L'Unione Italiana, The Italian Club, is a historic social society in Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood. [1] The group's building was designed by Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott. It is located at 1731 East Seventh Avenue.
Santo Trafficante Sr. was a member of L'Unione Italiana, and he was buried in L'Unione Italiana Cemetery. [2]
Tampa is a major city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County. With a population of 384,959 according to the 2020 census, Tampa is the third-most populated city in Florida after Jacksonville and Miami and is the 52nd most populated city in the United States.
Santo Trafficante Sr. was a Sicilian-born mobster, and father of the powerful mobster Santo Trafficante Jr.
Santo Trafficante Jr. was among the most powerful Mafia bosses in the United States. He headed the Trafficante crime family and controlled organized criminal operations in Florida and Cuba, which had previously been consolidated from several rival gangs by his father, Santo Trafficante Sr.
Bolita is a type of lottery which was popular in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries in Cuba and among Florida's working class Hispanic, Italian, and black population. In the basic bolita game, 100 small numbered balls are placed into a bag and mixed thoroughly, and bets are taken on which number will be drawn. Many variations on this theme were created. Bets were typically very small and sometimes sold well in advance, and the game could be rigged, by having extra balls of a given number or not including others at all. Other means of cheating included having certain balls filled with lead so they would sink to the bottom of the bag, or putting certain balls in ice beforehand so they would be cold and therefore easy for the selector to find by touch. Over time, Hispanics developed a name for each number in a system called La Charada or Las Charadas, creating a superstitious method for interpreting game outcomes or placing bets, many times in accordance with one's dreams the previous night.
Ybor City is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually.
The Garrison Channel is one of several channels for boat traffic in and around the Port of Tampa in the City of Tampa, Florida. The Garrison Channel is anchored by the Channelside District on the East, leads to the Ybor and Sparkman Channel and by the Tampa Convention Center on its westside. It also leads itself to the Hillsborough River. The Garrison Channel is where the Waterside Marriott and Amalie Arena are located on the north bank, and Harbour Island is located at the south end of the Garrison Channel.
Palma Ceia is a neighborhood located southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida in South Tampa. It is bounded by Miguel Street West of MacDill Avenue and Neptune Street East of MacDill Avenue to the north; Bay to Bay Boulevard from Dale Mabry to Himes and El Prado between Himes and the Crosstown Expressway to the south; MacDill Avenue between Neptune and San Miguel, Dale Mabry Highway between San Miguel and Bay to Bay and Himes between Bay to Bay and El Prado to the west; and the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway to the east. The street names throughout Palma Ceia are of Cuban origin, coming from streets in the old section of Havana. Historians say the most likely explanation is that Angel Cuesta, president of Cuesta-Rey cigars, shared a map of Havana with developer Thomas Palmer while discussing the area.
For the similarly named building in West Tampa see El Centro Español of West Tampa
Ybor City is a historic neighborhood that includes the Ybor City Historic District in Tampa, Florida. It is located just northeast of downtown Tampa and north of Port Tampa Bay. The neighborhood has distinct architectural, culinary, cultural, and historical legacy that reflects its multi-ethnic composition. It was unique in the American South as a prosperous manufacturing community built and populated almost entirely by immigrants.
Gary is an industrial section located in the southeastern part of Tampa, Florida, mainly in the vicinity of Adamo Drive east of Downtown Tampa.
The Italian National Olympic Committee, founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. Within Italy, CONI recognizes 44 national sports federations, 19 associate sports disciplines, 15 promotional sports organizations, and 19 organizations for the betterment of sports. In total 95,000 sports clubs with 11,000,000 members are recognized. Its 2016 annual budget is 412,900,000 euros which is primarily funded by the Italian government.
Frank Ragano was a self-styled "mob lawyer" from Florida, who made his name representing organized crime figures such as Santo Trafficante, Jr. and Carlos Marcello, and also served as lawyer for Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa. In his 1994 autobiography Mob Lawyer, Ragano recounted his career in defending members of organized crime, and made the controversial allegation that Florida mob boss Santo Trafficante, Jr. confessed to him shortly before he died in 1987 that he and Carlos Marcello had arranged for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. These Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories have been called into serious question by others.
The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida, United States. The most notable boss was Santo Trafficante, Jr. who ruled Tampa and the crime family with an iron fist. Author Scott Deitche reported that Santo Jr. was involved with the CIA to plot assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. After the death of Santo Jr. in 1987, the Tampa Mafia family has been controlled by Vincent LoScalzo.
GaYBOR District Coalition in Historic Ybor City is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization located within Ybor City in Tampa, Florida. It is an organization of LGBT bars, nightclubs, restaurants, shops, nonprofit organizations, throughout the West Coast of Central Florida, with its headquarters in Historic Ybor City. The organization has many participants and is sponsored by both gay and straight members. The district is roughly centered on 8th Avenue and 15th Street in Ybor, with large rainbow flags & GaYBOR signs as markers. A yearly event around the 4th of July called "GaYBOR Days" is held in the district featuring celebrity appearances and street celebrations. Former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio originally met with the leaders of the group on several occasions to help with planning and issues such as police protection, including that by gay and lesbian officers. Current Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn has met several times with the Coalition. As an organization, there are members of GaYBOR across the states of Florida and Georgia.
Charles McKay Wall was an American businessman, mobster, and political figure who was a rival of reputed mobsters Santo Trafficante Sr. and Santo Trafficante Jr. His parents were John Perry Wall and Matilda McKay, a former Tampa Mayor and daughter of a former Tampa Mayor. Wall rapidly gained status within the criminal underworld from his early endeavors in the operation of several gambling, prostitution, and illegal numbers rackets. He was killed, beaten with a baseball bat, and his throat slit, on April 18, 1955. He is buried in Tampa's Oaklawn Cemetery.
M. Leo Elliott was an architect known for his work in Tampa, Temple Terrace and Sarasota, Florida. His designs include the public buildings and first eight houses in the City of Temple Terrace, Florida (1921), Ybor City's Centro Asturiano de Tampa, Old Tampa City Hall, Osprey School, two buildings that were part of Florida College and the original Temple Terrace Estates, Masonic Temple No. 25 (1928), the 1920 addition to Sarasota High School and Historic Spanish Point. Several of the properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
La Segunda Central Bakery is a historic purveyor of Cuban bread, pastries, and other baked goods in the Ybor City section of Tampa, Florida. Founded in 1915, it was one of three bakeries begun in a co-op: La Primera, La Segunda and La Tercera. The other two closed and La Segunda was purchased by Juan Moré, whose family has continued its operation for four generations.
The Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library is a member of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL) and the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC).
The Ritz Ybor is an events venue located in the historic Ybor City, within Tampa, Florida. Opening in 1917, the theatre catered to the Afro-Cuban community in the emerging neighborhood. Throughout the years, the venue was served as a cinema, adult movie theater, nightclub and concert venue. The theatre was transformed into its current incarnation in 2008; becoming one of Tampa's premier live music and events venue.
La Union Marti-Maceo is a historic social club in Ybor City, Florida established by Afro-Cubans. It opened in 1904 after white and black cigar workers were forced by Florida law to segregate their social clubs during the Jim Crow era. It is a site on Florida's Black Heritage Trail. It is at 1226 East 7th Avenue. The ornate clubhouse was demolished during an urban renewal redevelopment program in the 1960s, and its headquarters was proposed for sale to address financial difficulties in 2018.
