- Alfred Polizzi
Alfred "The Owl" Polizzi (
March 15 ,1900 - 1994) was aCleveland, Ohio mobster who helped establish criminal syndicate operations inNortheast Ohio .Born in
Siculiana ,Sicily , Polizzi immigrated to the United States with his family the same year. During the 1920s and 30s, Polizzi worked with his brotherJoseph Polizzi ,Antonio Milano , andMoe Dalitz . He married Philomena Valentino and had three children: Joanne, Raymond, and Nicholas. His arrest record would eventually includerobbery , violations of theVolsted Act , incometax evasion , and suspicion of murderBy 1935, Polizzi ruled the Cleveland rackets. In 1944, Polizzi was convicted of
tax evasion . Around that time, he moved toCoral Gables, Florida . At one point,US Senate investigators characterized Polizzi as "...one of the most influential members of the underworld of the United States". By the 1970s, his influence reportedly extended from Ohio toCentral Florida andSouthern California duringPeter Milano 's leadership of the Los Angeles crime family. Polizzi ranillegal gambling andnarcotics distribution rackets in Florida. He also owned a construction company in Coral Gables.Alfred Polizzi died in 1994.
Further reading
*Capeci, Jerry. "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia". Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
*Fried, Albert. "The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America". New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. ISBN 0-23109683-6
*Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. "Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime". New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
*Jacobs, James B., Christopher Panarella and Jay Worthington. "Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra". New York: NYU Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8147-4230-0
*Johnson, Curt and R. Craig Sautter. "The Wicked City: Chicago from Kenna to Capone". New York: Da Capo Press, 1998. ISBN 0-306-80821-8
*Reppetto, Thomas A. "American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power". New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2004. ISBN 0-8050-7798-7
*Porrello, Rick. "To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia". Novelty, Ohio: Next Hat Press, 2004. ISBN 0-9662508-9-3
*Schatzberg, Rufus, Robert J.Kelly and Ko-lin Chin, ed. "Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States". Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994. ISBN 0-313-28366-4References
*Sifakis, Carl. "The Mafia Encyclopedia". New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
*Bureau of Narcotics, U.S. Treasury Department, "Mafia: the Government's Secret File on Organized Crime, HarperCollins Publishers 2007 ISBN 0-06-136385-5
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