March 12, 2020 — Kansas City mob soldier John (Johnny Labor) Caresio recently passed away and was laid to rest by a who’s-who of alleged Civella crime family figures. The 77-year old Caresio died of natural causes on February 23. Reputed Missouri mob chiefs John (Johnny Joe) Sciortino, Peter (Las Vegas Pete) Simone and Frank DeLuna served as pallbearers at his funeral. Caresio was a convicted felon, working as an enforcer, arsonist and thief for the Kansas City mob in the organization’s final glory years of the 1970s and 1980s. He was found guilty of running dice games in 1968 and nailed for gun possession when he was caught by police trying to burn down a house for insurance money in 1979. The mafia in Kansas City, while once a pearly and sprawling mob empire under the purview of Godfather Nick Civella, is now a small, relatively contained, tight-knit crew of bookies and loansharks made up of mostly old-school wiseguys and their pals. Sciortino, 76, is believed to be the boss of what’s left, Simone, his underboss and DeLuna, his top advisor. DeLuna’s dad, Carl (Tuffy) DeLuna, was Civella’s underboss and main muscle during his heyday. Civella died of lung cancer in 1983 serving time behind bars. Per FBI records and surveillance logs, Caresio was on the frontlines of the Civella clan’s shooting war versus the renegade Spero brothers in the late 1970s. The FBI investigated Johnny Labor for being one of the triggermen in the May 1978 Virginian Tavern shooting, killing Mike Spero and paralyzing Carl Spero. “John Labor was the consummate criminal in every way,” retired Kansas City Police Organized Crime Unit investigator Gary Jenkins of Ganglandwire.com said. “Caresio and his partner, Joey Ragusa, were the go-to guys in Kansas City if you wanted to collect on your fire insurance policy. They also cased jewelry salesmen, gathered intelligence like an FBI squad would on them, wait for the salesmen to slip up, leave their stash unguarded and then rip them off. Johnny wore gold necklaces, a pinky ring…all the things that made him look the part.” “Joey Rags” Ragusa died at 78 of natural causes in March 2017. Sciortino, Simone and DeLuna were also pallbearers at Ragusa’s funeral,
