Nicolo Impastato (January 6, 1906- September 1979), also known as "Nick Tousa", was a Kansas City gangster.
Nicolo Impastato was an admitted member of the Mafia who was born near Palermo, Sicily and became a Mafioso while still in Sicily. He fled to the U.S. in 1927 during Benito Mussolini's campaign to eradicate the Mafia in Sicily. He eventually settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was taken in by the local Mafia family which was then headed by Frank "Chee Chee" DeMayo. Impastato reportedly quickly developed mob contacts in several U.S. cities. His brother, Vito Impastato, was also a known Mafia member who resided in Springfield, Illinois.
As a member of the Kansas City Cosa Nostra organization, Impastato became known primarily for his role as a go-between with the KC and Tampa, Florida crime families. He was sent to Tampa in 1939, probably at the behest of KC mob boss Charles Binaggio to coordinate the transfer of heroin between the two cities.
The heroin was smuggled into the country via Cuba after having been shipped there by cargo ship from Italy or France. The heroin originated in the Middle East and Asia. Impastato interacted with the Antinori's, prominent members of the Tampa family, which was led at the time by James Lumia. It was believed that Impastato and his cohort James DeSimone also performed various enforcement tasks for the Tampa family.
In 1941 the KC family reportedly received a shipment of bad heroin from the Antinori's. Kansas City, and the other crime families around the country that had received portions of the bad heroin (KC distributed it to other cities), demanded a refund on their money for the shipment, estimated to have been about $25,000.00 worth. The Antinori's refused and on October 23, 1940 Ignacio Antinori, the patriarch of the family, was killed by a shotgun blast to the head while seated at a table in the Palm Garden Inn in Tampa. His sons, Joe and Paul, continued leading the smuggling ring after his murder.
The downfall of the narcotics ring came in April 1942 when the Bureau of Narcotics received a tip on the Kansas City part of the operation. They conducted raids on a bar at Armour and Troost, and at the residence of Felipo Pernice at 425 S. Montgall in Kansas City, where they seized heroin secreted in coffee bags that had been hidden in a compartment in the basement of the house. Several of the ring's members were rounded up, including Joseph Deluca, a Binaggio lieutenant that was in charge of the KC part of the ring. The Feds scored a break when they managed to "turn" one of the lower level "mules", Carl Caramusa. They also turned Thomas Buffa, a St. Louis mobster involved in the ring. Both Caramusa and Buffa testified in the 1943 trials related to the drug ring. Most of the mobsters charged were convicted, including Impastato, who received a two-year term in Federal prison. The mob didn't forget about Caramusa and Buffa. On June 21, 1945, Caramusa was killed by a shotgun blast while changing a tire on his car in front of his daughter who was seated on the front porch of their new home.
An initial attempt to kill Buffa failed, and he fled the Midwest. In March 1946, he was tracked down and shot to death in Lodi, California. As for Impastato, he was deported back to Sicily following his release from prison. He died in September 1979.
The Havana Conference of 1946 was a historic meeting of United States Mafia and Cosa Nostra leaders in Havana, Cuba. Supposedly arranged by Charles "Lucky" Luciano, the conference was held to discuss important mob policies, rules, and business interests. The Havana Conference was attended by delegations representing crime families throughout the United States. The conference was held during the week of December 22, 1946, at the Hotel Nacional. The Havana Conference is considered to have been the most important mob summit since the Atlantic City Conference of 1929. Decisions made in Havana resonated throughout US crime families during the ensuing decades.
Gaetano Badalamenti was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. Don Tano Badalamenti was the capofamiglia of his hometown Cinisi, Sicily, and headed the Sicilian Mafia Commission in the 1970s. In 1987, he was sentenced in the United States to 45 years in federal prison for being one of the leaders in the "Pizza Connection", a $1.65 billion drug-trafficking ring that used pizzerias as fronts to distribute heroin from 1975 to 1984. He was also sentenced in Italy to life imprisonment in 2002 for the 1978 murder of Peppino Impastato.
Charles Binaggio was an American gangster who became the boss of the Kansas City crime family and concocted a bold plan to control the police forces in Kansas City, Missouri and St. Louis, Missouri.
Frank Alphonse "Chee-Chee" DeMayo was a Kansas City, Missouri mobster who became the crime boss of the Kansas City crime family during the later years of Prohibition.
Cesare Manzella was a traditional Mafia capo, who sat on the first Sicilian Mafia Commission. He was the head of the Mafia family in Cinisi, a small seaside town near the Punta Raisi Airport. As the airport was in their territory it was an invaluable asset for the import and export of contraband, including narcotics. His deputy was Gaetano Badalamenti.
Ignacio Antinori was an Italian-born American mobster who built one of the earlier narcotics trafficking networks in Florida. Antinori was regarded as the first boss of the Tampa crime family, later known as the Trafficante crime family.
Alberto and Vito Agueci, also known as the Agueci brothers, were Sicilian mafiosi who were involved in the French Connection heroin smuggling ring from Europe into the United States and Canada during the late 1950s and early 1960s, closely connected to Hamilton, Ontario mobster Johnny Papalia and the Buffalo crime family.
The French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Indochina through Turkey to France and then to the United States and Canada. The operation started in the 1930s, reached its peak in the 1960s, and was dismantled in the 1970s. It was responsible for providing the vast majority of the heroin used in the United States at the time. The operation was headed by Corsicans Antoine Guérini and Paul Carbone. It also involved Auguste Ricord, Paul Mondoloni and Salvatore Greco.
Joseph Armone, also known as "Joe Piney" and "Shorty", was an American mobster in the Gambino crime family of New York City who served as underboss between 1986 and 1990, and consigliere from 1990 until his death in 1992.
Stephen Armone, also known as "14th Street Steve", was an Italian-American mobster with the Gambino crime family of New York City who ran gambling operations in Lower Manhattan and was involved in the "French Connection" heroin smuggling network. He was the older brother of Gambino capo Joseph "Joe Piney" Armone.
The East Harlem Purple Gang was a gang and organized crime group in New York City consisting of Italian-American hit-men and heroin dealers who were semi-independent from the Italian-American Mafia and, according to federal prosecutors, dominated heroin distribution in East Harlem, Italian Harlem, and the Bronx during the 1970s and early 1980s. Though mostly independent of the Mafia and not an official Mafia crew, the gang was originally affiliated with and worked with the Lucchese crime family and later with the Bonanno crime family and Genovese crime family. It developed its "closest ties" with the Genovese family, and its remnants or former members became part of the Genovese family's 116th Street Crew.
The Kansas City crime family, also known as the Civella crime family, the Kansas City Mafia or the Clique, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Kansas City, Missouri.
The St. Louis crime family, also known as the Giordano crime family or the St. Louis Mafia, was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in St. Louis, Missouri.
Anthony Robert Gizzo was a Kansas City, Missouri mobster with the Cosa Nostra and a boss of the Kansas City crime family.
The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa crime family or the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida. The most notable boss of the family 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.
Giovanni "John" Gambino was an Italian-born American mobster. Born in Palermo, Sicily, he became a made member of the Gambino crime family in 1975 and a capodecina or captain, and head of the crime family's Sicilian faction, appointed by family boss John Gotti in 1986, according to Mafia turncoat Sammy Gravano.
The Rizzuto crime family is an organized crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, whose criminal activity covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the family a faction of the Bonanno crime family, while Canadian and most other international law enforcement agencies recognize it as an independent crime family. The Rizzuto family is sometimes referred to as the Sixth Family.
Charles McKay Wall was an American businessman, mobster, and political figure who was a rival to reputed mobsters Santo Trafficante Sr. and Santo Trafficante Jr. His parents were John Perry Wall and Matilda McKay,daughter of 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 beaten with a baseball bat, his throat slit and killed, on April 18, 1955. He was buried in Tampa's Oaklawn Cemetery.
Joseph DeLuca was an Italian-American mobster who controlled the smuggling and distribution of narcotics with his brother Frank DeLuca in Kansas City, Missouri for almost four decades.
This is a list of organized crime in the 1950s, arranged chronologically.
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