The murder of Danny Greene and the fall of the Cleveland Mafia (2)
James Licavoli succeeds John Scalish as the local crime boss
After I completed but before the release of my 1983 book, The Hunting of Cain, a true story about a contract killing in Bath, Ohio, I started looking for another 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 killing of Danny Greene, the boss of the Irish Mafia in Cleveland. Our working title was Ashes to Ashes. And we agreed to focus our basic plot on the two U.S. Strike Force attorneys who prosecuted the murder case, Abe Poretz 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 was later adapted as an action-packed motion picture.
Here is how Ned, who sadly passed away in 2013, and I opened our proposed project.
A week after John Scalish died on May 26, 1976, Ray Ferritto received a telephone call from Jimmy Fratianno, who had been in Cleveland for Scalish's funeral. Knowing Fratianno from Chino Penitentiary in California, Ferritto agreed to meet with him to discuss "a business proposition." Ferritto drove from his home in Erie, Pennsylvania, and met with Fratianno at the Town and Country motel in Warren, Ohio.
During their conversation, Fratianno told Ferritto about the problems the Cleveland Mafia was having with Danny Greene and John Nardi in the wake of Scalish's death. Fratianno asked Ferritto whether he was interested in becoming involved with the Greene/Nardi problem and making lots of money in the process. Ferritto asked for time to think.
Two weeks later, Fratianno called Ferritto again. He had arranged for Ferritto to meet Tony Delsanter—the Mafia boss of Warren, Ohio—whom Ferritto had known since the early 1950s.
On or about June 7, Delsanter, Fratianno, and Ferritto met at a restaurant, Cherry's Top of the Mall, in Warren, which was in Delsanter's territory. Early in the meeting, Fratianno said, "You guys have business to discuss," and then left.
At that point, Delsanter repeated what Fratianno had said earlier about Greene and Nardi. He then told Ferritto that "they have to be taken care of." Understanding that he was being offered a contract killing or killings, Ferritto asked why he was being approached for the job—and what was in it for him if he accepted.
Delsanter replied that Ferritto was not known in Cleveland and could move freely. He added that he would be paid well for his work and could get more specific after he confirmed everything with James Licavoli.
After Ferritto returned to Erie, another few weeks passed. Then Ron Carabbia, a one-time partner of Ferritto in several robberies, called Ferritto at his home. He asked him to attend a meeting in Warren the following day.
Later that same day, Eugene “The Animal” Ciasullo, an associate of Licavoli, was injured by a bomb detonated in front of his residence in Richmond Heights, Ohio.
Also, Leo Moceri was reported missing. His car had been found with blood stains in the trunk at the parking lot of a Fairlawn, Ohio, motel. His disappearance followed a violent argument with Nardi, which ended with the two men spitting at each other.
At another meeting on August 23, Ferritto met with Licavoli, Delsanter, Carabbia, and Pasquale "Butchie" Cisternino. During this discussion, Delsanter informed Licavoli that Ferritto was interested in "the work"—as long as there was enough money in it. Licavoli told Ferritto not to worry about money. He added that Ferritto would be given a generous lump sum payment and, if all went well, might become a "made" member of the Cleveland Mafia.
With the understanding that Cisternino was going to do the preliminary legwork prior to the murders—and that Carabbia would be Ferritto's partner—Ferritto agreed to accept the contracts on Greene and Nardi.
After this meeting, Carabbia explained to Ferritto that—because of the murder of Moceri, Licavoli's old friend—Licavoli had reluctantly decided to take over as the mob kingpin in Cleveland. Earlier, Licavoli had said, in private, that he wanted Greene and Nardi to pay for what they had done to Moceri. Carabbia added that Licavoli was trembling with anger.
While Ferritto waited in Erie for Cisternino to complete his work, Licavoli reorganized the top echelon of the Cleveland syndicate. He immediately removed 90-year-old Tony Milano as underboss, replacing him with Angelo Lonardo. Delsanter was selected as his consigliere, and Carabbia and Tom Sinito, a long-time aide to Lonardo, were chosen as top lieutenants. In addition, Licavoli announced plans to "make" John Calandra and Tony Liberatore.
On November 10—as Ferritto continued to sit in front of his television set, drinking beer, and waiting to perform—Nardi was fired at by a sniper while he stood in front of Tony Milano's Italian-American Brotherhood Club on Mayfield Road on Cleveland's east side.
Soon after, apparently in retaliation, Frank Pircio was killed when a bomb exploded while he was starting a car rented by Allie Calabrese, the actual target. Calabrese was another close associate of Licavoli. Also, another bomb exploded outside Eugene Ciasullo's home. Once again, he managed to escape serious injury.
Seeing the world revolving without him, Ferritto called Carabbia in Warren and asked why he had not been notified that the Nardi contract was given to somebody else. Carabbia replied that he wasn't aware that it had been. Ferritto angrily said that he was now assuming that their contract had been superseded. Carabbia assured him that they still had the contract on Greene.
Several months passed without anyone, except Fratianno, calling Ferritto. Meantime, the local mob war appeared to have cooled down. In March 1977, Greene and Nardi were seen leaving Cleveland Hopkins Airport together and heading for New York.
Also, Vic Guiles was paroled from Chillicothe State Prison and returned to his home in Canton, Ohio. Among his first visitors was Tony Aratari, a former Greene soldier.
Back in Cleveland, Ken Ciarcia, an associate of Tony Liberatore, and his girlfriend had dinner with Geraldine Linhart and Jeff Rabinowitz, her fiancé and a former employee of Ciarcia at his Lincoln-Mercury dealership.
Knowing that Geraldine was a clerk at the Cleveland FBI office, Ciarcia asked Geraldine what was going on at the FBI office—under the guise of trying to help his son-in-law get a job. When Geraldine replied that she knew of no openings at the FBI, Ciarcia asked her what she knew about Licavoli and Liberatore. Geraldine said that she didn't know anything—but that she could review the FBI's files and get back to him.
Two weeks later, Ciarcia called Geraldine and asked what she had found. She replied that there were "volumes on those two." He then asked her to find out what was going on at the moment.
A week after that, she checked the FBI indices and found a report on Licavoli, which was dated February 2, 1977. She copied the document and replaced the original in the file. She then called Ciarcia and told him what she had found. He invited her to his home. Bringing Rabinowitz along, she arrived at Ciarcia's house and showed him the report. Despite her request that he give it back immediately, he folded it and placed it in his pocket. He said that he needed to hold onto it for awhile.
In April 1977, just after the bombing of Licavoli ally John Del Zoppo's car—which only killed the bomber, Greene/Nardi associate Enos Crnic—Ferritto decided to call Carabbia and ask for a meeting with Delsanter. Two days later, Ferritto met with Delsanter and Cisternino at Carabbia's home in Youngstown. Also present at the meeting was John Calandra, who had been sent by Licavoli.
The meeting began with a discussion about the Del Zoppo incident on April 5. Cisternino said that he had heard that Crnic was also working with some local bikers. He had gone to the president of the area branch of the Hell's Angels, asking if they were becoming aligned with Greene and Nardi. The Angels' president told him that they had decided not to take any side in the war—and that they had nothing to do with the bombing. Cisternino said he had no reason to doubt that, concluding that Crnic had been operating simply on the orders of Greene and Nardi.
When the conversation among Ferritto, Delsanter, and the others finally came around to dealing with their enemies, Ferritto asked what had happened to the preliminary work Cisternino was supposed to have done—and whether the contracts were still operative. Delsanter, with the concurrence of Calandra, said nothing had changed. He added, however, that things had slowed down. The problem, he explained, was trying to monitor Greene and Nardi's movements. Neither had a set schedule.
Getting to the point of his visit, Ferritto asked who had been trying to kill Nardi. Cisternino replied that he, Calabrese, and "some sharp-shooter" had taken a few shots at Nardi from a bridge. He also admitted that he had fired a shotgun at Nardi—but missed. He explained, with some embarrassment, that he had been so excited that he forgot about the kick of the weapon, forcing the barrel of the gun to go awry. Cisternino added that Greene always had someone watching his car and was always armed with a .45 automatic.
Calandra interrupted, saying that crime bosses from all over the country were demanding revenge for Moceri's murder. Some had even offered to send in “some help." However, according to Calandra, Licavoli had refused it. Avenging Moceri was going to be his special delight. He insisted that one of his own people do it. As much as Licavoli and his Cleveland associates wanted Greene and Nardi dead, Licavoli wanted the job done right—by the right people and at the right time.
Delsanter said that he was still on speaking terms with Nardi and had tried to negotiate some sort of peace settlement. But, according to Delsanter, Greene had been the one who refused all terms. Now, Nardi was demanding that Cisternino be delivered to him—before any peace could be made. Delsanter said that Liberatore was also trying to reason with Greene.
At the end of the meeting, Delsanter and Calandra made it clear that if any of them had the opportunity to kill either Greene or Nardi, then they should take it. Calandra said he could get them anything they needed, including machineguns.
Ferritto drove to Cleveland a few times over the next few weeks. During one of these trips, he went to Cisternino's motel room. Because Cisternino was so afraid of Nardi, he had to move out of his house. In Cisternino's room, Ferritto noticed a .22 and a .38, both equipped with silencers, as well as a .12 gauge shotgun. While Ferritto stared at the weapons, he asked Cisternino to get him an untraceable car. Cisternino said he'd take care of it.
Cisternino gave Ferritto the descriptions of the cars Greene drove, including a green Lincoln-Continental. He also gave him the license-plate numbers for these cars. In addition, he gave Ferritto a photograph of Greene, taken from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and a second picture, taken from Cleveland Magazine.
The two men, with Cisternino driving, drove around Cleveland. Cisternino showed Ferritto Greene's apartment building on Lakeshore Boulevard, his trailer on Waterloo Road, and a Kenny King's restaurant he often frequented. Cisternino said that Green rarely used the same car twice in a row and never parked anywhere near his home. When their tour of the town was completed, Ferritto returned to Erie and again waited to be called to perform.
In late April, Ken Ciarcia called Geraldine Linhart and asked what the numbers meant on the cover page of the FBI report on Licavoli. She replied that they were the FBI's informants' codes. Ciarcia asked if she could identify the informants' numbers with their real names, adding that they wanted to find out who was talking to the FBI about them. She hesitated at first but was assured by Ciarcia that no one would get hurt. In return for her cooperation, Ciarcia promised that he and Liberatore would fix a civil suit she was involved in. Before their conversation ended, he also asked her to check the FBI records for anything more on Licavoli, Liberatore, or Tom Lanci. She agreed to review the FBI's files again.
Meantime, in a solemn, private ceremony in the basement of Cleveland's Roman Gardens, Calandra and Liberatore were "made" by Licavoli. Also present for the occasion were Lonardo, Delsanter, and Fratianno.
On May 17—while standing by his car, parked in his Teamsters' local parking lot—John Nardi was killed instantly by a remote-controlled bomb, placed in a vehicle filled with explosives parked next to his.
Jack, would always send me his homemade wine.