Trafficante Family HitList

[furiofromnaples]

https://keysweekly.com/42/the-bum-farto ... coal-mine/


1931 Angelo Lazzara was an early member of the Trafficante crime family. Lazzara was known in Ybor City as a collector of graft and a worker of rackets for various high-ups among county officials. Lazzara was killed because he was had learned inside details of the workings of an arson ring. No one was ever charged with Lazzara murder.

July 11, 1937 - Joseph (Giuseppe) Vaglica was an early member of the Tampa Mafia. Joe was born on June 16, 1893, in Monreale Province of Palermo, Italy.
Vaglica’s death was the third unsolved gangland homicide within a year, preceded by the deaths of Gus Perez, Frank Carrao, and Charlie Walls’ chief lieutenant Eddie Virella. Police chalked Vaglica’s death as the latest in the gangland war that was rocking Tampa. That war was being fought between the upstart Sicilian Mafia and Charlie Wall and his loyalists.

Oct. 12, 1939 - Mario Perla,another vitim of the Bolita war between the Italians and Charlie Wall.

October 22, 1940 - Ignacio Antinori – Tampa’s first Italian mafia don and a world-renowned narcotics czar, Antinori was shot-gunned to death, his head literally blown off, while having a cup of coffee at the Palm Garden Inn.

December 12, 1948 - Jimmy Velasco,the syndicate’s “political fixer”, was shot dead in front of his wife and son while he was getting into his brand new Buick in Ybor City.Florida hoodlum Joe Provenzano was acquitted of the murder at trial.

June 5, 1950 - Jimmy Lumia, Lumia, the protégé of Santo Trafficante’s underboss Salvatore (Red) Italiano and someone suspected of helping arrange the Velasco hit, was shot-gunned to death by a shooter in a passing truck as he sat in a car outside his oil company speaking to an employee. Lumia became the Family’s “acting boss” by default, when Trafficante and his son fled to Cuba to avoid testifying at the Kefauver hearings and Italiano took off for Mexico. Upon the Trafficantes’ return to Tampa, they felt Lumia was being disrespectful and had gained too much power and put out the contract on his head.

September 22,1952 - Angelo Giglio lured Rene Nunez in a construction site Giglio was reportedly sent by Trafficante, Jr. to talk Nunez into folding his gambling operation into the Mafia. But both were on the outs in the underworld and were gunned down by an unknown assailants.

November 04, 1953 - Joseph Antinori

1954 - Antonio Italiano

April 18, 1955 - Charlie (The Dean) Wall – An incredibly powerful and politically-connected independent Tampa underworld baron during the first half of the Twentieth Century, the 75-year old Wall was brutally slain, beaten with a baseball bat, stabbed 10 times in the chest, his throat slit ear-to-ear. In addition to testifying too candidly in front of the Kefauver Committee on organized crime (a copy of which was left next to his dead body), he was suspected of coordinating an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Santo Trafficante, Jr., son of then-Godfather and the crime family’s namesake, Santo Trafficante, Sr.

1960 - Salvatore Ferrara

January 24, 1960 - Louis “Babe” Silvers

1963 - Louis "Lou Brady" Cottichia

September 12, 1963 - Paul Antinori

1967 - Joseph Bedami

October 31,1967 -Thomas (Tommy the Enforcer) Altamura,The imposing Miami-based Gambino Family mobster that was known to hobnob with celebrities and millionaires around the ritzy North Bay Village neighborhood was killed on Halloween night 1967, shot in the back of the head while he glad-handed his way through the Harbor Lounge, the bar attached to the popular Place For Steak restaurant. Altamura had been feuding with fellow South Florida mob figure, Anthony “Big Tony” Esperti, a boxer-turned-gangster that had waited for him at the watering hole and pounced within a minute of him walking in the door. Esperti would go on to be convicted of the slaying and sent to prison for the rest of his life.

Dec. 11, 1974 - Miami Beach attorney Harvey St. Jean

July 28, 1975 - John (Handsome Johnny) Roselli,the Chicago mafia’s high-profile and charismatic representative on the West Coast dating back to the days of Al (Scarface) Capone, Roselli angered his superiors in the mob by testifying at congressional hearings on the JFK assassination and the Italian OC-CIA plot to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro, disappearing en route to a golf date at a South Florida country club on July 28, 1975. Two weeks later, Roselli’s heavily battered body was discovered stuffed inside a 55-gallon drum floating in Miami’s Biscayne Bay. The night before he went missing, Handsome Johnny dined with Santo Trafficante, Jr., by then having succeeded his dad as don and thought to have had a hand in the murder plot.

October 23, 1975 - Sergeant Richard Lee Cloud,a Tampa police cop,after losing his job he worked on a federal task force fighting drug dealing and organized crime. He was assassinated when he answered his door at his home in Seminole Heights.

Feb. 16, 1976 - Key West Fire Chief Joseph “Bum” Farto disappeared while awaiting sentencing for a drug trafficking conviction stemming from Operation Conch – a sting operation that found Farto allegedly selling cocaine from the city’s fire station.He was suspected killed because the Tampa family believed that had infos on Joseph Bedami.

[sdeitche]

Good start of a timeline! I never put one together. There are many more. I'll add some in as well.

Few notes:

Paul Antinori Sr wasn't killed. He died of cancer.

Joe Bedami went missing in August 1968

Dont believe Bum Farto was killed. THink there is more to come from David and Quincy on that case.

[furiofromnaples]

Thanks Sdeitche. Maybe Bedami was killed and the corpe was never found. I read that during the war between the Italians and Charlie Wall there was many deads (I found part of the names).
Its strange that after the 1975 there was no more murders,maybe because the family was basically dead.

[sdeitche]

Thanks Sdeitche. Maybe Bedami was killed and the corpe was never found. I read that during the war between the Italians and Charlie Wall there was many deads (I found part of the names).

Yeah, Bedami was killed for sure.

[Antiliar]

Good start of a timeline! I never put one together. There are many more. I'll add some in as well.

Few notes:

Paul Antinori Sr wasn't killed. He died of cancer.

Joe Bedami went missing in August 1968

Dont believe Bum Farto was killed. THink there is more to come from David and Quincy on that case.

Bum Farto?

[sdeitche]

Good start of a timeline! I never put one together. There are many more. I'll add some in as well.

Few notes:

Paul Antinori Sr wasn't killed. He died of cancer.

Joe Bedami went missing in August 1968

Dont believe Bum Farto was killed. THink there is more to come from David and Quincy on that case.

Bum Farto?

Key West Fire Chief Joe "Bum" Farto.

[Tonyd621]

Thanks Sdeitche. Maybe Bedami was killed and the corpe was never found. I read that during the war between the Italians and Charlie Wall there was many deads (I found part of the names).

Yeah, Bedami was killed for sure.

That was the trafficante mob hit, in "76?"

[furiofromnaples]

Thanks Sdeitche. Maybe Bedami was killed and the corpe was never found. I read that during the war between the Italians and Charlie Wall there was many deads (I found part of the names).

Yeah, Bedami was killed for sure.

That was the trafficante mob hit, in "76?"

Yes.

[sdeitche]

Thanks Sdeitche. Maybe Bedami was killed and the corpe was never found. I read that during the war between the Italians and Charlie Wall there was many deads (I found part of the names).

Yeah, Bedami was killed for sure.

That was the trafficante mob hit, in "76?"

No, Bedami went missing in 1968.

[sdeitche]

Some to add-in, including attempted hits. Still more to come...

October 10, 1928 - Norris McFall- a police constable with ties to the underworld. The gunman was alleged to have said "That's what you get for fooling with Charlie Wall" before he shot McFall.

July 26, 1931 - Angelo Lazzara (I just added date). Shotgun used

January 10, 1932 - Mrs Fernando Serrano - they were aiming for her husband, Fernando Serrano, involved in bolita rackets. He was unharmed. Shotgun used

September 27, 1932 - Armando Valdez was shot in his home by three gunmen. Mario Zarate, brother of drug and bolita kingpin George Zarate, was convicted.

August 6, 1935 (attmepted) - Dr. Vic Rosenthal wounded by .12 shotgun blast. Paid to keep it out of the papers

July 24, 1936 - Gus Perez - Ybor City furniture store owner involved in arson ring. Testified against some mobsters, including Mario Perla. Shotgun used

November 5, 1936 (attempted)- George Zarate shot and wounded in front of the El Dorado gambling house in Ybor City. Shotgun used

November 26, 1936 - Frank Corroa, former NYC cab driver found shot to death in a salt marsh near Port Tampa Bay

December 21, 1936 (attempted) - Angeloe Greco, produce dealer, shot at by passing car with shotgun. Minor wounds. Shotgun used

January 31, 1937 - Eddie Virella, partners with TIto Rubio in gambling houses, shot and killed by his house in Ybor. Shotgun used

October 30, 1939- Bullet riddled body of Henry Hull is fished out of the Hillsborough River in Tampa. He had ties to the smacker mob's bolita operations in the city of Lakeland, about 20 miles east of Tampa. Shotgun used

August 27, 1951 - Armando "Flaco" Flores, bodyguard for Sal Italiano, shot in a social club in West Tampa. Jimmy Cali was the gunman.

February 18, 1953 - St. Pete bolita kingpin Charlie Williams was gunned down outside a barbershop in Ybor City.

Jan 2, 1953 (attmepted) - Santo Trafficante Jr is shot in the arm by a gunman in a passing car. Shotgun used

May 5, 1953 (attempted)- Jimmy Longo, Trafficante bodyguard, is shot at in Tampa. No injuries. Shotgun used

June 2, 1953 Anotnio Italiano (related to Salvatore Italiano) and Dominic Ferraro (father of Paul Ferraro) drove up from Tampa to New York City and were never heard from again. Rumor is they went to meet with NY mafioso to discuss the Trafficantes.

June 6, 1953 - Henry Hicks and Paul Ferraro. A gunman tried to shoot Ferraro in the SIlver MEteor Bar, where he worked, but instead hit a janitor, Hicks, killing him. Shotgun used

March 8, 1959 - Bennie Lazzara, produce dealer, shot and killed. Shotgun used.

July 2, 1958 - Joe "Pelusa" Diaz, is shot and killed near the Woodlawn Cemetery in Tampa. A major bolita and gambling kingpin, he knew he was going to be killed and wrote a letter to the police naming the suspects in the murder beforehand.

[furiofromnaples]

Thanks Sdeitche for the help,so Tampa wasn't the quite and boring city that most mob aficionados thinks.

October 10, 1928 - Norris McFall- a police constable with ties to the underworld. The gunman was alleged to have said "That's what you get for fooling with Charlie Wall" before he shot McFall.

July 26, 1931 - Angelo Lazzara was an early member of the Trafficante crime family. Lazzara was known in Ybor City as a collector of graft and a worker of rackets for various high-ups among county officials. Lazzara was killed because he was had learned inside details of the workings of an arson ring. No one was ever charged with Lazzara murder.

January 10, 1932 - Mrs Fernando Serrano - they were aiming for her husband, Fernando Serrano, involved in bolita rackets. He was unharmed.

September 27, 1932 - Armando Valdez was shot in his home by three gunmen. Mario Zarate, brother of drug and bolita kingpin George Zarate, was convicted.

July 24, 1936 - Gus Perez - Ybor City furniture store owner involved in arson ring. Testified against some mobsters, including Mario Perla.

November 26, 1936 - Frank Corroa, former NYC cab driver found shot to death in a salt marsh near Port Tampa Bay

January 31, 1937 - Eddie Virella, partners with TIto Rubio in gambling houses, shot and killed by his house in Ybor.

July 11, 1937 - Joseph (Giuseppe) Vaglica was an early member of the Tampa Mafia. Joe was born on June 16, 1893, in Monreale Province of Palermo, Italy.
Vaglica’s death was the third unsolved gangland homicide within a year, preceded by the deaths of Gus Perez, Frank Carrao, and Charlie Walls’ chief lieutenant Eddie Virella. Police chalked Vaglica’s death as the latest in the gangland war that was rocking Tampa. That war was being fought between the upstart Sicilian Mafia and Charlie Wall and his loyalists.

Oct. 12, 1939 - Mario Perla,another vitim of the Bolita war between the Italians and Charlie Wall.

October 30, 1939- Bullet riddled body of Henry Hull is fished out of the Hillsborough River in Tampa. He had ties to the smacker mob's bolita operations in the city of Lakeland, about 20 miles east of Tampa.

October 22, 1940 - Ignacio Antinori – Tampa’s first Italian mafia don and a world-renowned narcotics czar, Antinori was shot-gunned to death, his head literally blown off, while having a cup of coffee at the Palm Garden Inn.

December 12, 1948 - Jimmy Velasco,the syndicate’s “political fixer”, was shot dead in front of his wife and son while he was getting into his brand new Buick in Ybor City.Florida hoodlum Joe Provenzano was acquitted of the murder at trial.

June 5, 1950 - Jimmy Lumia, Lumia, the protégé of Santo Trafficante’s underboss Salvatore (Red) Italiano and someone suspected of helping arrange the Velasco hit, was shot-gunned to death by a shooter in a passing truck as he sat in a car outside his oil company speaking to an employee. Lumia became the Family’s “acting boss” by default, when Trafficante and his son fled to Cuba to avoid testifying at the Kefauver hearings and Italiano took off for Mexico. Upon the Trafficantes’ return to Tampa, they felt Lumia was being disrespectful and had gained too much power and put out the contract on his head.

August 27, 1951 - Armando "Flaco" Flores, bodyguard for Sal Italiano, shot in a social club in West Tampa. Jimmy Cali was the gunman.

September 22,1952 - Angelo Giglio lured Rene Nunez in a construction site Giglio was reportedly sent by Trafficante, Jr. to talk Nunez into folding his gambling operation into the Mafia. But both were on the outs in the underworld and were gunned down by an unknown assailants.

February 18, 1953 - St. Pete bolita kingpin Charlie Williams was gunned down outside a barbershop in Ybor City.

June 2, 1953 Antonio Italiano (related to Salvatore Italiano) and Dominic Ferraro (father of Paul Ferraro) drove up from Tampa to New York City and were never heard from again. Rumor is they went to meet with NY mafioso to discuss the Trafficantes.

June 6, 1953 - Henry Hicks and Paul Ferraro. A gunman tried to shoot Ferraro in the SIlver MEteor Bar, where he worked, but instead hit a janitor, Hicks, killing him.

November 4, 1953 - Joseph Antinori

1954 - Antonio Italiano

April 18, 1955 - Charlie (The Dean) Wall – An incredibly powerful and politically-connected independent Tampa underworld baron during the first half of the Twentieth Century, the 75-year old Wall was brutally slain, beaten with a baseball bat, stabbed 10 times in the chest, his throat slit ear-to-ear. In addition to testifying too candidly in front of the Kefauver Committee on organized crime (a copy of which was left next to his dead body), he was suspected of coordinating an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Santo Trafficante, Jr., son of then-Godfather and the crime family’s namesake, Santo Trafficante, Sr.

July 2, 1958 - Joe "Pelusa" Diaz, is shot and killed near the Woodlawn Cemetery in Tampa. A major bolita and gambling kingpin, he knew he was going to be killed and wrote a letter to the police naming the suspects in the murder beforehand.

March 8, 1959 - Bennie Lazzara, produce dealer, shot and killed.

1960 - Salvatore Ferrara

January 24, 1960 - Louis “Babe” Silvers

1963 - Louis "Lou Brady" Cottichia

October 31,1967 -Thomas (Tommy the Enforcer) Altamura,The imposing Miami-based Gambino Family mobster that was known to hobnob with celebrities and millionaires around the ritzy North Bay Village neighborhood was killed on Halloween night 1967, shot in the back of the head while he glad-handed his way through the Harbor Lounge, the bar attached to the popular Place For Steak restaurant. Altamura had been feuding with fellow South Florida mob figure, Anthony “Big Tony” Esperti, a boxer-turned-gangster that had waited for him at the watering hole and pounced within a minute of him walking in the door. Esperti would go on to be convicted of the slaying and sent to prison for the rest of his life.

1968 - Joseph Bedami (missing,probably dead)

Dec. 11, 1974 - Miami Beach attorney Harvey St. Jean

July 28, 1975 - John (Handsome Johnny) Roselli,the Chicago mafia’s high-profile and charismatic representative on the West Coast dating back to the days of Al (Scarface) Capone, Roselli angered his superiors in the mob by testifying at congressional hearings on the JFK assassination and the Italian OC-CIA plot to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro, disappearing en route to a golf date at a South Florida country club on July 28, 1975. Two weeks later, Roselli’s heavily battered body was discovered stuffed inside a 55-gallon drum floating in Miami’s Biscayne Bay. The night before he went missing, Handsome Johnny dined with Santo Trafficante, Jr., by then having succeeded his dad as don and thought to have had a hand in the murder plot.

October 23, 1975 - Sergeant Richard Lee Cloud,a Tampa police cop,after losing his job he worked on a federal task force fighting drug dealing and organized crime. He was assassinated when he answered his door at his home in Seminole Heights.

Feb. 16, 1976 - Key West Fire Chief Joseph “Bum” Farto disappeared while awaiting sentencing for a drug trafficking conviction stemming from Operation Conch – a sting operation that found Farto allegedly selling cocaine from the city’s fire station.He was suspected killed because the Tampa family believed that had infos on Joseph Bedami.

[sdeitche]

No problem. Oh, and there are more to come...

[sdeitche]

Some killings attributed to the Black Hand:

Giuseppe Ficarotta - April 10, 1909 - shotgun- killed in West Tampa

Nick Scaglione - November 30, 1909 - .38 - killed in Ybor

Veginga Renaldo- March 9, 1910 - shot in head (survived) - Tampa

Salvatore Martino - September 8, 1910 - shotgun - West Tampa

Paolo Perzzia - February 9, 1913 - shotgun - West Tampa

Francisco Pasqueta - June 19, 1913 - shotgun - Ybor

Giuseppe Illuminato - August 11, 1913 - shotgun (Pasqueta’s brother-in law) - Ybor

[sdeitche]

Clyde Lee- June 11, 1971 (attempted)- Associate of boss Harlan Blackburn. He was shot by Tampa mobster Sam Cagnina III.

PIco Lopez - May 1973 (attempted) - Involved in drug operations tied to mob. Survived a car explosion, but lost his leg.

Miguel Munoz - Jan 7, 1974 - Killed by a sniper rifle in Ybor City, supposedly as payback for Lopez bombing.

Ronald Yaras - April 18, 1974 - Son of David Ayars. Killed in his Miami Beach townhome. Sam Cagnina and Terry Lee Garcia were the hitters.

Cesar Rodriguez (attempted) September 18, 1975 - Rodriguez, bar owner and gambling figure, was shot at with a shotgun in Tampa. He was unharmed.

[sdeitche]

Ed Milam - May 11, 1953 - Bolita boss for Harlan Blakcburn's organization. Went missing on May 11. His body was found in the Osceola Ditch, outside Kissimmee Florida on May 18.