Will a true Tampa mafia story be a Hollywood movie?
Angelo Bedami, a convicted drug smuggler and son of an alleged hit man, says he sold his story to a producer.

Convicted drug smuggler Angelo Bedami, son of mobster and alleged Santo Trafficante hit man Joe Bedami Sr., shares stories at his Tampa home. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]
By
Paul GuzzoTimes staff
Published Earlier today

TAMPA — Angelo Bedami claims that cardio was key to his drug-smuggling operation that spanned the 1970s through the early ’80s.

“I ran Bayshore Boulevard every day,” he said, “just in case I needed to run from the law.”

That day came, the lifelong Tampa resident said, when law enforcement was waiting for him on a Florida farm where a planeload of his drugs had landed earlier that day.

“I was heading to the plane when I saw them and then took off before they saw me,” Bedami, 73, said. “I ran in the woods along I-275 from six to two in the morning. It had to be 20 miles ... That’s one of my favorite stories.”

It might one day be in a biopic about the former mafioso whose associates included Tampa’s Santo Trafficante Jr., Colombia’s Medellin Cartel and former Panamanian military dictator and drug trafficker Manuel Noriega.

Bedami said he sold the rights to his life story and book, “Tampa’s Mafia Underground Airline,” to movie producer Karlee Perez.

She did not respond to a Tampa Bay Times email or voicemail.

According to her IMDB.com page, Perez is a former Tampa resident who performed for World Wrestling Entertainment before venturing into film.

“She has invested into acquiring the rights of some incredible IPs and life stories,” the IMDB bio says.

Acquiring rights to a story is just the first of many steps that go into making a movie, and there is no guarantee the project will be funded, filmed or distributed.

A script has yet to be written, Bedami said.

“I know it will be fantastic and exciting. I lived it. It’s a great story.”

Or tragic and criminal, depending whom you ask.

His father, Joe Bedami Sr., is alleged to have been Trafficante Jr.’s hit man. He disappeared in 1967 and law enforcement considered him dead. But Bedami recently claimed that his dad fled to Sicily, Italy, where he died around 1990.

His brother, Joe Bedami Jr., was arrested for counterfeiting. But Dick Cloud, a former Tampa police detective who was set to be a key witness in the trial, was murdered at home in 1975. Bedami recently claimed that was done to protect his brother, who was acquitted.

And by the time Bedami’s drug-smuggling operation was broken up, he said, they brought in 37 loads of marijuana and cocaine — from 1,500 to 15,000 pounds each.

“We got into some trouble,” he said.

There was the time, as Bedami tells it, he flew to Colombia to pick up 5,000 pounds of marijuana on credit. The suppliers sent his pilot back to Florida and decided to keep Bedami as collateral until they were paid. It took three months.

On a few occasions, his crew stole a plane, parachuted the drugs into the Gulf of Mexico and then purposely crashed the aircraft into the water to destroy the evidence.

And then there was the time he ran from that Kissimmee farm.

“I made it to a rest stop,” Bedami said. “You should have seen the eyes of the guy who worked there when I asked for change for the pay phone. I looked like hell. But I got away.”

But law enforcement eventually had enough evidence on Bedami. In 1983, he was convicted of federal drug charges and served 36 months.

“The government took a lot of my money,” he said. “Millions.”

But they didn’t get it all, Bedami claimed, and now he hopes to earn more from the movie.

So, crime pays?

“Absolutely,” Bedami said with a laugh. “Absolutely.”

https://www.tampabay.com/life-cultu...lo-bedami-santo-trafficante-tampa-mafia/

September 1999
The Bedamis
First Family of the Tampa Mafia.
By Scott M. Deitche

When you see references to the Tampa crime family, the name of Santo Trafficante Jr. is about the only name that ever seems to appear. Many mob buffs and casual fans of Mafia books and movies know of the Trafficantes but not many of the other names in Tampa organized crime. Names like : Vincent LoScalzo, Frank Albano, James Donofrio, and James Longo. Certainly the name of Bedami may seem foreign to almost all who have read stuff on the mob.

In many ways however, the Bedami family was, and still is, a driving force in the Tampa underworld. From the early days of the organizations inception, to its darkest hour in 1976, right through to the ascension of the third generation, the Bedami name was prevalent.

The patriarch of the family was Angelo Bedami Sr., a short, stocky gambler who was close to the top names in the Tampa rackets. Angelo Sr. was born in 1893, and moved to Tampa with one son, Ciro (born in Illinois) in tow, and would later have another, Joe, both of whom would follow in their father's footsteps.

Angelo managed to avoid too much publicity, and snagged only two arrests for conducting an illegal lottery both back in the 1950's. However his name was synonymous with the bolita rackets, and he was subpoenaed for a load of grand jury appearances where he revealed little except for his ability to take the fifth. Angelo was also questioned in the 1958 murder of gambler Joe Pelusa Diaz. Bedami's death at the ripe old age of 86 in November of 1980, was a well-attended underworld funeral.

Angelo's sons, Joe and Ciro were both identified in 1963 as made members of the Tampa Mafia, and brother Jimmie was occasionally referred to as an associate. Joe was definitely the most active of the brothers. He assembled an impressive arrest record , with six for various armed robberies, including some of the most notorious of the era. He worked alongside other mobsters, like Pat Matassini, and James "Jo-Jo" Cacciatore. In early 1967, Joe was arrested for arson in nearby Lakeland. His trial was set to start in 1968. One sunny August morning, Joe set off for a barbeque and was never seen again. He was presumed murdered, and by now it can safely be assumed, he's not coming back ( I know what happened but unfortunately cannot reveal the details due to legal ramifications).

Joe's brother Ciro was, and still is, the president of Metro and GS Stevedore companies. He lists his address as a condo in nearby St. Pete Beach (actually only a mile or two from my house). Ciro began his early years as a gambler, gathering a few arrests, before deciding to go the "straight and narrow". Before long, however, he was known as the king of the docks. Although Mafia penetration of the Port of Tampa was not as great as Mafia corruption in other areas, Ciro always remained under suspicion. His associations with Harry Fontana, a capo in the Colombo crime family, and also the owner of a stevedore company in Tampa, only added fuel to the fire. Fontana died at age 78 in March of 1979. Ciro is active and still referred to as a crime family associate.

Ciro and Joe also had a sister, Katie, who would go on to marry longtime crime family member Salvatore "Silent Sam" Lorenzo. Lorenzo, once a top bolita man and close associate of Santo Trafficante Jr., and Henry Trafficante, was considered a made member in the family. He got the name Silent Sam for refusing to name names in a grand jury appearance. Actually he first received the name Singing Sam when he let slip some information about a Trafficante-run gambling operation, but corrected his mistake later on.

The Bedami line continued on through Joe's two sons, Joseph Charles, and Angelo Jr. Both of Joe's sons came to prominence in the 1970's and were regarded as associates of the "third generation" of the Tampa Mafia. While their father was primarily a burglar and gambler, the two younger Bedamis were heavily involved in narcotics trafficking. Joe Bedami was involved in the notorious Acosta drug ring headed by Victor Manuel Acosta. Bedami was also central to the murder of police detective Richard Cloud by low level cronies of the Tampa underworld, in 1976. Joe found himself in trouble again in 1990 when he was arrested with Colombian drug traffickers. He has since served his time and is currently not considered active in crime family business.

At the time Joe was in with Vic Acosta, Angelo was running a large drug ring with ties to the infamous Air America smugglers. Angelo brought drugs from South America into Tampa, with the able assistance of his uncle, Sal Lorenzo. By the time the ring was broken in 1983, Bedami decided to do what no other Tampa mobster had done, turn state's evidence. He managed to send a few of his fellow traffickers, including his uncle, away for a few years. But by the time Angelo was relased from jail, he returned to Tampa with apparently no hard feelings. He is currently invovled in the theatrical unions in Tampa. Salvatore Lorenzo died on May 6, 1995.

The Bedami family name would never become as well known as the Trafficantes when it came to organized crime (probably to the relief of many law-abiding family members), but they left an undeniable mark on the Tampa underworld.

My father and I had the pleasure of meeting Scott back in February of this year. We went on his Tampa Mafia Tour in Ybor City. I was expecting a tour filed with regurgitated Trafficante information. Boy, I was wrong. He provided info about the all of Ybor's criminal history, not only the Italian side of things. He was very knowledgeable and personable. I would like a nice movie or series about Tampa's underworld. I hope Scott will be a consultant.

Although based on a novel, the movie Live by Night starring Ben Afleck is a great movie that perfectly captures Tampa during Prohibition.

Thanks Blue. Appreciate the kind words and am glad you and your father enjoyed the tour! Nice meeting you. And I am working with Karlee on trying to get something moving with CIgar CIty Mafia.

Good movie, though too bad it was filmed in Georgia.

THe book is great. I gave Dennis Lehane a tour of Ybor when he was doing the research. He gave me a nice shout out in the Acknowledgements.