Early years Three brothers originally from
Terrasini,
Gaetano Gianola, Antonio "Tony" and Salvatore "Sam", were grocers and fruit peddlers. They first came to the attention of authorities in late 1911 when their grocery store was raided and police confiscated $2,000 worth of stolen olive oil. Weeks later the mutilated corpse of a former Gianola associate, Sam Beundo, was found charred and left in a field. Beundo had allegedly tipped off law enforcement to stolen merchandise found in the basement of the Gianola store. The murder of Beundo established the Gianola brothers as a feared force within the Italian underworld.
The Gianola–Adamo war (1912–1913) Between 1912 and 1913, the Gianola brothers took over the
Wyandotte area rackets gang starting a feud with Wyandotte Mafia boss
Vito Adamo. The brothers felt they had secured victory after a series of attacks on the Adamo gang, which left several members dead. Adamo moved to Detroit and aligned himself with Mafia leader
Pietro Mirabile, while the Gianolas sought to take over the illicit beer trade. The Adamos were able to fend off the Gianolas' first attempts by giving away free ice with their deliveries. The Adamo gang killed two Gianola gang members, William Catalano and John Jervaso, in April 1913. A string of killings and arrests on both sides followed. Adamo and two associates were put on trial for the August 1913 murder of Tony Gianola's top aide Carlo Callego. Shortly thereafter an attempt was made on the life of Tony Gianola. In the latter part of 1913, the Gianolas struck indirectly at the Adamos with the elimination of their associate and adviser,
Ferdinand Palma, a former Detroit detective turned bank owner and racketeer. In November 1913, both Vito, 34 and Sam Adamo, 32, were gunned down by shooters near their home. The Gianola gang then became the dominant Italian crime group in Detroit. They controlled the most lucrative rackets within Detroit's Italian underworld. Top members of the gang who would go on to lead the Detroit Mafia and rule the local underworld included John Vitale,
Salvatore Catalanotte,
Angelo Meli,
William Tocco,
Joseph Zerilli, Leonardo "Black Leo" Cellura, and Angelo Polizzi. Tony Gianola remained the leader of the gang running operations from the base in Wyandotte. His younger brother Sam secured a reputation as a tough enforcer who led a group of killers, and Gaetano remained the adviser of the group.
The Gianola–Vitale war (1918–1919) The Gianola brothers had aligned themselves with mobster
John Vitale, who had entered the liquor business with associates Sam Cipriano, Peter Bosco and Joseph Stefano. The Gianola-Vitale alliance and their "liquor combine" were the main competitors to the Adamo brothers. While the Gianolas had fought directly with the Adamos, Vitale and his associates had continued to run the affairs of their liquor business. With the elimination of the Adamo brothers, the Gianola gang's ascension gave Vitale the opportunity to expand his liquor business. Vitale became one of the gang's most trusted and influential lieutenants, along with Cipriano and Bosco. This relationship continued until Bosco was murdered on the orders of Tony Gianola after a disagreement over proceeds from their bakery business. Animosities over the Bosco killing grew and eventually conflict arose between the Gianola brothers and Vitale. In late 1918, Vitale broke away from the Gianola gang and established himself independently, aligning himself with the remnants of the Bosco group. What became known as the "Gianola-Vitale War" emerged as one of the bloodiest battles in the history of the Detroit Mafia. It left many dead on both sides as they vied for absolute control over Detroit's Italian underworld. Several of Detroit's future Mafia leaders became top Gianola gunmen during this time, including Giuseppe Manzello, Angelo Meli, Bill Tocco, Joe Zerilli, Leo Cellura and Angelo Polizzi. The Vitale gang struck the first major blow to their rivals when Tony Gianola was murdered in January 1919. His brother Sam took over as the new leader of the gang. The Vitale gang made an attempt on his life in February 1919. Sam escaped unharmed, but his brother-in-law Pasquale D'Anna was killed. Sam Gianola ordered a surprise attack on the Vitale forces in retaliation. He ordered his gunmen to shower the Vitale headquarters with bullets precisely when D'Anna was being laid to rest during his funeral. No one was killed, but Vitale mistakenly shot and wounded one of the police officers who responded to the shooting and was arrested. Three weeks later, Sam Gianola was arraigned on auto theft charges. The next day, he led a team of shooters into the Wayne County jail house in response to the killings of Tony and Pasquale, opening fire on three Vitale gang members. Joe Vitale and Salvatore Evola were each shot once and survived.
Vito Renda was hit 21 times but lived just long enough to break the Mafia code of
Omertà and reveal to authorities that Sam Gianola was one of the shooters. Gianola was arrested and charged with Renda's murder. During the murder trial months later, it took the jury 50 minutes to find him not guilty. Two of Sam Gianola's sons died in a house fire in July 1919, and later that summer a sit-down was called so that representatives of the two factions could seek a peaceful solution. Detroit underworld legend claims that an agreeable arrangement was achieved and that a "peace pact" was drawn and written in blood by the two feuding Mafia chieftains. Some understanding was reached regarding the liquor rackets and the other criminal activities. However, with the passing of the
Volstead Act in October 1919, new motivation for the mobsters presented itself. With the advent of
Prohibition, tens of millions of dollars in illicit profits were at stake in control of the new liquor import and bootlegging trade. In early October 1919, weeks before the passing of the Volstead Act, Sam Gianola was hit by a barrage of bullets originating from a car parked in front of a bank. Gianola was hit 28 times, staggered back into the bank, collapsed and died. John Vitale, the prime suspect in the murder, was meeting with his attorney at the time of the incident discussing the strategy for his upcoming trial. With the death of Gianola, his gang split into two independent factions, both still opposed to John Vitale.
John Vitale's reign At the start of 1920, Vitale had emerged as the top Mafia boss in Detroit. Although the Gianola gang had fractured, two dominant figures within the Gianola organization emerged to take control of splinter factions of young mafiosi. Giuseppe Manzello, a Gianola gang gunman whose youth and ambition attracted younger members of the gang, rose to some prominence at the age of 20. Manzello's rise was met with opposition by the Renda/Mirabile family, who were the last remaining resistance within the old Gianola gang to the younger, more liberal members. The Renda/Mirabile family were more conservative and had more in common with Vitale and his faction. On August 10, 1920, while Joe Manzello stood curbside talking to his close associates Angelo Meli, 23 and Angelo Polizzi, 21,
a car sped by and showered the three men with bullets. Manzello was hit by eight bullets, Polizzi by seven. Meli escaped injury but Manzello and Polizzi were rushed to hospital. Polizzi eventually recovered; Manzello died days after the shooting as a result of his injuries. Manzello's followers demanded revenge on John Vitale who they felt had ordered the shooting.
Salvatore Catalanotte, known to his friends as "Singing Sam", was a Gianola gang lieutenant by the time he was 20. At the time of the Gianola-Vitale war, Catalanotte was the president of Detroit's Unione Siciliana. He became leader of a splinter group within the gang after the murder of his bosses. Catalanotte was a protégé of
Gaetano Gianola. Catalanotte formed a strong alliance with Wyandotte area beer baron, Joseph Tocco and
Hamtramck Mafia leader Chester La Mare. This faction became known as the Westside Mob. The remaining Manzella group members were opposed to the Vitale leadership and on August 11, 1920, the group retaliated and struck back at Vitale by murdering Antonio Badalamenti, a leading Vitale gang member and the boss's nephew. The attack on Badalamenti in front of his grocery store was allegedly led by Joe Zerilli, the roommate and close associate of Manzella and Polizzi. Along with Zerilli, six other Manzella group members were arrested, including Zerilli's cousin Bill Tocco, Manzella's cousin Carlo Manzella, Leo Cellura, John Mangone, Vito Paraino, Joseph Delmonico and James Barraco. All the charges were dropped against them two days later. The elimination of Joe Manzella left Sam Catalanotte as the dominant member of the old Gianola gang and as a sign of friendship he appointed Angelo Meli the leader of the Manzella group. Bill Tocco and Joe Zerilli were named as Meli's right-hand men. Meli reorganized the group under the "Eastside Mob" flag. On August 18, 1920, police believed that several of those freed from being charged in the Badalamenti murder participated in the murder of Joe Vitale, the 17-year-old son of John Vitale. The killing may have been accidental with the true target was the senior Vitale, as gunmen
directed a volley of bullets towards Vitale, his son and wife while they were leaving their home. Vitale was struck by 18 bullets fired from two moving cars at 3:00 am on September 28, 1920. No one was ever charged with his murder. The death of Vitale marked the end in the series of feuds. Relative peace reigned following his death and the ascension of Sam Catalanotte as the head of Detroit's Sicilian Mafia. Catalanotte organized the remaining Mafia factions under a liquor combine that became known as the "Pascuzzi Combine". The combine was a liquor smuggling and bootlegging syndicate that gave each group and its leaders their own specific territory to operate, while working together for the overall expansion of Detroit Mafia power and influence. The Pascuzzi Combine created a unified and cohesive criminal organization that controlled liquor smuggling, bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, narcotics and other rackets and was the forerunner of the Detroit Partnership under the future Zerilli-Tocco regime.
Prohibition era Throughout the
Prohibition era, from 1920 to 1933, the
Detroit River was utilized to facilitate the flow of illegal liquor from Canada to Detroit. The bootleggers who did this were referred to as
rum runners. These bootleggers also owned the majority of the speed boats in the river. Detroit had a dedicated fleet of patrol boats to prevent the transportation of liquor across the border. However, this system was ineffective because federal officers were caught taking bribes. Towards the end of Prohibition, the gangs began upgrading to larger boats able to manage heavy seas and carry more liquor, and added larger motors to enable higher workload and maintain their schedule. Detroit continued to add more of a police presence, but the rum runners were able to go around the checkpoints. In the late 1920s, following the
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Detroit Partnership capitalized on new transportation mediums in order to conduct their illicit activities. They were aided by Detroit's proximity to the Canadian border and neighboring city of
Windsor, Ontario, with the province not having a ban on the production and exportation of alcohol. Until the late 1920s, goods and civilians crossed the Detroit-Windsor border via ferry, as there was no bridge. The
automotive industry within Detroit encouraged immigrants from Canada to seek work in the United States, which in turn invited bootleggers to shuffle their illicit goods through large crowds of immigrants. LaMare later established himself as a naturalized U.S. citizen and in 1917, proclaimed his occupation to be a self-employed fruit merchant in Detroit. LaMare's parents were allegedly of Castellammarese descent and some Mafia historians claim he was a close associate of Milazzo. In the early 1920s, LaMare established a base of operations in Hamtramck. He opened a popular night club known as the Venice Cafe. With his business partners and the leaders of the Eastside Gang,
Angelo Meli,
William Vito "Black Bill" Tocco, and
Joseph "Joe Uno" Zerilli, LaMare grew rich and powerful, shaking down brothels and gambling houses for protection and muscling into bootlegging rackets. Hamtramck became so corrupt that in the fall of 1923, Michigan Governor Alex Groesbeck ordered detachments of the Michigan State Police into Hamtramck to take control of the city government. This operation resulted in the arrest and eventual conviction of 31 men, including Hamtramck Mayor Peter C. Jezewski, for Prohibition law violations. LaMare was sentenced to a year in federal prison, but the judge increased his original fines and gave him probation on LaMare's promise to "go straight". In early February 1930, Sam Catalanotte died from pneumonia. The situation was exactly what LaMare had been waiting for. LaMare had previously been the principal lieutenant of Sam Giannola and believed he should have been elevated to Catalanotte's position of supreme boss by the end of the Giannola-Vitale War. Following the death of Sam Catalanotte and with the support of
Joe Masseria in New York, LaMare began to make plans to eliminate the leaders of the Eastside gang which included Angelo Meli, William Tocco and Joseph Zerilli. LaMare's Westside gang consisted of mostly members from the old Sam Catalanotte gang, a downriver gang headed by William Tocco's brother, Joseph Tocco, and Benny Vitagliano (Benny the Baker). There had been an ongoing rivalry between the Eastside and Westside gangs formed as LaMare forced his way into the Eastside gang's rackets. LaMare's aggressive ventures into the Eastside gang had almost brought about open warfare in the Detroit Italian underworld. While Amico spoke to La Mare, Macklin rose to wash some dishes and subsequently shot his boss in the back. La Mare's wife was not present at the time of the murder, as she was driving one of her husband's associates back to his home in Detroit. Some theorized that Mrs. La Mare was informed of or even involved in her husband's murder, given the unique circumstances of her absence that night. As a commission member Zerilli acted as a senior L.C.N. leader alongside the five New York City bosses and other top Mafia bosses from around the country at the time that included
Stefano Magaddino of Buffalo,
Sam Giancana of
Chicago,
Angelo Bruno of
Philadelphia,
Santo Trafficante Jr. of
Tampa,
Carlos Marcello of
New Orleans and
Raymond Patriarca Sr. of
New England. Joe Zerilli remained the top boss of the Detroit Mafia until his death of natural causes on October 30, 1977, at the age of 79.
Anthony Joseph Zerilli had taken over as acting boss of the Detroit Partnership around 1970 when the elder Zerilli went into semi-retirement, but it was short-lived, as "the old man", as he was known to his peers in his later years, was called out of retirement until his death to lead the crime family he helped build over the better part of five decades due to the untimely imprisonment of his son and successor in 1974. With the imprisonment of the younger Zerilli and one of his closest associates, Michael Santo Polizzi, known as "Big Mike" because they had concealed their ownership of the Frontier Hotel and Casino in
Las Vegas, the old man was basically forced out of retirement to lead the crime family at the highest levels once more until a suitable successor could be chosen. mugshot of
Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone in 1975
Anthony Giacalone gained national fame in the 1970s with the disappearance of
Jimmy Hoffa. Prior to then, there had been growing tension between Hoffa and several Mafia members, who opposed his plans to return to prominence in the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The latter included Giacalone,
Anthony Provenzano and Giacalone's brother
Vito. On July 30, 1975, Hoffa disappeared after he had gone out to a restaurant to meet Provenzano and Giacalone. Giacalone had not been near the restaurant that afternoon, though he was suspected of being involved in a conspiracy to murder Hoffa.
Gotham Hotel From its construction in 1924 until the early 1940s, the hotel was named the Hotel Martinique. However, not enough hotels catered to the black community during this time. In 1943 John White, Walter Norwood, and Irving Roane purchased the hotel with the hopes of making it an oasis for the black community in Detroit. Giacalone was a Detroit mafia gambling boss who teamed up with Licavoli to manage the gambling/illegal rackets at the hotel. In 1962, a gambling racket run inside the building formerly occupied by the Gotham Hotel was raided by the Michigan State Police, aided by the IRS and local authorities. Security at the hotel was tightly controlled by the use of a "building-wide buzzer alarm system" and an extensive camera system that linked to a television in the lobby. On the top floor, a crooked dice game was found with $5,000 on the table. On the other nine floors, bet slips, adding machines, counting machines, guns, ammunition, and at least 30 safes were found. Many operators moved their gambling operations outside of the city, while operators that stayed were continually on the move. This made policing easier because there were more opportunities to observe them and catch their mistakes., a dice game of Middle Eastern origin. The Lesod Club, operated by
Anthony and
Vito Giacolone, moved locations a number of times throughout its existence due to police-generated pressure. Police had regular surveillance on the Lesod club and raided it many times, attempting to uncover the illegal gambling that was carefully hidden under the facade of a social club, until its closure in 1962. The American-Lebanese Club was first raided by police in 1942 for gambling suspicions. From 1942 until early 1959, it was raided 18 times and 275 people were arrested, yet none of them had been charged. After this event, the police set up a 24-hour surveillance sting operation in October 1959 to track which members were visiting the club. On December 29, 1959, the police made their largest raid on the club, arresting 28 members, later bringing 11 members to trial. Asab Jordan was the star witness in the case, but police almost lost his testimony when he failed at attempting suicide, which he says was unrelated to the case, but more so related to pressures to pay his debts. The people arrested after the raid were never charged, while the 11 people awaiting trial pleaded guilty and were facing two years in prison. Ultimately, the 11 members were assessed fines ranging from $100-$300, with Vito Giacolone receiving the highest fine of $300. After the constant surveillance and resulting court cases, the American-Lebanese Club stopped operating and became the Lower East Side of Detroit (LESOD) Club.
The Lower East Side of Detroit (LESOD) Club When the American-Lebanese Club was shut down in 1959, the Lesod Club, originally Lower East Side of Detroit Club, took its place at 106 W Columbia St. and later moved to
River Rouge. The Lesod club was much like the American-Lebanese Club. Registered as a men's social club, the Lesod club ran an illegal barbudi The club was run by two mafiosi, Vito and Anthony Giacalone. Adding onto the security measures put in place when it was the American-Lebanese Club, the Giacalone brothers developed extremely cautious systems to protect the club against police. The game was played upstairs behind a locked door with a peephole. The outside was guarded who screened people before they were allowed to enter through the locked door downstairs. There was a while where Billy Giacalone and his henchmen, Otis Tincer, who were both involved in security, let police upstairs to look around. Unfortunately for the police, all they would find after hearing people rushing around upstairs, was men playing checkers.
Tocco era (1977–1996) in 1992 Upon his death in 1977, Joe Zerilli was succeeded as boss by the most senior member of the Ruling Council, John Priziola, known affectionately to his peers as "Papa John". Born Giovanni Priziola, the longtime Detroit Mafia leader was one of only two charter ruling council members left alive and active at the time of Zerilli's death. The other senior ruling council member was former Down River Gang leader and Prohibition era czar,
Peter Licavoli, who by this time was himself semi-retired and living in
Tucson,
Arizona, not far from his friend, retired Mafia boss Joe Bonanno. Licavoli was a powerful Detroit Partnership member who had been the crime family's
Toledo, Ohio, operations overseer and held a great deal of influence over Detroit area gambling operations, along with many other personal business interests. Pete Licavoli ran his business affairs from his Arizona ranch which he then sold to Estes Homes for development in 1980. He died of natural causes on January 11, 1984, at the age of 81, the last of the original ruling council members. With the death of boss Joe Zerilli, John Priziola as the Detroit Partnership's most senior leader effectively became the top boss of the crime family. Only Peter Licavoli held the same status and a similar level of authority as a charter ruling council member. Priziola had been a longtime Detroit Mafia leader who was greatly respected throughout the Detroit Mafia, but much of his power came from being the leader of a powerful and wealthy faction within the Detroit Partnership. The "Partinico faction" was a group of Detroit Mafia leaders that included Raffaele Quasarano and deported Sicilian-American mafiosi, Francesco "Frankie Fingers" Coppola. These men, along with associates in
San Diego,
California, and
Windsor, Ontario, ran the crime family's heroin importation operations. Through their influential underworld connections nationwide they amassed a great deal of wealth and power over the years with the help of their narcotics contacts in Sicily. Priziola was a traditional, old world mafioso who ran his affairs and those of the crime family from the shadows, so to run the day-to-day operations he officially named Joe Zerilli's nephew and Bill Tocco's son,
Giacomo "Jack" Tocco as the acting boss of the crime family. Papa John acted as the crime family's official consigliere, but due to his senior position and the great deal of power and influence Priziola carried throughout the Detroit Partnership his word was final. The long criminal career of Papa John Priziola within Detroit's underworld was influential, but his time as the top boss in Detroit was short-lived, as he died of natural causes at the age of 84 on April 14, 1979, less than two years after his predecessor, Joe Zerilli. Joe Zerilli had demoted his son and chosen successor Tony as acting boss after he was convicted in the early 1970s and allegedly before his death Zerilli gave his blessing and encouraged his supporters to name his nephew and protégé,
Jack Tocco as his eventual successor to the throne of the Detroit crime family. Jack Tocco's intelligence and abilities as a leader were known within the Detroit underworld during the time the young Tocco made his way through the ranks of the Detroit Partnership in the 1950s and 60s. The fact that Tocco basically held a "mafia pedigree" and was considered "mafia royalty" as the son of Black Bill Tocco worked greatly to his advantage and he was eventually named the new sitting boss of the Detroit crime family soon after the death of Papa John Priziola. According to law enforcement sources Jack Tocco allegedly became the official boss of the Detroit Partnership on June 11, 1979, in a ceremony held at the Timberland Game Ranch in
Dexter Township. Apparently as a sign of appreciation for the support his father gave him and to show that they were united as a family Jack Tocco named his cousin Tony Zerilli his official underboss immediately after he was released from prison in 1979 after serving over four years of his prison sentence. According to law enforcement, Mafia historians, and true crime authors, the Tocco-Zerilli regime still maintains its leadership within the Detroit Mafia, known in local underworld and law enforcement circles to this day as the "Partnership" and the "Combination".
The Partnership since 1996 The Partnership was hit by
indictments in March 1996 against 17 members and associates. Among those indicted were boss Jack Tocco and
underboss Anthony Joseph Zerilli. Four alleged capos were also indicted. One was Anthony Joseph Corrado, who was identified in 1974 by the
Nevada Gaming Commission as one of a few individuals from Detroit who received "lavish" treatment while vacationing at the Las Vegas casinos. Anthony Joseph Tocco was another reputed capo. He was among 30 Detroit men placed on the record of the Senate Labor-Management Rackets Committee by
Robert F. Kennedy who claimed that Tocco either was a delegate to a crime convention in
Apalachin, New York, or among "their contacts and associates."
Vito William Giacalone is a reputed capo along with his brother Anthony. The Detroit Partnership has been able to remain stable entering the 21st century, but the organization has been diminished greatly in numbers. Detroit mob associate 31-year old Gerard "Jerry the Blade" Bianchette was murdered at a
Macomb County construction site by a shotgun blast on August 10, 2002. Bianchette was considered a protégé of
Anthony Joseph Zerilli and his murder is believed to be stemmed from a drug-deal that Bianchette felt Louis "Butch" Stramaglia owed him money from. In March 2006, 15 alleged members and associates of the Partnership were indicted on RICO charges relating to bookmaking, money laundering and extortion following an FBI investigation which began in 1998. According to the indictment, Peter Tocco and Jack Giacalone headed two related criminal enterprises in the Detroit area that laundered money, concealed ownership of illegal proceeds and participated in illegal interstate travel in aid of racketeering. In March 2007, Tocco, along with Peter Joseph Messina, Thomas James Mackey, John William Manettas and Wayne Joseph Kassab, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. ==Historical leadership==