and found dead in a ditch in Trumbull County, Ohio due to suspicions that he was an informant and after he had insulted family boss James Licavoli.^[49]^[89]

References

Notes

1. "Black hand" murders continued into the 1920s.^[10]
2. Now part of Cleveland's Central and Downtown neighborhoods, Big Italy ran along Woodland Avenue from Ontario Street/Orange Avenue in the west to E. 40th Street in the east. Initially Sicilian (with Italians coming after 1910), the Big Italy community formed about 1900. It was home to most of the city's wholesale and retail produce stores, and most residents worked as laborers and tradesmen. It began to decline significantly during the 1930s, and vanished in the 1940s as whites moved out and African Americans moved in.^[14][15][16]
3. Cleveland crime historian Allan R. May says Benigno was the first head of the Mayfield Road Mob.^[13] But Cleveland public prosecutor Frank J. Merrick said that after Benigno was executed in June 1922, there was no successor as head of the gang,^[18] which makes the case for a distinction between the Benigno Gang and the Mayfield Road Mob.
4. These gangs existed prior to Prohibition, but were much smaller, less organized, and focused primarily on small-time crimes like auto theft, burglary, and the occasional raid of goods from unattended boxcars in railroad yards.^[23]

Citations

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3. • The day the Cleveland mob died Ken Prendergast, AmericanMafia.com (October 2002) August 3, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
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5. "United States v. Licavoli". Retrieved 23 May 2024.
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17. May 2014, pp. 67, 76, 82.
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35. Martinelli 2011, p. 87-88.
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37. Martinelli 2011, p. 88.
38. Martinelli 2011, p. 89.
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