After passing the California bar exam, DeSimone became a
lawyer in May 1933. DeSimone also became involved in the mob, working to orchestrate one of the many botched assassination attempts on
Mickey Cohen.
Jimmy Fratianno signaled DeSimone after a meeting with Cohen and DeSimone pulled up in a car with
Frank Bompensiero,
Leo Moceri, and another armed man. By the time they got past Cohen's bodyguards, Cohen escaped. With his profession as an attorney, DeSimone was usually able to avoid police scrutiny. His legal career was no front job, however; in the 1940s and 1950s, DeSimone served as lawyer for mobsters such as
Jimmy Fratianno and
Johnny Roselli as well as providing legal aid to others. After
Jack Dragna died of a
heart attack in 1956, DeSimone was elected the third official Boss of the Los Angeles crime family. Jimmy Fratianno believed DeSimone had rigged the election, and transferred to the
Chicago Outfit after his release from prison a few years later. By all accounts, DeSimone was a strait-laced and sober character. One of his first acts as boss was attending the
1957 Apalachin mob convention along with
Simone Scozzari.
Russell Bufalino picked up
Joseph Civello, Scozzari, and DeSimone at the
Hotel New Yorker and took them to
Casey Hotel in
Scranton. The next morning he drove them to Apalachin for the meeting. When the large mob conference was raided by law enforcement, DeSimone was outed as a mobster, and his underboss was deported to Italy a few years later for being an illegal immigrant. DeSimone is accused by some of ruining the Los Angeles family's reputation and integrity. Nonetheless, DeSimone was featured in
Look Magazine in 1965 as one of the decade's notable figures in
organized crime; DeSimone sued the magazine for
libel.
Jimmy Fratianno also blamed DeSimone in his 1953 extortion case for having been sent to
Folsom prison on a six-year
extortion conviction, after dealing with fellow con-artists James B. Modica (a man who 'bumped' slot machines and a liquor store owner in Tarzana) and Burbank liquor store owner Dominic Raspona. Jimmy Fratianno also accused DeSimone of ruining his extortion case defense case by not recording one of the defendant's key witnesses, a man who skipped town before being able to take the stand. DeSimone was later disbarred in California from practicing law because of his criminal activities. In the 1960s,
Joseph Bonanno, in a plot to take over
The Commission, plotted the murder of Mafia bosses
Thomas Lucchese,
Carlo Gambino, and
Stefano Magaddino, and then added DeSimone to the list for good measure. Although never carried out, DeSimone didn't learn about that plan until after it was thwarted. This caused DeSimone to become very paranoid. == Personal life ==