The oldest born son in the union of Vito William Tocco and Rosalie Zerilli in 1927, Jack was brought up in the upscale Windmill Pointe section of Grosse Pointe Michigan. As the first male heir born of one of the most powerful gangland figures in the country was expected by many observers of the Detroit crime scene to automatically exhibit the criminal traits that carried his father and uncle Joe to the pinnacle of the Detroit underworld. Early on Jack, appeared to have chosen to forsake the world of his father in favor of living a life of apparent legitimacy when he received a finance degree from the University of Detroit class of 1949. What had escaped detection from those outside of the Partners business and social circle was the fact that Jack and his cousin Anthony Zerilli had been made into the Detroit family after the two successfully dispatched a troublesome associate of the reigning dons of the Detroit Partnership. This undetected act of violence laid the ground work for the future of the Detroit Partneship. Tocco would continue to keep a low profile for the next 30 years avoiding news articles and government investigative committee efforts to dig into the inner sanctum of the secret crime society known as the mafia or La Cosa Nostra in the media but referred to simply as the Combination or the Partnership. During this time Jack would put his finance degree to good use while running the Hazel Park Race Track and Association in conjunction with his cousin and life long partner Anthony Zerilli. From 1947-1996 Jack Tocco would suffer only one arrest ending in a conviction resulting from his attendance of a cock fight in 1965. Tocco remained an unknown quantity to federal investigators through the 60's and into the late 70's when he was selected by senior members of the Partnership to replace his troubled cousin at the head of the Detroit Combination at a secret meeting held on June 11,1979 at the Timberland Game Ranch in Dextertownship. Tocco would steadily reduce the number of Partners from 23 in the early 80's to 10 to 12 members at the present date. Tocco would quietly and efficiently lead the Partners away from some of the more traditional endeavors of the Detroit Combination such as involvement in the narcotics trade and the smuggling of illegal immigrants while concentrating on the infiltration of legitimate businesses, loan fraud, loansharking, gambling and labor racketeering. Tocco's long run atop the Detroit Outfit was threatened by the racketeering indictment handed down against him and 17 other members and associates of the Detroit Partnership on March 15,1996. Facing a nearly 20 years in prison if convicted the 69 year old Tocco chose to fight the charges leveled against him in stead of pleading guilty in exchange for a modestly lenient sentence. After two years of legal rangling Jack Tocco was found guilty on 1 count of racketeering and conspiracy Jack Tocco received and served a 1 year and 1 day sentence from judge John Corbett O'Meara after being surrendering to Michigan State Prison authorities on January 5, 1999. Tocco served 9 1/2 months of the 1 year and 1 day sentence before being released just before Thanksgiving 1999. Tocco returned to his wife of 50 years, Antoinette Meli Tocco "the niece of former outfit leader Angelo Meli," and the sister of current acting underboss Vincent A. Meli. Together the couple raised 8 "one of which is a doctor," legitimately successful children 7 of which still reside in the Grosse Pointe area. Tocco has remained free pending the review of his lenient sentence on the racketeering charges but has been rocked by the defection of his cousin Nove Tocco "also the grandson of Joe Zerilli and the nephew of Anthony Zerilli," who has become one of the first mebers of the Detroit organization to seek a reduction in sentence by exchanging information on the dealings of the Partnership under the leadership of Jack W. Tocco. Jack recently faced off in court with his cousin and former soldier Nove Tocco, who became the first made member of the Detroit Organization to testify against the partners in hopes of reducing the 19 year sentence he is serving as a result of his 1998 coniviction for racketeering. As a result of the words of Nove Tocco, Angelo Polizzi and a mountain of legal documents, Jack Tocco lost his appeal to overturn a decision to return him to prison on the 1996 racketeering conviction he garnered. Judge John O'Mera sentenced the 73 year old Tocco to serve a total of 37 months in prison. Tocco turned himself in to begin serving his new sentence on April 2, several weeks before his May 25th sentencing. With the new sentence imposed Jack Tocco can expect to serve another year and 10 months before becoming eligible for release in March of 2002. The federal bureau of prisons at Rochester Minnesota will host the imprisoned mob boss for the next 4 months untill he will be allowed to return to a half way house to complete the last 16 months of his sentence.
