Civella family

The Civella family ( Kansas City Crime Family ) is an Italian-American mafia family of the US-American Cosa Nostra with headquarters in Kansas City (Missouri) .

For the most part, the "families" of the big cities in the USA were under the control of the Five Families of New York City or the Chicago Outfit ; To a certain extent, the "Kansas City family" was also subject to the latter. However, the personality of the respective head played a role in how strong this dependency turned out in practice.

history

"Joe Scarface" DiGiovanni

The family story began as two notorious Mafiosi, the DiGiovanni brothers, fled Sicily for Kansas City in 1912 and engaged in a variety of criminal operations. The brothers are Joseph "Joe Church" DiGiovanni and Peter "Sugarhouse Pete" DiGiovanni .

Prohibition and protection money

Their fortunes have greatly increased with the introduction of Prohibition in the United States , as they were the only vendors selling alcohol illegally in Kansas City during that time. In time, most of the business was controlled by John Lazia , who later became the leading figure as the organization began to expand.

When Prohibition was lifted in 1933, the family began to revert to old mafia business practices and resorted to extorting protection money from the bars.

Lazia was murdered on July 10, 1934; presumably on the orders of his underboss Charles Carrollo , who - until his own arrest for tax evasion in 1939 - was seen as the new boss .

Underboss Charles Binaggio was his successor and expanded the areas of protection racket. With the help of Binaggio, Forrest Smith was elected governor of Missouri in 1948 and took office on January 10, 1949.

In the late 1940s, Binaggio was classified as a risk by the Mafia Commission and his death was decided. He was murdered on April 6, 1950 and his successor was Anthony Gizzo , who died of a heart attack in 1953.

Civella family

The new boss was now Nicholas Civella , who formed alliances with other families and expanded the family's power. Civella invested in Las Vegas casinos through the Teamsters Union Pension Fund .

In 1975 he was jailed for illegal betting on the Super Bowl game Minnesota Vikings against the Kansas City Chiefs in 1970. It was also during this period that an internal family dispute broke out over control of the River Quay entertainment district, in which three buildings were blown up and several gangsters were killed.

Found guilty of protection rackets in 1980, Civella was released in 1983 and died of lung cancer that same year. His brother Carl Civella became the new head of the family, but was imprisoned himself a year later.

The FBI of Kansas City had tracked down the Mafia involvement in the Tropicana Casino in Las Vegas and started a large-scale investigation, which ran under the code name "Operation Strawman" (on: Operation Strawman) and involved numerous mafia giants and its associates were bugged.

With the evidence - which was gathered in this investigation into the late 1970s - the FBI was able to prove that funds had been illegally siphoned from the Tropicana ; which was illegal anyway but also constituted tax evasion. Joseph Agosto , officially only director of the “Tropicana Folies Bergere show” , acted as contact person in the casino itself . (The real big boss in the background wasn't Civella, but Joseph Aiuppa , who ruled him as the head of the Chicago Outfit .)

In 1981 Agosto, Nicholas Civella, his brother Carl Civella , acting boss Carl DeLuna and Carl Thomas, who siphoned off the funds with two other men, were indicted and sentenced in 1983. These events were also filmed in Martin Scorsese's Casino in 1995 .

William Dominick Cammisano, Sr.

Anthony Civella

In 1984 William Cammisano, Sr. became the new boss until his death in 1995 and Anthony Civella , son of Carl Civella, succeeded him. Anthony Civella died of a heart attack in 2006, as did the former head Anthony Gizzo. According to the FBI, the family consisted of an estimated 25 full-fledged members in the late 1990s.

present

It is believed that Anthony Civella's godson, John Sciortino , also known as "Johnny Joe", is the new boss of the family and William Cammisano, Jr. has been replaced as the underboss by "Las Vegas Pete" Simone . The Kansas City Mafia traditionally - unlike almost all other Mafia families - never had a consigliere , but the FBI in Missouri now assumes that Frank DeLuna - Carl's younger brother - acts as an advisor to Sciortino.

Historical tour

Head of the family

The head of a family cannot always be identified so clearly; especially if another family member comes to the fore due to a prison sentence. The external view does not always make it easy to recognize a new head as such or to determine his exact term of office. In addition, a presidential system seems to be establishing itself to a certain extent ; d. H. the head shifts his power more to a so-called “acting boss” and / or “street boss”, who in turn continue to recognize the head as such, even if he is, for example, in custody.

Period	Surname	Nickname	Lifetime	Cause of death	annotation
1912-1931	Joseph DiGiovanni	Joe Church; Joe Scarface	1888-1971	natural death
1931-1934	John Lazia	Brother John	1896-1934	Murdered in 1934
1934-1939	Charles Vincent Carrollo	Charlie the Wop	1902-1979	natural death	Imprisoned 1939–1954 / later deported
1939-1950	Charles Binaggio		1909-1950	shot dead on April 5, 1950
1950-1953	Anthony Robert Gizzo		1902-1953	Heart attack
1953-1983	Nicholas Civella (Giuseppe Nicoli Civella)	Nick	1912-1983	Lung cancer	Imprisoned 1977–1983
1983-1984	Carl Civella	Corky	1910-1994	natural death	Brother of Nicholas Civella; Imprisoned 1984–1994
1984-1995	William Dominick Cammisano, Sr.	Willie the Rat	1914-1995	Multiple organ failure
1995-2006	Anthony Thomas Civella	Tony Ripe	1930-2006	Heart attack	Son of Carl Civella; Imprisoned 1992–1996
2006-present	John Sciortino	Johnny Joe	1943-today

Acting boss

• 1977-1979: Carl Angelo DeLuna; Nickname: "Tuffy"; * 1927-2008; Brother-in-law of Nicholas Civella
• 1979-1983: Carl Civella; Nickname: "Corky"; * 1910-1994; became boss in 1983
• 1992-1997: John Sciortino; Nickname: "Johnny Joe"; * 1943-today; became boss in 2006

Underboss of the family

The underboss is number two in the criminal family, he is the deputy director of the syndicate. He gathers information for the boss, gives orders and instructions to the subordinates. In the absence of the boss, he leads the criminal group.

Period	Surname	Nickname	Lifetime	Cause of death	annotation
???? - 1934	Charles Vincent Carrollo	Charlie the Wop	1902-1979	natural death	became boss in 1934
1934-1939	Charles Binaggio		1909-1950	shot dead on April 5, 1950	became boss in 1939
1939-1950	Anthony Robert Gizzo		1902-1953	Heart attack	became boss in 1950
1950-1953	Nicholas Civella (Giuseppe Nicoli Civella)	Nick	1912-1983	Lung cancer	became boss in 1953
1953-1979	Carl Civella	Corky	1910-1994	natural death	became acting boss in 1979
1979 - ????	Carl Angelo DeLuna	Tuffy	1927-2008	natural death	Imprisoned 1981–1998
1995-2006	William Dominick Cammisano, Jr.	Little Willie	1949-today		Son of William Dominick Cammisano, Sr.
2006-present	Peter Joseph Simone	Las Vegas Pete	1945 – today

Films and documentaries

• 1975: The Kansas City Gangster Battle  ; John Lazia is played by Harris Yulin.
• 1995: Casino  ; The role "Artie Piscano" (played by Vinny Vella) is based on Carl DeLuna and the role "Vincent Borelli" (played by Joseph Rigano) is based on Nick Civella .
• 1996: Kansas City  ; John Lazia is played by Joe DiGirolamo.
• 2013: Gangland Wire  ; Documentation by Gary Jenkins.

literature

• William Ouseley: Open City  ; 2008; ISBN 1585974803
• William Ouseley: Mobsters in our Midst  ; 2011; ISBN 1611690056

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ouseley, William
2. ↑ Ouseley, William
3. ↑ Jeff Burbank
4. ↑ www.time.com “Blood Threat”, February 3, 1986
5. Jump up ↑ Kansas City mafia continues to dwindle
6. ^ State Of The Syndicate: The Kansas City Mafia Today