Tuesday July 9,1985 the headlines blared the death of notorious gambler Peter Cavataio. Cavataio was a well known underworld figure who had once operated Holiday Bakery & Produce Products in Detroit. Cavataio was identified as a mid level member of the Detroit outfit who was into gambling, extortion and narcotics trafficking during the 1963 Valachi hearings. Two years later Cavataio pled guilty to bilking the government out $67,600 by purchasing food stamps from welfare recipients at a reduced rates. Cavataio was fined $10,000 dollars and placed on probation. By October 1, 1970 Cavataio had been convicted of malicious destruction of property after a run in with a 16 year old outside of a Southfield restaurant. During the incident the hot headed Cavataio pointed a gun at the teen and proceeded to smash the windows of the youths car with a baseball bat. Peter received a 2 year sentence in which he served at the State Prison of Southern Michigan at Jackson. While serving this sentence the hard luck gangster was sentenced to an additional 18 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate federal gambling laws. During his prison stay Cavataio's restaurant was also firebombed but investigators were never able to determine if the fire was an attempt by Peter to collect insurance money or if it was the work of underworld rivals looking to even an old score or send a message to the imprisoned mobster. Cavataio who was once married to the sister of Dominic "Fats" and Anthony "The Bull" Corrado, was known as a ladies man, a fact that may have led to his divorce in the mid '70s. At the time of his death Pete was on probation for attempting to pass a bad check in Texas and was also under investigation for his role in a narcotics ring. Peter was also fueding with several members of the Detroit Outfit and owed large sums of money to gamblers with connections to the Detroit partners. These debts had been on hold out of respect for Dominic Corrado who remained a close friend of Cavataio and his brother also named Dominic and a member of the Outfit. These debts came to term with the death Fats Corrado just two weeks prior to the discovery of Cavataio's body. Detroit police investigators searched Cavataio's apartment insearch of clues as to the reason for his slaying but found some had beaten them to the search and left behind a pair of rubber gloves to indicate a professional job. Further evidence leading investigators to believe the slaying had been ordered by members of the Outfit was the .22 shell casings found near Cavataio's body which had been found with his hands tied in front of him. The slaying of the Southfield resident remains unsolved 15 years after the discovery of the colorful gangsters body.
