While the Los Angeles Mafia never rose to the same notoriety as its counterparts in New York and Chicago, the crime family infiltrated Hollywood, had a hand in the growth of Las Vegas, and terrorized the West Coast for decades.
While New York and Chicago may be the first cities to come to mind when thinking of the mob, the Los Angeles Mafia also played a major role in the history of the criminal organization. The L.A. crime family infiltrated the Hollywood film industry, rubbed elbows with corrupt California government officials, and even helped bring about the rise of Las Vegas.
Matranga, originally from Sicily, built a network of criminal activities, including extortion and protection rackets. Buccola, his successor, continued to expand the family's influence, solidifying its power in the region and laying the groundwork for future mob operations in Los Angeles.Public Domain
As the leader of the L.A. crime family, he controlled illegal gambling, extortion, and other rackets. Dragna was a key figure in the West Coast's organized crime scene until his death in 1956.Los Angeles Public Library
DeSimone was a prominent mobster and lawyer who led the Los Angeles crime family from 1956 until his death in 1967. Library of Congress
In 1976, Roselli's body was found in a steel drum floating off the shore of Miami, indicating a mob hit.Wikimedia Commons
Adamo was an influential mobster within the Los Angeles Mafia. He was known for his close ties to other mob figures and his strategic mind. His criminal career was cut short when he was murdered in 1956, a victim of internal power struggles within the Mafia.National Archives
Best known for assassinating Danny Greene, a rival mobster, in 1977, his subsequent cooperation with authorities led to numerous arrests. Ferritto's testimony helped dismantle parts of the American Mafia before he entered witness protection.Public Domain
Under his leadership, the family made a fortune in pornography, extortion, and drugs.
Brooklier's tenure also saw significant FBI attention, leading to his conviction and imprisonment in the 1980s. He continued to oversee family business from behind bars until he died in prison in 1984.Find a Grave
The murders were believed to be a mob hit carried out by Jimmy Fratianno. The men had recently robbed the Mafia-backed Flamingo Hotel in Vegas.
Their deaths sent a clear message about the consequences of crossing powerful mob figures.Los Angeles Public Library
A charismatic and ruthless gangster, he was instrumental in founding the National Crime Syndicate. Siegel's vision led to the creation of the Flamingo Hotel, which helped transform Las Vegas into a gambling hub. He was murdered in 1947, likely due to his financial mismanagement and lavish spending.Los Angeles Public Library
In 1958, Stompanato was fatally stabbed by Turner's 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane, during a domestic altercation, a case that drew significant media attention and was ultimately ruled a justifiable homicide.Los Angeles Public Library
While LaVonne Weaver stood by her husband throughout numerous criminal trials, their nearly two-decade-long marriage was tumultuous at best behind closed doors.
In 1958, LaVonne filed for divorce, citing mental cruelty and the constant danger surrounding Cohen's criminal activities.Los Angeles Public Library
However, 12 years later, Caci was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for conspiracy, wire fraud, and transporting fraudulently obtained money.Los Angeles Police Department
The group reached its peak in the 1940s and '50s under the rule of mob boss Jack Dragna, who put the L.A. Mafia on the national stage. In fact, Dragna's organization was so successful that it won him a spot on the Commission, and he became the only boss west of Chicago to ever earn a seat.
Once Dragna died in 1956, however, the family's power started a slow but steady decline. Under Chief William H. Parker, the L.A.P.D. cracked down on organized crime through its special task force known as the "Gangster Squad." What's more, Dragna's successor, Frank DeSimone, proved to be an inept leader, letting the L.A. crime family spiral out of control.
Less than a decade after Dragna's death, most members of the Los Angeles Mafia had left the city entirely — and the California branch of the mob never returned to the heights it had once reached.
The Origins Of The Los Angeles Mafia
The Los Angeles Mafia's early years weren't all that different from those of its East Coast counterparts. It began with a group of Italian-Americans living in Los Angeles who had former ties to the Black Hand and other street gangs. Some of the earliest members of L.A.'s organized crime scene were Rosario "Sam" Matranga, Salvatore Matranga, Pietro "Peter" Matranga, and Antonio "Tony" Matranga.
In 1906, Black Hand leader Joseph Ardizzone and Matranga gang member George Maisano fell into a disagreement and asked a criminal named Joseph Cuccia to mediate. Cuccia just so happened to be Ardizzone's relative, so he sided with him. The Matrangas weren't keen on this, and they made threats toward Cuccia — leading Ardizzone to kill Maisano and then flee.
Public DomainJoseph Ardizzone was the first official boss of the Los Angeles Mafia, but he mysteriously disappeared in 1931, and his body was never found, leading to numerous theories about his fate.
Two months later, in September 1906, Tony Matranga hunted Cuccia down and shot him dead as well. The murder ultimately secured the Matranga family's place at the top of the organized crime ladder in Los Angeles. To really establish their foothold, they also began openly cooperating with police and feeding the authorities information on their rivals in a mutually beneficial arrangement.
But in 1914, Ardizzone returned to L.A., reigniting his feud with the Matranga family. Over the next few years, the constant fighting steadily wore the Matrangas down, and Ardizzone's crew only gained more power with the onset of Prohibition and the rise of bootlegging.
It took Vito Di Giorgio — cousin to New York's Morello family boss Giuseppe Morello — to finally instill a sense of order in the Los Angeles crime family after he arrived in the city in 1920. His tenure was short-lived, though. He was killed while getting a haircut in Chicago in 1922, and his underboss, Rosario DeSimone, took over.
In the midst of all this turmoil, however, a new face had entered the scene. Shortly after Ardizzone returned to California, he partnered up with Jack Dragna, who helped him run his bootlegging operations. By 1931, with Dragna's help, Ardizzone had truly solidified himself as the leader of the L.A. crime scene — and then, he mysteriously vanished.
The California Crime Family Under Jack Dragna
The Dragna era of the Los Angeles Mafia marked the true beginning of the California crime family's golden age. When Prohibition ended, Dragna successfully pivoted his gang into new ventures like loan sharking and illegal gambling.
Despite Dragna's success as the first long-term boss of the L.A. Mafia, the East Coast bosses weren't confident in his leadership. He was far less ruthless than his counterparts. In fact, the Los Angeles Times once referred to Dragna as "everything Mickey Cohen was not: cautious to a fault and allergic to limelight."
Los Angeles Public LibraryJack Dragna earned the nickname "The Capone of Los Angeles" due to his powerful and influential position in the L.A. crime family, much like Al Capone's dominance in Chicago.
For a time, that caution served Dragna well, but he faced another problem: There simply weren't as many Italians on the West Coast as there were on the East Coast. Dragna wound up recruiting members from all across the country to stack his ranks. This meant that Dragna had access to some of the most capable men in the business, including "Handsome Johnny" Roselli, Nick "Old Man" Licata, Aladena "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno, Dominic Brooklier, and Frank "Bomp" Bompensiero.
But there was one mobster who was a bit more uneasy about partnering up with Dragna, and that was Bugsy Siegel. Siegel had been sent by Lucky Luciano to oversee Mafia interests on the West Coast, particularly in Las Vegas, where the mob's gambling businesses were flourishing.
However, Siegel was clever and silver-tongued. He weaseled his way into Hollywood circles, making a fair number of associates among some of the era's rising stars and infiltrating several movie industry unions — which he would then extort, earning a pretty penny. But Siegel's fallout with the New York families over the Flamingo Hotel led to his own demise, and with it, the rise of Mickey Cohen.
Los Angeles Public LibraryBugsy Siegel's remains at the medical examiner's office after his murder in 1947.
Cohen, Siegel's chief lieutenant, didn't show Dragna's family the same respect as his predecessor. Instead, he started growing his own family, and for a time, it looked as if it might rival Dragna's. Viewing Cohen as a threat, Dragna tried to recruit some of his Italian men and killed countless others. Then, in 1951, Cohen was imprisoned for tax evasion, and the Los Angeles Mafia took over his gambling operations.
But Dragna's good fortune wouldn't last forever.
The Downfall Of The Los Angeles Mafia
The 1950s marked another major turning point for the Los Angeles crime family — but not for the better. William H. Parker became the L.A.P.D. chief of police and, unlike his more corrupt predecessors, he honed in on organized crime, forming his "Gangster Squad" to bring down both Dragna's and Cohen's families.
The Los Angeles mob was dealt another blow in 1956 when Jack Dragna died of a heart attack and Frank DeSimone, a former lawyer, took over. This decision caused "Handsome Johnny" Roselli, who had been seen as the more logical choice to lead the family, to depart back to Chicago. Other members followed, including "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno. With DeSimone in charge, things really started to fall apart.
DeSimone's public image came crumbling down when he was discovered at the ill-fated Apalachin meeting, which caused him to retreat further from activities that he felt would attract police attention. Members of the New York mob became increasingly frustrated with him, leading DeSimone to grow even more paranoid and refuse to leave his home at night. Still, he managed to stay in charge for 11 years until his death in 1967.
From there, power passed to Nick Licata, then to Dominic Brooklier, and eventually to Peter Milano. But by then, Fratianno had flipped on his former family members and become an informant. Authorities were clued in to far more about the mob's activities in Los Angeles than they ever had been before.
Milano kept the L.A. mob hanging on by a thread despite law enforcement's best efforts, but by the 1990s, there were only an estimated 20 official members in the Los Angeles Mafia — and the golden years of the California crime family had well and truly passed.
After learning about the history of the Los Angeles Mafia, read about 13 mob bosses who defined the Mafia. Then, read about the deadliest Mafia hitmen in history.
