The murder of Danny Greene and the fall of the Cleveland Mafia (5)
The killing: "Carabbia flipped the switch, detonating the bomb"
After I completed but before the release of my second book, The Hunting of Cain (1983), a true story about a contract killing in Bath, Ohio, I started looking for another book project. Then, after reading a fascinating series of articles in Cleveland Magazine about the Cleveland Mafia, I contacted the author, the legendary Ned Whelan, who was well-known and respected for his true-crime work.
Ned and I agreed to consider co-authoring a book about the life and the 1977 slaughter of Danny Greene, the boss of the Irish Mafia in Cleveland. Our working title was Ashes to Ashes.
We agreed to focus our basic plot on the two U.S. Strike Force attorneys who prosecuted the murder case, Abe Poretz, who died in 2001, and John Sopko, both of whom I had interviewed at length. (Notably, Sopko was and still is a close friend of mine.)
On March 25, 1983, we delivered our proposal to my literary agent, Philip Spitzer, who pitched it to a handful of publishing houses in New York. Unfortunately, we did not receive what we considered a legitimate offer. Consequently, Ned and I dropped the project and went our separate ways.
In 1998, author Rick Porrello published an outstanding book about the rise and fall of Danny Greene, To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia (Next Hat Press). Rick’s remarkable work, which did not deal with the prosecution of Greene’s killers, was later adapted as an action-packed 2011 motion picture.
Here is how Ned, who sadly passed away in 2013, and I opened our proposed project.
* Part 1: “Consequences after the death of mob boss John Scalish,” June 8, 2025.
* Part 2: “James Licavoli succeeds John Scalish as the local crime boss,” June 15, 2025.
* Part 3: “A comedy of errors foils an impromptu attempt to kill Greene and Nardi,” June 17, 2025.
* Part 4: “Penetrating Greene’s world,” June 22, 2025.
Here is Part 5: “The killing: ‘Carabbia flipped the switch, detonating the bomb,’" June 29, 2025.
Car dealer Ken Ciarcia again called FBI employee Geraldine Linhart and asked for "one more favor." When she asked what it was, he replied that he wanted anything new on Cleveland Mafia boss James Licavoli.
Again, Geraldine went to Licavoli's FBI file and removed a new report, dated August 24, 1977. She later dropped off a copy at Ciarcia's home.
In the third week of September, Geraldine lost her civil court case—the one Ciarcia and Cleveland mobster Anthony Liberatore promised “to fix.” That was designed as her reward for secretly giving FBI documents to the Cleveland underworld.
Soon after, the daughter of Ciarcia's girlfriend got married. Geraldine and her fiancé, Jeff Rabinowitz, went to the wedding. As they walked into the church hall for the reception, Ciarcia grabbed Rabinowitz, asking him to keep Geraldine away from the reserved table at the front of the room. The only person Geraldine knew there was Liberatore.
Later that night, Liberatore walked up to Geraldine. They began talking, but the band was playing so loudly that they had difficulty hearing each other. Finally, Liberatore asked to see her alone at some future date. Probably afraid of Liberatore, Geraldine said nothing about his broken promise to fix the case she had just lost.
Meantime, Tom Lanci, one of Liberatore’s top lieutenants, telephoned a gun dealer—who was also the owner of an Arthur Murray dance studio—and told him that two men would be coming by to pick up a shotgun. Later, Tony Aratari and Vic Guiles drove to the studio and picked up the weapon. But after they left the studio, they discovered that they had been given the wrong ammunition. The shotgun shells were too small for the gun. They immediately called Lanci, who promised to get them the right cartridges.
On September 26, Guiles picked up Aratari, and they drove to Ciarcia's dealership. When they arrived, Ciarcia gave them a thirty-day tag for a car. Guiles signed his name as "Carl Knoble" on the bill of sale. Ciarcia then showed them the car, a maroon Chevy Nova, parked on his lot.
The car looked worse than the blue Plymouth that Ray Ferritto had earlier received and never stopped complaining about. A former police car, the Nova’s paint job was so bad that the police emblems on the doors were still visible.
Aratari then drove the Nova to his home. When he tried to start it up again, it stalled and died. Aratari called Ciarcia, who had a tow truck pick it up.
At the same time, Ferritto met with Cleveland mob associates John Calandra, Tom Sinito, and Butchie Cisternino at a Denny's restaurant in Cleveland. Ferritto said that he and Carabbia were totally frustrated with how poorly organized their contract on Danny Greene seemed. Ferritto accused Cisternino, in particular, of not holding up his end by failing to complete the necessary preliminary work.
Consequently, Ferritto threatened to walk away from the contract unless he received his long-promised new car and his Cleveland apartment.
Although Calandra could not make any unilateral decisions, he later proposed to Liberatore that the members of the two hit teams—Carabbia/Ferritto and Aratari/Guiles—meet to coordinate their activities.
It was agreed that Carabbia and Ferritto were "Hit Team #1" and that Aratari and Guiles would serve as their backup.
On September 29, Liberatore contacted Aratari and Guiles and, through Calandra, arranged the meeting between the two hit teams.
The following day, Guiles went to Aratari's house and found a note, telling him to go immediately to the Ramada Inn on Euclid Avenue. There, Guiles met Carabbia and Ferritto.
They agreed to stake out Greene's apartment and to continue to monitor Greene's second phone—through Tom Sinito, an electronics-surveillance expert.
On Monday, October 3, while Ferritto was at his home in Erie, Pennsylvania, he received a call from Carabbia, who asked to meet him at Crown Vending in Struthers, just outside of Youngstown. The next day, as arranged, Ferritto met with Carabbia.
The two men drove to nearby Mosquito Lake State Park. There, they entered through a gate—which opened with a key card Carabbia had pulled from his wallet. When they parked by the boat yard, they were greeted by Licavoli, Lonardo, Calandra, and Cisternino. After a brief conversation on the dock, they stepped onto a white, forty-five-foot yacht. It had sleeping accommodations for six to eight people.
On board, Calandra played a tape recording, which indicated that Greene’s girlfriend had scheduled a dental appointment for him the following Thursday, October 6, at 2:30 P.M. She used Greene's second phone line to make the call.
Later on the tape, Greene called the dentist's office to confirm the appointment.
The six men decided to kill Greene on that day, at that time, and at that place.
Before Carabbia and Ferritto returned to their car, Cisternino told Ferritto that he had finally obtained his Cleveland apartment. But, Cisternino added, Ferritto was still stuck with the blue Plymouth.
On Wednesday, October 5, Carabbia called Aratari and told him, "The guy has a 2:30 dentist appointment at Brainard Place tomorrow.” Aratari called Guiles and told him to come to his home.
Aratari told his partner that they were going to hit Greene the following day. They then drove to Brainard Place—a medical building in Lyndhurst, just outside of Cleveland, where Greene's dentist was located. They just wanted to check out the area.
Aratari and Guiles then went to Ciarcia's office and picked up their ugly but now-repaired Nova. It still had not been painted, and the faded police emblems remained.
Then, they went to Tom Lanci's home, where they received a .357 magnum with a homemade silencer—a pipe stuffed with steel wool.
Across town, Ferritto met with Cisternino, who took him to his room at the Westchester Apartments in Willoughby Hills. Carabbia joined them an hour later. Because the telephone was not yet connected in Ferritto’s new apartment, they had to make all calls from a pay phone in the lobby of the building.
Cisternino left soon after, leaving Carabbia and Ferritto together to spend the night in the apartment.
The following morning, Guiles went to Aratari's home. They drove to Don's Fish Market, across the street from Brainard Place. Guiles was driving his Cadillac; Aratari drove the Nova, which he later delivered to Carabbia.
Simultaneously, Cisternino arrived at Ferritto's apartment with a shopping bag in his hand. He retrieved some materials from the closet left from the previous day. Seeing the paraphernalia Cisternino spread on the kitchen table, Carabbia and Ferritto watched as Cisternino made a bomb.
Cisternino grabbed a wooden cigar box. Inside was an "on/off" switch, along with a nine-volt battery. He then taped three sticks of dynamite—wrapped in heavy, brown, wax paper—and placed them in the box. Each stick of dynamite was two inches in diameter and seven inches long. Two blasting caps were inserted in two of the explosives. Wires were then connected from the caps to another "on/off" switch on the outside of the box. Cisternino explained that the switches were arm/disarm devices.
Upon completion, Cisternino carefully placed the box in the shopping bag.
Then, Cisternino picked up the remote-control device that would detonate the bomb. It was nothing more than a control monitor for a model airplane. On its upper left corner, there was a meter for battery testing. In the device's center, there was also another "on/off" switch. On the right side, there was a control lever that could be moved north to south and east to west. At the top of the unit was a telescopic antenna that could be extended up to three feet.
When he finished checking the remote control, he placed it in a second, brown paper bag.
At 1:00 PM, Ferritto and Carabbia, now with the Nova, left the apartment, leaving Cisternino behind. Ferritto climbed into his blue Plymouth with the two bags on the seat next to him.
With Carabbia following in the Nova, Ferritto drove up the street to Lyndhurst and pulled into the parking lot at Brainard Place. Carabbia parked the Nova and then got into the Plymouth with Ferritto.
Aratari and Guiles pulled behind Ferritto's Plymouth. The four men made their final plans.
Carabbia learned that Greene would be driving a Lincoln-Continental, which had been leased by his lieutenant, Keith Ritson.
Aratari and Guiles understood that if something went wrong with the bomb, they were to use their shotgun and the .357 magnum to shoot Greene to death.
As the time for Greene to arrive for his dentist appointment drew near, Guiles began to get spooked. He noticed a wire antenna in the trunk-lock cavity of the Nova. He also thought he saw an old girlfriend walk by on the sidewalk. And later, he became suspicious of two men sitting across from the lot in a Mustang.
Carabbia tried to settle Guiles down. When he failed to do so, he told Guiles to leave if he couldn't relax.
Then, at or about 2:40 P.M., Carabbia saw a Lincoln-Continental pull into the lot. He noticed Danny Greene, a few minutes late for his appointment, alone behind the wheel.
Carabbia motioned to the others as Greene's car disappeared behind a row of parked cars. Seconds later, all of them saw Greene walking across the lot and into the medical building.
Carabbia then took the shopping bag containing the bomb and placed it in the Nova, leaving the brown bag with the detonating device in the Plymouth.
Seconds later, by sheer luck, the car parked next to the driver's side of Greene's Lincoln-Continental vacated the space. Carabbia raced over to stand in the slot until Ferritto drove the Nova into the space.
Ferritto took the bomb out of the shopping bag and placed it in a metal box, welded to the passenger door of the Nova, right next to the driver’s door of Greene's car.
Ferritto flipped the arming switch to the "on" position and returned with Carabbia to the Plymouth.
Carabbia and Ferritto waited and watched the front door of the building.
After his appointment, Greene appeared. With Ferritto now at the wheel of his Plymouth, parked a short distance away, Carabbia climbed into the back seat.
Carabbia took the remote-control device out of the brown paper bag and extended the antenna as Greene unlocked the Lincoln-Continental.
Then, Carabbia flipped the switch, detonating the bomb.
The explosion was heard a mile away.
Danny Greene was dead, really dead.
He was caught standing between the driver’s side of the Lincoln-Continental and the passenger side of the Nova/"Joe Blow car" when the bomb exploded.
Smoke from the blast poured from gaping holes throughout Greene’s body.
In those few places where his skin still clung to his frame, it looked like nothing more than singed pieces of white plastic. What remained of his body was soiled with splotches of black dirt, gravel, and grease.
The explosion had literally caved in his chest and abdominal cavity, ripped off his testicles and his left arm, which was found a hundred feet away. His right foot remained attached to his ankle only by a single shred of burnt skin.
The Celtic cross Greene always wore was burned into the pavement, a result of the heat from the blast.
Greene never knew what hit him.
Returning in August: More about the Danny Greene murder.
Beginning this week: Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1975 murder of Jimmy Hoffa on July 30.
