Lanza family

The Lanza family (San Francisco Crime Family) was an Italian-American mafia family of the American Cosa Nostra with headquarters in San Francisco ( California ).

history

Made in the war

The San Francisco family grew out of the ashes of a bloody gang war that raged from 1928 to 1932. On April 28, 1928, San Francisco's most notorious black marketeer named Jerry Feri was murdered. His alleged murderer, Alfredo Scariso, was also a well-known smuggler and he was also murdered on December 19 of the same year. Mario Filippi, a suspect behind the Scariso murder, was shot dead on December 23, and Frank Boca, another suspect in the Scariso murder, was murdered on July 30, 1929. On October 30, 1932, the so-called "Al Capone of the West" Genaro Broccolo was found dead and his ally Luigi Malvese was also murdered on May 18, 1932; Rumor has it of Francesco "Frank" Lanza , who from now on was the official boss of the Italian underworld of San Francisco.

His family was actively involved in credit usury, gambling, prostitution and drug trafficking, and also controlled the entire Fisherman's Wharf area , as well as various unions.

New boss from San Francisco

Lanza died of natural causes in 1937 and Anthony J. Lima became the new head of the family with the approval of the so-called Mafia Commission . He owned his own car dealership and, according to the authorities, specialized in extortion and fraud. Another legitimate facade he was active in the olive oil and cheese trade.

Lima and his underboss Michael Abati were suspected in 1947 of being responsible for the murder of the Chicago gangster Nicholas "Nick" DeJohn, alias Nick Rossi. However, due to lack of evidence, the charges were dropped.

In April 1953 Lima was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment and imprisoned for conspiracy and aggravated theft.

Abati regime

Michael Abati took over the management of the family and appointed James "Jimmy the Hat" Lanza , the son of Frank Lanza, as his underboss.

It is believed that James Lanza, representing Abati, was one of the 100 or so Mafia members who attended the legendary Apalachin meeting in 1957 ; a gathering of almost all bosses of the American Cosa Nostra in November 1957 which, in the municipality of Apalachin in New York took place and was raided by the local police. Lanza himself was not one of the 62 mafiosi who were briefly arrested, but he was registered in a motel in the area.

In 1961 Abati was expelled to Italy after a long legal battle, as he was never officially naturalized and was therefore illegal in the country and Lanza took over the leadership.

Lanza era

Lanza had a good friendship with San Francisco's mayor Joseph Alioto , which he always denied. He also had good connections with Bosses Joseph Civello of the Dallas Family and Joseph Cerrito of the San Jose Family . His underboss Gaspare "Bill" Sciortino was the cousin of the later Los Angeles underboss Samuel Orlando Sciortino. In 1968 LIFE Magazine published Lanza's picture in an article on Cerrito, titling Lanza as the criminal chief of San Francisco.

For a legal facade Lanza sold insurance and invested in rental properties. Like other Mafiosi, Lanza was involved in the financial extraction of casinos in Las Vegas and his local contact person was William "Bones" Remmer. The FBI assumed that its organization was smuggling heroin and morphine in glass tubes in olive oil drums, but has never been able to prove it.

Some sources say that Lanza either retired in 1989 or 1996 and that Frank John "Skinny" Velotta was the head of the Lanza family from 1996 according to law enforcement agencies. However, he is said to have only been a Mafia associate and never a Cosa Nostra member , which makes this assumption a mistake, insofar as it was still a typical Mafia family. Velotta died in 2005 and a year later Lanza also died of natural causes at the age of 103. Since then, the organization should no longer be active.

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; ie 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
1932-1937	Francesco "Frank" Lanza	Don Ciccio	1883-1937	natural death	Father of James Lanza
1937-1953	Anthony J. Lima		1905-1973	natural death	Imprisoned 1952–1956
1953-1961	Michael Abati	Mr. Mike	1900-1962	natural death	Expelled in 1961
1961 - ????	James J. Lanza	Jimmy the Hat	1902-2006	natural death	resigned

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 organization.

Period	Surname	Nickname	Lifetime	Cause of death	annotation
1937-1953	Michael Abati	Mr. Mike	1900-1962	natural death	became boss in 1953
1953-1961	James J. Lanza	Jimmy the Hat	1902-2006	natural death	became boss in 1961
1961-1989	Gaspare Sciortino	Bill	???? - 1990		resigned

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} American Mafia - San Francisco, CA.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Geocities - The San Francisco LCN Family ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ Examiner - I left my crime family in San Francisco
4. ↑ Toledo Blade - Crime Inquiry Still Checking on Apalachin Meeting
5. ↑ Schenectady Gazette - Apalachin Meeting Ruled Against Gang Killing Of Tough, Probe Told
6. ^ Cosa Nostra News - Book "Lanza's Mob" a Myth-Shattering Landmark Work About Bay City Boss
7. ^ Gangsters Inc. - Mob Meeting at Apalachin: The Big Barbeque
8. ^ ^{A b} Cosa Nostra News - Jimmy Lanza: West Coast's Preeminent Mobster
9. ↑ LIFE - The Mob