The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia
This enduring and fascinating chronicle of the Cleveland Mafia was written after the author's many years of research into the murders of his grandfather and three uncles, who were mob bosses. The seven Porrello brothers and four Lonardo brothers, who had been boyhood friends in Licata, Sicily, had a wholesale lock on corn sugar. The sweet stuff was a lucrative bootleg ingredient during Prohibition. After a rogue business manager sparked the infamous sugar war, teenage Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo emerged to commit a boldly executed murder. The Porrello brothers attempted to secure their leadership by hosting the first known national meeting of the Sicilian-American Mafia. Meanwhile, the bloody vendettas continued. Eventually, the Porrellos were succeeded by the powerful Mayfield Road mob. Its bosses, brothers Frank and Tony Milano, Al Polizzi and later, John Scalish, were allied with influential Jewish mobsters like Moe Dalitz. During the 1930s, the Cleveland crime family was third in power after those in New York City and Chicago, and would have a role in developing Las Vegas. Through the years, Big Ange Lonardo rose through the ranks to become the acting boss. After mob foe Danny "the Irishman" Greene was blown up, local, state, and federal law enforcers cooperated in taking down the once-mighty Cleveland Mafia. Lonardo was convicted of drug racketeering and received a life sentence. However, he shocked friends, fellow mobsters, and lawmen when he cut a deal for his freedom. At the time, he was the highest-ranking Mafiosi to betray omerta, the Sicilian code of silence. His testimony helped the FBI and federal prosecutors wreak havoc on crime families and their bosses across the U.S. and provided an insider's history of the American Mafia.