In 1951, Nick Licata provided a tight alibi for
Aladena "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno the night Fratianno gunned down two L.A. rogue stick up robbers from Kansas City,
Anthony Brancato and Anthony Trombino, known as "The Two Tonys". Licata held a fish fry party at his Five O'Clock Club Burbank Restaurant restaurant, and other guests and a waitress testified before a grand jury that Fratianno and his associates were at the restaurant the entire night. Fratianno, Licata, Charles "Charley Bats" Battaglia, Angelo Polizzi, and
Leo "Lips" Moceri were all arrested, but none were charged for the crime. It wasn't until Fratianno became an
FBI government witness over 25 years later that the belief of the
LAPD was confirmed. In 1952, Jack Dragna promoted Jimmy Fratianno to
caporegime (captain). To pacify Licata, who was the more logical candidate, Licata was allowed to work directly under Dragna. Licata made good connections with Mafia families in Detroit, Dallas, Kansas City, and New Orleans. When Dragna died in 1956,
Frank DeSimone became the new boss of the family. He named Licata his
consigliere, who was a popular choice among the younger family members. When DeSimone's
underboss Simone Scozzari was deported to Italy in 1962 for being an illegal immigrant, Nick Licata became DeSimone's underboss. When Frank DeSimone died of a heart attack, Licata became new L.A. Mob boss with no opposition in 1967, and he made
Joseph Dippolito of
Upland, his underboss. By this time the Los Angeles mob family was a lot different from the one Licata first started with. The L.A.P.D. and F.B.I. was engaged in a tough assault against
organized crime in Los Angeles, and Mafia families from other cities were stretching their power to the West Coast. Although seen as an improvement over the incompetent DeSimone, Licata wasn't able to do much to help his family. On July 9, 1969, Licata was taken into custody after refusing to answer questions at a federal grand jury session about L.A.'s crime syndicate structure. Although Licata was under immunity from prosecution, he refused to give Judge
Jesse W. Curtis Jr. any information, thus maintaining the Mafia's oath of
omertà. He was held in
contempt of court and eventually served six months in prison. The court was looking into the murder of
Jules Petro (which was committed by
Ray Ferritto) and the
Apalachin Meeting attended by Licata's predecessor Frank DeSimone. Licata also refused to acknowledge that he succeeded DeSimone as head of the crime family. ==Personal life and death==