Nicholas Civella

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Nicholas "Nick" Civella alias Giuseppe Nicoli Civella (born March 19, 1912 Kansas City , † March 12, 1983 ) Springfield (Missouri) was an Italian-American mobster of the La Cosa Nostra and head of the Kansas City family from Kansas City, Missouri ; also known as the Civella family .

He was one of the driving forces behind the infiltration of the Trade Union of Transport Workers Teamsters and the tap of the Central States Pension Fund (CSPF) to finance the acquisition of casinos in Las Vegas .

Life

Early years

Civella was born Giuseppe Nicoli Civella to an immigrant family in Kansas City and was the younger brother of Carl "Cork" Civella . For Nick Civella , this began as a teenager in the Italian-influenced northeast of the city, the " Little Italy " of Kansas City. As early as 1922, at the age of ten, he was arrested for the first time because he had not attended school. Up to the age of 20, many more would follow due to car theft, illegal gambling, robbery, etc. In 1932 he was imprisoned for two months for alcohol smuggling; in America alcohol prohibition had been introduced at the end of 1919 . In 1934 he married his wife Katherine (1911-1992); both had no children, so they took great care of their nieces and nephews.

During the 1940s he was working in his Democratic Party district for Charles Binaggio , Kansas City had the best and longest-running (corrupt) voting machine at Tammany Hall . After the Second World War , Civella became bodyguard and driver of Anthony Gizzo , who at that time was the "enforcer" for Binaggio's gambling operations.

Ascent

In April 1950, Binaggio , along with his bodyguard Charles "Mad Dog" "Gargotta , was murdered. Anthony Gizzo is considered to be the author, but after three years he left the boss because he died of a heart attack on April 1, 1953. A power vacuum initially arose in Kansas City , but by the 1950s Civella began to dominate the city's criminal activity and was named as a criminal subject in the Kefauver Hearings . In fact, the “families” of the big cities in the USA have always been 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.

In any case, Civella was an invited guest at the disastrous Apalachin meeting on November 14, 1957; however, he and Joseph Filardo managed to evade the roadblocks , to reach the railway in Binghamton and to escape undetected. Civella was one of the first people to be entered in the Black Book of the Nevada Gaming Commission, which made it impossible for him to enter casinos, especially in Las Vegas .

In 1952, Civella made the acquaintance of Roy Lee Williams when they were both attending a Democratic meeting in Kansas City , as both were chairmen of the party. In the same year a meeting between the Teamsters and the La Cosa Nostra had taken place in Chicago , at which the cooperation between the two groups had been discussed. The instructions from Jimmy Hoffa , the President of Teamsters , to Roy Williams were clear: "Do what Nick (Civella) wants": "Do (everything) what Nick (Civella) wants (from you)".

Williams acted in the spirit of Jimmy Hoffa and worked with Nick Civella , who at that time still belonged to the lower hierarchy of the "family" in Kansas City, but from 1953 can be seen as the boss of the "family" there. When Williams was supposed to testify to the FBI in 1956 - he had just turned down expensive health insurance for his members at Local 41 - two of Civella's people told him that he'd better take this insurance package, otherwise his wife, his children, and then himself would be killed themselves. When Williams and Hayes , president of "Local 41", called on Jimmy Hoffa , he gave the instruction to settle and cover up the matter in the spirit of Civella . This made Williams a key figure in the La Cosa Nostra infiltration of the Teamsters . Williams even became a close friend of and was practically under Civella's control. Floyd Hayes , who entered into a deal with the judiciary, was killed in 1964 and Williams was promptly his successor as president of the Teamsters ' Local 41 .

In 1959 Civella had to appear in court several times, in particular two charges of tax evasion appeared promising by the judiciary. However, one trial was dropped and the other was fined $ 150 . He began to socialize with other La Cosa Nostra "families" in St. Louis , Denver , Milwaukee, and California .

Las Vegas

After Williams was appointed by Jimmy Hoffa as administrator and trustee of the newly formed Central States Pension Fund in 1962 , it was wide open to Civella and other bullies.

So bought z. B. Allen Glick opened two casinos in 1974 for $ 63 million from union funds. The contact was directed via official Teamsters channels to Frank Balistrieri , the boss of Milwaukee , who then contacted Nick Civella , who then practically only had to have the fund manager Roy Williams signed. In particular, this form of funding applies to the Aladdin , Circus Circus , The Sands , Dunes and Tropicana casinos .

Glick presented e.g. B. officially two sons of Balistrieri , who were paid with 100,000 US dollars and were given the option to participate in the casinos. Frank Rosenthal was hired as manager . Williams received $ 1,500 a month through Civella and continued to climb the corporate ladder with the Teamsters , but was still controlled by Civella . For this purpose, Sam Ancona was installed as a watchdog and contact person in the administration of the Teamsters .

In 1977, Civella was sentenced to his first prison term for his involvement in illegal gambling activities. With the assassination of Floyd Hayes , Williams' predecessor as president of Local 41, in 1964, he and Williams had become more than interesting to the FBI and there was now evidence that Civella had committed gambling violations would have.

In 1978 Civella had been released early and a series of murders led to the introduction of electronic surveillance of the judiciary in order to keep the mob activity under control. In this context it succeeded z. B. to record conversations between Nick and his brother Carl Civilla , which included their support of Roy Williams to succeed Frank Fitzsimmons as President of the Teamsters . If Frank Fitzsimmons , Hoffa's successor , was determined by Hoffa himself, La Cosa Nostra already had a free hand with the Teamsters . The three subsequent presidents, Roy Williams , Jackie Presser, and William J. McCarthy, had all been appointed by the mobsters .

In 1978 one was bug in the pizzeria "Villa Capri Pizzeria" in Kansas City advisable to get information about a murder from the year 1973rd The store acted as a meeting place for Nick Civella and his underboss Carl DeLuna . But instead of getting information about the murder, local FBI agents overheard Civella , DeLuna and other senior members of the La Cosa Nostra families discussing which casino to buy next or what to do with Allen Glick .

This evidence was sent to the responsible agents in Las Vegas. When, on February 14, 1979, an illegal cash courier from Las Vegas was caught at the Kansas City airport , in the Nick Civella's area , with two 40,000 US dollar packages, a series of successful house searches began . In particular , harmful material was found in DeLuna's house . He was also known in Cosa Nostra circles for meticulously keeping records. The FBI officials found details of casino takeovers, loans granted by the Teamster union, exact numbers showing "skimming," and even names of the people who had received the money diverted, including Joseph Aiuppa .

The complex of Las Vegas, Mafia casinos and Teamsters pension funds was blown. Fitzsimmons retired in 1981 and Roy Williams , one of the trustees of the abused Central States Pension Fund , succeeded him. Civella's minder Sam Ancona is said to have followed Williams like a shadow.

The end

Civella had so far been spared major convictions. In 1966 he had to appear in court in Clay County, Missouri . In 1977 he was convicted of involvement in illegal gambling and on July 18, 1980 for bribery . In November 1978 he tried to get a prison worker to move his nephew Anthony "Tony Ripe" Civella to Fort Worth , a detention center with less stringent security requirements for inmates.

Civella was sentenced to four years in prison; his parole requests were always denied due to his extensive file with the FBI and he was incarcerated in Leavenworth Federal Prison. If Civella received a visit or exercised his right to a telephone call, he was bugged by the FBI. Civella also tried to obtain his release from prison. Friends and relatives filed a petition with over 800 signatures drawing attention to Civella's poor health. The petition was put down in 1982.

Nicholas Civella died of lung cancer in 1983 at the Federal Medical Facility in Springfield, Missouri . His successor as head of the "family" in Kansas City was his older brother Carl "Cork" Civella .

His death spared him further and lengthy convictions. In 1986, his criminal partners Joseph Aiuppa , Jackie Cerone , Joseph Lombardo , Angelo LaPietra , Milton J. Rockman, and Carl DeLuna were convicted of $ 2 million in cash from Las Vegas casinos .

literature

  • Nicholas Pileggi and Larry Shandling: Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas Simon & Schuster (October 12, 1995) ISBN 0-684-80832-3 .
  • James Neff: Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI . New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989 ISBN 0-87113-344-X .
  • Robert J. Kelly: Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States . Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Hoffa Files: How This Tough Guy Made Las Vegas ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2008 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. on www.klas-tv.com (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.klas-tv.com
  2. ↑ NewYorkTimes.com - Reputed Mob Leader Paroled (English)
  3. ↑ www.time.com “Blood Threat”, February 3, 1986

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Anthony Gizzo Head of the " Kansas City family " of La Cosa Nostra
1953 -1983 		Carl Civella
personal data
SURNAME Civella, Nicholas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Civella, Nick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mobster
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Kansas City, Missouri, USA
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1983
Place of death Springfield, Missouri, USA