James J. Hines, the leader of Tammany Hall, the New York City Democratic organization, goes to prison for arranging political protection for Dutch Schultz's policy and numbers rackets in Harlem, New York.
May 23 – Murder, Inc. members Harry Maione and Frank Abbandando, based on the testimony of Abe Reles, are convicted of the 1937 murder of Brooklyn loan shark George "Whitey" Rudnick. While the decision would be overturned on appeal, a second trial would find them guilty and result in death sentences for both men.
Syndicate hitman Charles "The Bug" Workman, a suspect in the murder of Dutch Schultz, is imprisoned.
February – Emil Nizich, a minor organized crime figure involved in labor racketeering, is shot three times from behind and left in a gutter while on his way to a basketball game in Manhattan.[1]
June 12 – Murder Inc. members Harry Strauss and Martin Goldstein are executed by electrocution for the murder of gambler "Puggy" Feinstein.
November 12 – Abe Reles, co-boss of Murder, Inc. turned informant, mysteriously plummets to his death from his guarded hotel room after Albert Anastasia promises a $100,000 reward for his demise.
Eugenio "Gene" Giannini, a soldier for the Lucchese crime family, is apprehended by federal agents on heroin conspiracy charges. While serving fifteen months imprisonment, Giannini agrees to become a government informant for the Bureau of Narcotics and later the FBI.
August 3 - Morris "Moey" Wolenski, a lieutenant of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, is murdered. Many suspect that Wolenski (or Wolinsky) mislead Buchalter about a deal to reduce Buchalter's prison sentence during his 1939 trial.
January 11 – Carlo Tresca, editor of the Socialist Italian-language newspaper Il Martello, is murdered in Manhattan after seeking political asylum in the United States. Tresca's assassination, supposedly carried out by mobster Carmine Galante, was said to have been arranged by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's fascist government.
January 25 – New York mobster Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese becomes a naturalized US citizen despite efforts of the U.S. government to thwart it.
February 2 – Chicago's "Queen of the Dice Girls" and Outfit-associate girlfriend, Estelle Carey, is found brutally murdered and burned, possibly in connection to The Outfit – Hollywood extortion scandal then under federal investigation.
March 19 – Shortly after being indicted for extortion, Outfit boss Francesco "Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti" Nitto commits suicide near a Riverside, Illinois railroad yard. Nitti kills himself because underboss Paul Ricca insists that Nitti take responsibility for the Hollywood extortion operation and serve the prison term, because Nitti brought the likes of Outfit turncoat William Morris "Willie" Bioff into the Hollywood scheme. However, Nitti suffers from severe claustrophobia. Antonino "Tony," "Joe Batters" Accardo succeeds Nitti as the day-to-day boss of the organization, while Ricca gets a prison sentence.
July 9–10 – The Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) ends August 17 in an Allied victory. Sicilian Mafia boss Calogero Vizzini allegedly helps the American army during the invasion. In the US, the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) had recruited Mafia support to protect the New York waterfront from Axis Powers sabotage since the US had entered the war in December 1941. The ONI collaborated with Charles "Lucky" Luciano and his partner Meyer Lansky, a Jewish mobster, in what was called Operation Underworld. The resulting Mafia contacts were also used by the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) – the wartime predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – during the invasion of Sicily. Popular myth has it that a US Army airplane had flown over Vizzini’s home town Villalba on the day of the invasion and dropped a yellow silk handkerchief marked with a black L (indicating Luciano). Two days later, three American tanks rolled into Villalba after driving thirty miles through enemy territory. Vizzini climbed aboard and spent the next six days traveling through western Sicily organizing support for the advancing American troops. As General Patton's Third Division moved onward the signs of its dependence on Mafia support were obvious to the local population. The Mafia protected the roads from snipers, arranged enthusiastic welcomes for the advancing troops, and provided guides through the confusing mountain terrain.[2][3] Many historians are inclined to dismiss this legend nowadays.[4] The American Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT) looking for anti-fascist notables to replace fascist authorities made Don Calogero Vizzini mayor of Villalba, as well as an Honorary Colonel of the US Army. Because of his excellent connections, Vizzini also became the ‘king’ of the rampant post-war black market.[3] AMGOT relied on mafiosi who were considered staunch anti-fascists because of the repression under Benito Mussolini. Many other mafiosi, such as Calogero Vizzini and Giuseppe Genco Russo, were appointed as mayors of their own home towns. Coordinating the AMGOT effort was the former lieutenant-governor of New York, Colonel Charles Poletti, whom Luciano once described as "one of our good friends." The US Military grants Michele Navarra, the Mafia boss of Corleone, permission to collect abandoned military vehicles left by the Italian army during the allied invasion of Sicily.
December 22 – Paul Ricca, Louis Campagna, John Roselli and four other defendants are convicted of extortion with each fined $10,000 and received prison sentences ranging from seven-to-10 years. They "walk" after three years, because of some dubious, behind-the-scenes mischief between The Outfit and the U.S. Justice Department, during the Truman Administration.
March 4 – Murder, Inc. leader Louis Buchalter is sent to the electric chair and executed by the state of New York. He is the last member of Murder, Inc. to be executed.
April 22 – Frank Abatte, a major racketeer of Calumet City, Illinois who has been missing since Feb. 24, is found murdered near Hot Springs, Arkansas.
April 23 – Rocco Perri disappeared, and his body never found
August 7 – Vito Genovese, eluding U.S. authorities for over a decade following his indictment for the 1934 murder of Ferdinand Boccia, is finally apprehended in Italy and deported back to the United States to stand trial. However, shortly after his arrival on June 1, 1945, the governments star witness dies of an "overdose of sedatives" while in protective custody. Genovese was eventually acquitted of charges on June 10, 1946.
September 16 – Leaders of the Blocco del popolo (The Popular Front) in Sicily, the communist Girolamo Li Causi and socialist Michele Pantaleone, went to speak to the landless labourers at an election rally in Villalba, challenging Mafia bossCalogero Vizzini in his own personal fiefdom. Li Causi denounced the unjust exploitation of the peasantry by the Mafia. The rally ended in a shoot-out which left 18 people wounded including Li Causi and Pantaleone. In the following years, left-wing leaders in Sicily were killed or otherwise attacked, culminating in the killing of 11 people and the wounding of over thirty at the May 1, 1947, labour parade in "Portella di Ginestra", the vale between three villages. The attack was attributed to the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano. However, the Mafia was suspected of involvement in many of the attacks on left wing labour leaders.
October 19 – Cleveland crime syndicate Alfred "Big Al" Polizzi pleads guilty for failing to pay federal liquor taxes and, following his release from prison in 1945, retires to Coral Gables, Florida. John Scalish assumes Polizzi's role as head of the Cleaveland family, shortly after Polizzi's imprisonment.
April 22 – Frank Abatte, Illinois mobster (body discovered)
November 28 – Frank Todaro, New Orleans crime family leader
1945
Events
Vito Genovese, after living in Sicily for several years, returns to the United States. He is finally tried for the 1937 murder of Ferdinand Boccia and is acquitted. Soon after the trial, Genovese establishes himself in the Luciano crime family where he would compete for dominance against Frank Costello.
February 24 – Cleveland racketeer Nathan Weisenberg, the "Slots King of Ohio", whose monopoly on vending and slot machines stretches as far as Arizona and Colorado, is murdered by members of the Cleveland crime syndicate.
January – Lucky Luciano is pardoned and released from jail by New York Governor Thomas Dewey, as part of an arrangement for Luciano providing intelligence during World War II, and deported to Sicily.
February 2–9 – Shortly before his deportation, federal authorities transfer Luciano from Great Meadow Prison to Ellis Island where he remains until boarding the Laura Keene for Sicily.
June 24 – James M. Ragen is ambushed while stopped at Pershing Road and seriously wounded in the arms and legs by a shotgun blast from syndicate gunman, including William Block. Although beginning to recover from his wounds, he died from mercury poisoning on August 14. Although David "Yiddles" Miller, a West Side illegal gambling racketeer and former member of Ragen's Colts along with Ragen, is indicted for his murder, the case is nol prossed.
October – A conference is held in Havana, Cuba which is attended by syndicate leaders including Meyer Lansky and Luciano.
December 22 – The Havana Conference is held by the National Crime Syndicate, where the rivalry between Luciano and Vito Genovese is discussed (resulting in Luciano being elected Capo Di Tutti Cappi), as well discussions on the matter of Benjamin Siegel following the losses of the Las Vegas casino The Flamingo.
January 8 – Andy Hintz, a New York stevedore and local waterfront hiring boss, is shot six times and severely wounded by three unidentified men while leaving his Greenwich Village apartment. Hintz survives the shooting and identifies his assailants as longshoreman John M. "Cockeye" Dunn, Andrew "Squint" Sheridan and Danny Gentile. On January 29, Hintz would finally die from his wounds.
February 22 – U.S. mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano is arrested by Cuban authorities under pressure from the United States Government. Deported to Italy after World War II, Luciano had become a Cuban resident in October 1946. While in Cuba, Luciano was reportedly in contact with high ranking U.S. organized crime figures including Vito Genovese, Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia, Tony Accardo, Carlos Marcello and Meyer Lansky. On March 20, Cuba would deport Luciano back to Italy.
May 1 – At the labour parade in Portella della Ginestra, Sicily, 11 people are killed and over thirty are wounded. The attack would later be attributed to Salvatore Giuliano, the Sicilian bandit and separatist leader. Mafia leaders like Calogero Vizzini had initially supported Guiliano and his separatist movement. However, when it became clear that Sicily would never achieve independence, Vizzini changed sides and joined the Italian Christian Democrat (DC – Democrazia Cristiana) party. Bernardo Mattarella, one of the party’s leaders, had welcomed Vizzini in a 1945 article in the Catholic newspaper Il Popolo. Vizzini’s support for the DC would never be a secret. During the crucial 1948 elections that would decide Italy’s post-war future, Vizzini and Mafia boss Giuseppe Genco Russo would share a table with leading DC politicians attending an electoral lunch. In 1950, Vizzini would allegedly help Italian police capture and kill Giuliano.
May 5 – The "Black Diamond Meeting" is held in New Orleans to name a successor to "Silver Dollar" Sam Carolla, who would soon be deported from the United States. Attendees include Carolla underbossFrank Todaro; capos Thomas Rizzuto, Nick Grifazzi, Joseph Capro and Frank Lombardino; Carolla's son Anthony Carolla, and Carlos Marcello. During this meeting, Carolla passes his leadership role to Todaro. However, by 1950 underboss Carlos Marcello would control organized crime in New Orleans.
May 7/9 – Nicholas DeJohn, a Chicago mobster and San Francisco crime leader, is found strangled to death in the trunk of a car in San Francisco. Leonard Calamia, a syndicate gunman and known drug trafficker, is charged with his murder, but is later acquitted.
August 10 – John DiBiaso, a lieutenant of Charles Yarnowski, is murdered, shot dead in front of his home in Elizabeth, New Jersey, only 25 days after Yarnowski's death.[9]
^"Puparo's Gangland History of the Chicago Boroughs Part 3". Gangsters Inc. September 25, 2013. Chicago killers Lenny Patrick and David Yaras. They shot and killed 14 January 1944 Ben Zuckerman "Zuckie the Bookie" (his financial backer Willie Galatz) in font [sic] of his home at 4042 Wilcox street. The killers are thought to have been Lenny Patrick and David Yaras. Also Lawrence "Dago" Mangano was a suspect in the murder of Ben Zuckerman.
^"Gambler Killed; Pal Dies," by Frank Cipriani, The Chicago Tribune, Jan. 15, 1944
^"Tom Buffa Shot While in Car," Lodi News-Sentinel, March 28, 1947.
^"Former Convict Found Stabbed," Bergen Evening Record (Hackensack, NJ), July 17, 1948.
^"Police Work on Slim Clues in Gangland-Type Shooting," Bergen Evening Record (Hackensack, NJ), August 11, 1948.
Strategi Solo vs Squad di Free Fire: Cara Menang Mudah!
