Dragna never did get Cohen. Even when he was convicted on a tax rap and sentenced to five years in prison, a major corruption probe cost Dragna the police protection he needed to take over Cohen's operations. Cohen was probably the most-quoted gangster of his day. He once told television interviewer Mike Wallace: "I have killed no man that in the first place didn't deserve killing by the standards of our way of life." When asked to name the California politicians who had once protected his gambling empire, he refused, saying "that is not my way of life."
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Cohen was no more communicative in 1950 when he appeared before the Kefauver Committee's hearings on organized crime. Asked by Senator Charles Tobey, "Is it not a fact that you live extravagantly ... surrounded by violence?" Cohen answered, "Whadda ya mean, 'surrounded by violence'? People are shooting at
me
."
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When he was asked to explain why a Hollywood banker had granted him a $35,000 loan without collateral, Mickey quipped, "I guess he just likes me."
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Always one to insert himself in the public eye, Cohen in 1958 provided the press with love letters written by actress Lana Turner to Johnny Stompanato. Turner's gangster lover was, in fact, Cohen's bodyguard and had been stabbed to death by Turner's teenage daughter. Cohen also let it be known all around that henot Turnerpaid for Stompanato's funeral.
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Cohen was twice convicted of tax violations, serving four years of a five-year sentence on one occasion and 10 years of a 15-year term on the other. When he came out of prison in 1972, Cohen declared his intention to go straight. It was not necessarily a matter of choice. He was partly paralyzed as the result of a head injury he received at the hands of a fellow convict at Atlanta in 1963. Cohen's last major foray in the news occurred in 1974 when he announced he had made contact with certain people who knew the whereabouts of the then-kidnapped Patricia Hearst. Cohen died, some say remarkably, of natural causes in 1976.
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Cohn, Roy (19271986): Mob mouthpiece
In his late years Roy Cohn, a major figure in McCarthyera anti-communist activities, became a popular lawyer for top mafiosi, including Fat Tony Salerno, Carmine Galante and several members of the Gambino crime family. Among the latter were Carlo's sons Tommy and Joe Gambino, Carmine Fatico, Angelo Ruggiero and John Gotti.
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If not for Cohn's counsel, Gotti's career might have ended more than a decade before he catapulted to boss of the Gambinos. In 1973 Gotti was looking at a long prison term for a killing he participated in at the orders of Godfather Gambino. The victim was James McBratney, who had kidnapped for ransom and killed one of the don's nephews. Gotti and two other hoodlums, Ruggiero and Ralph Galione, cornered McBratney in a Staten Island bar. They flashed phony police badges and tried to hustle their quarry away to a more private location where he could be dispatched in the horrible fashion the don wished.
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McBratney was not fooled and resisted. Galione produced a gun, which he was forced to turn on menacing bar patrons. A drunk tried to intervene and the gun went off accidentally. Galione panicked and fired three shots into McBratney.
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The job had been slightly botched, but Gambino was not displeased. Unfortunately witnesses easily identified the killer trio, and Ruggiero and Gotti were arrested. In the meantime gunner Galione had been shot dead, apparently by McBratney pals.
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Gambino decided to get Gotti the best lawyer money could buy, Roy Cohn.
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Cohn devised a strategy that satisfied Gambino. Gotti would plea-bargain down to attempted manslaughter, since he had not done the shooting and merely held McBratney. Cohn, the precocious son of a New York judge, was said to have a network of compliant judges, prosecutors and district attorneys and other law enforcement officials who could help things go his way. Carlo bought the idea and ordered Gotti to cop the plea.
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Gotti wanted to fight the charge. Aniello Dellacroce, Gotti's mentor in the family, dissuaded him: "Carlo says you take the fall, and that's it."
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Gotti remained bitter until he saw the strategy play out. He was sentenced to a mere four years and actually served less than two. Gotti had been certain such a deal was impossible, but everything went smoothly. The district attorney's office didn't even label either Gotti or Ruggiero as "persistent offenders," which both were and which under state law would have earned them very harsh sentences. In
Goombata
, authors John Cummings and Ernest Volkman found Cohn's legal magic "not especially surprising in the history of the Staten Island District Attorney's office, which had a notably lax record in dealing with organized crime defendants."
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Still, in his later years the apparently still-smarting Gotti exhibited no desire to utilize Cohn's services.
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Coli, Eco James (1922): Chicago syndicate gangster
Long identified as a mob assassin as well as a muscleman, Eco James Coli sports a record dating back to 1945, with arrests for attempted hijacking, assault and sex offenses. A leading suspect in a number of murders, Coli also was identified as a prize exterminator, work-
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