Authors: Paul R. Kavieff
To the community, Sam Catalanotte was a popular political and business leader who made a comfortable living as Director of the Detroit Italian American Bakery Association. To the underworld, Sam Catalanotte was probably the most powerful and respected Mafia boss in Detroit history. A product of the Giannola/Vitale Gang War of the World War I era, Catalanotte emerged at the end of the conflict as the overseer of the Detroit area Italian underworld. He was a man endowed with great diplomatic ability and charisma. Catalanotte presided over a tenuous peace between the remnants of the Giannola and Vitale Mobs after 1920. As an underworld boss, Catalanotte always preferred peaceful solutions to disputes rather than violence. As a result of his policies, the Detroit area Mafia groups prospered for nearly a decade without bloodshed.
When Sam Catalanotte died in early 1930, there were five organized Mafia gangs in the Detroit area underworld. The two largest organizations were known as the Eastside and the Westside Mobs, and they were both composed of several smaller crime groups. Headed by Angelo Meli, “Black” Leo Cellura, William “Black Bill” Tocco, and Joseph Zerilli, the Eastside group operated east of Detroit and on the upper Detroit River. The notorious Licavoli brothers’ River Gang was also affiliated with the Eastsiders as was a smaller Mob operated out of Wyandotte, led by a downriver mobster named Anthony Danni. The Westside Mob was comprised mostly of members of the old Sam Catalanotte Gang and was led by Chester W. LaMare, the Hamtramck underworld boss. A downriver gang headed by Joseph Tocco (a brother of William “Black Bill” Tocco) was loyal to LaMare and the Westsiders, as was a much smaller downriver outfit headed by Ben (Benny the Baker) Vitagliano. Most of these mobsters were veterans of the Giannola/Vitale Gang War. LaMare, Meli, “Benny the Baker,” Sam Catalanotte, Joe Zerilli, and “Black” Leo Cellura had all been associated with the Giannola brothers during the bloodshed.
Sam Catalanotte had two brothers, Joseph and James. Joe Catalanotte was serving a federal prison sentence at the time of Sam’s death. James Catalanotte was not well liked or respected among the various underworld groups. At first, it was thought that Angelo Meli would succeed Sam Catalanotte as the “Boss of Bosses,” but this situation was prevented from occurring when the treacherous Westside Mob boss, Chester LaMare, made his disastrous bid for power.
Sometimes referred to as the ‘Vice King” of Hamtramck or the “Capone” of Hamtramck, Chester LaMare was born Caesar LaMare in Chicago, Illinois, in 1884. LaMare’s parents were part of the first great wave of immigrants to the U.S. from Sicily and Italy after 1880. He was first arrested in Chicago in 1908 on a larceny charge. In 1911, he was convicted of forgery and sentenced to six months in prison. During his early criminal career in Chicago, LaMare met and befriended a powerful Mafia associate named Anthony Lombardo. Interestingly, Lombardo would later go on to become one of Al Capone’s closest advisers. Through the backing of the Capone organization and various intrigues, Lombardo eventually became president of the Unione Siciliane or the Italian-American National Union. Originally founded as a benevolent society to advance the interests of Sicilian immigrants, the organization fell into disrepute by the late ‘20s when it became dominated by gangsters. The underworld became fond of using the association as a legitimate front for other activities. Lombardo was murdered while president of the organization on September 6, 1928.
Chester LaMare arrived in Detroit in 1915 and became associated with the Giannola Mob. LaMare was an efficient and ruthless gunman. As a result he quickly rose through the ranks of the Giannola gang during the Giannola/Vitale Gang War of 1918-1921. By the time that Sam Giannola was murdered in 1919, LaMare had become his chief lieutenant. Upon Sam Giannola’s sudden demise, it was generally believed in the underworld that Chester LaMare would inherit Giannola’s prestige and authority.
When the Giannola/Vitale war ended in early 1921, LaMare and two other Giannola gunmen, Angelo Meli and “Black” Leo Cellura, set up shop in Hamtramck, Michigan. Hamtramck was a booming manufacturing center, a city within the city limits of Detroit. The three mobsters formed a partnership and with the Catalanotte Mob as muscle, quickly took control of the liquor and vice rackets in Hamtramck. They opened the glittering Venice Cafe, which became one of Hamtramck’s most popular nightclubs. Working under the leadership of Sam Catalanotte, LaMare became the underboss of the Catalanotte gang. This group would eventually become known as the Westside Mob. Under the guidance of LaMare and Meli, the gang prospered, forcing brothels, blind pigs, and gambling operators to pay protection money to their syndicate.
In November of 1922, the Venice Cafe was closed and padlocked by Hamtramck law-enforcement officials. LaMare and Cellura were arrested and charged with violations of the U.S. Prohibition laws. By 1923, conditions in Hamtramck had gotten so rotten and the city government so corrupt that concerned citizens of Hamtramck appealed to Michigan Governor Alex Groesbeck to take action. Exercising his emergency powers, Groesbeck sent a detachment of Michigan State Troopers under Captain Ira Marmon to take over the law enforcement and municipal functions of the Hamtramck city government. The State Police investigation into conditions in Hamtramck uncovered some startling revelations. More than 400 soft-drink parlors licensed by the city sold everything but soft drinks. One hundred and fifty brothels operated around the clock seven days a week. Liquor and beer were sold openly at candy stores, pool rooms, restaurants, and even from cars. Gambling houses ran wide open without police interference. While the Michigan State Police took over the law-enforcement duties, deputies of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department took control of the Hamtramck police station and the City Hall. Gambling operations were quickly shut down. Brothels were raided and blind pigs closed. Nearly 200 raids were conducted in a period of four months. State troopers seized 75 stills, closed two breweries, and destroyed 20,000 gallons of moonshine liquor, 100,000 gallons of mash, 800 half barrels of beer, and more than 7,000 gallons of beer in vats. Governor Groesbeck personally presided over the removal hearing of Hamtramck Mayor Peter C. Jezewski.
Jezewski and 29 others were later indicted by a Federal Grand Jury, convicted of liquor law violations, and sentenced to federal prison. The 30 included Hamtramck Director of Public Safety Max A. Wolinski and Bertha Johnson, a well-known madam and the proprietor of the Hamtramck Inn.
LaMare’s underworld operations took substantial financial losses during the state law-enforcement crackdown on Hamtramck. In 1926, LaMare was convicted of the original Prohibition law violation charge that had closed his Venice Cafe in 1922. He had also been indicted in the 1923 Hamtramck beer ring conspiracy case developed by the Michigan State Police after their takeover of Hamtramck. LaMare went on the lam at that time but later surrendered to federal authorities and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was convicted of violation of the U.S. Prohibition Laws in federal court before Judge Charles E. Simmons on May 25, 1926. LaMare was fined $1,000 and sentenced to one year in federal prison. He was released on a $5,000 bond pending his appeal. In 1927, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld LaMare’s conviction. Later that year, LaMare was brought before Federal Judge Charles E. Simmons for sentencing. To the amazement of everyone, Judge Simmons added an additional $500 to LaMare’s original $1,000 fine and gave him probation. The judge later told the press that he did this on LaMare’s promise to “go straight.” The ruling was very strange indeed, in light of the fact that by 1927 Chester LaMare had been arrested more than 18 times for such crimes as extortion, armed robbery, Prohibition law violations, carrying concealed weapons, and white slavery. He was sentenced to fines or imprisonment five times. It did not appear that LaMare would be a good probation risk.
In order to maintain his new-found legitimate image, LaMare invested in a fruit concession that sold produce to Ford Motor Company plants in the Detroit area. He was also awarded a car agency franchise that became known as the Crescent Motor Sales. The franchise had been granted to LaMare by Harry Bennett, chief of the infamous Ford Motor Company Service Department. LaMare was able to get these valuable business concessions through the help of Joseph Palma. Palma had once been the head of the U.S. Secret Service Department. He supposedly aided LaMare because the gangster had once informed for the government in some counterfeit cases. By the mid-’20s, LaMare had separated from his original partners, Meli and Cellura, who aligned themselves with the Eastside Mob. Although LaMare’s lucrative Ford fruit concession brought him more than $100,000 a year, he still remained active in the rackets.
During his probation, LaMare began to muscle into the downriver handbook business. His tactics were brutal but extremely effective. LaMare would single out a particular handbook operator as his victim. He would then personally visit the man and suggest that he cut LaMare in for 50 percent of his profits. If the bookmaker was reluctant, LaMare would ask the man if he could speak to him outside. As the two men conversed on the sidewalk, two carloads of LaMare’s gunmen would converge from opposite directions brandishing their guns. LaMare would nod in their direction and say, “How do you like my equipment? Pretty nice, eh?”
If this meeting was not convincing enough, other means would be employed. One stubborn gambling operator was kidnapped, tied up, and driven out to Lake St. Clair one freezing winter day. A hole was chopped through the ice, and a rope was tied around the victim’s waist. He was then dropped through the hole into the frigid water. When the gunmen pulled him up, he was more than willing to cooperate with whatever the boss had in mind. He was dropped through the ice a second time just to make sure he was convinced.
LaMare didn’t just order his men to be cruel. He personally took charge of the interrogation of a rival gangster with whom he was feuding. The man was unwilling to give LaMare the information that was demanded. Grabbing a rusty handsaw, LaMare went to work on the rival mobster’s leg just above the kneecap. The terrified thug quickly told LaMare everything he wanted to know.
By the late ‘20s, LaMare was making $3,500 a day. Operating extensively in Wyandotte, LaMare set up a chain of small alcohol stills in private homes and paid the homeowners wages to operate them. Once a week, his men would make the rounds and pick up the alcohol.
LaMare seized the opportunity of Catalanotte’s death and immediately began to muscle in on the Eastside Mob’s lucrative rackets. The tension that resulted from LaMare’s aggressive moves brought Detroit’s Italian underworld to the brink of open warfare. In an uncharacteristic display of diplomacy, LaMare invited the other leaders of the local Mafia groups to a peace conference. LaMare sent out word through his emissaries that if the bosses of the various factions would agree to attend the meeting, they could settle their differences amiably. This would end the possibility of unnecessary bloodshed. LaMare’s idea had merit. None of the Mob bosses wanted a costly war. LaMare, however, had other reasons for luring the Eastside Mob leadership to the peace conference. He planned to hide three gunmen outside of the meeting room. At a given signal, the assassins would rush in and shoot down all of the opposition leaders. LaMare would emerge from the ambush as the supreme boss of the Italian underworld in Detroit.
The peace conference was scheduled to be held in a fish market located at 2739 Vernor Highway in Detroit the afternoon of May 31, 1930. The marketplace was a popular restaurant and rendezvous for the Westside Mob. The grocery and fish market was owned by a man named Philip Gaustello who was an associate of LaMare and the Westside Mob. Gaustello carried on a profitable beer-selling operation out of the market, which he effectively was using as a front for his bootlegging business.
Angelo Meli, the leader of the Eastside Mob, did not trust LaMare. Instead of attending the meeting with other Eastside underworld leaders, he sent two representatives in their place. The two men were Gasper Scibilia, known as the “Peacemaker,” and Sam Parina. Both men were respected Mafia counselors. Meli believed that even if LaMare had set a trap for the Eastsiders, these two men would be safe from harm. Scibilia and Parina arrived at the fish market and were seated in a room in the back of the store.
LaMare’s two gunmen panicked when they realized that Meli and the Eastside Mob leadership had sent the two underworld counselors to the meeting in their place. Parina and Scibilia were expecting to meet with the Westside Mob leadership. The presence of the two low-ranking Westside gunmen at the market could only mean one thing to the Eastside arbitrators, a trap. Fearing that Parina and Scibilia would detect the set up and report it to Meli and the Eastside Mob, the gunmen did what they thought they had to do.
As the counsellors waited for LaMare and the other leaders of the Catalanotte Mob to arrive, the two gunmen walked into the room and without saying a word, pulled pistols out of their coats and opened fire on the two men. Scibilia was killed instantly. Parina was shot in the chest and abdomen and critically wounded. He was still alive when police arrived at the scene. He was rushed to Detroit Receiving Hospital. Parina told detectives that he and Scibilia had just sat down to eat lunch when two men they had never seen before walked in and started shooting. He stated that he did not know why anyone would want to harm him or Scibilia. Parina died at 3:23 p.m. on May 31, 1930, approximately three hours after the shooting.
Phil Gaustello was seen by witnesses leaving the fish market after the shooting incident. He was quickly arrested and held as a police witness. Another witness named John Kimmel was walking on the opposite side of Vernor when the gunfire erupted. Kimmel told detectives that he heard shots fired and saw two men leave the fish market and walk away down the alley behind the building. Edmund Ruttenberg, who operated an ice house opposite the fish market, also heard shots and saw two men leaving the building. Both Kimmel and Ruttenberg were taken to police headquarters where they positively identified mug shots of Joe Amico and Joe Locano as the two gunmen they saw leave the fish market after the murders.