Alfred Polizzi
Alfred "The Owl" Polizzi (March 15, 1900 – May 26, 1975), known at birth as Alfonso Polizzi, was a Cleveland, Ohio mobster who helped establish criminal syndicate operations in Northeast Ohio.
Born in Siculiana, Sicily, Alfonso Polizzi immigrated to the United States with his family the same year. During the 1920s and 1930s, Polizzi worked with his brother Joseph Polizzi, Anthony Milano, and Moe Dalitz. He married Philomena Valentino and had three children: Joanne, Raymond, and Nicholas. His arrest record would eventually include robbery, violations of the Volsted Act, income tax evasion, and suspicion of murder
By 1935, Polizzi ruled the Cleveland rackets. In 1944, Polizzi was convicted of tax evasion. Around that time, he moved to Coral Gables, Florida. At one point, US Senate investigators characterized Polizzi as "... one of the most influential members of the underworld of the United States". By the 1970s, his influence reportedly extended from Ohio to Central Florida and Southern California during Peter Milano's leadership of the Los Angeles crime family. Polizzi ran illegal gambling and narcotics distribution rackets in Florida. He also owned a construction company in Coral Gables.[1]
Alfred Polizzi died on May 26, 1975, in Denver, Colorado, while attending his grand-daughter's college graduation.[2] He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland.
References
Further reading
- Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
- Fried, Albert. The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. ISBN 0-231-09683-6
- Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
- Jacobs, James B., Christopher Panarella and Jay Worthington. Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra. New York: NYU Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8147-4230-0
- Johnson, Curt and R. Craig Sautter. The Wicked City: Chicago from Kenna to Capone. New York: Da Capo Press, 1998. ISBN 0-306-80821-8
- Reppetto, Thomas A. American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2004. ISBN 0-8050-7798-7
- Porrello, Rick. To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia. Novelty, Ohio: Next Hat Press, 2004. ISBN 0-9662508-9-3
- Schatzberg, Rufus, Robert J.Kelly and Ko-lin Chin, ed. Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994. ISBN 0-313-28366-4
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
- Bureau of Narcotics, U.S. Treasury Department, "Mafia: the Government's Secret File on Organized Crime, HarperCollins Publishers 2007 ISBN 0-06-136385-5
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