Los Angeles Crime Family - Origins and Predecessors

Origins and Predecessors

The early years of organized crime in California were marked by the division of various Italian street gangs such as the Black Hand organizations in the early 20th century. The most prominent of these was the Matranga family, a gang run by relatives of Charles Matranga, founder of the New Orleans crime family. Their legitimate business was in fruit vending. Otherwise they used threats, violence, arson and extortion to control the Plaza area, which was the heart of the Italian American community of Los Angeles at the time. Its first leader was Orsario "Sam" Matranga who started leading the family in 1905. Sam's relatives Salvatore Matranga, Pietro "Peter" Matranga, and Antonio "Tony" Matranga were other members of the gang.

Joseph Cuccia was a well-respected criminal amongst the underworld, who served as a translator in court for Italians who didn't speak English. This made him a well liked man in the Italian community. When prominent Black Hand leader Joseph Ardizzone was involved in a dispute with George Maisano, a member of the Matranga gang, they both went to Cuccia to mediate the dispute. Cuccia was a relative of Ardizzone and member of his crime family. He ruled in Ardizzone's favor, causing the Matrangas to threaten harm on Cuccia. In response, Ardizzone shot and killed Maisano on July 2, 1906. Ardizzone then fled authorities and was a wanted fugitive.

With Ardizzone gone, the Matrangas fulfilled their promise of revenge. On September 25, 1906 Cuccia was shot and killed, allegedly by Tony Matranga. With both Ardizzone and Cuccia gone, the Matrangas were the dominant force in Los Angeles. However, their power was limited to within the Plaza community. To change this they cooperated with the police. Giving up information on their enemies and receiving immunity for most of their crimes, the Matrangas were able to expand their power and influence. Ardizzone returned to Los Angeles in 1914 and resumed his feud with the Matranga family. Sam and his successor Pietro "Peter" Matranga, were both murdered within 33 days of each other in 1917. Mike Marino (aka Mike Rizzo), an Ardizzone ally was responsible for the murders. While their next leader, cousin Tony Buccola was able to get revenge and kill Marino in 1919, many years of violence ruined the Matranga family. It was becoming clear that Ardizzone's faction was winning the war. With the rise of bootleggers in the 1920s, the Matranga's power declined and was eliminated with Buccola's disappearance in 1930.

Vito Di Giorgio, a Black Handler and grocery store owner, moved to the United States from Palermo, Sicily in 1904 Los Angeles from New Orleans in 1920. He was possibly the first boss of what would become the Los Angeles crime family. With the continuing Ardizzone-Matranga feud, Di Giorgio was able to relocate to Los Angeles and bring some order to the Los Angeles underworld. Di Giorgio was known as an intimidating and forceful man who was in conflict with several local underworld factions. He maintained strong connections with mobsters in New Orleans, Colorado, Chicago and was a cousin, close friend and had connections to New York City mobster Giuseppe Morello, the first boss of the Morello crime family. He survived two attempts on his life before he was murdered in Chicago in 1922 while having a haircut. His underboss Rosario DeSimone, who moved from Pueblo, Colorado to Los Angeles around the same time as Di Giorgio, was another longtime power figure who took control of rackets quietly in Los Angeles County. DeSimone officially stepped down from the top position in the 1920s, but was still the real power within his organization.

Albert Marco seized control of Los Angeles in the 1920s not by working with the local Mafia, but with the "City Hall Gang", a political machine in Los Angeles run by Kent Kane Parrot and Charles H. Crawford. This transformed Marco into the Vice Lord of Los Angeles, earning $500,000 from bordello prostitution alone. With Crawford and Parrot controlling city hall and the local press, the City Hall Gang was able to operate bootlegging, prostitution, and illegal gambling rackets in the shadows with little law enforcement scrutiny. This all changed when Marco was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 1928 and the City Hall Gang broke down after a reform movement swept L.A. in the late 1920s. Since then a host of mobsters fought to take control of liquor operations that Marco and the City Hall Gang previously dominated. In 1928 August Palumbo was the seventh bootleggers killed in a six-week period. Palumbo was Marco’s lieutenant and was killed for refusing to merge his criminal operations with Rosario DeSimone. DeSimone’s lieutenant Dominic DiCiolla (aka Dominick De Soto) was acquitted of the murder and took control of Palumbo's liquor operations. When he tried to challenge higher powers by moving into syndicated gambling rackets, he was murdered in 1931.