colorado crime family

As a matter of fact, I tend to think of Clyde as someone similar to a Frank Costello type within the Colorado underworld. Joseph James Scotty Spinuzzi is the last of the Pueblo mobsters that Ill cover, and in my opinion the biggest gangster of the bunch in terms of his reputation. Eugene "Checkers" Smaldone shakes finger at photographer in early 1980s. The who-done-it notwithstanding, one thing was for certain after the murder. But his low profile would change as in 1957, Colletti attended the ill fated Apalachin Conference in upstate New York and was one of the men that was arrested in the subsequent raid, outing him nationally as a mobster. Clyde would be the first-born son in 1906 followed by five more sons: Eugene (born 1910), Anthony (born 1914), Andrew (born 1917), Ralph (born 1921), and Clarence (born 1924). Taken in 1956. The three men would serve their time at FMC Fort Worth (the medical center) prison in Texas. Theres no doubt that the stories about their generosity are true. I dont know anything about this gang stuff.. A few days after this incident Colosacco went to talk things over with the Smaldones in their office at Gaetanos Restaurant and there Clyde and Eugene Smaldone told him if he and his partner desired to continue their gambling activities at Priolas farm, it would be necessary henceforth to pay to Smaldones 50% of the gambling proceeds. Miraculously, Pernee, who was blown out the passenger side door she was about to shut, received only cuts and bruises. As West entered his automobile parked in downtown Denver, Smaldone enforcers Frank Mazza, Porky Routta, and Paul Enrichi, who long had been known as bodyguards and strong-arm men for the Smaldones, accosted West, forced him into the automobile and ordered him to drive out onto the Pecos Road outside of Denver. The two men were very similar. He didnt have as much control anymore.. The autopsy revealed a bullet hole in the palm of the hand of the deceased and another in the left nostril with the bullet lodged in the brain. Based on my research, there were indications that the Smaldone brothers had a close relationship at times with the Carlino brothers, and they would end up working either for or in close partnership with the Giuseppe Joe Roma organization as well in the early 30s. In 1920, at the tender age of 13, Clyde would be arrested on a burglary charge for stealing a pair of pants from a local hardware store. or debate this issue live on our message boards. The Smaldone brothers began their ascension to relative power after the murder of Joe Roma in 1933, but it wouldnt be immediate. Get ready, because theyd spend a lot of time in and out of court from the 1960s on. At the time, an economic boom had hit Colorado, which meant that there were plenty of jobs available for Italians if they were willing to accept the risk of taking on backbreaking and relatively dangerous jobs working on the railroads or in the mines. Eugene "Checkers" Smaldone (left) and Clyde Smaldone stand and listen as habitual crime charges against them read in 1953. And unfortunately, Clyde was in prison in 1938 when his father Raffaele would pass away, and the real gut-shot was that the warden (with whom Clyde had a very poor relationship) would not grant him a release to attend his fathers funeral. On direction from Governor Polis, the Department of Public Safety will soon announce a Statewide Task Force to work with the Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority to better understand the underlying causes of increases in Motor Vehicle Theft and to develop a statewide strategy to reduce motor vehicle thefts. Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Similar to construction companies having to do business with the Mafia in New York City in the 70s and 80s in order to essentially get anything done, in Denver in the 20s and 30s, you pretty much had to deal with the unsavory figures of the KKK. So ultimately, Eugenes simple issue with back-taxes of $5,000, would turn itself into first the ridiculous sentence of 60 years, but finally the 12 years and a $10,000 sentence. At this trial, Clyde and Eugene plead guilty to lesser tampering charges and on August 20, 1955 were re-sentenced to just 12 years in prison and a $10,000 fine (so still a lot of time but not as bad as the 60-year sentence theyd been stuck with). Charles S. Vigil (left), U. S. district attorney, and Max Melville (right), assistant Denver district attorney, who famously prosecuted the Smaldone brothers during the early 1950's. A spokesperson for Comer told DailyMail.com that the panel is not yet providing the names of additional family members who may have benefitted from the deals. The club featured roulette, blackjack, and crap games. Hopefully that will be of interest to viewers since other families arent talked about nearly as often. Blanda and Smaldone were so close in fact, that Blanda was the godfather to Smaldones son. Charley Blanda was born in Ames, Iowa in 1899, but at some point would move to Colorado where he would reside permanently. He wont pay me the money he owes me. An elderly Clyde and Mildred Smaldone pose with their sons Gene (top left) and Chuck (top right). 2019. Many will say that he was gifted with two distinct qualities. Despite their denials, Smiling Charlie Stephens, Clyde and Checkers Smaldone as well as another man, would be arrested and charged with conspiracy. Clyde Smaldone (bottom left), "Checkers" Smaldone (top left), Joe Veccharelli, and an unidentified man celebrate the end of Prohibition after the passing of the 21st Amendment. The History Press. As mentioned, the Smaldones would be in and out of court, cited for contempt, but would skate free of any charges related to the Walkie Talkie homicide. In addition, he was known as a man who regularly failed to pay his gambling debts. I mean, this was the Biden family influence peddling scheme,' the chairman from Kentucky continued.Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12014459/Trump-calls-Bidens-crime-family-Watergate-times-10.html?ito=msngallery, 'And when people say, well, they were involved in ventures around the world, I haven't found a legitimate business on the Biden end,' the congressman added. Five people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed in the Friday night violence in San Jacinto County. These two young lads were nearly inseparable, with the Villano family living just a few houses down the street from the Smaldone family. His passion for history, his interest in the mob, and his need to be creative and produce content led him to create this podcast where he provides his listeners with deeply-researched content on the plots, sub-plots, and real facts behind the American Cosa Nostra. The Smaldone Brothers partnered with "Smiling Charlie" Stephens and Leo Barnes to run the gambling operations of the Blakeland Inn in the mid-1930's. Smaldones bond would be set at $500,000 while Salardinos was set at $300,000. These 8 Weird Places In Colorado Are As Strange As It Gets, Spend The Night In This Incredible Colorado Home For An Unforgettable Adventure, Enjoy The Freshest Oysters And Scallops At This One-Of-A-Kind Seafood Restaurant In Colorado, Grab Some Homecooked Food And Rent A Kayak At This Awesome Spot In Colorado, This House In Colorado Has A Dark And Evil History That Will Never Be Forgotten, Here Are 7 Mobsters From Colorado That Committed Unspeakable Acts, Here Is The Most Insane, Unforgettable Colorado Bank Robbery, The Oldest Restaurant In Colorado Has A Truly Incredible History, The Story Of The Serial Killer Who Terrorized This Colorado Town Is Truly Frightening. He had the closest ties to the feared Mafia bosses to the south in Pueblo. Pictured: Joe and Jim in October 2008.Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12014459/Trump-calls-Bidens-crime-family-Watergate-times-10.html?ito=msngallery. Now, lets continue our story, Part 2 of the History of the Colorado Mob! Hunter spent the weekend at the house of Joe Kiani, 58, who founded medical technology company Masimo in 1989 and is now worth an estimated $1.3 billion, according to Forbes. Chauncey, as his friends and family called him, was born on February 8, 1924, and was the youngest of the eleven children born to Raffaele and Mamie Smaldone. The relationship was based on friendships, and the Smaldones needed someone to handle the operations in Southern Colorado, so they turned to their trusted friends in Pueblo. On January 7, 1998, the original leader and family patriarch Clyde Smaldone, the man who had his first brush with the law in 1920, whod become friends with presidents and mobsters, and whod spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers as well as charitable endeavors, passed away at the age of 91. WebBrowse crime in Colorado by city, county, schools, and surrounding areas that display crime maps showing crime incident data down to neighborhood crime activity including, Ralph Carr. So I think they found their niche right there and then. He also became a noted political donor, giving more than $3.8 million to the Democrats in the 2020 election cycle along with his wife, and $1 million to a pro-Biden super PAC. Hed Sunday punch you, but he could stand up and fist fight you too. Of course hindsight is 20:20, but I bet he really wished hed just paid his tax given all the trouble it caused. The issue was with Chaunceys ex-wife Pauline. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12014459/Trump-calls-Bidens-crime-family-Watergate-times-10.html?ito=msngallery, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12014459/Trump-calls-Bidens-crime-family-Watergate-times-10.html?ito=msngallery. This happens roughly 10 months after the Roma assassination. I shouldnt have even tried to help him because hes a no good S.O.B.. Eugene "Checkers" Smaldone arriving to courthouse for 1963 grand jury investigation. However, in 1949 the party more or less came to an end when a new law-and-order justice of the peace, Lowell Griffith, was elected and began applying heat to the operation. An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. It would certainly not be his last trip through the juvenile court system. An elderly Clyde and Mildred Smaldone have dinner at Gaetano's. Now lets talk about Paulie for just a moment. 5. which did cause that person, a member of that persons immediate family, or someone with whom that person was having or previously had a continuing relationship to suffer serious emotional distress. April 28, 2023 Testimony continued Friday in the Letecia Stauch murder trial; she stands accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson, Gannon Stauch. Were also going to touch on their connection to the Mafia in Pueblo, Colorado, and discuss some of the players in that family as well. When players ran out of money, of course the Smaldones sharks were there to grant loans at exorbitant interest rates. Okay, so before we jump back into the chronological timeline of the Smaldone era, lets quickly jump over to talk about the other key brother, Eugene Checkers Smaldone. It was later estimated by law enforcement that the Smaldone mobs annual revenue from gambling and loan-sharking during their heyday was around $1 million per year (~$7 to $12 million per year in todays money). It was just a fact of life at the time. Checkers Smaldones time at the top would not go without bloodshed, and its around this time the Smaldone family will run into another legal problem, this time in relation to Eugenes son. Informant described Falbo as a tough Denver hoodlum and gambler who on frequent occasions became drunk and publicly boasted that he was going out and clean out the Smaldones place. On the night of the murder, January 6, 1948, Falbo was at the Priola farm and lost $1,800 in the barbuit game in session there, whereupon he picked an argument with Eugene Smaldone who was participating in this game and berated Smaldone as a chiseler; and at the height of the argument reached out and jerked Smaldones hat brim down over his face. After the war, he returned to Denver and moved with his wife and 2 children into an apartment directly above Gaetanos, beginning work first at a filling station that he and Paulie Villano owned at West 46th Avenue and Pecos Street. The Chauncey Burger is still on the menu. By the 1990s the Smaldone family as it was constituted in its heyday was nearing the end. Clyde Smaldone talks with lawyer in 1953. In this photo from May 1950, the Smaldones preside over a spaghetti dinner for local youths at Gaetano's restaurant, 3760 Tejon street. Most of the patrons are local, and many of them knew the Smaldones, says Gaetanos general manager, Don Knowles. So by the time the brothers are released from prison, Prohibition is over, and like many bootleggers across the country theyd be forced to look for a new way to make money. They did do some bad things. While they certainly turned a profit, they would later say it wasnt all great either. But Checkers wasnt all intimidation; with a few drinks under his belt, those at the bar would hear him launch into an impromptu one-man opera performance. Anyhow, coming up next, were going to be digging into maybe a biography, and then as promised previously I am going back into a family history to cover the little-known Cerrito family out of California. Again, not a good look. First and foremost, I want to make it clear that the Smaldones, while gangsters for sure, were not Mafia nor was their family an official Cosa Nostra family. Clyde and Checkers would both be released in the following year, 1934. Like his uncle Clyde, Paulie had a gift for story-telling, was generally considered to be charming, and loved pranks. Everyone knows about Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde and the family from The He sentenced both Clyde and Checkers Smaldone to an astonishing 60 years in prison in 1953. If this is indeed true, it would certainly fit with the mob tradition of ordering a friend to kill a friend. Though they were never in conflict, the relationship would never quite be the same. Additionally, the data set and comparisons from year to year may not take into account data anomalies from agencies that upgrade or switch record management systems from one year to the next. So in May of 1933 following their guilty pleas, Clyde and Checkers would be sentenced to serve 18 months in federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas and fined $1,000 apiece (roughly $22,000 in todays money). And the other man was former lawyer Max Melville, who was serving as Colorados deputy attorney general at the time. As a result, in 1947 he identified a small mountain town called Central City which had been seeing a revitalization of tourism and seemed ripe for gambling. Banner headlines across the The Denver Post read Smaldone Brothers Get 60-year Terms and Verdict Spells End for Smaldone Gang.. The Possible Penalties for a Conviction of the Colorado Crime of Stalking 18-3-602 are Serious. You could find family Eugene Smaldone thereupon jerked Falbos hat from his head, threw it on the floor, and stated, Fats, you have just signed your death warrant.. According to sources, Charley didnt have the look of a mobster (he wore large thick glasses), but had a stout build standing just 55 and weighing close to 200lbs, and a long arrest record that included pinches for burglary, grand larceny, and weapons violations and did jail-time on several occasions. Firestone Source: Wikipedia User Jeffrey Beall | CC BY 3.0 Overall SnackAbility 9 /10 Eugene "Checkers" Smaldone (right) and Clarence "Chauncey" Smaldone walking on a Denver sidewalk in 1982. Colleagues and arresting officers alike described Clyde as a gentleman. The diminutive 52 mobster known as Little Caesar was found slumped dead in a chair in his front parlor of his home on 3504 Vallejo Street in North Denver by his wife, Nettie, riddled with seven bullets (including six shots to the head). This would give the Feds the impetus they needed to launch a series of raids in Denver and Pueblo in which theyd confiscate the silencer, a .30-caliber carbine, twenty-seven stacks of ammunition, four handguns, $50,000 in cash and a treasure trove of valuable documents. Clyde Smaldone, cigar in mouth, standing on a Denver sidewalk in front of cars sometime in 1940s. Theres almost no way to have existed in this organization without getting your hands dirty, and as we stated in Part One, its pretty clear that Roma engineered the assassination of the Carlinos before he himself was killed. #13: Ballplayer to Mafia Hitman, The True Story of Maurice Pro Lerner, How Prohibition contributed to the rise of the mobs, The story of the Carlino Brothers, Pete, Sam and Charlie Carlino, The Bootleggers Convention in Denver in 1931, Anthony Tony Smaldone: Brother and family leader. Outside of being a general party animal, Paulie was also known to be both smart and educated, able to talk about subjects that would go over the heads of many other toughs who entered the life as they say. And this weekend is not the first time Kiani, described by Joe Biden in 2018 as 'one of my closest friends,' has offered shelter to a troubled Biden family member.Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12014459/Trump-calls-Bidens-crime-family-Watergate-times-10.html?ito=msngallery, Masimo Corporation, the medical technology company Kiani founded and runs, offered Joe's niece Caroline Biden a job in their marketing department in July 2018 after a slew of bad press following her conviction for a year-long spree using a stolen credit card to rack up $110,000 of charges. They would get their first victory in 1951 when Smaldone associates Frank Blackie Mazza and Paul Enrichi were convicted of evasion of state income taxes. In 1960, Spinuzzi would be accused of murdering an African American pianist named James Scott outside a Pueblo nightclub that Spinuzzi co-owned with Joe The Ram Salardino. And considering how competitive and volatile the Colorado underworld would be in the 1920s, anyone who chose this as a profession did so at risk of great personal harm and even death. He would run the Pueblo family as Boss from 1933 until roughly 1953 when he would pass the mantle to Vincenzo Black Jim Coletti before going away to prison. Using vile language, he ordered decedents friends from the premises and threatened to blow their brains out. The deceaseds friends left and Spinuzzi then proceeded toward the decedent, exchanged words with him, held a pistol about two feet from his head and then hit and viciously kicked him. And while the Smaldone family certainly was not destitute, they still had a lot of mouths to feed, and as was normal of the times, the boys would put in work to help support the family. There were two alleged witnesses to the bombing. According to Clydes sons, theyd often observe their father digging through his pockets and extracting fat rolls of money at the end of each workday. In time, he also got a job selling newspapers all over town (often from dusk until dawn), and he and his brothers would also find more creative ways to support the family. Paulie, in addition to running Gaetanos, would also get into bookmaking, where his reputation was flawless, meaning that when he won he collected, but when he lost he paid pretty quickly. The state would enact Prohibition and go dry in 1916, a full three years ahead of the Volstead Act which was enacted nationally in 1919. Not that this last part is something to be proud of, but he even was able to get along with the local Ku Klux Klan (which had infiltrated nearly all levels of government in Denver at the time). The dominant players were the Carlino brothers, but they had many rivals and went to war with their own kin in the Danna family for almost the entire decade. In November of 1965, Checkers Smaldone and his son Eugene would be arrested after a raid found evidence that over $100,000 worth of bets on college football had been placed with them in the previous week. He was rumored to be a confidential informant. According to the book Smaldone: The Untold Story of an American Crime Family written by Dick Kreck, Clyde Smaldone would say the following in a tape-recorded family interview some sixty years after the fact: [Somebody] shot him in his house. Clarence "Chauncey" Smaldone (left) and Paul "Fat Paulie" Villano (right) surrender to start jail terms in 1968. Barlock is explaining why Eugene "Checkers" Smaldone was jailed for contempt after he refused to answer questions at investigation into gambling and prostitution in the county. This mans name was John Skip LaGuardia. As previously mentioned, Coletti took over as Boss of the Pueblo family in 1953 after previous boss Charlie Blanda was sent to prison and later retired from organized crime. In the early 1950s, the Smaldone brothers would begin to increasingly draw the ire of authorities, and it would eventually lead to the slow downfall of their organization. John J. Kincilja Jr., who was a Pueblo police officer from 1960 to 1997, would say the following about Spinuzzi: [Scotty] was plain old mafioso. Additional arrests for bootlegging, reckless driving, more burglaries, impersonation of police officers, receiving stolen goods, hijacking, and brawling would follow. This is a remarkably disturbing number which suggests that its not a safe place to move with your family. Standing are Eugene Smaldone (far left) and Clyde Smaldone (center. This restaurant would go on to become an institution in Denver, and it would become the primary base of operations for the Smaldone organization. As I shared in Part One, Denver and Pueblo, Colorado in the 1920s was a veritable shooting gallery. The CBI does not offer analysis as to the reasons for changes in the crime rates or any other interpretation of the data; rather, those questions should be directed to individual law enforcement agencies. Though they were questioned and had an alibi, they were ultimately not charged in the assassination of Roma, and Romas murderers were never actually brought to justice. This is bad. Not a good look. Putting that in terms of population, that gives the community a per-capita crime rate of 317/100k people. For someone trying to rise in the underworld, these are not the things you want to be known for, and by themselves could lead a person into big trouble with the mob. However, when it went to trial, the evidence against Shanks was pretty shaky and he was ultimately acquitted in 1964. Gaetano's Restaurant exterior (black and white) as it looks today. Blanda died on February 20, 1969 in Pueblo, Colorado after suffering a stroke. In addition to their gambling empire, the Smaldones were wise enough to take advantage of the opportunities created by economic conditions stemming from World War II and moved the family into selling rationed goods on the black market. He was certainly tough, but more often than not used his brain to make money and advance his interests by knowing and influencing the right people. They would begin making good money, and gambling would go on to be the Smaldones primary source of revenue for the next several decades. We had friends every place in the United States. WebThe FAMLI program will ensure all Colorado workers have access to paid leave in order to take care of themselves or their family during life circumstances that pull them away from Police Chief Clark said they showed ticket stubs indicating they entered the theater at 1:55 p.m.. Within declassified law enforcement documents, my research almost always referred to the Smaldones using the words Suspected LCN rather than official LCN (which was used to describe some of their true Mafia associates).

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