Trafficante Crime Family

[Villain]

Scott. Focus on The Purples! Lol. Really looking fwd to that one.

Don't worry, I am!

ott, what is your take on the books “Ladonna: the bossalina of Miami” and “Tampa’s Mafia Underground Airline”? Are these books in anyway accurate? Or just bull

Tampa Underground Airline is 100% true. I know some of the guys involved.

The other, I highly doubt.

The woman that wrote the ladonna book claims she ran a whore house for Trafficante and that Trafficante did a lot of business with Hy Lerner from Chicago. She would help wash the money for him.

Who did the Tampa underground guys report too? Did Trafficante get a cut of their drug action? I’m not sure what time period the book takes place

Thanks for the additional info on Larner. Was there a member or at least an associate of the Tampa family known as William Dentamaro? This guy was allegedly connected to Chicago quite a bit....

William Vito Demtamaro was a Trafficante and Chicago associate based out of South Florida. Very active form late 50s through early 70s. He died in 1980.

Thanks a lot. It seems that he was also involved in some type of drug route between Tampa and Chicago

[PolackTony]

Scott. Focus on The Purples! Lol. Really looking fwd to that one.

Don't worry, I am!

ott, what is your take on the books “Ladonna: the bossalina of Miami” and “Tampa’s Mafia Underground Airline”? Are these books in anyway accurate? Or just bull

Tampa Underground Airline is 100% true. I know some of the guys involved.

The other, I highly doubt.

The woman that wrote the ladonna book claims she ran a whore house for Trafficante and that Trafficante did a lot of business with Hy Lerner from Chicago. She would help wash the money for him.

Who did the Tampa underground guys report too? Did Trafficante get a cut of their drug action? I’m not sure what time period the book takes place

Thanks for the additional info on Larner. Was there a member or at least an associate of the Tampa family known as William Dentamaro? This guy was allegedly connected to Chicago quite a bit....

William Vito Demtamaro was a Trafficante and Chicago associate based out of South Florida. Very active form late 50s through early 70s. He died in 1980.

Thanks a lot. It seems that he was also involved in some type of drug route between Tampa and Chicago

Who did he answer to or work with in Chicago?

[Pete]

Scott. Focus on The Purples! Lol. Really looking fwd to that one.

Don't worry, I am!

ott, what is your take on the books “Ladonna: the bossalina of Miami” and “Tampa’s Mafia Underground Airline”? Are these books in anyway accurate? Or just bull

Tampa Underground Airline is 100% true. I know some of the guys involved.

The other, I highly doubt.

Scott could you give a rundown of a typical family structure for them? I heard they didn’t have capos really or a consigliere. It was like boss underboss soldiers is this correct? At least during santo JR time

[Patrickgold]

Scott. Focus on The Purples! Lol. Really looking fwd to that one.

Don't worry, I am!

ott, what is your take on the books “Ladonna: the bossalina of Miami” and “Tampa’s Mafia Underground Airline”? Are these books in anyway accurate? Or just bull

Tampa Underground Airline is 100% true. I know some of the guys involved.

The other, I highly doubt.

The woman that wrote the ladonna book claims she ran a whore house for Trafficante and that Trafficante did a lot of business with Hy Lerner from Chicago. She would help wash the money for him.

Who did the Tampa underground guys report too? Did Trafficante get a cut of their drug action? I’m not sure what time period the book takes place

Yeah she wanted us to interview her, but her 'publicist' sent some weird rambling press release that smacked of a scam, so we politely declined.

The Underground Auirline was run by a group of friends that included Angleo Bedami Jr, Joe Bedami Sr's son and Angleo Sr' grandson. His uncle, Silent Sam Lorenzo, was also involved. He told me they didn't have to kick up because of what happened to his Dad (his Dad went missing in '68). THey have some really funny stories about pot smuggling in the 70s. It was more Jimmy Buffet than Goodfellas, for sure.

Scott, you should have interviewed to see how full of shit she was. I will say, that she named names of Chicago guys that are not very well known and seemed to know the names of their family members too. Joey Devita, Hyman Lerner and the Bastones are the ones that I recall. They are not very well know Outfit guys. She also claims or husband was Gene Talarico, an Outfit guy. Anyone familiar with him?

[Villain]

Scott. Focus on The Purples! Lol. Really looking fwd to that one.

Don't worry, I am!

ott, what is your take on the books “Ladonna: the bossalina of Miami” and “Tampa’s Mafia Underground Airline”? Are these books in anyway accurate? Or just bull

Tampa Underground Airline is 100% true. I know some of the guys involved.

The other, I highly doubt.

The woman that wrote the ladonna book claims she ran a whore house for Trafficante and that Trafficante did a lot of business with Hy Lerner from Chicago. She would help wash the money for him.

Who did the Tampa underground guys report too? Did Trafficante get a cut of their drug action? I’m not sure what time period the book takes place

Thanks for the additional info on Larner. Was there a member or at least an associate of the Tampa family known as William Dentamaro? This guy was allegedly connected to Chicago quite a bit....

William Vito Demtamaro was a Trafficante and Chicago associate based out of South Florida. Very active form late 50s through early 70s. He died in 1980.

Thanks a lot. It seems that he was also involved in some type of drug route between Tampa and Chicago

Who did he answer to or work with in Chicago?

He was connected to Fiorito and possibly Yaras

[sdeitche]

Scott. Focus on The Purples! Lol. Really looking fwd to that one.

Don't worry, I am!

ott, what is your take on the books “Ladonna: the bossalina of Miami” and “Tampa’s Mafia Underground Airline”? Are these books in anyway accurate? Or just bull

Tampa Underground Airline is 100% true. I know some of the guys involved.

The other, I highly doubt.

The woman that wrote the ladonna book claims she ran a whore house for Trafficante and that Trafficante did a lot of business with Hy Lerner from Chicago. She would help wash the money for him.

Who did the Tampa underground guys report too? Did Trafficante get a cut of their drug action? I’m not sure what time period the book takes place

Yeah she wanted us to interview her, but her 'publicist' sent some weird rambling press release that smacked of a scam, so we politely declined.

The Underground Auirline was run by a group of friends that included Angleo Bedami Jr, Joe Bedami Sr's son and Angleo Sr' grandson. His uncle, Silent Sam Lorenzo, was also involved. He told me they didn't have to kick up because of what happened to his Dad (his Dad went missing in '68). THey have some really funny stories about pot smuggling in the 70s. It was more Jimmy Buffet than Goodfellas, for sure.

Scott, you should have interviewed to see how full of shit she was. I will say, that she named names of Chicago guys that are not very well known and seemed to know the names of their family members too. Joey Devita, Hyman Lerner and the Bastones are the ones that I recall. They are not very well know Outfit guys. She also claims or husband was Gene Talarico, an Outfit guy. Anyone familiar with him?

Maybe I'll read the book first. I read the first chapter and it mis-identified some names. Red Flag IMO. Also, a few years aog there was a fake book on Amazon called The Ticket Man or something similar about a mob boss with the last name Talarico. completely made up reviews, so that struck me as odd about this one as well. I'll dig in a little more and let you know if I find out anything.

[sdeitche]

Scott. Focus on The Purples! Lol. Really looking fwd to that one.

Don't worry, I am!

ott, what is your take on the books “Ladonna: the bossalina of Miami” and “Tampa’s Mafia Underground Airline”? Are these books in anyway accurate? Or just bull

Tampa Underground Airline is 100% true. I know some of the guys involved.

The other, I highly doubt.

Scott could you give a rundown of a typical family structure for them? I heard they didn’t have capos really or a consigliere. It was like boss underboss soldiers is this correct? At least during santo JR time

THere were "elders". which were like consilgieres, and there were capos but only a few. There were also bolita operators who ran large bolita crews- guys like California Gene Rivero and Rolando Rodriguez. In the 80s through mid 90s there was an advisory council of elders (Longo, Nino Diecidue, Arthur Perla, Baby JOe Diez, and Al Scalgione) that served as consiglieres of a sort.

[Patrickgold]

Scott. Focus on The Purples! Lol. Really looking fwd to that one.

Don't worry, I am!

ott, what is your take on the books “Ladonna: the bossalina of Miami” and “Tampa’s Mafia Underground Airline”? Are these books in anyway accurate? Or just bull

Tampa Underground Airline is 100% true. I know some of the guys involved.

The other, I highly doubt.

The woman that wrote the ladonna book claims she ran a whore house for Trafficante and that Trafficante did a lot of business with Hy Lerner from Chicago. She would help wash the money for him.

Who did the Tampa underground guys report too? Did Trafficante get a cut of their drug action? I’m not sure what time period the book takes place

Yeah she wanted us to interview her, but her 'publicist' sent some weird rambling press release that smacked of a scam, so we politely declined.

The Underground Auirline was run by a group of friends that included Angleo Bedami Jr, Joe Bedami Sr's son and Angleo Sr' grandson. His uncle, Silent Sam Lorenzo, was also involved. He told me they didn't have to kick up because of what happened to his Dad (his Dad went missing in '68). THey have some really funny stories about pot smuggling in the 70s. It was more Jimmy Buffet than Goodfellas, for sure.

Scott, you should have interviewed to see how full of shit she was. I will say, that she named names of Chicago guys that are not very well known and seemed to know the names of their family members too. Joey Devita, Hyman Lerner and the Bastones are the ones that I recall. They are not very well know Outfit guys. She also claims or husband was Gene Talarico, an Outfit guy. Anyone familiar with him?

Maybe I'll read the book first. I read the first chapter and it mis-identified some names. Red Flag IMO. Also, a few years aog there was a fake book on Amazon called The Ticket Man or something similar about a mob boss with the last name Talarico. completely made up reviews, so that struck me as odd about this one as well. I'll dig in a little more and let you know if I find out anything.

She said she was married to Geno Talarico, who I never heard of but she claims was a Chicago Outfit rep in Miami. It’s more than likely a bullshit story but the fact she dropped Joey Devita’s name really stuck out. He’s still alive living in Arizona and is believed to run the Outfit’s Latin American interest. She also claims she wore a wire on Carmen Bastone. Wonder if there is anyway to verify that

[B.]

THere were "elders". which were like consilgieres, and there were capos but only a few. There were also bolita operators who ran large bolita crews- guys like California Gene Rivero and Rolando Rodriguez. In the 80s through mid 90s there was an advisory council of elders (Longo, Nino Diecidue, Arthur Perla, Baby JOe Diez, and Al Scalgione) that served as consiglieres of a sort.

I suspect the "elders" were part of the consiglio / council. We've discovered that many of the small US families who maintained their Sicilian roots had a formal consiglio / council. This is confirmed in St. Louis, San Francisco, San Jose, Milwaukee, and in Sicily itself, plus evidence of it in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Pittston, Kansas City, maybe others.

Given how similar Tampa was to those other families, I'm confident it was the same thing given this was a formal component brought over from Sicily. The consiglio included ranking and senior members who helped dictate policy, approve transfers from other families, and presided over "trials" for members who broke rules. It doesn't seem they met to directly discuss criminal affairs, only administrative / membership issues.

[sdeitche]

THere were "elders". which were like consilgieres, and there were capos but only a few. There were also bolita operators who ran large bolita crews- guys like California Gene Rivero and Rolando Rodriguez. In the 80s through mid 90s there was an advisory council of elders (Longo, Nino Diecidue, Arthur Perla, Baby JOe Diez, and Al Scalgione) that served as consiglieres of a sort.

I suspect the "elders" were part of the consiglio / council. We've discovered that many of the small US families who maintained their Sicilian roots had a formal consiglio / council. This is confirmed in St. Louis, San Francisco, San Jose, Milwaukee, and in Sicily itself, plus evidence of it in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Pittston, Kansas City, maybe others.

Given how similar Tampa was to those other families, I'm confident it was the same thing given this was a formal component brought over from Sicily. The consiglio included ranking and senior members who helped dictate policy, approve transfers from other families, and presided over "trials" for members who broke rules. It doesn't seem they met to directly discuss criminal affairs, only administrative / membership issues.

Interesting.

The little Tampa flavor though is the addition of non-Italians, like Baby Joe Diez. But I've always maintained that in Tampa, there were Cubans and Spanish held considerable positions that, in some cases, "outranked" Sicilians.

[cavita]

THere were "elders". which were like consilgieres, and there were capos but only a few. There were also bolita operators who ran large bolita crews- guys like California Gene Rivero and Rolando Rodriguez. In the 80s through mid 90s there was an advisory council of elders (Longo, Nino Diecidue, Arthur Perla, Baby JOe Diez, and Al Scalgione) that served as consiglieres of a sort.

I suspect the "elders" were part of the consiglio / council. We've discovered that many of the small US families who maintained their Sicilian roots had a formal consiglio / council. This is confirmed in St. Louis, San Francisco, San Jose, Milwaukee, and in Sicily itself, plus evidence of it in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Pittston, Kansas City, maybe others.

Given how similar Tampa was to those other families, I'm confident it was the same thing given this was a formal component brought over from Sicily. The consiglio included ranking and senior members who helped dictate policy, approve transfers from other families, and presided over "trials" for members who broke rules. It doesn't seem they met to directly discuss criminal affairs, only administrative / membership issues.

B.

I think you had asked me before if Rockford had a "elder" council and I wasn't entirely sure as I had never heard of that in the Rockford area. Looking back at my old FBI files it was mentioned a few times there were those that made up the "inner ring" in the Rockford LCN and the others who were the "outer ring." Those in the inner part were the boss Joe Zammuto, underboss Frank Buscemi, consigliere Joe Zito and capo Lorenzo Buttice. Interestingly the FBI files made mention that Phil Caltagerone was part of this "inner ring," but he was never noted as having a formal position with Rockford. He was an old time member with arrests going back to 1917, he was highly respected and had been acting boss when then-boss Tony Musso went away to Leavenworth from 1931-1932. I'm thinking maybe perhaps Rockford did have a type of "council" and this was it.

[B.]

B.

I think you had asked me before if Rockford had a "elder" council and I wasn't entirely sure as I had never heard of that in the Rockford area. Looking back at my old FBI files it was mentioned a few times there were those that made up the "inner ring" in the Rockford LCN and the others who were the "outer ring." Those in the inner part were the boss Joe Zammuto, underboss Frank Buscemi, consigliere Joe Zito and capo Lorenzo Buttice. Interestingly the FBI files made mention that Phil Caltagerone was part of this "inner ring," but he was never noted as having a formal position with Rockford. He was an old time member with arrests going back to 1917, he was highly respected and had been acting boss when then-boss Tony Musso went away to Leavenworth from 1931-1932. I'm thinking maybe perhaps Rockford did have a type of "council" and this was it.

Yep, I think you are right. Thank you for the info! Seems the traditional name was the "consiglio" (this is what Antonino Calderone and Nick Gentile call it), though Milwaukee called it the "seggia" (chair), so it would make sense Rockford might have their own name for it and "inner ring" makes perfect sense combined with the description.

Funny timing re: Rockford having five members in the "inner ring", too, as CC and I were just talking about how this consiglio (under its different names) often seems to include five members: administration, captains, and/or senior members with no specific rank, typically totaling five one way or another. This makes sense, too, given that the mafia's ruling bodies are typically uneven (i.e. ruling panels and the Commission) given they vote on matters and don't want a deadlock. St. Louis' consiglio appears to have included senior members who weren't "high-ranking", so not surprised Rockford may have as well.

I wonder if Philadelphia had it, too. When Rocco Scafidi first began cooperating, he told the FBI he believed the consigliere position was shared between Joe Rugnetta, Ignazio Denaro, and Dominick Oliveto. In Detroit and San Jose, the members of the council were reportedly referred to as "consiglieri", which makes sense as they were part of a "consiglio", though this wasn't synonymous with the official position of consigliere and it has led to some obvious confusion. I suspect some of the families may have even used a consiglio in place of a consigliere, though we have examples of families who had both a consigliere and a consiglio.

[PolackTony]

B.

I think you had asked me before if Rockford had a "elder" council and I wasn't entirely sure as I had never heard of that in the Rockford area. Looking back at my old FBI files it was mentioned a few times there were those that made up the "inner ring" in the Rockford LCN and the others who were the "outer ring." Those in the inner part were the boss Joe Zammuto, underboss Frank Buscemi, consigliere Joe Zito and capo Lorenzo Buttice. Interestingly the FBI files made mention that Phil Caltagerone was part of this "inner ring," but he was never noted as having a formal position with Rockford. He was an old time member with arrests going back to 1917, he was highly respected and had been acting boss when then-boss Tony Musso went away to Leavenworth from 1931-1932. I'm thinking maybe perhaps Rockford did have a type of "council" and this was it.

Yep, I think you are right. Thank you for the info! Seems the traditional name was the "consiglio" (this is what Antonino Calderone and Nick Gentile call it), though Milwaukee called it the "seggia" (chair), so it would make sense Rockford might have their own name for it and "inner ring" makes perfect sense combined with the description.

Funny timing re: Rockford having five members in the "inner ring", too, as CC and I were just talking about how this consiglio (under its different names) often seems to include five members: administration, captains, and/or senior members with no specific rank, typically totaling five one way or another. This makes sense, too, given that the mafia's ruling bodies are typically uneven (i.e. ruling panels and the Commission) given they vote on matters and don't want a deadlock. St. Louis' consiglio appears to have included senior members who weren't "high-ranking", so not surprised Rockford may have as well.

I wonder if Philadelphia had it, too. When Rocco Scafidi first began cooperating, he told the FBI he believed the consigliere position was shared between Joe Rugnetta, Ignazio Denaro, and Dominick Oliveto. In Detroit and San Jose, the members of the council were reportedly referred to as "consiglieri", which makes sense as they were part of a "consiglio", though this wasn't synonymous with the official position of consigliere and it has led to some obvious confusion. I suspect some of the families may have even used a consiglio in place of a consigliere, though we have examples of families who had both a consigliere and a consiglio.

Out of curiosity, which families do we have evidence for having both a consiglio/seggia body and an official Consigliere position? In these cases, I'm assuming that the Consigliere also sat on the consiglio?

[B.]

Out of curiosity, which families do we have evidence for having both a consiglio/seggia body and an official Consigliere position? In these cases, I'm assuming that the Consigliere also sat on the consiglio?

- Milwaukee definitely did according to Maniaci. He was the one who originally called all of this to my attention and sure enough other examples of this formal consiglio started to pop up all over the 1920s-1960s.

- Antonino Calderone in Catania referred to those on the consiglio as "consiglieri" (plural) and said it included the administration and captains. He says the family also had an official consigliere.

- The St. Louis source said John Ferrara had been one of the "policy makers" on the "council table" and he was later identified as the official consigliere by other sources, so there may have been overlap in him having that position and sitting on the council. That source said the St. Louis "council table" would meet at the boss's funeral parlor after funerals to avoid LE scrutiny.

- Looks like Cavita's Rockford example had the official consigliere also sitting on their "inner ring" which appears to be their consiglio.

- San Francisco had an official consigliere ID'd by Lima during the 1920s, near the time Gentile said they had a consiglio, so I assume there was overlap.

Other notes:

- The FBI believed the Detroit family had a boss, underboss, and then listed three "consiglieri" (plural). They didn't have a member source who could clarify all of the specifics during that time (that I know of), but again it totaled five. I've seen descriptions of Detroit having something like a council/panel beyond the normal administration who dictated policy, which would be consistent with a consiglio. I thought Detroit also had an official consigliere, maybe one of the "consiglieri", though I'm not sure. Maybe someone can clarify.

- I'm almost certain this is what the KC informant referred to as "the Men at the Bakery". He said this was a group of senior figures in the Kansas City mafia who Nick Civella would consult with to dictate policy and make decisions. Civella is alternately referred to as reporting to this group as well as having them "under" him. This would be consistent with a consiglio, which was not subservient to the boss but somewhat horizontal to his leadership. The description of this KC group being a group of elder members who met at the bakery and helped the boss dictate policy fits with other descriptions of the consiglio. Makes sense given St. Louis and other midwest families had it.

- San Jose's council/consiglio had a boss, underboss, two "consiglieri" (plural), and a captain.

- Not much on Pittsburgh, only that Nick Gentile describes contacting the consiglio when he arrived there. In Pittston, a group of members sat on a trial for a member that closely resembled the set-up of a simila trial the San Jose council presided over.

- Calderone said it never included more than one or two captains even if the family has more captains than that. This is very interesting because the US families we know of only included one or two captains at most, though in some cases those were the only captains they had.

- The capo dei capi also presided over the Grand Council / Consiglio Supremo which appears to have had the same function as an individual family's consiglio, but on a national level. This is mentioned in both the Giuseppe Morello letters and in Gentile's memoir. The traditional mafia often has an "as above, so below" sort of approach.

This could/should really be its own thread, but it is relevant to Tampa since it looks like they used it as well.

[Grouchy Sinatra]

I've been meaning to ask Scott Deitche:

The scene in Donnie Brasco where Trafficante is partying in a hot tub with naked chicks listening to Blondie, real or nah?