OK, now i've done extensive research on the mafia, but i've come across little about any of the Ohio Families. Now I know what you're thinking...that this backwards redneck state of Ohio couldn't have possibly had any organization like that.
I want to know if there is any information out there about say, the mob in Cleveland and if the rumors about Youngstown are true concerning a crime family in that city.
Thanks for any help anybody can give.

My dad has told me that he has known some rough Italian guys in our town of Dayton Ohio, but I don't think there is a structured crime family. They might answer to someone in a bigger city.

As far as Cleveland, I'd find it hard to believe they didn't have a family.

Excuse you...I grew up in Ohio. Columbus, Ohio to be exact. And I would like to inform you that it is NOT a backwards redneck state.

Yes, it may have some rual areas, but NOT everyone is a redneck, nor are they backwards!!!!

[ September 22, 2001: Message edited by: MobbingForMoney ]

I've copied (below) a portion of a "Gangland News" column with a story about some Cleveland mobsters. These guys were pretty tough back in the 1930's.


Big Al's Corner

By Allan May

(This week, Big Al tackles a couple of queries by Rick from Tampa about "Moe Dalitz and the old Cleveland Purple Gang." Rick wanted to know if Dalitz was the Cleveland family's "representative" in Las Vegas and if he was connected with the Bronfman family of Canada.)

First off, a point of clarification - the Purple Gang originated in Detroit. Dalitz, who once lived in Detroit and had family there, had connections to the Purple Gang but his main influence was in Cleveland. Born in Boston, Dalitz moved to Cleveland and used the name Maurice Davis so he wouldn't embarrass his family, who remained in Detroit and ran a legitimate laundry business.

Dalitz's important status in the underworld was apparent when he was invited to the Atlantic City crime conference in 1929. The meeting, which coincided with Meyer Lansky's honeymoon, was the first movement toward a national crime syndicate. The theme of the conference was nationwide cooperation. Some discussions took place on the beach with mobsters walking around barefoot with their pantlegs rolled up. The main topics of conversation were post-Prohibition plans for the liquor business and dividing up the country into exclusive gambling franchises. Depending on which book you read, the meeting was initiated by Lucky Luciano, Lansky, (left) Frank Costello (right) or Johnny Torrio of Chicago. What is not in dispute is that the participants came from a wide variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds including Italian, Irish, Polish and Jewish.

The Bronfman family started out in the hotel business in Canada but during Prohibition they reportedly made tremendous profits by shipping liquor into the United States, reportedly shipping booze through Cleveland, Detroit and New York.

Dalitz's connection to the Bronfman family stemmed from the fact that the Bronfmans shipped most of their liquor through Cleveland because of the city's proximity to the Canadian border. However, the Bronfmans also dealt with the Purple Gang in Detroit, and with various New York bootleggers including Luciano (right), Lansky and Arnold Rothstein. The Bronfmans were always entertained lavishly and treated to the best seats at boxing matches by their underworld hosts. After Prohibition, the Bronfmans' distilleries were among the most profitable in the liquor industry.

Dalitz's Cleveland partners were Morris Kleinman, Louis Rothkopf, and Sammy Tucker. It is not clear how the four got together, but in the early 1920s, their combined ruthlessness, street smarts, political connections and legitimate operations resulted in a formidable underworld enterprise. The members of the Cleveland Syndicate kept low profiles, but walked away wealthier and more intact than their Italian counterparts -- in Cleveland and in other parts of the country.

From 1926 to 1933, the Cleveland Syndicate prospered by bringing Canadian liquor across Lake Erie. Called the "Big Jewish Navy,"it shuttled illegal booze to the Lake Erie shoreline between Rocky River and Mentor. From rum-running on Lake Erie they moved on to control luxury resort hotels in Florida, and plush casinos in Las Vegas.

Occasional busts by the Coast Guard or the Cleveland Police did little to hamper the syndicate's business. By the late 1920s, Cleveland's gangsters had formed a working relationship that allowed each faction to operate freely without any bloodshed. The Jewish Cleveland Syndicate and the Italian Mayfield Road Mob would form an alliance that would make their leaders millionaires and allow them to live to spend it. This alliance also allowed for the Irishman Thomas J. McGinty to prosper with his West Side bootlegging and rum-running operations.

After Prohibition ended the Cleveland Syndicate was involved in gambling dens locally until law officials chased them out. They initially went to southern Ohio and northern Kentucky to operate, and ran a pretty successful operation out of Newport, Kentucky called the Beverly Hills Club. Dalitz joined the army in 1942, but after World War II, he got involved in Las Vegas and was one of the principal owners of the Desert Inn along with Clevelanders Kleinman, Tucker, and McGinty. It's not accurate to call Dalitz "Cleveland's representative." His connection to the Italian organized crime element in Cleveland ended in 1939 when the Mayfield Road Mob was basically dissolved.

BTW - That "meeting" set up in 1929 in Atlantic City (see previous post) was the real birth of the modern American Mob organization as we know it today.

Calm down buddy. I used to live in Columbus, Ohio and went to school at Ohio State. I'm just joking. Don't pop a blood vessel.

Thanks SC. And everybody else who helped me out with that info.

i am a little confused that people from ohio do not know the history of
the influence oc has had in cleveland and
surrounding areas like pittsburgh,youngstown
and their connection with new york.cleveland
answers to mainly the genovese family in pittsburgh and they answer to the same in new york the gambinos also have a small stake
in the cleveland area such as certain small
food companies and meat dist.mostly the genovese are into gambling and recently some
huge and profitable insurance scams.concrete
also has been mobbed up for some time,to my
knowledge joey(loose)is the temporary boss of cleveland,recently the family was hit with a gambling pinch,illegal lottery and numbers rackett,as far as i know-no indictments have been handed down,also it was a former connected guy who snitched out everyone to the fbi.with that recent event and the youngstown arrests they have been forced to slow down a little,also the pittsburgh faction has been rumored to be involved in some west coast gambling activity and has been invited to vegas to sample some of the business their,those areas our still active but low key which is how the genovese like to operate.

I am from near Cleveland, and have been interested in the history of Cleveland mafia as well.

Rick Porello has written a book, "The Rise And Fall Of The Cleveland Mafia." I haven't read it yet, but his website is, http://www.americanmafia.com

Thanks for the info. I live about an hour away from Cleveland in Sandusky. Everybody knows about the New York gangsters....its about time I found out about some gangsters from my neck of the woods.

if your from sandusky then your closer then
you think,certain partys still are trying to
legalise gambling in that area,also on a good
weekend(sports on t.v.)if you happen to be near a couple of your local watering holes
you might see a few heavy hitters taking in the games and drinking a few beers,if you want the real thing take a saturday in the summer and travel to little italy on the hill,youll spend all day there walking,drinking,eating-best restarurants in
cleveland.very-very ethnic,very real and very (eeerie),stay out of the mayfield cafe rough place,just kidding,youll have fun,go to
marconis in huron,that will break you in.

Ahh, Marconi's in Huron, good food!