Frankie Carbo

Infobox Person
name = Paul G. Carbo

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caption =
birth_date = birth date|1904|2|4|mf=y
birth_place = Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York, U.S.
death_date = death date and age|1976|11|22|1904|2|4|mf=y
death_place = Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.

Frankie Carbo (February 4, 1904 - November 9, 1976) was a New York mobster who operated as a boxing promoter and a member of Murder, Inc.

Early years

Born Paul Gianfranco Carbo on New York's Lower East Side, his father was from Manlleu, Catalonia, in Spain. Frankie Carbo was sent to the New York State Reformatory for juvenile delinquents at the age of eleven. Over the next ten years, Carbo would be in and out of prison on charges including assault and grand larceny. During this period, Carbo was arrested for the murder of a cab driver who refused to pay protection money. Pleading not guilty, Carbo claimed self-defense. He eventually agreed to a plea bargain of manslaughter in exchange for a reduced sentence of two to four years. After serving 20 months in prison, Carbo was released.

Prohibition

With the passage of Prohibition, he began working as a hired gunman for several bootleg gangs. In 1931, Carbo was charged with the murder of Philadelphia mobster Mickey Duffy in Atlantic City, New Jersey; however, Carbo was eventually released. During the early 1930s, Carbo began working for Murder, Inc. under boss Louis "Lepke" Buchalter. He was later charged with the murders of Waxey Gordon bootleggers Max Greenberg and Max Haskell. Although held by authorities for over six months, Carbo was eventually released when witnesses refused to testify.

Murderous Record

By the end of the 30's, Carbo had been arrested 17 times and had been charged with five more murders. In 1939, Carbo was a prime suspect in the murder of informant Harry "Big Greenie" Greenberg in California. This time former Murder Inc. members Abe "Kid Twist" Reles and Allie "Tick Tock" Tannenbaum agreed to testify against Carbo. However, before the trial began, Reles, who was under police protection, fell to his death from a window of the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island. His death was ruled a suicide, and the case against Carbo was eventually dismissed.

During the 1940s, Carbo became a boxing promoter. Operating though a New York bookie operation, Carbo was highly successful in fixing high profile boxing matches and eventually became known as the "Czar of Boxing". In 1947, it was rumored that Carbo had engineered the Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel hit in Beverly Hills, California.

Legal Troubles

In the late 1950s, Carbo started running into legal troubles. First, he was convicted of managing boxers without a license and was sentenced to two years in the New York City jail on Riker's Island. Following his release in 1960, Carbo was subpoenaed to appear before a Senate investigation committee to testify on his involvement in professional boxing. Carbo took the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution 25 times, answering "I cannot be compelled to be a witness against myself." In 1961, Carbo and boxing promoter Blinky Palermo were charged with conspiracy and extortion against then National Boxing Association Welterweight Champion Don Jordan. After a three month trial, in which U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy served as prosecutor, Carbo was sentenced to 25 years in Alcatraz Island Penitentiary in the State of California, and subsequently transferred to McNeil Island Correction Institution in the State of Washington. He was later transferred to Marion Federal Prison in Marion, Illinois.

Granted early parole due to ill health, Carbo was released from prison. He died in Miami Beach, Florida on November 9, 1976.

Further reading

*Rosen, Charley. "The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Nearly Destroyed the Game of Basketball". New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001. ISBN 1-58322-562-5
*Nack, William. "My Turf: Horses, Boxers, Blood Money, and the Sporting Life". New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81250-9
*Scott, Peter Dale. "Deep Politics and the Death of JFK". Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. ISBN 0-520-08410-1

References

*Sifakis, Carl. "The Mafia Encyclopedia". New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3