The Gianola–Adamo war (1912–1913)

The 00 block on Monroe Avenue, Detroit, 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.^[6] 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 Pasqaule, 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 October 2, 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.

Boss "Singing Sam" Catalanotte (1921–1930)

The Detroit Mafia as a unified organization can be traced to the early 20th century "Motor City" mafiosi who came together to begin what was known by the early 1930s as the Detroit crime family or Detroit Partnership. Gaspar Milazzo was born in 1887 in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. Milazzo, known as "The Peacemaker", and Stefano Magaddino, known as "The Undertaker", were two of the earliest Castellammarese Clan leaders to settle in the Brooklyn area. Their crew faced opposition from Buccellato clan who had also settled there and were involved within the Italian underworld. Continued violence between the two groups caused Milazzo and Magaddino to flee New York City in 1921 after they were sought for questioning in connection with the murder of a Buccellato clan member. Magaddino fled to Buffalo, New York, and Milazzo to Detroit, where both used their high level positions within the "Castellammarese Mafia" to organize their own crime families. The relocation of Milazzo and Magaddino and their establishment of powerful East coast Mafia families played a role in the eventual unification of the American Mafia, known to its members as La Cosa Nostra or "This Thing of Ours".

Milazzo established himself as a powerful mobster within the Detroit underworld. Detroit had a large Sicilian immigrant population and was one of the East Coast's bootlegging hubs. At the time of Milazzo's arrival the Jewish Purple Gang controlled much of the liquor trafficking in the area. Milazzo became recognized as a Mafia adviser and mediator of disputes as many of the areas mafiosi sought his council and leadership. Milazzo aligned himself with Salvatore Catalanotte, known as "Singing Sam", the local head of the Unione Siciliana. Milazzo and Catalanotte aligned the city's Mafia factions into a loosely organized and cohesive unit that controlled bootlegging, gambling, narcotics, prostitution and other rackets within the city and surrounding areas.

Catalanotte had brokered an uneasy peace under the "Pascuzzi Combine" around 1920. Milazzo assisted Catalanotte with the continued unification and leadership and after Catalanotte's death in February 1930, Milazzo continued to oversee the peace between the local Mafia factions. Milazzo was then recognized as the senior Mafia leader in the area and the boss of the local Mafia for a short time. Milazzo was a close associate of the East Side Gang, led by Angelo Meli, William Tocco and Joseph Zerilli. Milazzo's Mafia group and the Eastside Gang maintained alliances with other mob factions, including the River Gang, led by brothers Thomas and Peter Licavoli who shared the local bootlegging rackets and various underworld activities with each other.

The Crosstown Mafia War (1930-1931)

Milazzo had been recognized as one of the Detroit Mafia's top bosses since the early 1920s and relative stability had reigned within the local underworld throughout this time, but by 1930 continuing Mafia rivalries based in New York and Chicago concerning his Castellammarese allies directly involved Milazzo. At the heart of the volatile situation within New York City's Mafia lay Milazzo's fellow Castellammarese mafiosi who found themselves being opposed by powerful boss Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. The ongoing feud had reached a boiling point and supporters on both sides in New York, as well as Chicago were preparing for war.

Gaspar Milazzo and his longtime ally, Buffalo Mafia boss Stefano Magaddino had secretly, but willingly supported their allies in New York and Chicago as they opposed Joe Masseria and his supporters. By 1930, both men openly supported their allies, including Chicago Mafia boss Giuseppe Aiello, who was being opposed by a powerful Masseria ally in Chicago, Al Capone. Joe Masseria, the recognized "boss of bosses" was incensed by the disrespect Milazzo and Magaddino where showing him by supporting his enemies and soon Masseria decided Milazzo and Magaddino, both powerful and influential mafiosi, must be eliminated.

Masseria accomplished this in Detroit by supporting a Milazzo adversary, Cesare "Chester" William LaMare, the now head of the Westside Mob, sometimes referred to as the Catalanotte Gang in Detroit. LaMare was born in Ripacandida, Italy on January 6, 1887, to two parents of Italian descent.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13] 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).^[14] 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.^[14] LaMare used the potential warfare as an excuse to set up an assassination attempt disguised as a peace meeting. LaMare scheduled a meeting between the two divisions of Detroit at a Vernor Highway fish market, where he planned for three gunman to assassinate Eastside mob bosses.

The Fish Market Murders developed into the major gang conflict between the Eastside and Westside Mobs, which would later be known as the Crosstown Mafia War. Meli immediately swore to avenge the deaths of his two representatives. Between May 31 and July 23, 1930, at least 14 men were murdered by gangland guns.

The killings stopped abruptly with the murder of WNBC radio commentator Gerald Buckley on July 23, who was shot in the lobby of the LaSalle Hotel on the same night that the vote to recall Detroit Mayor Charles Bowles took place.

In response to the killing, The Detroit police enacted severe measures to restrict undesirable and illegal crime, as they tried to find persons of interest after Buckley's murder. The Detroit Police put a grand jury into place immediately to investigate the crimes that were happening. Most mob leaders went into hiding, while gangs maintained a much lower profile as the war continued. The police and the Eastside Mob were looking everywhere for Meli. Police speculated that Meli told Joe Amico and the other assassins from the fish market that they needed to put their boss, LaMare, "on the spot," soon or they would end up dead. On February 6, 1931, LaMare arrived at his home with his bodyguard, Joe Girardi. LaMare asked his wife to drive Girardi home. Two men entered the house, who was later identified by fingerprints as Joe Amico and Elmer Macklinand, shot LaMare twice in the side of his head. Chester was found dead in the kitchen several hours later by his wife.

LaMare's death successfully ended the Crosstown Mafia War in 1931. Amico and Macklin were later tried and acquitted for the murder of LaMare. Leaders of the Eastside Mob became the originators of what was to become Detroit's modern-day Mafia organization.

Castellammarese War

After the death of Gaspar Milazzo a war ignited within the Detroit Mafia and at the same time the Castellammarese War in New York had officially begun. During this time in Detroit Chester La Mare, with the support of powerful New York boss Joe Masseria was recognized as the new Detroit Mafia boss.

La Mare went into hiding while more than a dozen Mafia members were killed in Detroit during the Eastside gang/Westside gang war that lasted roughly a year. In February 1931, La Mare was having a meal with his bodyguards, Joe Amico and Elmer Macklin, when he was murdered.^[15] While Amico spoke to La Mare, Macklin rose to wash some dishes and subsequently shot his boss in the back.^[15] Both Amico and Macklin had a murky history with previous their previous operations, being described as "not too well trusted even by the gangland [they] served."^[16] 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.^[17] 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.^[16] Eventually, these rumors dissipated. Betrayed by his own men in his home, La Mare and his authority were swiftly put to an end. The death of La Mare in early 1931 and other Mafia leaders later on, such as Joe Tocco, led to the remaining Detroit Mafia leaders uniting under one group and leadership: that of the reigning Eastside gang leaders, Angelo Meli, "Black" Bill Tocco and Joe Uno Zerilli.

Alongside Meli, Tocco and Zerilli were their allies John Priziola and Peter Licavoli who become part of the Detroit Partnership's "Ruling Council", the crime family's top leadership committee. This was basically the formation of the Detroit crime family or Detroit Partnership as it became known within the American underworld. At the same time Detroit's Mafia factions were in opposition of each other once more throughout 1931, the Castellammarese War raged on within New York's Italian underworld pitting the city's two most powerful, old world Sicilian bosses and their supporters against each other.

The assassination of New York Mafia "boss of bosses", Joe Masseria on April 15, 1931, effectively ended the large scale Mafia war based in New York. The next round of events in New York's Italian underworld would influence not only Detroit's underworld future, but basically that of the American underworld. Soon after the death of Joe Masseria his main rival and successor, Salvatore Maranzano was murdered on September 10, 1931, by a rising faction of young Mafia leaders within the New York Mafia. These young, modern Mafia leaders had helped Maranzano eliminate Masseria, but all the while they were biding their time and planning their eventual take over of the New York underworld and consolidation of the Italian underworld nationwide.

The death of New York's two old world-style Mafia leaders, Masseria and Maranzano signaled and solidified the rise of a young, modern Mafia leader, Charles "Lucky" Luciano and his supporters known as the "young turks". Under the leadership of Luciano and the allied leaders within New York's Five Families came the establishment of The Commission, the ruling committee of the American Mafia. Under the New York Mafia's new regime, which included bosses Charlie Lucky Luciano, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, Vince Mangano, Thomas Gagliano and Joseph Profaci, the Detroit Partnership was officially recognized within the Italian-American underworld's new organizational structure. The powerful mid-west crime family became one of the 24 original Mafia crime families that comprised La Cosa Nostra in America and began its dominance within the Michigan underworld.

Gotham Hotel

From its construction in 1924 until the early 1940s, the hotel was named the Hotel Martinique.^[24] 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.^[24] The Gotham Hotel became the most renowned hotel for black people in Detroit and regularly hosted popular celebrities and athletes, such as Langston Hughes and Jackie Robinson.^[24]

The hotel's clientele included black businessmen, gamblers, and mafia affiliated cronies including Anthony Giacalone and Pete Licavoli.^[25] 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.^[26][27][28] 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.^[27] All authorities involved handled the case with complete secrecy when investigating the hotel, and at 5:00 pm on November 9, 1962, 112 officers, led by Anthony Getto of the IRS’ intelligence division, raided the hotel.^[28] Upon trying to use the elevators, they found that the power to them was cut, and officers had to use the stairs to reach all nine stories and 250 rooms of the hotel.^[28][29] On the top floor, a crooked dice game was found with $5,000 on the table.^[28][30] On the other nine floors, bet slips, adding machines, counting machines, guns, ammunition, and at least 30 safes were found.^[28] The next day, the safes were cracked to find a grand total of $49,200 in the safes alone.^[30] The raid amounted to 160,000 bet slips, $60,000 in cash, and 33 adding machines.^[28][29]

Forty one arrests were made in the raid.^[28][26] Nine people were held in federal custody and arraigned the next day on charges for not having a gambling stamp and evading taxes.^[28] Also in federal custody were John White, Earle Cuzzens, Benjamin Ormsby, Curtis Lewis, James Cummings, James Gholston, Nick Richardson, Delores Stone, and Dorothy Grier.^[28] Those caught playing dice on the tenth floor were placed under investigation for violating Michigan gambling laws.^[28] White and Cuzzens were released on $10,000 bond.^[30] The other individuals found in the dice game were tried on charges for gambling or conspiracy.^[30]

The raid on the Gotham hotel meant gambling location could no longer presume on immunity in Detroit.^[31] 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.^[31] The phone numbers of Giacalone and Licavoli appeared in the personal phone directory of White confiscated during the raid, evidence, the police used to confirm the longstanding belief that operators at the Gotham were connected to the Detroit Syndicate.^[31]

The American Lebanese Club

The American Lebanese Club was a mafia-run gambling establishment fronted as a "social fellowship" organization. The American Lebanese Club eventually became the Lower East Side of Detroit Club, abbreviated to Lesod Club. Members of the Lesod Club played Barbut, 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.^[32]

The American-Lebanese Club was first raided by police in 1942 for gambling suspicions.^[33] From 1942 until early 1959, it was raided 18 times and 275 people were arrested, yet none of them had been charged.^[33] Police were unable to bring about a court case due to insufficient evidence—that is until Asab Jordan went to the police after amassing a $5,000 debt gambling at the club.^[34]

After this event, the police set up a 24-hour surveillance sting operation in October 1959 to track which members were visiting the club.^[33] They installed lights in the area and took pictures of various members to arrest in the future.^[33] There were reports that members were so fed up with the surveillance that they started taking pictures of the police officers that were watching the club.^[35]

On December 29, 1959, the police made their largest raid on the club, arresting 28 members, later bringing 11 members to trial.^[35] The police suspected that Vito Giacolone, an underboss of the Partnership, and Michael Thomas ran the gambling operations of the club, which could bring in $10,000 in a typical weekend.^[36] 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.^[34]

Over the following months, others were arrested in relation to the gambling charges, with individuals being identified by the pictures the police took over several months.^[37] The people arrested after the raid were never charged, while the 11 people awaiting trial pleaded guilty and were facing two years in prison.^[38] Ultimately, the 11 members were assessed fines ranging from $100-$300, with Vito Giacolone receiving the highest fine of $300.^[39]

After the constant surveillance and resulting court cases, the American-Lebanese Club stopped operating and became the Lower East Side of Detroit (LESOD) Club.