GR EXCLUSIVE: Detroit Mob’s “Jackie The Kid” Giacalone No Longer On The Throne, Tocco-Zerilli Crime Family Gives Itself A Facelift, Per Sources
June 23, 2026 — The Detroit mafia is in the midst of restructuring, multiple sources on both sides of the law allege in recent conversations with GR about the state of mob affairs in the Motor City. At some point in the past year, Jack (Jackie the Kid) Giacalone stepped down as boss of the Tocco-Zerilli crime family, partially under pressure from other crime family leaders upset by his absenteeism and partially because of a desire to relieve himself of responsibilities that he increasingly felt burdened by in his olde, quieter days as a senior citizen. these sources claim.
Right now, the organization is being stewarded by a ruling panel, with old-timer and Giacalone’s underboss Anthony (Chicago Tony) LaPiana, as the “first among equals,” while a new official pecking order is being planned and will be established soon, sources say. The way these sources describe the scenario and makeup of the ruling panel is as follows: LaPiana, 83, and fellow elder statesmen Eugene (Genie Boy) Baratta and Joseph (Little Joe) Tocco represents the Tocco side of the borgata, Joseph (Joey Jack) Giacalone, “Jackie the Kid’s” first cousin, represents the Giacalone wing of the crime family and the Sicilian branch of the organization continues to be represented by faction boss Giseuppe (Joe the Hood) D’Anna and the Corrado family boys. Rumors of the crime family being transitioned to or taken over by the Sicilians have proven false, although the Eastside D’Anna-Corrado faction remain formidable. LaPiana, Baratta, Tocco and Joey Giacalone all have no significant criminal records, a plethora of highly-successful legitimate businesses and push back on the notion that they have anything to do with the mafia or organized crime in general.
Jackie Giacalone, 75, served as boss of the Detroit mob from 2014 until 2025 after holding the borgata’s street boss duties from 2000 through the early 2010s when became acting boss and then boss upon the death of longtime Motown LCN don Giacomo (Black Jack) Tocco. of natural causes in the summer of 2014, only the city’s fourth Godfather in its’ storied history. His dad and uncle were legendary Detroit mafia street bosses, Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone and Anthony (Tony Jack) Giacalone, respectively. “Tony Jack” lost a battle with cancer in 2001. “Billy Jack” cashed in his chips in 2012. Tony and Billy Giacalone were prime suspects in the notorious 1975 kidnapping and murder of Teamsters titan Jimmy Hoffa which marked its half-century anniversary last summer. “Joey Jack’s” car, a champaign-colored Mercury Marquis, is the lone piece of physical evidence ever collected in the unsolved investigation (Hoffa’s DNA was discovered in the car’s backseat and trunk).
According to FBI and federal-court documents, the Giacalone brothers arranged for the slick, soft-spoken Jackie the Kid to be tapped as the recognized heir apparent to Jack Tocco all the way back in the 1980s when the younger Giacalone was just in his thirties and didn’t even yet have a federal criminal record (he’s got a pair of federal gambling, extortion and racketeering convictions on his rap sheet and beat a RICO case at trial back in 2007) Throughout the 1980s. FBI agents frequently snapped photos of Billy Giacalone and Jackie Giacalone golfing with Jack Tocco in an early public showing of his growing stature in crime-family circles. Jack Tocco’s primary protege in the mafia was the equally stealthy and polished Tony LaPiana, his nephew-by-marriage, a retired multimillionaire insurance mogul and the consummate underworld politician with contacts and respect nationwide. “Little Joe” Tocco is Jack Tocco’s nephew, the son of Jack Tocco’s baby brother and consigliere Anthony (Tony T) Tocco (d. 2012).
Despite him not being a don anymore, Jackie Giacalone still heads a crew of Italian, Middle-Eastern and Jewish bookies and loan sharks on the Westside of Metro Detroit, per sources. Giacalone’s relationship with a cop — a crew member that became a part of the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department — had become an issue in his last months in the boss’s seat, sources claim. Giacalone’s reign as boss saw him develop a reputation for reclusiveness and a disconnect with much of the rank-and-file cogs in the Detroit LCN wheel of motion so to speak, especially on the Eastside of town, says sources. During his days as a capo and street boss and in contrast to his modern mob profile, Giacalone was a fixture around Metro Detroit’s gambling, strip-club and social scenes, making his presence felt wherever he went, opposed to his more current “stay far off the radar” modus operandi.
