Cleveland crime family

The Cleveland crime family, also known as the Licavoli crime family (pronounced [liˈkaːvoli]), based in Cleveland's little Italy ^[1] or the Mayfield Road Mob, is an American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) crime family active in the Cleveland, Ohio and the Greater Cleveland Area.

History

The Lonardo and Porrello brothers

The Cleveland crime family originated in the early 1900s when the four Lonardo brothers (Joe, Frank, John & Dominic) and seven Porrello brothers migrated 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 major organization. At the start of Prohibition, Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo was the boss of the Cleveland crime family.^[2] He was the second oldest of 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 "Big Joe" Porrello, who supervised various bootlegging and other criminal operations throughout the early to mid-1920s.

Split factions

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 in the upper Woodland Avenue, around E. 110th St. In 1927, hostilities between the Lonardo and Porrello families escalated as the Porrellos competed with the Lonardo family for both corn sugar business, corn sugar being a prime ingredient in bootleg liquor.

With violence on the rise, boss Joseph Lonardo left for Sicily in the summer of 1927. 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. The Lonardo brothers relaxed, playing a game of cards, when they were surprised by two gunmen and assassinated. This allowed Joseph Porrello take over as boss of the Cleveland crime family and become the most influential corn sugar baron in the Cleveland area.

The Porrellos

Through late 1927 and much of 1928, the remaining Lonardo faction loyalists, which included an influential, up-and-coming Mafia group known as the Mayfield Road Mob led by Frank Milano, and his Jewish allies within the Cleveland Syndicate, continued to rival the Porrello family for the leadership within the Cleveland underworld, as well as for control of the most lucrative rackets outside of the corn sugar business, especially gambling, which was the biggest earner for the American Mafia crime families after bootlegging.

Porrello needed the support from the top Mafia bosses in New York and in various leading Mafia territories across the United States. On December 5, 1928, a high-level American Mafia meeting was held at the Statler Hotel in Cleveland. Joseph Porrello and 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. The attendees in the Cleveland meeting became participants of 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. Unfortunately, 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.

The Porrello brothers arranged for their associates to be bailed out of jail. Joseph Porrello was declared the boss and recognized nationwide, not-with-standing the fiasco which he was supposed to have hosted. On June 11, 1929, Porrello family lieutenant Sam Todaro was murdered. At the end of Prohibition, most of the Porrello brothers and their supporters had been killed or had sided with the Mayfield Road Mob.

Grave marker for Joseph and Vincenzo at Calvary Cemetery (Cleveland, Ohio)

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. 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. However, he was not home at the time.

Mayfield Road Mob

In the early 1930s, Milano and his "Mayfield Road Mob" a Mafia gang based in Cleveland's Little Italy had replaced the Porrellos as the Cleveland area's premier Mafia group. The Mafia faction was even mentioned by its old name in the movie "The Godfather" 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 with many powerful criminals 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. On February 25, 1932, Milano made sure the Porrello family and their gang was finished for good as Raymond and Rosario Porrello, along with their bodyguard, Dominic Gueli, were murdered in a smoke shop on East 110th Street and Woodland Ave. in their old territory while they were playing cards. After this, the remaining Porrello brothers backed out of the Cleveland underworld and fled the area.

In 1935, however, Milano fled to Mexico after being indicted for tax evasion. 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.

Collinwood Crew

The Collinwood Mob, also known as the Young Turks, 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" Iacobacci, the late Butchie Cisternino and others from the streets 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

John Scalish was by far the longest reigning 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. They became allies of the extremely powerful Chicago Outfit and Genovese crime family. The Cleveland mob also expanded its influence to areas throughout the Midwest, as well as California, Florida, and Las Vegas.

In the 1950s, the family reached its peak in size, with about 60 "made" members, and several times as many associates. By the 1970s, however, the family's membership began to decrease, because Scalish didn't induct many new members. Scalish died during open heart surgery in 1976, and failed to name a successor beforehand.

War with Danny Greene and decline

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

During his reign, an Irish gangster named Danny Greene began competing with the Mafia for control of union rackets. This resulted in a violent mob war between the Mafia and Danny Greene gang (Danny was backed by mob associate and teamster John Nardi), during which there were almost 40 car bombings in Cleveland. Nardi was killed on May 17, 1977, by a car bomb in the parking lot of the Teamster Hall in Cleveland. After eight failed attempts to kill Greene, it became evident that they needed outside help. When they learned Greene planned to visit his dentist, Licavoli and Lonardo contracted Ray Ferritto to assassinate him in 1977. Then Ferritto killed Bill McDuffee, Green's right-hand man. Ferritto tricked McDuffee into arranging a meeting with Jack White; it turned out as McDuffee's car rolled up, a bomb which was planted on a storage unit exploded, killing McDuffee.

While Greene was inside the building, Ferritto and Ronald "The Crab" Carabbia planted a box bomb inside a bomb car, and while Greene was inside the dentist, they parked the car next to Greene's. When Greene came out and went to open his door, Carabbia set off the bomb, killing Greene instantly. Ferritto later heard that the Cleveland crime family wanted him dead, so he flipped and made a deal with the authorities. The building in which this all took place is called "Brainard Place" and still stands today. It can be easily seen as you enter/exit the Interstate-271 Exit 32 ramps.

In the aftermath of the conflict, many Cleveland Mafiosi, including the boss, Licavoli, were convicted of a variety of crimes. After Licavoli was sent to prison for the murder of Danny Greene in 1982, 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.

After Lonardo became an informant, the Cleveland crime family's boss was John "Peanuts" Tronolone. Peanuts was a long time Miami Beach resident who prior to becoming 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.

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 a parade in October 1978. Kucinich missed the parade for health reasons, but took the threat seriously enough to begin keeping a gun in his home for protection.^[3]

The Cleveland family was ravaged by the FBI and other law enforcers to the point where it was thought to have no living members outside of prison by the early 1990s. It was declared inactive by the FBI and was even labeled extinct by some law enforcers.

Historical leadership

Boss (official and acting)

• 1920–1927 — Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo — murdered in 1927.
• 1927–1929 — Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro — murdered in 1929.
• 1929–1930 — Joseph "Big Joe" Porrello — murdered in 1930.
• 1930–1935 — Frank "Ciccio" Milano — fled in Mexico in 1935, deceased in 1970.
• 1935–1945 — Alfred "Al the Owl" Polizzi — arrested in 1944, retired in Florida in 1945, deceased in 1975.
  • Acting 1944–1945 — John T. Scalish
• 1945–1976 — John "Johnny" Scalish
• 1976–1985 — James "Jack White" Licavoli — imprisoned in 1981 and deceased in 1985.
  • Acting 1981–1983 — Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo — turned informant in October 1983, deceased in 2006.
  • Acting 1983–1985 — John Tronolone
• 1985–1991 — John "Peanuts" Tronolone
• Acting 1991–1993 — Anthony "Tony Lib" Liberatore — imprisoned in 1993, deceased in 1998.
• 1993–2005 — Joseph "Joe Loose" Iacobacci — semi-retired in 2005, living in Pennsylvania.
• 2005–present — Russell "R.J." Papalardo

Underboss

• 1930–1976 — Anthony "The Old Man" Milano — retired in 1976, deceased in 1978.
• 1976 — Calogero "Leo Lips" Moceri — disappeared and murdered in 1976.
• 1976–1983 — Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo — turned informant in October 1983, deceased in 2006.
• 1983–1985 — John "Peanuts" Tronolone — became boss in 1985.
• 1985–1993 — Anthony "Tony Lib" Liberatore — imprisoned in 1993, deceased in 1998.
• 1993–1995 — Alfred "Allie" Calabrese — imprisoned in 1995.
• 1995–2005 — Russel "RJ" Papalardo — became boss

Consigliere

• 1930–1972 — John DeMarco
• 1972–1973 — Frank "Frankie B" Brancato
• 1973–1977 — Anthony "Tony Dope" Delsanter
• 1977–1985 — John "Peanuts" Tronolone — became underboss in 1985.

Current members

• Boss Russell "R.J." Papalardo – served as underboss for the Lacobacci regime from the mid-1990s. Is serving as boss of the Cleveland crime family.

Former members

• Milton "Mashie" Rockman – was a Jewish mobster officially affiliated with Cleveland's Mayfield Road Mob. Rockman was the brother-in-law of Cleveland crime family bosses John "Johnny" Scalish and Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo and was a top Cleveland crime family associate involved in labor racketeering and the Las Vegas casino interests of the Cleveland Mafia. Rockman was recognized as an advisor to Johnny Scalish, Ange Lonardo and James "Blackie" Licavoli during the reign of these Cleveland Mafia leaders.

References

• Porrello, Rick. The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland crime family: Corn Sugar and Blood. Barricade Books, 1995. ISBN 1-56980-058-8
• Porrello, Rick. To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia. Novelty, Ohio: Next Hat Press, 2004. ISBN 0-9662508-9-3
• DeVico, Peter J. (2007). The Mafia Made Easy: The Anatomy and Culture of La Cosa Nostra. Mustang, OK: Tate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60247-254-9. 

External links

• ClevelandMob.com
• Americanmafia.com Cleveland page