This is a list of organized crime in the 1950s, arranged chronologically.
1950 Events Boston mobster Philip Buccola flees the country to escape indictment for tax evasion. Before leaving the U.S., he turns over his criminal operations to mobster Raymond Patriarca, Sr. Patriarca would eventually transform this confederation of Italian street gangs into the Patriarca crime family. February 28 – Abraham Davidian is shot to death in Fresno, California while waiting to testify in a major West Coast narcotics investigation. April 6 – Kansas City, Missouri mob boss Charles Binaggio and his bodyguard, Charles Gargotta, are found shot to death. Binaggio would be succeeded by Anthony Gizzo. May 26 – The Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (later to be known as the Kefauver Committee) opens hearings in Miami, Florida. Committee hearings would continue in major cities throughout the country until August 17, 1951. June 5 – James Lumia, Florida organized crime figure, is gunned down on a street corner. The hit is believed to be ordered by Santo Trafficante, Sr. July 5 – The bandit and separatist Salvatore Giuliano is killed in Castelvetrano, Sicily. According to police, carabinieri captain Antonio Perenze shot and killed Guilano as he was resisting arrest. However, Gaspare Pisciotta, Giuliano's lieutenant, would later claim that he killed Giuliano on orders from Mario Scelba, then Italian Minister of the Interior. Pisciotta would say that police promised him a pardon and a reward if he killed Giuliano. September 25 – William Drury, a former acting police captain in Chicago, and Marvin Bas, attorney for the Republican nominee for Cook County Sheriff, are shot to death at separate locations in Chicago. Police believe the two men were murdered due to information they provided the Kefauver Committee on organized crime activities in Chicago. Chicago Outfit mobsters Paul Ricca and Louis Campagna would be held for questioning in the murder, but due to lack of evidence are never formally charged."Chicago Crime Study Linked to 2 Murders". (September 27, 1950). The New York Times
Births Carlos Lehder, Medellín Cartel co-founder Joseph Tangorra, Lucchese crime family, Capo
Deaths Marvin Bas, Chicago syndicate defence lawyer Julius Benvenuti, Chicago syndicate gambling racketeer and operator of the Buffalo-Erie policy wheel February 28 – Abraham Davidian, government witness April 5 – Charles Binaggio, Kansas City crime family leader April 6 – Charles Gargotta, bodyguard to Charles Binaggio June 5 – James Lumia, Tampa crime family leader
1951 Events New York mobster Mickey Cohen, a rival of Los Angeles syndicate boss Jack Dragna, is convicted of income tax evasion. April 16 – Sam Maceo, former underboss of the Texas crime syndicate, dies of natural causes while at a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. April 19 – Shortly after the disappearance of Vincent Mangano (who, according to underworld lore, was murdered and buried in the concrete foundation of a housing project owned by Anastasia), New York mobster Philip Mangano is found dead in a marsh near Jamaica Bay. Former Mangano lieutenant Albert Anastasia, backed by Frank Costello, takes over the family after Mangano's murder. Although Anastasia, Joe Adonis and Frank Costello are questioned in connection with the incident, no charges are filed. Before their deaths, the Mangano brothers had controlled the New York waterfront for nearly two decades since the murders of Alfred Mineo and Steve Ferrigno in 1930 during the Castellammarese War. New York mobster Thomas Gagliano, leader of the present day Lucchese crime family, goes into semi-retirement and leaves day-to-day activities of the Family to Acting Boss Thomas Lucchese. May 28 – Joe Adonis is convicted for gambling violations and sentenced to two years in New Jersey State Prison. August 6 – Tony Brancato and Tony Trombino, known as the "Two Tony's", are found shot to death in the front seat of an abandoned car in Los Angeles. Both Brancato and Trombino had been identified robbing a syndicate-controlled Nevada hotel. September 8 – Meyer Lansky is charged with operating illegal gambling in Saratoga Springs, New York. October 4 – New Jersey mobster Willie Moretti is killed by four unidentified gunman while at a restaurant in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. October 20 – The Revenue Act of 1951 is officially signed into law, which would becoming effective November 1, establishing wagering excise and occupational taxes. Although later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1968, the statute forced many leading bookmakers to move their respective gambling operations out of the United States for several years. November 20 – After decades of corruption, New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey orders the New York State Crime Commission to conduct an investigation of the New York waterfront.
Arts and literature The Enforcer (film) starring Humphrey Bogart. The Glenrowan Affair (film)
Births Dennis Allen "Dr. Death", Melbourne based drug dealer and murderer. April – Cesare Bonventre, Bonanno-Galante crime family captain. May 27 – Michael Franzese, member of the Colombo crime family. June – Keith Faure, Melbourne crime figure. June 30 – Salvatore LoCascio, high-ranking member of the Gambino crime family.
Deaths April – Philip Mangano, New York mobster and waterfront labor racketeer April 19 – Vincent Mangano, New York mobster and waterfront labor racketeer April 16 – Sam Maceo, Texas crime syndicate underboss August 6 – Tony Brancato, Kansas City mobster August 6 – Tony Trombino, New York mobster October 31 – Kierstin Powers, New York Mobster
1952 Events Alfred Topliz, the Democratic leader of Manhattan's First Assembly and supposed associate of New York mobsters Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola and Frank Erickson, appears before the New York Crime Commission. March 9 – A Brooklyn shoe salesman by the name of Arnold Schuster is killed, his death ordered Albert Anastasia for his role in the capture of bank robber Willie "The Actor" Sutton. Schuster's murder would bring unwanted attention and public scrutiny on organized crime. March 18 – Joseph Vallone, former head of the Milwaukee crime family, dies. His successor Sam Ferrara, who had controlled the organization since Vallone's retirement in 1949, is forced by the Chicago Outfit to step down around November or December after a request by members of the criminal organization and replaced by John Alioto. April 27 – Over 80 organized crime figures are observed attending a party, reportedly in celebration of Raymond L.S. Patriarca's appointment as head the New England crime family, having succeeded Philip Buccola, who had fled to Italy following a tax evasion investigation. May – A conference is held by the National Crime Syndicate in the Florida Keys. August 15 – Frank Costello is convicted of contempt of court, after walking out during his testimony before the Kefauver Committee, and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
Births December 3 – Benjamín Arellano Félix, Mexican drug lord and Tijuana Cartel member
Deaths March 9 – Arnold Schuster, Brooklyn salesman and murder victim
1953 Events Kansas City mobster Joseph Benintende is imprisoned after being convicted for his role in the NCAA point shaving scandal. May 2 – Meyer Lansky is convicted of illegal gambling, after pleading guilty to five of the total twenty one charges, and serves three months in a New York prison. He is additionally fined $2,500 and, after his release, receives three years probation. June 19 – Stephen Franse, a police informant, is murdered by Genovese crime family hitman Joe Valachi. July 16 – Shortly after his release from prison, Joe Adonis is faced with perjury charges. August 5 – U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. orders the deportation of Joe Adonis after it is found Adonis had lied of his birthplace in Passaic, New Jersey and found to have immigrated from Naples, Italy. October 29 – New York mobster Frank Costello is released from prison, following his arrest for contempt of court during the Kefauver Committee the previous year. December 9 - Dominick Petrilli, sneaking into the United States shortly after being deported, is killed by rival gunman. Petrilli had brought Joe Valachi, later a government informant, into the Genovese crime family.
Deaths June 19 – Stephen Franse, NYPD police informant December 9 - Dominick Petrilli, New York mobster
1954 Events Facing a shortage of "soldiers" and other low level members, New York's Five Families begin actively recruiting members after a twenty-year hiatus. Salvatore Bonanno, the son of mafia boss Joseph Bonanno, becomes a "made man" and an official member of the Bonanno crime family. February 9 – In Sicily, the bandit Gaspare Pisciotta dies in his cell from strychnine poisoning while on trial. Pisciotta had claimed that he killed his companion and separatist Salvatore Giuliano on orders from Mario Scelba, then Italian Minister of the Interior. March 25 – Joe Adonis is convicted of perjury and sentenced to two years in a federal penitentiary. Facing a deportation order from 1954, Adonis offers to leave the country voluntarily while the verdict is under appeal as an alternative to jail time. March 27 – Johnny Dio is convicted on charges of evading New York state income taxes, and sentenced to 60 days in prison."Tax Evasion Laid to Union Official." New York Times. April 28, 1953; "Union Aide Sentenced." New York Times. March 27, 1954. April 11 – The Rome daily newspaper Avanti! publishes a photograph of a candy factory in Palermo under the headline "Textiles and Sweets on the Drug Route." The factory was reportedly set up by Calogero Vizzini and Italian-American gangster Lucky Luciano in 1949. In the evening after the story is published, the factory closes and the laboratory's chemists are reportedly smuggled out of the country. Police suspected that the factory was a cover for heroin trafficking.Luciano Organizes the Postwar Heroin Trade , The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, Alfred W. McCoy. July 10 – Calogero Vizzini the Mafia boss of Villalba in Sicily, dies. Vizzini was considered to be one of the most influential Mafia bosses of Sicily after World War II. Thousands of peasants dressed in black, politicians, and priests would take part in his funeral. Attendees would include Mussomeli boss Giuseppe Genco Russo and the powerful boss Don Francesco Paolo Bontade from Palermo (the father of future Mafia boss Stefano Bontade) – who was one of the pallbearers. An elegy for Vizzini would be pinned to the church door. It read: "Humble with the humble. Great with the great. He showed with words and deeds that his Mafia was not criminal. It stood for respect for the law, defence of all rights, greatness of character: it was love." July–December – According to FBI reports, several meetings between Mafia leaders are observed in Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois and Mountainside, New Jersey.
Arts and literature On the Waterfront (film) starring Marlon Brando.
Births Joaquin Guzman-Loera – Mexican drug baron
Deaths Calogero Vizzini, Sicilian mafiosi
1955 Events In 1955, the bosses of the Acquasanta Mafia clan, Gaetano Galatolo and Nicola D’Alessandro were killed in a dispute over the protection rackets when the Palermo fruit and vegetable wholesale market moved from the Zisa area to Acquasanta, disturbing the delicate power balances within Cosa Nostra. The killer of Galatolo was never identified, but Michele Cavataio was suspected. Cavataio became the new boss of the clan and had to agree to split the profits of the wholesale market racket with the Greco Mafia clan of Ciaculli, who traditionally controlled fruit and vegetable supply to Palermo wholesale market. March 31 – Stefano Bedami, New Jersey Family Boss is stabbed to death in a Newark, New Jersey restaurant.