1944 in organized crime
Encyclopedia
See also:
1943 in organized crime
,
other events of 1944,
1945 in organized crime
and the
list of 'years in Organized Crime'
.
1943 in organized crime
1943 in organized crime
-Events:*January 11 - Carlo Tresca, editor of the Socialist Italian-language newspaper Il Martello, is murdered in Manhattan after seeking political asylum in the United States...
,
other events of 1944,
1945 in organized crime
1945 in organized crime
See also:1944 in organized crime,other events of 1945,1946 in organized crime and thelist of 'years in Organized Crime'.-Events:*Vito Genovese, after living in Sicily for several years, returns to the United States. He is finally tried for the 1937 murder of Ferdinand Boccia and is acquitted...
and the
list of 'years in Organized Crime'
Timeline of organized crime
This is a timeline of the history of organized crime.Note: Sources included are Carl Sifakis's The Mafia Encyclopedia, Herbert Asbury's The Gangs of New York and others. Online references also include Thomas P...
.
Events
- New York mobster Joe AdonisJoe AdonisJoe Adonis , also known as "Joey A", "Joe Adone", "Joe Arosa", "James Arosa", and "Joe DiMeo", was a New York mobster who was an important participant in the formation of the modern Cosa Nostra crime families.-Early years:Adonis was born Giuseppe Antonio Doto in the small town of Montemarano,...
leaves BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
eventually moving to Palisades Park, New JerseyPalisades Park, New JerseyPalisades Park is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 19,622....
. - Chicago OutfitChicago OutfitThe Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
enforcer William Daddano, Sr.William Daddano, Sr.William Daddano, Sr. , also known as "William Russo" and "Willie Potatoes," was a top enforcer and loan shark for the Chicago Outfit and a participant in some high-profile robberies.-Early years:...
arrested for attempted robbery of three million war ration stamps. - Emmanuel "Mendy" Weiss, a syndicate hitman and a suspected gunman in the murder of Dutch SchultzDutch SchultzDutch Schultz was a New York City-area Jewish American gangster of the 1920s and 1930s who made his fortune in organized crime-related activities such as bootlegging alcohol and the numbers racket...
, is executed. - Benjamin "Zookie the Bookie" ZuckermanBenjamin ZuckermanBenjamin Michael Zuckerman is an astrophysicist and a professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at UCLA. His recent work focus primarily on formation and evolution of planetary systems around various types of stars.- Education :...
, a member of the Chicago syndicate involved in illegal gambling, is killed. - March 4 - Murder Inc. leader Louis BuchalterLouis BuchalterLouis "Lepke" Buchalter was a Jewish American mobster and head of the Mafia hit squad Murder, Inc. during the 1930s. After Dutch Schultz' request of the Mafia Commission for permission to kill his enemy, U.S. Attorney Thomas Dewey, the Commission decided to kill Schultz in order to prevent the hit...
is sent to the electric chairElectric chairExecution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
and executed by the state of New York. He is the last member of Murder Inc. to be executed. - April 22 - Frank Abatte, a major racketeer of Calumet City, IllinoisCalumet City, IllinoisCalumet City is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 39,072 at the 2000 census. The ZIP code is 60409.Calumet City was founded in 1892 when the villages of Schrumville and Sobieski Park merged under the name of West Hammond, since it lies on the west side of the...
, is murdered. - July 25 - Corrado GiaconaCorrado GiaconaCorrado Giacona was the first boss of the New Orleans crime family, remaining a power from the organization's formation until his death in 1944....
, head of the New Orleans crime family for over two decades, dies and succeeded by Frank TodaroFrank TodaroFrancesco Todaro was an Italian-American mobster and onetime boss of the New Orleans crime family. Todaro briefly succeeded Corrado Giacona upon his death on July 25, 1944....
. Todaro himself would die only a few months later on November 28 and be succeeded by Sam Carollo. - August 7 - Vito GenoveseVito GenoveseVito "Don Vito" Genovese was an Italian mafioso who rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family. Genovese served as mentor to future mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante...
, eluding U.S. authorities for over a decade following his indictment for the 1934 murder of Ferdinand BocciaFerdinand BocciaFerdinand "The Shadow" Boccia was a New York mobster and gambling racketeer who was killed by Vito Genovese, who would become a mob boss. Boccia's murder would force Genovese to flee the United States to Italy to avoid prosecution. He is the father-in-law of Andrew Ruggiano Sr...
, is finally apprehended in Italy and deported back to the United States to stand trial. However, shortly after his arrival on June 1, 1945, the governments star witness dies of an "overdose of sedatives" while in protective custody. Genovese was eventually acquitted of charges on June 10, 1946. - September 16 - Leaders of the Blocco del popolo (The Popular Front) in Sicily, the communist Girolamo Li CausiGirolamo Li CausiGirolamo Li Causi was a Sicilian Communist leader. As a Sicilian and communist he was actively involved in the post war struggle against the Mafia...
and socialist Michele PantaleoneMichele PantaleoneMichele Pantaleone was a respected journalist and expert on the Sicilian Mafia and one of the first to shed light on the links between organized crime and political power....
, went to speak to the landless labourers at an election rally in VillalbaVillalba-Places:Italy*Villalba, Sicily, a comune in the Province of CaltanissettaPuerto Rico*Villalba, Puerto Rico, a municipio in the Commonwealth of Puerto RicoSpain*Collado Villalba, a municipio in the Community of Madrid...
, challenging MafiaMafiaThe Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
boss Calogero VizziniCalogero VizziniCalogero Don Calò Vizzini was a historical Mafia boss of Villalba in the Province of Caltanissetta, Sicily. Vizzini was considered to be one of the most influential and legendary Mafia bosses of Sicily after World War II until his death in 1954...
in his own personal fiefdom. Li Causi denounced the unjust exploitation of the peasantry by the Mafia. The rally ended in a shoot-out which left 18 people wounded including Li Causi and Pantaleone. In the following years, left-wing leaders in Sicily were killed or otherwise attacked, culminating in the killing of 11 people and the wounding of over thirty at the May 1, 1947, labour parade in "Portella di Ginestra", the vale between three villages. The attack was attributed to the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore GiulianoSalvatore GiulianoSalvatore Giuliano was a Sicilian peasant. It has been suggested that the subjugated social status of his class led him to become a bandit and separatist. He was mythologised during his life and after his death...
. However, the Mafia was suspected of involvement in many of the attacks on left wing labour leaders. - October 19 - Cleveland crime syndicate Alfred "Big Al" PolizziAlfred PolizziAlfred "The Owl" Polizzi was a Cleveland, Ohio mobster who helped establish criminal syndicate operations in Northeast Ohio....
pleads guilty for failing to pay federal liquor taxes and, following his release from prison in 1945, retires to Coral Gables, FloridaCoral Gables, FloridaCoral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, southwest of Downtown Miami, in the United States. The city is home to the University of Miami....
. John Scalish assumes Polizzi's role as head of the Cleaveland family, shortly after Polizzi's imprisonment.
Births
- March 22 - Anthony PellicanoAnthony PellicanoAnthony Pellicano is a former high-profile Los Angeles private investigator who recently served a sentence of three and a half years in federal prison for illegal possession of explosives, firearms and homemade grenades, and who was arrested on February 4, 2006, on unlawful wiretapping and...
, Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
private investigatorPrivate investigatorA private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims... - December 9 - Tadashi IrieTadashi Irieis a yakuza, the head of the Osaka-based 2nd Takumi-gumi and the grand general manager of the 6th Yamaguchi-gumi. He is regarded as the number-three leader of the 6th Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest known yakuza syndicate....
, a prominent yakuzaYakuza, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
related to the Takumi-gumiTakumi-gumiThe Second Takumi-gumi is a Japanese yakuza gang affiliated with the powerful Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate.The Kansai-based gang was founded in 1967 by Masaru Takumi, the longtime second-in-command and financial overseer of the Yamaguchi-gumi....
and its parent syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumiYamaguchi-gumiis Japan's largest and most infamous yakuza organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe pre-WWII.... - Salvatore InzerilloSalvatore InzerilloSalvatore Inzerillo was an Italian criminal, a member of the Sicilian Mafia, also known as Totuccio . He rose to be a powerful boss of Palermo's Passo di Rigano family...
, PalermoPalermoPalermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
mafioso, captain of the Passo di Rigano family - Paul Schiro "Paulie", Chicago OutfitChicago OutfitThe Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
gambling racketeer - Michael SpilotroMichael SpilotroMichael Peter "Micky" Spilotro was the brother of Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro and was an associate of the Chicago La Cosa Nostra organized crime organization referred to as "The Outfit".-Family background:...
, Chicago OutfitChicago OutfitThe Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
associate and brother of AnthonyAnthony SpilotroAnthony "The Ant" Spilotro was an Italian-American mobster and enforcer for the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. His job was to protect and oversee the Outfit's illegal casino profits...
and Victor SpilotroVictor SpilotroVictor P. Spilotro was the older brother of Chicago Outfit mobster Tony Spilotro and Outfit wannabe brother, Michael. It was not until the 1980s that Victor started to get public attention.-Biography:...
Deaths
- Emmanuel Weiss, a syndicate hitman and member of the Luciano crime family
- Benjamin ZuckermanBenjamin ZuckermanBenjamin Michael Zuckerman is an astrophysicist and a professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at UCLA. His recent work focus primarily on formation and evolution of planetary systems around various types of stars.- Education :...
"Zookie the Bookie", Chicago syndicate mobster involved in illegal gambling - March 4 - Louis BuchalterLouis BuchalterLouis "Lepke" Buchalter was a Jewish American mobster and head of the Mafia hit squad Murder, Inc. during the 1930s. After Dutch Schultz' request of the Mafia Commission for permission to kill his enemy, U.S. Attorney Thomas Dewey, the Commission decided to kill Schultz in order to prevent the hit...
, Murder, Inc.Murder, Inc.Murder, Inc. was the name given by the press to organized crime groups in the 1920s through the 1940s that resulted in hundreds of murders on behalf of the American Mafia and Jewish Mafia groups who together formed the early organized crime groups in New York and...
leader - March 4 - Louis CaponeLouis CaponeLouis Capone was a New York organized crime figure who became a supervisor for the notorious Murder Inc. Louis Capone was not related to the boss of the Chicago Outfit, Al Capone.-Murder, Inc.:...
, Murder, Inc.Murder, Inc.Murder, Inc. was the name given by the press to organized crime groups in the 1920s through the 1940s that resulted in hundreds of murders on behalf of the American Mafia and Jewish Mafia groups who together formed the early organized crime groups in New York and...
hitman - March 4 - Emanuel WeissEmanuel WeissEmanuel "Mendy" Weiss was a New York organized crime figure who was involved in drug trafficking and worked for the criminal organization known as Murder, Inc. during the 1930s and up to the time of his arrest in 1941...
, Murder, Inc.Murder, Inc.Murder, Inc. was the name given by the press to organized crime groups in the 1920s through the 1940s that resulted in hundreds of murders on behalf of the American Mafia and Jewish Mafia groups who together formed the early organized crime groups in New York and...
hitman - April 22 - Frank Abatte, Illinois mobster
- July 25 - Corrado GiaconaCorrado GiaconaCorrado Giacona was the first boss of the New Orleans crime family, remaining a power from the organization's formation until his death in 1944....
, New Orleans crime family leader - November 28 - Frank TodaroFrank TodaroFrancesco Todaro was an Italian-American mobster and onetime boss of the New Orleans crime family. Todaro briefly succeeded Corrado Giacona upon his death on July 25, 1944....
, New Orleans crime family leader