The Detroit mafia is renowned for its stability, but its track record when it comes to eliminating its enemies is nothing to scoff at. Although famous around the country’s mob landscape for being a crime family that only meted out violence as a last resort measure, bodies have dropped at a prolific rate over the years, but with almost no arrests and only a single conviction, demonstrating the Detroiters acumen for keeping a low profile and masterfully insulating themselves from prosecution. 1937 – Detroit mobster and funeral home owner Frank (The Undertaker) Bagnasco is gunned down in the street after feuding with crime family brass 1938 – Detroit mafia captain and “Downriver mob king” Joe (The Baron) Tocco is killed on the porch of his girlfriend’s house following a beef with his successor as the man in the charge of the city’s Downriver rackets, Anthony (Tony Cars) D’Anna alleged to be related to Ford Motor Co. stock options. 1944 – Detroit mob associate and rogue Lebanese wiseguy Eddie Sarkesian is slain for robbing mafia-ran gambling parlors 1945 – Detroiter Lydia Thompson is found murdered with a note in her pocket directing police to notorious Motor City mafia captain Santo (Cockeyed Sam) Perrone 1945 – Midwest mob associate Maurice Margolis is found dead in Chicago while under federal indictment alongside Detroit mafia captain Peter (Horseface Pete) Licavoli and a gambling lieutenant of his named George (Mosie) Massu. 1946 – Flint, Michigan wiseguy Sam Ricca is killed 1947 – Detroit mob associate and bookie Fred Baraky is killed 1947 – Detroit mob associate and Greek gambling boss Gus Andromulous is garroted to death by local mafia princes and future dons Giacomo (Black Jack) Tocco and Anthony (Tony Z) Zerilli as a way of making their bones 1948 – Detroit mobsters and bookies Pete Lucido and Chris Scroy disappear after accusations of skimming 1949 – Detroit mobster and bookie Eddie Martino is killed 1950 – Detroit mob associate Jack George is shot and strangled to death by future Motor City mafia capo Dominic (Fats) Corrado as a way of making his bones after George fell in disfavor with crime family leaders for robbing people he shouldn’t have been 1955 – Detroit mob associate, numbers runner and burglar A.C. Jones is killed 1956 – Detroit mob soldier and narcotics lieutenant Salvatore (Toto) Vitale has a falling out with local crime family drug czars Giovanni (Papa John) Priziola and Raffaele (Jimmy Q) Quasarano and vanishes after meeting with Jack Tocco and his brother and future consigliere Anthony (Tony T) Tocco at a bar in Windsor, Canada. 1957 – Detroit mob enforcer Leo Difatta is killed for robbing policy houses belonging to the Corrado crew 1957 – Gary, Indiana mobster Gilde Caprio is discovered strangled to death on a barren road on the west side of Michigan with rumors floating that the Detroit mafia disposed of Caprio on behalf of their contemporaries in the Chicago Outfit 1957 – Indebted Detroit-area gambler Earl Atwood is found shot in the back of the head 1957 – West Virginia mobster Nick Miller is killed by members of the Pittsburgh mafia as a favor for the Detroit crime family 1958 – Sicilian immigrant Antonio DiPasquali is blown up in a car bomb for supposedly rebuffing extortion attempts from Detroit mobsters 1959 – Detroit mobster Joe C. Moceri is killed 1959 – Detroit mob associate Chris Scroy, brother of slain wiseguy Sam Scroy, is kidnapped, killed and later has his chopped up body is found in suburban Southeast Michigan. Scroy had shot local Jewish racketeer Max (Big Maxie) Stern years earlier for the belief that Stern headed the hit team that offed his brother and first cousin 1960 – West Coast real estate investor Myford Irvine who did a Las Vegas casino deal with underworld figures, including Detroit mob capo Pete Licavoli is shot to death, allegedly on orders of Licavoli and his fellow bigwigs in the Michigan mafia 1960 – Detroit mob associate and Greektown gambler Tommy Karmanos is killed for being an informant 1961 – Metro Detroit mob-owned painting-company employee Norman Hall is shot to death after heading to a meeting with his bosses, local mafia heavies Frank (Frankie Ice) DiMaggio and Phillip (Polo Phil) Palazzolo 1962 – Detroit mobster and drug lieutenant Ubale (Coy Roy) Calabrese is murdered for the belief he was an informant 1963 – Detroit area con man Sal Brodsky is found dead after conning some local button men 1964 – Detroit mob soldier and narcotics lieutenant Paul (The Sicilian) Cimino disappears following a beef with his bosses, Papa John Priziola and Jimmy Quasarano 1964 – Detroit area numbers operator Harry Ellis is killed 1965 – Deported Detroit mafia capo Onofrio (Nono) Minaudo is killed in Sicily in a revenge slaying tied to a man Minaudo had murdered as a young man prior to fleeing to America 1965 – Detroit mob soldier Peter (Tino) Lombardo, the top enforcer for capo Cockeyed Sam Perrone is murdered after being caught trying to put a bomb under the car of Tony Giacalone, who was in the midst of a mini-war against Perrone and Pete Licavoli in which previously Giacalone had Perrone’s leg blown off in a car bombing 1968 – Indebted gambler and produce vendor Sam DiMaggio, the cousin of “Frankie Ice” DiMaggio, is beaten to death by a trio of Detroit mobsters after being told by Tony Giacalone to send a message but not kill their victim 1968 – Detroit mob associate and gambling chief Cesar Adler is found hogtied, strangled and shot to death in the trunk of his car in the wake of his backdoor casino known as the Carleton House being raided, several high-ranking mafia members getting pinched and police finding loaded dice being used at a number of the craps tables 1968 – Detroit mob associate and Cesar Adler underling Nick Behnen vanishes 1968 – Detroit mafia enforcer Robert (Bobby Stardust) Dunaway, one of Sam DiMaggio’s three killers, is murdered for botching the assignment 1968 – Judy Ruggirello, the wife of future Detroit mob captain Antonino (Tony the Exterminator) Ruggirello, Jr. disappears hours after informing her husband she was leaving him 1968 – Detroit mob capo Joseph (Joe Misery) Moceri is beaten to death in the armed robbery of a warehouse he owned 1968: The Robison family murders (aka The Good Hart Massacre) – Metro Detroit magazine owner Richard Robison, his wife and four children are executed while vacationing in the northern Michigan town of Good Hart at their cabin on the Blisswood Resort property amidst rumors of gambling debts to mob bookies and employee embezzlement 1970 – Mob associates and stocks and securities-fraud experts George Wahl & Jack Eaton are killed within the same few months, Wahl in Detroit and Eaton in Miami 1971 – Detroit mafia associate and drug dealer Willie Flowers is killed for an increasing gambling debt and breaking off his business relationship with the mob to seek out independent narcotics suppliers 1971 – Detroit mafia associate and drug dealer Pete Klavinger is slain after accruing serious debt to local mob loansharks 1971 – Detroit mafia associate and trucking executive Joe Bozied is blown up in a car bomb 1971 – Detroit mafia associate and high-ranking gambling lieutenant Sol (Good Looking Solly) Shindel is killed inside his home, shot in the face at point blank range, while under a pair of indictments and rumors swirling of skimming and too much unpaid personal debt. Local mob enforcers Robert (Bobby the Animal) La Puma and Ronald (Hollywood Ronnie) Morelli, Shindel’s collectors and co-defendants, were the two top suspects in the case 1972 – Metro Detroit builder and general contractor Kelly Chisolm is killed after getting in debt to mob loan sharks 1972 – Bookkeeper Agnes Brush, employed by a company that gave loans to a mob-connected development firm is found stabbed to death in her office after complaining about the shady financial transaction used to finance the famed Pine Knob Music Theatre, now called GTE Music Theatre, suburban Detroit. 1972 – Detroit mobster Pete Vasallo, one of the men responsible for beating Sam DiMaggio to death, is killed 1972 – Detroit mobster Gregory (Little Pete) Katranis, the son of the city’s de-facto Greek crime boss Peter (Pete the Greek) Katranis, is found shot in the back of the head floating in a swimming pool with his hands chopped off after getting caught freenlancing on the street and sucker punching Ronnie Morelli in a bar fight weeks before 1972 – Detroit mob associate and numbers runner George Milkovich is murdered. Milkovich was linked to Joe Calabro and Nick Arvan, who were clipped two years prior 1974 – Attorney Gerald Franklin, who represented infamous Detroit mob bagman-turned-government witness Peter (Birmingham Pete) Lazaros, is killed 1974 – Ambitious furniture store owner and mob associate Harvey Leach is found in the trunk of his car in the parking lot of a suburban Detroit office building the day of his wedding while his business was in the process of being “busted out” and taken over by the Giacalone brothers. Leach was last seen on his way to a meeting with Tony Giacalone at the home of Giacalone “chief of staff” Lenny Schultz 1974 – Detroit mob associate Ronnie Cohen suspiciously commits suicide while under subpoena to testify in a grand jury convened to investigate the Harvey Leach hit 1974 – Saginaw, Michigan numbers runner David DeLarosa is killed in a takeover of his policy business allegedly by Norman (Pete the Arm) Crawford, the top enforcer for Saginaw crew boss William (Billy Lee) Loiacano, the Giacalone brothers’ nephew 1975 – Iconic Teamster Union president and notorious mafia associate Jimmy Hoffa disappears en route to a lunch meeting in Metro Detroit with Tony Giacalone, Lenny Schultz and his former close friend turned arch rival Anthony (Tony Pro) Provenzano of New York’s Genovese crime family. Hoffa was fighting with the mob in his bid to reclaim the union presidency following his five-year prison term for bribery, fraud and jury tampering 1976 – Janice Stevens, the girlfriend of Detroit mobster Joseph (Big Joe) Berardo, is killed 1976 – Detroit mobster Tommy LaBarrie, a frequently used strong arm for the Giacalone crew, is slain allegedly over the belief that he was stealing from his collection efforts 1976 – Longtime Detroit mafia soldiers Nicolo (Nick the Executioner) Ditta, Frank (Frankie Rah Rah) Randazo & Joseph (Joe Goose) Siragusa, all in their 70s, are killed in a mob hit gone wrong when their intended victim, Ernie Kanakis, shoots all three to death in Randazzo’s basement 1977 – Teamsters union treasurer and one-time Jimmy Hoffa confidant Otto Wendel is shot to death in his car in Livingston County, Michigan on the verge of testifying against Detroit mob captain Vincent (Little Vince) Meli in an extortion trial. 1978 – Detroit mob enforcer John Palmer, the last of the marked-for-death Sam DiMaggio hit team, vanishes after his release from a federal prison sentence 1980 – Detroit mob associate John (Johnny Coach) Cociu, who co-owned the Black Orchid bar with Giacalone crew protégé and African-American drug kingpin Francis (Big Frank Nitti) Usher, is found beheaded in the trunk of his car 1981 – Detroit mafia soldier Carlo Licata, son of deceased L.A. mob boss Nick Licata and brother-in-law to Jack Tocco, dies suspiciously in his Bloomfield Hills, Michigan home on the six-year anniversary of the Jimmy Hoffa kidnapping and murder 1983 – Detroit mob associate and nightclub owner Eddie Schave is killed and found stuffed in the trunk of his car 1983 – Detroit mob associate and local businessman David Auer is slain and discovered shot in the back of the head and badly beaten in the trunk of his car in the parking lot of an area motel hours after leaving a nearby lunch meeting with reputed Giacalone crew member Bernard (Bernie the Jew) Schrott. Auer, Schrott’s business partner, was a Nazi-enthusiast who had fallen into debt to Billy Giacalone and after he died Schrott and Giacalone split a million-dollar life-insurance payout 1984 – Veteran labor-union power and Detroit mob associate Ralph Proctor, a former close ally to Jimmy Hoffa, is shot to death inside his car which was parked in front of a Livonia, Michigan Chinese restaurant, less than an hour after heading to a meeting at the restaurant with fast-rising Detroit mafia figure Anthony (Chicago Tony) La Piana. Proctor was threatening to reveal mob secrets tied to the Teamsters if he wasn’t repaid a loan he gave an area union hall. 1985 – Detroit mob associates and bookmakers Gene Mancen & Freddy Sanderson, along with innocent bystander Laverio Teramine, who was meeting with Macen and Sanderson to collect winnings, were killed execution style in a suburban office building in what authorities dubbed the first step in a massive mafia-led consolidation of local gambling operations in the face of future casino legalization in the state 1985 – Colleen Smith, the young girlfriend of feared Detroit mob hit man and enforcer Bernard (Bernie the Hammer) Marchesani, is found dead behind a Highland Park, Michigan motel, months before Marchesani is apprehended after five years on the run from the law dodging an extortion indictment 1985 – Detroit mob associate and numbers lottery chief, Harold (Harry Mack) Maciarz, is killed 1985 – Detroit mafia soldier Peter (Fast Pete) Cavataio is shot and tortured to death, found in a Southwest Detroit garage in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge. The unpopular and out-of-control Cavataio, the brother in law of mob captain Fats Corrado, lasted less than two weeks after Corrado died of cancer before he was whacked and is the last made member of the crime family to be slain 1985 – Detroit mob associate and bookie Jimmy Stabile, his wife Camille Stabile & friend I.T. Hill are killed, possibly over a debt Stabile owed or his connection to Cavataio, who he paid protection to 1986 – Joe Sarno, a Toledo, Ohio mob figure working in Las Vegas for Detroit-linked interests in the local gaming industry, is found shot in the back of the head and floating in Nevada’s Lake Meade 1989 – Detroit mob associate Frank Stramaglia dies of an intentional drug overdose in a hotel hot tub while under indictment in Florida with his big brother and alleged Mafioso Louis (Butch) Stramaglia and rumors spreading of his contemplating cooperating with the prosecutors in the case 1989 – Detroit mob associate and drug dealer Mark Giancotti, Frank Stramaglia’s best friend, is shot to death in his car in a suburban shopping mall parking lot with some believing he was responsible for Stramaglia’s “hot dosing.” 1991 – Wiseguys Dennis Graziani &Tommy Gambini are killed in a Macomb County travel agency that doubled as a bookmaking and policy office by Detroit mob solider Antonio (Dago Tony) Ciraulo, who was beefing with mafia figures in New York and believed Graziani and Gambini had been sent to murder him. Ciraulo is the only member of the post-Prohibition Detroit mafia to be convicted of homicide charges. 1992 – Detroit mob associate, con man and drug dealer Feodies (Yellow Man) Shipp is murdered in a FBI-guarded hotel suite days after deciding to cooperate in a narcotics investigation he and his associates were targeted in. On the night of his murder at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Tony Giacalone was hosting a party for him and his wife celebrating their 50-year wedding anniversary. 1993 – Detroit mob associate and bookie Tony Marino is stabbed to death and found stuffed in the trunk of his car in affluent Birmingham, Michigan 1998 – Englishman gangster-turned-informant Peter McNeil is slain in witness protection in Great Britain after testifying against a Giacalone crew-backed drug smuggling operation out of Europe where the Detroit mob was bringing cocaine into the United States via freight ships carrying farm equipment 2001 – John (John-John) Jarjosa, Jr., the son of convicted Detroit mob associate and strip-club overseer, John (J.J.) Jarjosa, Sr., is gunned down at a traffic light in a professional hit while driving his friend’s Corvette and his father away in prison 2002 – Detroit mob associate Jerome (Jerry the Blade) Bianchette, a young protégé of and collector for deposed mob underboss Tony Zerilli, is shotgunned to death at a suburban construction site just two weeks following Zerilli’s RICO conviction and incarceration 2007 – Drug-addled Detroit mob soldier Carlo Bommarito, the son of mafia capo Frank (Frankie the Bomb) Bommarito, is allegedly “hot-dosed” on orders of Billy Giacalone for the belief that he had been snitching
