Los Angeles crime family
 Jack Dragna in a 1915 San Quentin identification photograph, before his later leadership of the Los Angeles family | |
| Also Known As | Dragna crime family Los Angeles Mafia Southern California crime family L.A. family |
|---|---|
| Origins | |
| Founding Location | Southern California |
| Territory | Los Angeles and parts of Southern California |
| Lineage | |
| Predecessor(s) | Pre-existing Southern California Sicilian Mafia organizations |
| Profile | |
| Structure | Local Mafia borgata with several Sicilian leadership phases |
| Activities | Bootlegging Illegal gambling and bookmaking Extortion and loansharking Labor and business racketeering Narcotics trafficking (particular later members) Murder and violent enforcement |
| Politics | |
| Leader | Joseph Ardizzone (pre-1931 phase) Jack Dragna (1931–1956) Frank DeSimone Nicolo Licata Dominic Brooklier (later leadership documented in federal cases) |
| Notable Members | Tom Dragna Girolamo “Momo” Adamo Frank Bompensiero Louis Tom Dragna Michael Rizzitello |
| Activity | |
| Status | Documented in federal RICO convictions into the 1980s; later current status and leadership not assigned |
| Years Active | Early twentieth century–at least 1984 (local family; exact founding date disputed) |
The Los Angeles crime family was an Italian-American Mafia borgata based in Southern California. It is often called the Dragna family for Jack Dragna, who led it from approximately 1931 until his death in 1956.
The family predated Dragna's leadership. Dragna brought personal experience and relationships from New York's Corleonesi–Morello–Reina milieu, but he did not create a California branch of the Morello crime family or Reina crime family.
Pre-Dragna Southern California Mafia
[edit]Southern California contained Sicilian criminal organizations before Dragna became boss. Historical reconstructions identify leadership phases involving Vito Di Giorgio, Rosario DeSimone and Joseph Ardizzone, although the precise chronology and institutional continuity remain disputed.[1]
Those groups drew on Sicilian migration networks from several towns, including Piana dei Greci/Piana degli Albanesi and other western Sicilian communities. A common location did not make every early Italian gang part of one family, and the earliest located leader does not necessarily establish a charter date.
Ardizzone was the dominant leader before 1931. He disappeared in October 1931 and was never found. Later accounts commonly suspect murder and connect his disappearance with a leadership struggle, but no conviction established who ordered or carried out his presumed killing.
Dragna's Corleonesi and New York background
[edit]Jack Dragna was born Ignazio Dragna in Corleone, Sicily, in 1891. His family migrated to New York, where he developed relationships in the Corleonesi and East 107th Street environment. David Critchley discusses Dragna alongside Gaetano Reina and the Gagliano brothers and notes his Corleone-cosca connections.[2]
Dragna became a suspect during the investigation of poultry dealer Barnet Baff's 1914 murder. He was extradited to New York but was not tried for the killing. Critchley concludes that the evidence points to Dragna as a more plausible suspect than Reina while still stopping short of adjudicated guilt.[2] The article therefore does not state that Dragna murdered Baff.
Dragna moved west before becoming head of the local family. Critchley observes that his old Corleone-cosca ties were of limited value on the West Coast, where he lacked the same hometown base.[2] This supports personal continuity without converting Los Angeles into an institutional Corleonesi offshoot.
Dragna administration
[edit]Dragna succeeded Ardizzone around 1931 and led the family until 1956. His administration included relatives and associates such as Tom Dragna, Girolamo Adamo and later Frank Bompensiero. The organization profited from gambling, bookmaking, extortion, bootlegging-era enterprises and attempts to influence unions and legitimate businesses.
The family's relationship with non-Italian gambling figures, especially Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and Mickey Cohen, involved both cooperation and rivalry. Neither Siegel's nor Cohen's organization was simply a crew of the Los Angeles Mafia.
The United States Senate's Kefauver investigation examined Dragna and organized crime in Southern California. A Senate report records that Dragna appeared pursuant to a committee subpoena.[3] Committee suspicion and testimony are evidence of investigation, not criminal conviction for every alleged racket.
Dragna died of natural causes on February 23, 1956. Later leaders included Frank DeSimone and Nicolo Licata. Leadership changes did not create new families each time, although membership and influence declined.
Later federal cases
[edit]Federal RICO prosecutions provide firm evidence of a continuing Los Angeles La Cosa Nostra organization in the late twentieth century. In United States v. Brooklier, the Ninth Circuit described Dominic Brooklier, Louis Tom Dragna and others in a racketeering case involving extortion, obstruction and murder-related conduct. The court stated that Brooklier retained ultimate control over the Los Angeles La Cosa Nostra and directed activity for the family.[4]
A later appellate decision records Louis Tom Dragna's convictions for substantive RICO and RICO conspiracy offenses.[5] These cases establish particular defendants, convictions and an identified Los Angeles family; they do not establish a complete present-day hierarchy.
Relationship to the Corleonesi network
[edit]The narrowest defensible model is:
- Pre-existing Southern California Sicilian family + Dragna's personal Corleonesi/New York experience → Dragna-led Los Angeles family.
This was not:
- a formal split ordered by Morello or Reina;
- a California branch routinely commanded from East Harlem;
- proof that all Corleone-born migrants joined Dragna;
- an uninterrupted transfer of every early Los Angeles faction into one roster.
The Los Angeles page belongs in this collection because a significant leader carried personal and factional continuity from the Corleonesi network, not because the two organizations were identical.
Current limits
[edit]Federal cases firmly document the organization into the 1980s. Later reporting describes reduced remnants, but sufficiently strong current evidence was not assembled for an active-status claim or present boss list. No current leadership is assigned.
References
[edit]- ↑ “Los Angeles Crime Family Bosses”, The American Mafia, historical leadership and source overview.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 David Critchley, The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891–1931 (New York: Routledge, 2009), pp. 93 and 103.
- ↑ United States Senate, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, report and contempt material concerning Jack Dragna (1951).
- ↑ United States v. Brooklier, 685 F.2d 1208 (9th Cir. 1982).
- ↑ United States v. Dragna, 746 F.2d 457 (9th Cir. 1984).