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The Silent Don: the Criminal Underworld of Santo Trafficante Jr.

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The Silent Don: the Criminal Underworld of Santo Trafficante Jr.
The Silent Don: The Criminal Underworld of Santo Trafficante Jr.
Scott M. Deitche
AMH2020 U.S History
Regina Reynolds
June 15, 2010

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Santo Trafficante Jr. was a Tampa mafia boss from the 1950s till his death in the 1980s. Being a first generation Italian, he inherited the family business from his father, Santo Trafficante. He was given the nickname “The Silent Don” because he was ruthless, yet well-liked and mannered. He greatly enjoyed reading history and biography novels, was educated and very charming, which won the hearts of many and helped his mafia achieve mob leadership of Tampa, Florida. He organized gambling establishments and, prior to Fidel Castro’s rise in power, he also established crimes in Cuba. Trafficante was arrested many times in his life, but managed to avoid any charges or serious convictions. Santo Trafficante Jr. was the last boss to be an immediate family member of the Trafficante mafia. He died at 72 in 1987 due to natural health related issues and passed the power down to the LoScalzo family. Santo Trafficante Sr. came to the Americas in 1901 from Cianciana, Italy. Poverty had struck the family immensely because of the rocky economic conditions Italy was in at the time. The family arrived to Ellis Island and then moved to Tampa, Florida which was a new and upcoming city. He started this mob through a cigar business by conducting illegal games of bolita, a popular lottery game among Italian, Black, and Hispanic immigrants. Trafficante Jr. took his first mobster position during the Second Tampa Mob War against the Italiano mafia in the early-1950s. The Italiano mafia had mob leadership in Tampa, with James Lumia being the mafia boss while Sal “Red” Italiano was in Italy. The purpose of the war was to claim mafia dominance in Tampa. Lumia was shot in 1950 by a Trafficante member. Police made Trafficante Sr. an immediate suspect for the killing, but by the time they went to question him, Trafficante Sr. was hospitalized due


Cited: Deitche, Scott. The Silent Don: The Criminal Underworld of Santo Trafficante Jr. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricades Books Inc.
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