John H. Nacrelli | |
---|---|
Mayor of Chester, Pennsylvania | |
In office 1968–1979 | |
Preceded by | James Henry Gorbey |
Succeeded by | Joseph F. Battle Jr. |
Chester City Council | |
In office 1966–1968 | |
Personal details | |
Political party | Republican |
John H. Nacrelli,also known as Jack Nacrelli,was an American politician who served as a Republican mayor of Chester,Pennsylvania from 1968 to 1979. Nacrelli was convicted on federal bribery and racketeering charges related to his activities as mayor [1] and served two years in prison.
Nacrelli was appointed to the Chester City Council in 1966 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Garry E. Boden. He was elected for a two-year term on the council in 1967. [2]
Nacrelli was elected mayor of Chester in 1968 and served until 1979. [3]
Nacrelli was affiliated with an illegal numbers gambling operation of the Miller-Fontaine syndicate. Nacrelli directed the Chester Police Department to arrest numbers operators who tried to compete with the Miller-Fontaine operation. [4]
The corrupt political system set up by Nacrelli stretched beyond Chester and into Delaware County. [5]
Nacrelli was convicted of racketeering and income tax evasion for accepting $22,000 in bribes associated with the illegal gambling operation. [3] He served two years in federal prison and returned to Chester in March 1982. [4]
A few months after his release from prison,Nacrelli began working as a sales representative for JP Amusement,an illegal video poker machine business operated by Willie Smith,a known loan shark and narcotics financier and Joseph and James Iacona - the brothers of Gary Iacona,who was indicted for his involvement in the Philadelphia crime family capo Santo Idone. [4] According to testimony at the 1989 Pennsylvania Crime Commission,Nacrelli would intimidate tavern owners to remove competitive video poker machines from their establishments and replace them with JP Amusement machines. [4]
Nacrelli continued to play a role in local politics and Chester city government after his release from prison. He retained influence in the control of patronage matters and the official affairs of the Chester City Council and the Chester School District. [6]
Nacrelli was hired by Westinghouse to influence Delaware County politicians into supporting the development of the Westinghouse trash incinerator in Chester despite the objections of Willie Mae James Leake,the mayor at the time. [7] On October 25,1988,Chester City Council signed an agreement to build the Westinghouse trash incinerator in Chester with Mayor Leake abstaining. [8]
Nacrelli was married to Doris (Casey) Nacrelli and together had a son John H.,Jr. born in 1951. [9]
Chester is a city in Delaware County,Pennsylvania,United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington,Delaware. The population of Chester was 32,605 at the 2020 census.
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Jose Miguel Battle Sr. was a policeman and Cuban exile who served in the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs Invasion to overthrow the communist Cuban regime in 1961. He later became the nominal leader and founder of The Corporation,also known as the Cuban Mafia,and he invested in the gambling industry in the United States and Peru. He was eventually convicted of racketeering and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The New Orleans crime family,also known as the Marcello crime family or the New Orleans Mafia,was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in New Orleans,Louisiana. The family had a history of criminal activity dating back to the late nineteenth century. These activities included racketeering,extortion,gambling,prostitution,narcotics distribution,money laundering,loan sharking,fencing of stolen goods,and murder. Operating along the Gulf Coast,with its main criminal activity centered in the New Orleans area,the organization reached its height of influence under bosses Silvestro Carollo and Carlos Marcello.
The Pittsburgh crime family,also known as the LaRocca crime family or the Pittsburgh Mafia,was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. The LaRocca family is one of the original 26 Mafia families in the United States. The boss and last known "made" member of the family,Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti,died in 2021.
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Willie Mae James Leake was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as Republican mayor of Chester,Pennsylvania,from 1986 to 1991. Leake was the first female and first African-American mayor of Chester and the first female member of the Chester city council.
Barbara Bohannan-Sheppard is an American politician who served as mayor of Chester,Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1995. Bohannan-Sheppard was the first Democrat to be elected mayor of Chester in almost a century and the second female and second African-American mayor of Chester.
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The 10th &Oregon Crew,also known as the 10th &O Crew,the 10th &Oregon Gang or the 10th &O Gang,is a predominantly Italian-American organized crime gang operating in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania. Active since the 1960s,the gang is associated closely with but independent from the Italian-American Philadelphia crime family. The 10th &Oregon Crew is primarily active in South Philadelphia and certain working-class Italian-American neighborhoods in nearby South Jersey.
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