In another thread about the midwest families St. Louis was mentioned. In their prime, what are ya'lls opinions on that family. From what I've read, Tony Giordano was pretty well respected amongst LCN when he ran it. But you never really hear much about the family. Were they just a small time family that operated in the shadow of Kansas City and the other midwest heavyweights?
The STL LCN was unique in its evolution and ways of doing business. The Irish gangs were larger and controlled more until about WWII. After WWII, there were 3 guys who took the LCN lead and made them the most powerful OC gang in the city - Anthony Lopiparo, John Vitale and Tony Giordano.
STL LCN shared the rackets and power with 2 other OC groups - the East Side and the Syrians, both groups being largely non-Italian. The East Side (East St Louis, Illinois was a "crew" of the Chicago Outfit and dated back to Prohibition and the Capone era. Frank "Buster" Wortman was its most prominent leader and a former member of the Shelton gang. The Syrians were led by James "Jimmy" Michaels, a former member of the Cuckoos gang. At one point, Michaels was being groomed to take over for Buster Wortman.
In all of my research into STL LCN, I have never found any information / speculations about how power was shared between the 3 groups. What is clear, STL felt marginalized by the Outfit's East Side crew and Wortman, and developed close working relationships with Kansas City and Detroit, in part due to familial relations between members in each city.
Vitale and Giordano were involved in the heroin trade, with Vitale getting convicted. Giordano made several trips to Italy, and was surveilled by Charles Siragusa of the Narcotics Bureau, but they could not catch him. Giordano was involved in some schemes in LA and was convicted for a robbery out there with some west coast guys when he was young. Later, Giordano served time for income tax evasion and concealed ownership in the Frontier, along with Tony Zerilli and Michael Polizzi from Detroit. It was later reported that Johnny Roselli fed the FBI the info on them.
Giorando and Vitale were into Vegas, using various front men including Morris Shenker and Sorkis Webbe. STL had interests in the Frontier, the Aladin and the Dunes. There is evidence that Giordano was boss / responsible for the Smaldones in Colorado. Vitale was known to travel widely across the country and internationally, and was widely known by other LCN families.
STL LCN likely never exceeded 30 - 35 made guys during its peak. They made their money primarily from gambling, loan sharking and fencing, and were heavy into the unions. STL had a diamond and gem exchange and the LCN was very active moving stolen diamonds, and stealing diamonds.
When Giordano died, fighting over union control brought an end to the family, and all the major OC groups. The first move in the fight for control of the unions was the car bombing of John Paul Spica, a made guy. He was blown up by Ray Flynn, an Irish guy aligned with the Syrians. Then, Jimmy Michaels was blown up in his car on the highway by a faction of his own group, headed by Paul Leisure. Several bombings and shootings later, several east side guys and Syrians turned and gave up pretty much everyone. The most prominent witness was Jesse Stoneking, the alleged number 2 guy from the East Side.
The Trupiano era was short, and pretty much the end. They were still into the unions, gambling, loan sharking, extortion, etc. The FBI and local law enforcement targeted them and put most of the in jail, even for short stretches, marginalizing their activities.
Bruce Mouw was the lead FBI agent in STL on OC, before moving to NYC to lead the famed Gambino Squad that put away Gotti.
