Born in 1912, Scalish was the brother-in-law of
Cleveland crime family boss
Angelo Lonardo and Cleveland mob associate Milton Rockman. In 1944, Scalish succeeded
Alfred Polizzi as head of the Cleveland family upon his retirement to Florida. Scalish would remain boss for the next 32 years. Scalish attended the infamous
Apalachin Meeting in 1957 in
Upstate New York. During Scalish's tenure as the boss, the Cleveland family lived up to its golden years. Scalish was involved in
casino skimming in
Las Vegas, Nevada, shaking down casinos such as the
Stardust and
Desert Inn along with other crime bosses from across the United States. Scalish oversaw the Cleveland family's aggressive move into Las Vegas and
California, with
Moe Dalitz taking over the failing Desert Inn from
Bugsy Siegel. Dalitz also led the development of other casinos, a major hospital, and other Las Vegas projects, many of which were financed by the mob-controlled
Teamsters union. Scalish was a very powerful and respected mob boss and commanded underlings who controlled gambling, loansharking, and large-scale union corruption. His rap sheet dated back to 1930 and included arrests for burglary and robbery. Scalish was also a powerful labor racketeer in Cleveland. During Scalish's reign as boss, Cleveland mobsters had much control over the Teamsters Union. By the 1950s, the Cleveland Mob reached its peak, with 60
made members, and many more associates, according to the FBI. By the 1970s, however, the family's membership began to decrease, because Scalish didn't induct many new members. Scalish brought the Cleveland crime family a lengthy period of stability and maintained violence at a minimum, concentrating more on expanding the family's influence and fortunes than gaining a reputation for fear and unnecessary violence. He forged ties between Italian and Jewish underworld forces during his reign to make substantial amounts of illicit money. He also knew many prominent local politicians and judges on a first-name basis, which helped the crime family to stay under the radar for many years. Scalish once sat in on
The Commission, the governing body in charge of allocating territories and settling disputes among Mafia families across the nation. Scalish was the boss of the Cleveland mob for 32 years, by far the longest-reigning boss in the history of the Cleveland family. During his time as the crime family's leader, the group also developed ties with important crime figures like
Shondor Birns, Meyer Lansky, and
Tony Accardo. The family also became allies of the extremely powerful
Chicago Outfit and
Genovese crime family. He was buried at
Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland. A full-scale gang war for control of the Cleveland rackets broke out after his death between
James T. Licavoli, Scalish's successor, and Irish mob boss
Danny Greene. ==References==