Salvatore Todaro
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Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro (d. June 11, 1929) was a Cleveland mobster and briefly headed of the Cleveland crime family during the late 1920s. Managing sugar refineries as a member of Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo organization during Prohibition, he later became acting head of the Lonardo family while Lonardo traveled to Sicily. However, despite his high ranking position, it has been speculated that Todaro allied himself with rival mobster Joseph Porello following a dispute with Lonardo and arrainged for the death of Lonardo upon his return in 1927 [1].
As Porello succeeded the longtime Cleveland crime boss, Todaro became a lieutenant within the Porello family. However, Todaro fell under the suspicion of the remaining Lonardo family who suspected his involvement in Lonardo's death and was lured out of the Porello's headquarters on East 110th and Woodland by 18-year-old Angelo Lonardo on the pretense of speaking to the widowed Mrs. Lonardo and gunned him down with his cousin Dominick Sospirato on June 11, 1929.
[edit] Further reading
- Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
- Porrello, Rick. To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia. Novelty, Ohio: Next Hat Press, 2004. ISBN 0-9662508-9-3
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi : Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs. 1988. [2]
