Carmen Milano was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1929 to Anthony and Josephine Milano (née DiSanto). His family was of Calabrian origin and he had three brothers, John, Frank, and Peter.[2] His father was Mafioso Anthony Milano, who was underboss of the Cleveland crime family from 1930 until his retirement in 1976. His uncle, Frank Milano was boss of the Cleveland family and sat on the original Commission from 1930 until 1935, when he fled the country to avoid charges for tax evasion.[3] Carmen moved with his mother and siblings to Beverly Hills, California when he was a teenager after his mother developed cancer.[4] His father, who had rackets and business interests in both Ohio and California, split time between the two states. When the brothers graduated high school, Peter decided to stay in Los Angeles and work with Jewish gangster Mickey Cohen.
Carmen decided to attend Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and after graduating was accepted to Loyola Law School.[5] During his attendance, he was a member of the Phi Delta Phi fraternity.[6] While in law school, he became engaged to Geraldine Giesler, the daughter of prominent criminal defense lawyer Jerry Giesler.[7] On January 5, 1955, Milano was admitted to the State Bar of California.[5] Afterwards, Milano moved back to Cleveland to pursue a career as an attorney. Mafia associate and burglar Phil Christopher described parties Milano would host at the Italian American Brotherhood Club in Little Italy, Cleveland in the late 1970s.[8] The club was owned by Carmen's father and were attended by mobsters, businessman, and politicians alike. During the 1970s, Milano was paid a retainer for few, if any, legal services to Teamsters Local 410 and 436, which are labor unions that were allegedly controlled by Milano's father.[9] Milano eventually was disbarred from practicing law in an incident involving fraudulent workers' compensation claims.[4]
Underboss
In 1984, Milano decided to move back to California where his older brother was now running the Los Angeles crime family.[4] He initially resided with Los Angeles crime family caporegime (Captain) Luigi "Louie" Gelfuso, before owning and maintaining his own residence in the Tarzana district of Los Angeles.[4] In 1984, Peter Milano became the official boss of the L.A. family and shortly after, Carmen became a made man and became his underboss. Carmen's primary role was to insulate Peter from the lower ranking members of the family, thereby protecting Peter from law enforcement scrutiny. Carmen Milano also had mob connections in Cleveland and in the East Coast, which included New York bosses Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo and Anthony Salerno.[10]Kenny Gallo described him as the tougher of the two brothers.[11]
L.A. mobster turned government witness Anthony Fiato once described Milano after their first encounter:
I thought he was a fucking hobo. His shirt's open, he has a big potbelly, scuffed shoes. He tells me to call him Flipper, like the dolphin. My first impression of this guy was that he was a down-at-the-heels hobo, more so than some high-level Mafia member. He was more of an albatross than a dolphin. But he was tougher than he looked. He had a reputation and wasn't afraid to mix it up.[10]
Milano was among 20 reputed organized crime figures arrested in 1984, in what law enforcement officials said was a bid to take over a $1 million-a-week bookmaking operation in Los Angeles. Neither of the Milano brothers (nor six of the others originally arrested) were charged due to lack of evidence.[4]
On May 21, 1987, the entire hierarchy of the L.A. family was indicted for violating the R.I.C.O. Act after a 2-year investigation by the F.B.I. On March 29, 1988, Milano pleaded guilty to conspiring to extort money out of loan shark victims who had unpaid debts.[12] In exchange for the plea, he received a six-month prison sentence and 3 years probation, but never admitted to being a part of the Mafia.[12] While his brother received jail time, Carmen Milano ran the family as acting boss, taking care of the depleted business until his brother was released in 1991.
Las Vegas
In the early 1990s, Milano moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and was in control of the L.A. family's interests in the city. In 1998 Milano was one of several people named in a series of indictments that stemmed from a two-year investigation of organized crime in Southern Nevada. Milano admitted developing a fraudulent diamond scheme in the winter of 1996 with Herbert Blitzstein that was never carried out and laundering $50,000 from a food stamp fraud.[13] In 2000, he was sentenced to 21 months in prison by federal judge Philip Martin Pro.[10] During the investigation Milano admitted to being the underboss of the L.A. family and that his brother was boss.[13] This violated the Mafia's oath of Omertà. He considered becoming a government witness, but changed his mind.[14] Despite this Peter Milano sought no reprisals for his brother's betrayal, who continued to remain underboss when released from prison.
During the investigation, former FBI agent Bob Hammer was quoted as saying:
If you were making a movie, you would almost cast George Costanza as the underboss. I'm not trying to minimize the impact of the family, but he was the gentleman underboss. He was probably one of the last guys you'd pick out of a lineup and identify as the underboss.[10]
Hammer, however, was also impressed by his manners and intelligence:
He was extremely personable. I believe Carmen was somewhat ahead of his time. He grew up in a society where the mob kids became mob guys, and he became a lawyer even though he was disbarred.[10]
The Cleveland crime family, also known as the Scalish crime family or the Cleveland Mafia, is an Italian American Mafia crime family based in Cleveland, Ohio and throughout the Greater Cleveland area. The organization formed during the 1900s, as leadership turned over frequently due to a series of power grabs and assassinations. In 1930, Frank Milano became boss and was able to bring some stability to the family. Under the control of the family's longest-serving boss, John T. Scalish, who led the organization from 1945 until 1976, the Cleveland Mafia exerted influence over the Teamsters union, profiting from labor racketeering and the the skimming of revenue from Las Vegas casinos.
Joseph E. Todaro, sometimes known by the nicknames "Leadpipe Joe" or "Papa Joe" was a prominent Buffalo, New York businessman, and the Mafia boss of the Buffalo crime family. He was usually referred to as Joseph Todaro Sr. to distinguish him from his son Joseph Todaro Jr.
Alfred Polizzi was a Sicilian emigrant to the United States who was boss of the Cleveland crime family in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1935 to 1945. He stabilized the Cleveland crime family after a period of revenge killings, and was one of the most influential mobsters in the United States. He retired to Florida in 1945, where he was involved in the construction industry. He used several aliases, including "Big Al" and Albert Allen.
Salvatore Todaro, also known as "Black Sam" and "Sam Todaro", was a Sicilian emigrant to the United States who became the second boss of the Cleveland crime family. A friend and criminal associate of rising organized crime figure Joseph Lonardo, he rose swiftly in the Mayfield Road Mob and became manager of Lonardo's legitimate corn sugar and criminal corn whiskey operations. He was a well-recognized figure in organized crime circles, and became briefly involved with the Buffalo crime family.
The Buffalo crime family, also known as the Magaddino crime family, Buffalo Mafia, The Arm, the New York State crime family, the Upstate New York Mafia, and the Todaro crime family, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Buffalo, New York. Criminal investigators assert that the family operates throughout Western New York, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The Buffalo family is purported to hold strong connections with the Hamilton-based Luppino and Papalia families. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the current boss of the Buffalo crime family is Joseph A. "Big Joe" Todaro Jr., having assumed the role after his father, Joseph E. "Lead Pipe Joe" Todaro Sr., retired.
Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein was an American mobster who was a loanshark, bookmaker, racketeer and lieutenant to Tony "The Ant" Spilotro and the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Kansas City crime family, also known as the Civella crime family or Kansas City Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia family based in Kansas City, Missouri.
John Nardi was an influential associate of the Cleveland crime family who was involved in labor racketeering in Cleveland, Ohio. At the end of his criminal career, Nardi turned against his crime family in a bloody gang war.
Peter John Milano was a Los Angeles-based, American mobster, and former boss of the Los Angeles crime family. Milano was active in organized crime from the 1950s until his death. His legitimate businesses were in real estate properties and a vending company called "Rome Vending Company".
Angelo Anthony Lonardo was an American mobster who became the acting boss of the Cleveland crime family in the early 1980s.
The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the L.A. Mafia or the Southern California crime family, and dubbed "the Mickey Mouse Mafia" by former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Los Angeles as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Since its inception in the early 20th century, it has spread throughout Southern California. Like most Mafia families in the United States, the Los Angeles crime family gained wealth and power through bootlegging alcohol during the Prohibition era. The L.A. family reached its peak strength in the 1940s and early 1950s under Jack Dragna, although the family was never larger than the New York or Chicago families. The Los Angeles crime family itself has been on a gradual decline, with the Chicago Outfit representing them on The Commission since the death of boss Jack Dragna in 1956.
Michael Anthony Rizzitello, also known as "Mike Rizzi", was a high ranking Italian American mobster in the Los Angeles crime family. Rizzitello's criminal record stretched back to 1947. He was also featured in several biography novels by mobsters-turned-informants Jimmy Fratianno, Anthony Fiato, and Kenny Gallo (Breakshot).
Vincent Dominic "Jimmy" Caci was an American mobster and a caporegime in the Los Angeles crime family.
Craig Anthony Fiato, also known as Anthony the Animal and Tony Rome, is an American mobster and hitman for the Los Angeles crime family who later became an undercover informant and government witness. In the words of retired FBI undercover agent Bob Hamer, "Anthony Fiato was a major player in that whole organized crime scene" in 1980s Los Angeles.
Louis Tom Dragna was an Italian-American mobster, nephew of Jack Dragna and son of Tom Dragna. He was active in the Los Angeles crime family from the 1940s until the early 1980s.
Anthony Milano was an American mobster who rose to power working for the Cleveland crime family in the American Mafia. He served as the longtime underboss in the Cleveland crime family from 1930 until his retirement in 1976. He was the godfather of future Cleveland crime family underboss Angelo Lonardo.
Joseph Lonardo, also known as "Big Joe", was a Sicilian emigrant to the United States who became the first crime boss of the Cleveland crime family, which he structured from a number of competing organized crime gangs. When national Prohibition began in 1920, Lonardo became a dealer in corn sugar, an essential ingredient in the manufacture of corn whiskey. Lonardo became a "sugar baron" by driving other legitimate corn sugar merchants out of business, encouraging home distillation, and using intimidation, murder, and theft to eliminate or drive his criminal competitors out of business.
Frank Milano was a Calabrian emigrant to the United States who was boss of the Cleveland crime family in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1930 to 1935. He fled to Mexico, and in the early 1960s returned to the United States where he took up residence in Los Angeles, California. He became a criminal associate of the Cohen crime family and the Luciano crime family.
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