In concert with local government officials however, the Smaldones struck a deal to provide the financing for a new water system, restore a number of houses, and provided the backing for a lunch program for town schoolchildren in exchange for the ability to operate their gambling operation without interference from law enforcement. In the early days, hed also been arrested for bootlegging, attacking a police officer, reckless driving, stealing merchandise from local stores, and for assaulting a police informant during an illicit liquor delivery. Clyde and Checkers would both be released in the following year, 1934. As a result of this information making its way out, the authorities were able to conduct successful raids on the club leading the the arrest of Clarence Smaldone, Villano, and Salardino. His passion for history, his interest in the mob, and his need to be creative and produce content led him to create this podcast where he provides his listeners with deeply-researched content on the plots, sub-plots, and real facts behind the American Cosa Nostra. Annie is a freelance writer, content editor, and marketing whiz with a background in broadcasting and a passion for chicken nachos. As a result, Checkers second trial was immediately postponed and Clyde Smaldone, as well as associates of the family (and actual blood family members) cousin Louis Smaldone, uncle Fiore Fat Smaldone, as well as associates Michael and Jerry Benallo Jr., and William Willie Calvaresi were all arrested on charges of conspiracy related to the testimony coming out of the grand jury. By this time, not only were the Smaldones operations running at full-tilt, anyone in the Denver vicinity who wanted to get into gambling essentially had to get permission to do so from the Smaldone brothers or else. The operation included the Smaldones, their enforcer Paul Enrici, and also included members of the Pueblo LCN including Blackie Mazza. We had friends every place in the United States. First-Degree Burglary" in Colorado Were going to pick up where we left off in Part One. There were two alleged witnesses to the bombing. In November of 1965, Checkers Smaldone and his son Eugene would be arrested after a raid found evidence that over $100,000 worth of bets on college football had been placed with them in the previous week. Additionally, the issue of the Smaldones relationships with local politicians and police, especially in Central City were called into question. WebAntonio Musso, boss of the Rockford, Illinois, crime family James and Vincenzo Coletti, bosses of the Colorado crime family Civello was a close friend or associate of these powerful people Benny Binion, gangster, poker enthusiast, and casino owner Giovanni Ormento, capo in the New York Lucchese crime family He told them, They [the police] are setting you up. Eventually, hed move on from Roxy and brought his brother Eugene in as a partner once Checkers came of proper age. According to the book Smaldone: The Untold Story of an American Crime Family written by Dick Kreck, Clyde Smaldone would say the following in a tape-recorded family interview some sixty years after the fact: [Somebody] shot him in his house. The bullet traveled in an upward direction from its entrance in the deceaseds hand to its final resting place in his brain.. According to documentation I found relating to the People vs. Spinuzzi in 1962, the circumstances of the shooting as communicated in court were as follows: The deceased was a musician employed at the Five Queens Club in Pueblo, Colorado. Bonanno worked with members of the Pueblo LCN family from the 1940's through the 1970's, and co-owned the Colorado Cheese Company with Vincenzo "Black Jim" Coletti, Boss of Pueblo from 1953-1972. As West entered his automobile parked in downtown Denver, Smaldone enforcers Frank Mazza, Porky Routta, and Paul Enrichi, who long had been known as bodyguards and strong-arm men for the Smaldones, accosted West, forced him into the automobile and ordered him to drive out onto the Pecos Road outside of Denver. To keep up the pressure, in February of 1953, Clyde, Eugene, and 29 associates would be hauled into court over an allegedly fixed dice game at a pool hall on 7057 Federal Blvd. The brothers would go on to be arrested several more times, and I am not going to bore you any more than I already have by going through each and every incident, because its honestly exhausting even to me. Colletti was born in Lucca Sicula, Sicily, Italy in 1897. He would be buried at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Jefferson County, Colorado. Clydes son Gene would recall the following about his father years after the fact: My dad was smart. Thank you! So those things were all connected together, and so was the hit on Pauline for that matter. Eugene (Checkers) Smaldone discusses his $12,000 bond, which was set for Checkers after he was arraigned on a habitual criminal charge and conspiracy charges in district court in 1953. As Clyde would relate in his later years, hed make a lot of important connections during this time and even formed a partnership with the Capone mob in Chicago. However, in 1949 the party more or less came to an end when a new law-and-order justice of the peace, Lowell Griffith, was elected and began applying heat to the operation. They returned to the Roma home after word got around that Mrs. Roma had found her husbands body at 1:45 p.m. and then voluntarily went to police headquarters. Image Credit: Smaldone: The Untold Story of an American Crime Family. An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. All three would be sentenced to 10 year prison terms which at their advancing age was akin to a life sentence. In the early 1950s, the Smaldone brothers would begin to increasingly draw the ire of authorities, and it would eventually lead to the slow downfall of their organization. 4. Now, I cant quite pinpoint why Im so specifically fascinated by the Smaldone brothers, but as youll see their story is pretty epic, and I think youre going to seesimilar to last episodethat there was just as much going on with organized crime in Colorado as other areas of the country, and it was well covered, but it just never got the publicity nor does it have the prestige of the East Coast mob. However, when it went to trial, the evidence against Shanks was pretty shaky and he was ultimately acquitted in 1964. Charley Blanda was born in Ames, Iowa in 1899, but at some point would move to Colorado where he would reside permanently. Murder is up 47 percent in those WebCrime news from 9 News KUSA in Denver, Colorado. That being said, based on my research and observations, it definitely appeared that the Smaldone organization in Denver was the more significant of the two groups, despite not being a true Mafia family. Retired Denver police captain Jerry Kennedy would later recall running into Roberts, who knew he had a major problem, just days after the devastating revelation: I ran into Walkie a day or two later in that Theater Bar on Sixteenth and Glenarm, doing a routine check, and I said, How you doing, Walkie?, He says, Hey, Kennedy, theyre going to kill me., I said, Walkie, theyre not going to kill you., He says, Hey, Im telling you, Borden named me on the stand. He was present at the Mob Summit in Apalachin in 1957. In the relationship between Chauncey and Paulie, it was often said that the latter had the brains so to speak. As the story goes, Checkers faced down a prisoner who during the breakout had pointed a gun directly in his face uttering the words, Take that thing outta my face, and then locking himself in a room and (of course) played checkers with the two kids in turn until the danger was over. They were separated by one Watson and the fight terminated. Apparently during the proceedings, both Smaldone brothers attempted to rough up some photographers after entering the Federal Building. Upon leaving prison, Clyde, ever the shrewdest brother of the bunch, saw which way the wind was blowing and made his move to retire from active family participation. So they did all those good things so that the law enforcement would look the other way and everybody would be happy. This would be gambling money, this would be loan money, and hed set them down on the table and in different piles, and there was always a big wad, sometimes four, five, six, seven thousand dollars, maybe more.. On the afternoon of February 18, 1933, Roma would be found slumped dead in a chair in his front parlor of his home on 3404 Vallejo Street in North Denver by his wife, Nettie. But Walkie Talkie had another problem (and even bigger problem). Trump, 76, seized on the claims from Rep. James Comer to attack his presidential rival by accusing the Biden family of corruption on a mass scale on the same day Joe Biden launched his re-election campaign.'What Congressmen James Comer and Jim Jordan have revealed about the "Biden Crime Family" would be Watergate times 10, if this news was revealed just 10 years ago,' he said in a post on his Truth Social platform. Shortly after the assassination police detained and questioned many suspects including two brothers who were allegedly top lieutenants for Roma: Clyde Flip Flop Smaldone and Eugene Checkers Smaldone. So at this point in time in the 1960s, its a growing area of concern. Crime is rising in Colorado. This state data shows by how much Spinuzzi would ultimately be found Not Guilty due to insufficient evidence and would skate free of any prison time. After both the Carlinos and the Dannas were wiped out, Giuseppe Joe Roma had filled the power vacuum and was the dominant mafiosi in most of Colorado from 1931 (after having Sam and Pete Carlino, aka The Al Capone of Southern Colorado whacked in the process) until meeting his own grizzly demise in February of 1933. His runners would be none other than his sons, Clyde and Checkers. Clyde by that point was entering his teens and Eugene Checkers Smaldone was not far behind during the early days of Prohibition. But those plans would never come to fruition as he died of natural causes on September 5, 1975 (just two months after Coletti). Web353,528 total crimes reported in Colorado in 2020, reflecting a 3.9% increase from last year. In 1927, Clyde and his confederates were arrested for possession of several gallons of liquor as well as hijacking 96 pints of whiskey from a competitors truck. Before you go, please dont forget to Subscribe so that you can continue to enjoy my content as its released and if you have any thoughts please leave them in the comments on YouTube or write us a review on Apple. Hed share the following about how that relationship got off the ground in an interview that was later recorded in the book that Ill be citing many times in this episode, Smaldone: The Untold Story of An American Crime Family: I went up to Chicago and got talking about getting the stuff up in Canada. At the time, an economic boom had hit Colorado, which meant that there were plenty of jobs available for Italians if they were willing to accept the risk of taking on backbreaking and relatively dangerous jobs working on the railroads or in the mines. He was rumored to be a confidential informant. The charge, placed under the drivers side, drove him through the cars roof, tore away part of his left buttocks, and broke his pelvis.. So ultimately, Eugenes simple issue with back-taxes of $5,000, would turn itself into first the ridiculous sentence of 60 years, but finally the 12 years and a $10,000 sentence. Papers at the time would laud the victory, but would also notateand this is importanta rift between the judge in the case and law enforcement (specifically federal law enforcement), with the Greeley Daily Tribune relating the following: Two Smaldones Each Given 60-Year Terms This all stemmed from an issue in which a man named Joseph Nucci, was shot and wounded (although not fatally). His body would be discovered in the backseat of his Cadillac in a lot behind the Alpine Inn. All of these enterprises also played well into their other stream of income, which of course was loan-sharking (a service that goes hand in hand with nearly any gambling enterprise), and the duo would have a lot of money on the street as they say in the underworld, which would pull in fairly good revenue for the Smaldone organization. However, at this point the damage was done as the two brothers, whod built the empire together would eventually have a falling out over the situation. Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed investigations into the 'Biden crime family' were 'Watergate times 10,' after the This restaurant would go on to become an institution in Denver, and it would become the primary base of operations for the Smaldone organization. This is where things get very bad for the brothers. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Raffaele Ralph Smaldone would begin selling moonshine to speakeasies in Denver. Clyde Smaldone smokes a cigar while shielding his face from photographers in 1951. It wasnt long before the duo was making good money, so much so that they were able to help their parents out even more by buying toys for their siblings, clothes for their mother and father, and even helping to fix up the family house. Eugene "Checkers" Smaldone, hiding face behind paper bag, lunges at photographer while on his way to county -jail after receiving a 12-year prison sentence and $10,000 fine in 1955. From what I can tell, the lines here were very much blurred and the Smaldones certainly did hold true to some core values such as keeping their mouths shut (which they did almost until the end of their lives), as well as operating in a lot of the same rackets as traditional Cosa Nostra families, and even using the same tacticsup to and including being allegedly involved in several murders throughout their time running the Denver underworld. Clyde Smaldone, as he was hustled into a U.S. marshals van for the return trip to the county jail, yelled an epithet at a Denver Post photographer. Spinuzzi and the deceased wrestled toward the back of a station wagon parked in the area. He stated that Robert Shanks had established an alibi placing him in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, at the time the murder was committed, but that he had been charged as an accessory after the fact., On August 16, 1963, Eugene Checkers Smaldone, Clyde George Smaldone, Michael Anthony Tomeo and Joseph Salardino were picked up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for questioning in the Robbins murder case., Captain John Hindes of the Denver Police Department stated that all of these suspects refused to answer any questions concerning the murder.. It was no different in Colorado, and in fact Colorado even got a head start. But then came the legal blow that would stop the brothers in their tracks, and would lay the foundation for the long-term decline of the familys power. Moving forward, Colorado Crime Stats will be available with a one-month lag before becoming accessible to the public. Like many other bootleggers, the lessons and experiences gained from running their business during the 20s would benefit them throughout their lives. Glendale Glendale held onto its title of most dangerous place in Colorado for another year. Outside the club, Ricci and Parlato on the one hand and the deceased on the other hand engaged in a fight. A Hopefully that will be of interest to viewers since other families arent talked about nearly as often. While costs are disproportionately felt by victims, this implies an average cost per Coloradan of $4,762 per year. In both cases, the Smaldones (as they would throughout their lives) would deny any involvement, and as youll see during the rest of this video, I think there is a fine line between things that they actually did versus overzealous prosecution and sentences handed out by a government that had it in for them. According to a report in the Fort Collins Coloradoan: The Smaldones, Spinelli and Brindisi told Clark they visited Roma from 10 a.m. until afternoon Saturday in an effort to borrow money. Colorado Crime Hed Sunday punch you, but he could stand up and fist fight you too. We covered several major events including: Today were going to dig into the era of the Smaldone brothers. Later in life, when interviewed by his family, he would only offer the following: It was a long time ago, yes. He is also buried at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Jefferson County. He wanted to take on a higher degree of control and kind of muscle in on the operations. Joseph Civello There were also other Italian groups including the emergence of Giuseppe Joe Roma beginning in the mid-20s, as well as Irish contingents butting heads and shooting it out as well. He would definitely become an important member of the family as well. Colorado police solve four homicide cold cases with DNA from I mean, there's not going to be anybody left for a Christmas picture if the DOJ did their job and went in there and indicted everyone that has any type of fingerprints involved in this influence peddling scheme,' Comer claimed. A copy of the front page of the menu at Gaetano's Restaurant in the late 1940's and 1950's. Leo wasnt so lucky. Now as I mentioned above, after his semi-retirement Clydes drinking would become pretty problematic so much so that his sons would put him in alcohol rehabilitation on several occasions throughout the rest of his life until he was finally able to kick the habit (which wouldnt happen until much later in his life). A And I think its fair to say that their legacy contains with both good as well as bad. First, a woman who knew Checkers told police she saw men tampering with the car just before the explosion, and then there was a patrolman whod told investigators that hed observed Clyde making a call from a neighborhood phone booth just minutes before the bomb went off. Just 3 months later, Roma would have Carlino murdered. [The Pueblo mobs] was always arguing and fighting amongst themselves about the business, and they werent capable of handling business, to tell you the truth. The other six, seven guys that tried to help himsome of them had to hock their house, some of them lost business, lost their jobs, and to this day hes never given one of them guys a quarter. While testifying for Mazza during this trial, Clyde Smaldoneclearly agitated (and youre going to see that both Clyde and Checkers did not like photographers)snapped on a Denver Post photographer taking pictures outside the courtroom, snarling the following: The next time you shoot my picture, Im going to punch you in the nose.. Lastly, feel free to check out our website at www.membersonlypodcast.com, or follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Its between the mid-to-late 1940s that between what they were doing in gambling as well as their black market operation that the Smaldone empire reached its zenith going into the early 1950s. Everybody would make money. John Skip LaGuardia, murdered in 1973, allegedly due to issues he had with the Smaldone family. Photo Credit: Smaldone: The Untold Story of an American Crime Family. Now its important that you know the players as the men who came next had ties into both groups at times during the 1920s and 1930s. Checkers was clearly the most pugnacious and probably the biggest gangster of the three brothers, but by this time he was no longer the dominating figure hed once been before going away to prison. Limon, Colorado Limon has a crime rate of 53.7 violent crimes per 100,000 persons. The other book Id recommend (which I cited several times this episode) would be Smaldone: The Untold Story of An American Crime Family by Dick Kreck with foreward from Chuck and Gene Smaldone.
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