Salvatore Todaro

Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro (d. June 11, 1929) was a Cleveland, Ohio, mobster who briefly headed the Cleveland crime family during the late 1920s. Todaro's birth name was Agosto Archangelo, but later changed it to Salvatore Todaro.

During Prohibition, Todaro managed sugar refineries used for creating alcohol for Joseph "Big Joe" Lonardo's crime organization. When Lonardo traveled to Sicily, he designated Todaro as acting boss of the family. However, Todaro was secretly angry with Lonardo about a dispute and decided to move against him. In 1927, Todaro allegedly conspired with rival mobster Joseph Porello to kill Joe Lonardo and his brother, John, when he returned to Cleveland from Italy.. [http://bosses.clevelandmob.com/index.html] In later years it was believed that he was actually one of the gunmen. In a five year period, the ensuing violence left another of the Lonardo brothers, and four Porello brothers dead.

After Lonardo's murder, Porello became the new Cleveland crime boss and Todaro became his lieutenant. However, Lonardo's family suspected Todaro in the boss' death and soon sought revenge. Angelo Lonardo and his cousins were having diffulties luring Todaro to a place where they could kill him. Finally, they settled on a plan.

On June 11, 1929, Todaro was in Porello's headquarters in Cleveland when he was lured outside to supposedly speak with Lonardo's widow. The supposed conversation was, in fact, a ruse innovated by Lonardo to ambush and kill Todaro, unguarded. Once outside, Todaro approached the car unconcerned. As he got close, Todaro was shot and killed by 18-year-old Angelo Lonardo and his cousin Dominick Sospirato. Todaro's execution set up another wave of violence. In retaliation, Lonardo's uncle, Frank Lonardo, was shot to death four months later in a downtown barbershop.

After Todaro's murder, his 8 year old son, Joseph, was sent to Italy for fear that he would be killed to prevent a vendetta when he grew older. To hide his identity, the boy's last name was legally changed to Agosto which bore similarity to the father's first name. He eventually died an untimely death in Italy at the age of 30.

Angelo Lonardo was eventually tried, convicted and sentenced to life for the murder of Todaro. However, the rare success of law enforcement was short lived. In 18 months, Lonardo's attorneys won him a second trial. Eyewitnesses responsible for the first conviction ignored subpoenas to return from Italy where they had fled in fear. Angelo was subsequently discharged and released. His successful vendetta against Todaro and the Porrellos brought him great respect from the powerful Cleveland mafioso, Frank Milano who was also his godfather, and helped accelerate his ascent into the Cleveland family hierarchy.

Notes

Further reading

*Capeci, Jerry. "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia". Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
*Porrello, Rick. "To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia". Novelty, Ohio: Next Hat Press, 2004. ISBN 0-9662508-9-3
*United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. "Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi : Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs". 1988. [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC19099088&id=DQeMhDjHx58C&q=Salvatore+Black+Sam+Todaro&dq=Salvatore+Black+Sam+Todaro&pgis=1]

External links

* [http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_343.html Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo, One-time Highest-Ranking Mobster to Become a Federal Witness, Dead at age 95] by Rick Porrello