Allan May

Waxey Gordon

Waxey Gordon led a life of crime during a very long life. Busted for pickpocketing at age 18, he became a major East Coast bootlegger during Prohibition and the head of a heroin ring following World War II when he was in his 60s. He was the one Jewish gangster who seriously rivaled Meyer Lansky, who became his bitter enemy.
by Allan May

Waxey Gordon led a life of crime during a very long life. Busted for pickpocketing at age 18, he became a major East Coast bootlegger during Prohibition and the head of a heroin ring following World War II when he was in his 60s.

Along the way he crossed paths with Thomas E. Dewey, a promising young assistant U.S. attorney who got his first exposure to the limelight by sending Gordon to prison in 1933 on income-tax evasion charges. Neither prison sentences nor the shame he brought to his wife and son could cure or deter him.

The judge who sentenced him for the last time depicted his life of crime as a "malignant cancer" on society. When he died of a massive heart attack in Alcatraz in 1952, the 66-year-old was facing new federal charges for heading a coast-to-coast drug ring.

Anthony Giordano

The story of a St. Louis mob boss who wielded influence not only in St. Louis, but in all of Colorado. Giordano was an old time gangster with a temper and was a legend in the Midwest.

by Allan May

The story of a St. Louis mob boss who wielded influence not only in St. Louis, but in all of Colorado. Giordano was an old time gangster with a temper and was a legend in the Midwest.

In January 1968, the St. Louis Globe Democrat published an eight-part series on the St. Louis Mafia entitled "La Cosa Nostra Exposed." The first article in the series, which carried the subhead: "Tony Giardano: The Man of the Mob" began:

"This man is real."

"He is no myth."

"He is Anthony Giardano. He lives here, works here and heads La Cosa Nostra ("our thing") here.

Although Giordano had been arrested more than 50 times over the preceding 30 years and had served a prison term in the 1950s, he was so unobserved in the city that the newspaper didn’t even know the correct spelling of his name. Even if he had been an unknown, neighbors now would have no problem identifying him: not only was his picture plastered on the front page, so was the home where he and his family resided in Northwoods, along with his address 6901 Roland Blvd.

Salvatore Gingello
Salvatore Gingello was the most colorful gangland figure in Rochester’s organized crime history. His quick rise to fame and sensational ending was characteristic of the Rochester mob itself.

by Allan May

Salvatore Gingello was the most colorful gangland figure in Rochester’s organized crime history. His quick rise to fame and sensational ending was characteristic of the Rochester mob itself.

Born in Rochester, N.Y., in 1939, Gingello spent his entire life there. Called Sonny as a child, Gingello disliked the nickname and let people know it by being the toughest kid in the Bay Street neighborhood where he grew up.

Gang warfare began in Rochester shortly after the Appalachian Summit in November 1957. It would take almost three decades to play out. Constenze "Stanley" Valenti was the recognized boss of the city. Stanley was sentenced to 16 months in prison in August 1958. In his absence, Jake Russo began to take control of the Rochester rackets. When Stanley’s brother Frank, an ambitious capo in the Pittsburgh Crime Family tried to intercede, he found himself convicted on an election fraud charge and was sentenced to three years probation, but told to stay out of the state.

 Anthony Brancato and Anthony Joseph Trombino

The story of two Kansas City hoods who went to Los Angeles to throw their weight around. This story, peopled with such characters as Mickey Cohen and Jimmy "The Weasel" Frattiano, is a page that could have been torn from "L.A. Confidential."

by Allan May

"You know, Jimmy," said Jack Dragna, then the head of the L.A. Mob, "these guys are no good. We’ve gotten a lot of bad reports on them. The way I see it, we’ve got to clip them. Set something up, will you."

Jimmy was "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno. The two punks Dragna wanted taken out were two unruly shakedown artists who were muscle for hire: Anthony Brancato and Anthony Joseph Trombino.

The two Tonys began their criminal careers in Kansas City. In the late 1940s, Norfia Brancato worked for mobster Mickey Cohen in Los Angeles. Cohen described Norfia as a "real gentleman" who was loyal and had a great respect for people. Norfia approached Cohen and received permission to bring his younger brother Tony in from Kansas City. Tony Brancato arrived on the coast and became part of Cohen’s crew. Shortly his friend Tony Trombino joined him in Los Angeles. Brancato soon wore out his welcome, as he was not content with just being on Cohen’s payroll. According to Cohen, Brancato and Trombino began to "muscle people and bulldoze people – things that was uncalled for in this part of the country."

Charlie "The Bug" Workman

The story of Charlie "The Bug" Workman, who was rumored to have killed 20 men. One of those 20 men was Dutch Schultz.

by Allan May

When I read the biographies of criminals in Jay Nash’s World Encyclopedia of Organized Crime and Carl Sifakis’s Mafia Encyclopedia, I was amazed at the number of murders attributed to certain mobsters. I sometimes think that if all these murders were really committed there wouldn’t be anyone left on the planet (a slight exaggeration).

One of the more prolific murderers was Charlie Workman, variously known as "The Bug," "The Powerhouse," and "Handsome Charlie." He was rumored to have dispatched 20 individuals.

"Mad Sam" DeStefano

The story of a man many consider to be the most vicious in Chicago gangster history.

by Allan May

When FBI agents and members of the Chicago Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit showed up to monitor the mourners at "Mad Sam" DeStefano’s funeral, they were disappointed, but not surprised. The "puny" turnout, which included a 10-car caravan to the cemetery, only amplified what law enforcement had known for years: "Mad Sam" was despised by everyone who knew him.

DeStefano was born in 1909. In what would prove to be a fitting start to his vicious criminal career, DeStefano, at age 18, was convicted of raping a teenage girl and sent to prison for three years.

In 1932, as a member of Chicago’s infamous "42 Gang," he was shot during an attempted burglary of a grocery store. By 1933 he was back in prison, this time for robbing a bank in New Lisbon, Wis. DeStefano was captured while climbing a tree to escape after the getaway car broke down and the robbers took off into the woods. He served 11 years before his release in 1944.

"Mad Sam" DeStefano

The story of a man many consider to be the most vicious in Chicago gangster history.

by Allan May

Charles "Chuckie" Crimaldi worked as a "juice collector" for Sam DeStefano during the 1950s and 1960s. He claims that Sam pioneered "organized" loansharking in Chicago, and, because of his success, he had the permission of Anthony Accardo and Sam Giancana to stay independent. Crimaldi claimed DeStefano "could make loans anyplace in the city irrespective of the jurisdiction allocated to the sharks who came later after Sam had greased the skids."

DeStefano’s independent status was confirmed by Roemer who wrote that Sam once told him that he was never a made guy because he could never submit to the discipline of the outfit. Crimaldi reported that one of Sam’s pastimes was to drive along lonely country roads and look for burial grounds for his future victims. "We could bury a dozen guys there and nobody would ever find a smell of ‘em." He would also go to pig farms and stare at the pigs for as long as an hour contemplating how he would feed his victims to the pigs so he could destroy the "evidence."

When DeStefano was upset his face pinched up and his eyes narrowed. His voice became gravelly and he spoke his words very slowly and punctuated his conversation with the filthiest profanity. In addition, DeStefano’s eyes bulged, his lips drew back to reveal an evil smile, and he would begin to drool. He was a cautious man, almost to the point of being eccentric. He once sent a gold watch, engraved with, "To Bob from Sam" as a gift to a politician who owed him several hundred thousand. He explained his reason for sending the watch this way: "That way, if we have to whack him, everybody’ll think we were friends; and I won’t draw no heat from the dead son-of-a-bitch."

Tommy Eboli
Tommy Eboli ran the Genovese crime family for nine years, and some thought he nearly ran it into the ground.  But it was a drug deal gone sour that ended his reign as one of the most powerful gangsters in the nation.

by Allan May

When Vito Genovese went to prison in 1960 for narcotics violations, he had every intention of returning to run his crime family.

In Genovese’s absence, the triumverate of Thomas Eboli, Gerardo Catena, and Mike Miranda were selected to hold down the fort. Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli was the youngest of the trio and was looked upon as the first among equals of the group. When Genovese died in prison in 1969, Eboli was elevated to the position of boss.

Eboli was born in Italy in 1911. Little is known about his early years. His arrest record, dating back to 1933, included a half-dozen arrests for gambling and disorderly conduct. Despite his long involvement with organized crime his only prison time was a 60-day sentence for assaulting a boxing referee. Eboli had been involved in the fight game during the 1940s and managed several boxers. In 1952, while managing boxer Rocky Castellani, Eboli became enraged over referee Ray Miller’s decision in a bout against Ernie Durando in Madison Square Garden. Eboli jumped into the ring and attacked Miller. Afterward he was banned from further participation in boxing.