By the way, while it made sense to whack Gambino, Lucchese, Magaddino, since they were national key figures, but why DeSimone? He was boss in Los Angeles, and that family was always one of the weakest. Why bother with him, or did Bonanno have some personal reasons?
Word was that he wanted to make his son Bill boss of the L.A. family, because there was lots of money to be made in California.
I'm not sure how much money there was in California. The two most powerful gangsters to operate in California were Bugsy Siegel and John Roselli, and they both ended up in Vegas. California's law enforcement community was just too tight knit. They closed all the doors to rackets in show business and things like that. Dragna family was mostly into vice and drugs. Mickey Cohen got out of the rackets and pretty much went legit late in life. The San Francisco and San Jose mobs were mostly legit by the 70's, making enough in olive oil and insurance to close their books and retire off.
One of the biggest criticisms the east coast families had towards the west coast families was their lack of any clout and influence in labor unions. I think Bonanno, with his big ego and legit connections, thought he and Bill could make that happen and at the same time be a lot closer to Vegas, where Bonanno probably also wanted to increase his influence.
Here's an excerpt from Selwyn Raab's Five Families:
''California loomed large in Bonanno's plans. Tremendous wealth was being generated in Southern California, and Bonanno felt that Frank DeSimone, the boss of the Los Angeles family, had failed to exploit it. Bonanno plotted to replace DeSimone and his crew with Bill, who would provide better leadership, and forty soldiers who would generate larger profits. As a Commission member, Bonanno already had oversight responsibilities in California of small families operating in San Francisco and San Jose. By seizing control over Los Angeles, Bonanno believed he would dominate Mafia activities on both coasts.''
