Historical Timeline
1950-1969
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The American Mafia is exposed to the public as a result of the convention at Apalachin and hearings conducted by the Kefauver and McClellan committees of the United States Senate. The FBI, long skeptical of a nationwide criminal conspiracy, wholeheartedly joins the fight against organized crime.
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• 1950 May 11 Washington, DC US Estes Kefauver Kefauver Committee (U.S. Senate committee) hearings into organized crime's influence on interstate commerce begin. Committee will hear 600 witnesses during its first year. Kefauver will take the show on the road, conducting hearings in 14 cities.
• 1950 Dec 13 Washington, DC US Willie Moretti Moretti testifies about organized crime to Senate investigators. Moretti's mind seems to be slipping, and Syndicate Commission is fearful of what he might accidentally reveal.
• 1950 Chicago, IL US Sam Giancana Giancana becomes Chicago Family's gambling expert and serves as Chicago representative for dealings in Las Vegas. Giancana's power, wealth and prestige are greatly enhanced by his new position.
• 1951 Palisades, NJ US Willie Moretti Mob discipline results in the shooting death of Moretti.
• 1951 Los Angeles, CA US Mickey Cohen Jack Dragna Cohen, who had been a thorn in the side of Dragna (and somehow avoided being killed in Dragna's numerous attempts) since 1947, was jailed for income tax evasion.
• 1951 Apr 19 Brooklyn, NY US Philip Mangano, Vincent Mangano, Albert Anastasia The body of Philip Mangano is found in a marsh near Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn. He had been shot three times in the head. Albert Anastasia is believed to be responsible for the assassination of Philip Mangano and the unexplained earlier disappearance of Vincent Mangano. Anastasia, Joe Adonis and Frank Costello are questioned by authorities.
• 1951 May 28 Trenton, NJ US Joe Adonis Adonis begins a two-year jail term in New Jersey State Prison for gambling violations.
• 1951 Sep 08 New York, NY US Meyer Lansky Lansky is indicted for running gambling operations in Saratoga Springs, NY.
• 1952 May Florida Federal agents note a small meeting of Mafiosi in the Florida Keys.
• 1952 Aug 15 New York, NY US Frank Costello Costello is sentenced to 18 months in prison for contempt of the U.S. Senate. Charges resulted from Costello walking out on Kefauver Committee hearings in New York.
• 1953 May 02 New York, NY US Meyer Lansky Lansky serves three months in a New York prison after pleading guilty to five of the 21 gambling charges against him. He is also fined $2,500 and put on three years' probation.
• 1953 Jul 16 Trenton, NJ US Joe Adonis Adonis is released from prison but still faces perjury charges.
• 1953 Aug 05 Washington, DC US Joe Adonis Upon learning that Adonis lied about his birthplace (it wasn't Passaic, NJ) and is an Italian alien, U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. orders that he be deported. Order is not immediately carried out.
• 1953 Oct 29 New York, NY US Frank Costello Costello is released from prison.
• 1954 March 25 Washington, DC US Joe Adonis Adonis is found guilty of perjury. He faces two-year jail term as well as possible deportation. While appealing verdict, Adonis offers to voluntarily leave the U.S. in exchange for elimination of the jail term.
• 1954 New York, NY US Lacking street soldiers, the Mafia reopens its membership. With just a few exceptions, new members had not been added since 1932.
• 1954 Sicily, Italy Calogero Vizzini Vizzini, 77, dies.
• 1954 Los Angeles, CA US Federal agents report Mafia gathering in Los Angeles suburbs.
• 1954 Jul Chicago Federal agents report Mafia gathering just outside Chicago.
• 1954 Dec 13 Mountainside, NJ US Federal agents report Mafia meeting.
• 1956 Jan 03 Washington, DC US Joe Adonis Federal authorities agree to let Adonis leave the country.
• 1956 Feb 23 Los Angeles, CA US Jack Dragna, Frank DeSimone Dragna dies and is succeeded as boss by DeSimone.
• 1956 Chicago, IL US Tony Accardo, Sam Giancana Accardo decides to retire from day-to-day operations. Giancana becomes boss of the Chicago Outfit. Accardo continues to serve in an advisory capacity, further evidence of the cooperative nature of Chicago leadership since the start of Frank Nitti reign.
• 1956 Apr 05 New York, NY US Johnny Dioguardi, Victor Riesel Johnny Dio is believed to be behind the acid-blinding of crusading journalist Victor Riesel. Key witnesses against Dio disappear or change their stories, and charges are dropped. Riesel continues to use radio and print for attacks on organized crime.
• 1956 May 14 New York, NY US Frank Costello Convicted on tax evasion charges, Costello enters federal prison.
• 1956 May 18 New York, NY US Mafia meeting draws 35 known criminals.
• 1956 New York, NY US Albert Anastasia, Carlo Gambino Anastasia makes Gambino his underboss.
• 1956 Italy Joe Adonis No longer able to convince authorities that he was born in America and facing perjury charges, Adonis agrees to be deported to Italy. Adonis's departure is a severe blow to the Mafia leadership faction headed by Frank Costello, and consisting of Costello, Adonis, Albert Anastasia.
• 1956 Oct 17-18 Binghamton, NY US Federal agents report small Mafia meeting.
• 1957 Mar 11 New York, NY US Frank Costello Costello wins temporary release from federal prison while his appeal is being heard by the Supreme Court.
•1957 Bronx, NY US Frank Scalise Scalise is assassinated in a Bronx produce market. Two possible motives are considered for the hit, which appears to have been officially sanctioned: 1. Scalise had encouraged bosses to participate in a heroin smuggling venture that ended badly and expensively. 2. Scalise had been found selling Mafia memberships for many thousands of dollars apiece, bringing in unreliable individuals.
• 1957 May 02 New York, NY US Frank Costello Costello's head is grazed by a would-be assassin's bullet. He reportedly announces that he's retiring from the rackets, leaving Luciano Family to Genovese.
• 1957 Oct 25 New York, NY US Albert Anastasia, Meyer Lansky, Carlo Gambino, Vito Genovese Anastasia is killed in the Park Sheraton Hotel's barber shop. Gambino moves into leadership position and may have organized the hit. Genovese also had reason to act against the strong supporter of his rival for power, Frank Costello. Lansky is also believed to have had motive, as Anastasia was unhappy with Lansky's administration of the Mafia's offshore gaming houses in Cuba and Bahamas. It appears that Anastasia was negotiating his own deal with Cuba.
• 1957 Nov 10 Livingston, NJ US Mafia meeting held.
• 1957 Nov 14 Apalachin, NY US Joseph Barbara Sixty Mafiosi from around the country are known to have attended a convention in rural Apalachin, NY, at the home of Joseph Barbara. Their presence was documented by police who collected license plate numbers at the scene and rounded up, identified and searched the conventioneers as they attempted to leave the Barbara property. More may have attended and escaped police notice by exiting through a wooded area. Some accounts say the convention was organized by Vito Genovese in order to mend fences after his takeover of the Costello organization. In the wake of Apalachin, authorities are forced to acknowledge that there is indeed a significant level of cooperation among criminal gangs across the United States.
• 1957 Nov 27 Washington, DC US J. Edgar Hoover The FBI's immediate response to Apalachin revelations is to initiate the Top Hoodlum Program, focusing on interstate racketeers. At this time, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover looks to the Hobbs Act of the early 1940s for federal authority to combat racketeering. Additional legislation authorizing FBI action against mobsters will be passed in subsequent years.
• 1958 Jan 08 New York, NY US Johnny Dioguardi Convicted of labor extortion and conspiracy, Johnny "Dio" is sentenced to serve 15-30 years in prison. During his trial, Dio was described as a good friend of Teamster leader James Hoffa. Dio would spend much of his remaining life behind bars, as he was repeatedly convicted of frauds and tax evasion.
• 1958 Brooklyn, NY US Joe Gallo, Joseph Profaci Gallo rebellion against Profaci crime family begins.
• 1958 Washington, DC US Confronted with the undeniable complicity of Mafiosi at the Apalachin meeting, the FBI redefines its position on the "Mafia" and compiles a report on Mafia history. (The first report is later discarded.) By the early 1960s, the FBI refers to the Sicilian-Italian underworld in the U.S. not as Mafia but as La Cosa Nostra or LCN. The new name appears to stem from informant Joe Valachi's use of the term "cosa nostra" (our thing) when discussing the Sicilian-Italian criminal society.
• 1959 Jan 01 Havana, Cuba Meyer Lansky, Fulgencio Batista The Mafia's casino operations in Havana are lost as Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista is forced into exile. Meyer Lansky returns to Miami after losing a huge investment, sets sights on Bahamas and trans-Atlantic gambling possibilities.
• 1959 Feb 26 Orange, NJ US Abner Zwillman "Longie" Zwillman is found hanging from a plastic clothesline in his home, an apparent suicide. Zwillman's coin-op machine rackets were being shut down by government attention and a tax evasion charge was haunting him.
• 1959 Apr 17 New York, NY US Vito Genovese, Natale Joseph Evola, Vincent Gigante Genovese Family leadership is convicted of narcotics trafficking and sent off to prison. Genovese gets 15 years. Gigante gets seven years. Evola, a lieutenant in the Bonanno organization, is also sentenced to a 10-year jail term.
• 1959 Sep 25 New York, NY US Anthony Carfano Carfano (Little Augie Pisano) and his date, Mrs. Janice Drake, are called away from a dinner at a Lexington Avenue restaurant and later found dead in a new Cadillac in Queens. Both were shot in the back of their heads by a gunmen in the back seat of the car.
• 1959 Dec 18 New York, NY US Paul Castellano Castellano is convicted of working to obstruct a government investigation. A month later, he is sentenced to five years in prison. He serves seven months.
• 1960 Apr 29 New York, NY US Johnny Dioguardi Johnny "Dio" is sentenced to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine for income tax evasion.
• 1960 Nov 28 New York, NY US A U.S. appeals court nullifies earlier conspiracy convictions against 20 men who attended the 1957 meeting at Apalachin, NY.
• 1961 May 04 Kansas City, MO US A grand jury finds evidence that the Kansas City police conspired with the local Mafia to permit criminal activities.
• 1961 Jun 29 New York, NY US Frank Costello Costello is released from prison.
• 1962 Jan 26 Naples, Italy Charlie Luciano Luciano dies of an apparent heart attack at Capodichino Airport in Naples. At the time, he was suspected of guiding a U.S.-Italian narcotics smuggling operation.
• 1962 Jun 06 Bay Shore, Long Island, NY US Joseph Profaci Profaci dies of cancer at Southside Hospital. He was 64. The Gallo-Profaci War continues. Profaci's brother-in-law Joseph Magliocco appears to take control over the crime family leadership.
• 1962 Philadelphia, PA US Salvatore Sabella Sabella dies in a Philadelphia hospital.
• 1963 Sep 27 Washington, DC US Joseph Valachi Valachi testimony before the Senate Investigations subcommittee are broadcast on radio and television. Valachi tells of his induction into "Cosa Nostra" and of the Castellamarese War Era.
• 1963 Sep 28 Washington, DC US Joseph Valachi, Vito Genovese Valachi reveals that Genovese is the "Boss of Bosses" of the American Mafia.
• 1963 Dec 28 West Islip, NY US Joseph Magliocco Magliocco, 65, dies of a heart attack at Good Samaritan Hospital. Authorities do not become aware of his death until days later. Magliocco, an attendee of the Apalachin conference and a brother-in-law of Joseph Profaci, reportedly led the Profaci crime family from June of 1962 until his death.
• 1964 Jan 19 Detroit, MI US Santo Perrone A Detroit Mafia leader, Perrone is seriously injured when a bomb explodes in his car. Perrone's right leg is destroyed in the blast.
• 1964 Sicily, Italy A long, bitter and bloody civil war between Sicilian Mafiosi ends. The warfare and public opposition to it triggered numerous violations of the omerta code, and Sicilian authorities benefit in their struggle against the secret society.
• 1964 Mar 18 Buffalo, NY US John C. Montana A leading mafioso in the city, John C. Montana dies at age 70 in Buffalo General Hospital. Montana was among those arrested at the Apalachin meeting in 1957.
• 1964 Oct 21 Manhattan, NY US Joseph Bonanno The media reports that Joe Bonanno was kidnapped early in the morning from the front of a Park Avenue apartment building. Bonanno was scheduled to appear before a federal grand jury later in the day.
• 1965 Jan 13 New York, NY US Vincent Rao Federal prosecutors seek to force 67-year-old Vincent John Rao to testify about Lucchese crime family rackets. Prosecutors grant Rao immunity from prosecution in an effort to circumvent 5th Amendment protection.
• 1965 Jan 15 New York, NY US Joseph Bonanno Authorities believe the Bonanno crime family has fractured and will experience a civil war.
• 1965 Mar 18 New York, NY US Vincent Rao A federal grand jury indicts Rao for perjury.
• 1965 Apr 24 Hot Springs, AR US. Owney Madden Madden dies in a Hot Springs hospital.
• 1965 Nov 23 Chicago, IL US Murray Humphreys Hours after resisting arrest by federal agents, Humphreys dies of a heart attack. He was believed to be a link between Chicago's Outfit and influential politicians.
• 1966 Chicago, IL US Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo Released from prison in 1966, Giancana temporarily flees country to escape further prosecution. Accardo comes out of retirement as Family boss.
• 1966 May New York, US Joe Bonanno, Gaspar DiGregorio Absent for years, Bonanno suddenly resurfaces and announces he is once again in command of his New York crime Family. Gaspar DiGregorio, who at the urging of Bonanno enemies on the Commission has been fighting the leadership of Bonanno's son, loses support of the Commission and the rebellious Bonanno men. The Banana Wars will shortly conclude.
• 1966 May 17 New York, NY US Joseph Bonanno Bonanno, 61, turns himself in at the U.S. Courthouse at Foley Square. Authorities had been looking for him for 19 months. Recent speculation had put Bonanno in Tunis, controlling the flow of narcotics in the Mediterranean.
• 1966 Sep Queens, NY US Carlo Gambino, Tommy Eboli, Joe Colombo, Joey Gallo, Mike Miranda, Aniello Dellacroce Police raid the Lastella Restaurant in Queens to discover a meeting of top Mafia leaders from New York and New Orleans. The meeting is dubbed "Little Apalachin." One purpose of the meeting seems to be the distribution of Tommy Lucchese's rackets. Lucchese has been hospitalized with various ailments for more than a year.
• 1967 Mar New Jersey, US Harold Konigsberg Helped by information supplied by convicted extortionist Harold Konigsberg, federal authorities discovered the location of a Mafia burial ground in New Jersey.
• 1967 May Montreal, Canada Joseph Bonanno Authorities say the Bonanno crime family runs a narcotics trafficking route between Montreal and New York City.
• 1967 Jun Westchester County, NY US Authorities claim that Westchester County, NY, garbage carting is monopolized by members of the Genovese and Gambino crime families.
• 1967 Jul 13 Long Island, NY US Tommy Lucchese After years of illness, Lucchese dies of natural causes at his Lido Beach, Long Island, home at the age of 67. Lucchese entered Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in August 1965 with a brain tumor and a heart condition. After a year, his rackets were divided up at the "Little Apalachin" conference at Lastella Restaurant in Queens. He left the hospital for home on April 11, 1967.
• 1967 Nov 17 New York, NY US Vincent Rao Rao is convicted of perjury and faces up to five years in prison. Media reports indicate that Rao has taken over Lucchese's crime family.
• 1967 Dec 11 New York, NY US Johnny Dioguardi Convicted of bankruptcy fraud, Johnny "Dio" was sentenced to five years and a $10,000 fine.
• 1969 New York, NY US Vito Genovese, Tommy Eboli After Genovese's death in prison, leadership of Genovese Family appears to pass to Eboli. There is reason to believe that Eboli was merely a front man, as the actual boss attempted to remain inconspicuous.
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*Copied from: http://mafiahistory.us/maf-chr5.htm
**Hunt, Thomas, "Timeline Part 5. 1950-1988," The American Mafia, mafiahistory.us, accessed Jan. 27, 2021.