Born June 7, 1902 to immigrant parents from the Sicilian town of Favarotta more commonly referred to as Terrasini. Peter, the eldest of 3 notorious siblings, was a bright and promising student whose parents hoped would oneday become a success as a legitimate citizen, possibly a doctor or lawyer. Unfortunately for Mr and Mrs Licavoli, Peter Joseph nor his younger brothers Thomas and Dominic ever showed much interest in living anything but a fast and dangerous life of crime and rascality. The Licavoli boys grew up in a neighborhood in which members of the jewish faith made up the majority of the residences, providing the boys with a taste of diversity that would contribute to their underworld success in later years.
The older Licavoli brothers learned to speak yidish as children a skill which often endeared them to the jewish partners they would work with in gambling and bootlegged liquor businesses. Proud men of Sicilian heritage, the Licavoli's employed the experiences learned from their childhood growing up amoungst the Jewish community in St.Louis, in so doing Thomas and Peter never conveyed the clanish behavior that marked so many other racketeers of Italian descent during prohibition. Peter had his first brush with the law when he and Yonnie were picked up in 1916 for stealing 2 pairs of shoes. This charge was followed by a string of arrests for other relatively minor charges with none resulting in serious trouble for the paunchy gangster.
While his younger brother Yonnie compiled a lengthy arrest record by the age of 20, Pete remained a relatively unknown commodity in St.Louis "as far as law enforcement was concerned," and remained so until he moved on to Michigan. The exact date of Pete's arrival in Detroit is unknown but most place it as being around 1925. Pete moved into the Licavoli operation and set about organizing the gangs involvement in liquor smuggling. Having been a faction of the St.Louis faction of the Unione Sicilione, the Licavoli's were welcomed into the motor city by Sam Catalonotte.
The Licavoli's were given the exclusive rights to the Downriver section which consisted of the city of Wyandotte. Stories of Pete standing on the deck of a incoming ship or out on the dock personally personally supervising the landing of the gangs liquor shipments served to increase his reputation amoung the rumrunners who conducted business with the Pascuzzi Combine. Soon the Downriver gang would be recognized as one of the most successful and best organized rumrunning operations in the country. A key cog in the success of the River gangs smuggling activities was a former Detroit racketeer known as Morris Barney now known as Mo Dalitz.
Dalitz had been a major liquor smuggler and labor racketeer before moving out of Detroit and on into Cleveland, Akron Ohio and later Covington Kentucky and Las Vegas. The success of the River gang led Cantalonotte to increase Licavoli's take of the spoils from the Pascuzzi Combine. With prohibitions days numbered Peter Licavoli began guiding his gang into other fields of operation which would come to include control of gambling, extortion, smuggling "narcotics and weapons and yet more liquor," in addition to shaking down both legitimate and illegal businesses in a number of cities and states nationwide. Though much of his duty consisted of organizational activities, Peter was an accomplished gunman who would be accused of kidnapping, assault and murder on several occasions during the late '20s and early '30s.
The most notorious of these charges arose as a result of the murder of Crusading radio commentator Gerald Buckley "killed in the lobby of the LaSalle Hotel by suspected Licavoli gunmen,"and former St.Louis gambler Milton Jones "shot dead in Detroit's Stork Club in 1932." Each of these cases were dismissed after witnesses fled to Canada in the Jones case resulting in a dismissal of charges for Pete and former St.Louis Unione power figure Joe Massie "whose presence in Detroit signaled cooperation become the two Unione factions," while charges were never dropped against Pete for insufficient evidence in Buckley's murder. After escaping the murder charges, Peter was nailed for bribing a federal agent in 1932. This resulted in a 2 year jail stay and a $1,000 dollar fine for Pete who was by this time a millionaire many times over.
During Peter's incarceration his role as administrator of the River gang fell to his right hand man Leonard Cellura. Cellura had been a partner of Angelo Meli "head of the Eastside Mob," and Chester LaMare "boss of the Westside Mob," in a Hammtramck nightclub in the early '20's. Whereas Meli and Cellura remained good friends and business partners, LaMare was a marked man kept alive only by the presence of Cantalonotte who insisted that he stay alive as long as he followed orders. Unfortunately LaMare was greedy and was therefore eliminated shortly after the death of Singing Sam in Febuary of 1930.
With both Licavoli brothers out of action or on the run, the River gang depended on Meli, Cellura, Tocco and Joe Zerilli to look after their interests in a fair and ecquitable fashion. Apparently this was done and Pete returned to the Detroit underworld where he resumed his career as an exhaulted member of the Detroit Outfit. Peter Joseph became the business agent for the Outfit investing money in an array of businesses which helped to ease the fear of the IRS. Upon his return to the rackets, Pete began joining other jewish and Italian racketeers in joint ventures both legal and not so legal.
Amoung the first to join Peter in investing their prohibition earnings were Al Polizzi head of the Cleveland family and best man at Pete's wedding and Jewish racketeer Mo Dalitz whose family owned a successful Detroit laundry business. Dalitz and Polizzi were powerful men who thought of money in terms of investment. Peter joined both of these men and a string of others from around the country by investing in the Molaska Corporation. Established just 10 days before the repeal of prohibition, Molaska provided an oppurtunity for its investors to take the proceeds of their illegal operations and and make them appear legitimate.
Fronted by the father-in-law of Myer Lansky underworld financial genious, Molaska was just one of many ventures Pete would enter into with Jewish members of the national combination. During the '30's Pete would gain entrance into the Ford Motor company when he supplied the goons used by Fords righthand man Harry Bennett during a labor battle which was seen as a potential disaster for the Ford Motor Company. Pete's men settled the strike through the use of lead pipes, beatings bombings, shootings and just about any other means neccasary to end the strife. As a result Pete provided Bennett with four strong arm thugs who were given jobs in Fords service department at a rate of $6 dollars an hour.
This arrangement quicly became a source of contention between Licavoli and Bennett when Pete demanded that Bennett increase the workers wages to $15 dollars an hour. When Bennett refused the increase Licavoli retaliated by having a gang of his shooters run Bennetts car off the road nearly killing him. Following this incident Bennett conceded to Licavoli's demands paying the thugs the $9 dollar raise they had demanded. Denied the services of Leo Cellura after a 1937 murder conviction, Pete began concentrating on expanding the influence of the Detroit family beyond the confines of Michigan and Ohio.
During the time that Pete was using his muscle on behalf of Henry Ford and Harry Bennett, his old friend from prohibtion Mo Dalitz had moved west establishing some gambling and other rackets in New Mexico and Arizona. Peter Joseph provided Mo with men and other supplies needed to conquer the new areas. Pete soon followed suit and purchased the Grace Ranch in Tuscon Arizona in 1944. Peter's purchase of the Grace Ranch "named after his wife the former Grace Bommarito," is often cited as the beggining of the invasion of eastern mafia figures into Arizona and other southwestern states.
The Grace Ranch consisted of a stable of quality race horses purchased from the breeding farm of James Brink an associate of Pete's involved in gambling in New Port and Covington Kentucky. Pete supervised all of his rackets " which had come to include investments in Las Vegas Casino's and hotels." As Licavoli began to enjoy the fruits of his hard work, he was called to testify on his involvement with the Detroit Partnership by Senator Estes Kefauver and his travelling expose on crime and gambling. Licavoli took the stand and defiantly refused to anserw any questions prompting Kefauver to refer to Licavoli as cold-blooded and contemptuous.
Many historians feel that Licavoli's defiance made him the target of the government who began dogging his every move following the Kefauver hearings, finally getting him on charges of failing to file income tax returns for several years during the late '40s and early '50s. Licavoli served less than two years and upon his release was forced once again to sit before a committee investigating the Americain version of the Mafia. During the Valachi hearings Pete would be charged with contempt of Congress for his staunch refusal to anserw even the most basic of questions like name date of birth etc. This earned Pete another 6 months in a Washington D.C., jail.
Released once again, an aging Licavoli returned to Arizona where he oversaw the traning of a new generation of Detroit mob leaders in the art of doing business in Las Vegas and Arizona. The final entry into the criminal record of Peter Joseph Licavoli occured as a result of his purchase of a stolen 16th century painting. Convicted in 1976 for possession of stolen property, Licavoli managed to stave off serving his sentence until the early '80s at which time he served a 13 month sentence. Peter Joseph died Wednesday, January 11, 1984 in Tucson Arizona at the age of 81. Just two weeks prior Licavoli had suffered a heart attack but had been allowed to return home. Present at the time of death were one of Licavoli's sons and daughter Gerri Abate, as well as his wife Grace.
the Licavoli's employed the experiences learned from their childhood growing up amoungst the Jewish community in St.Louis, in so doing Thomas and Peter never conveyed the clanish behavior that marked so many other racketeers of Italian descent during prohibition. Peter had his first brush with the law when he and Yonnie were picked up in 1916 for stealing 2 pairs of shoes. This charge was followed by a string of arrests for other relatively minor charges with none resulting in serious trouble for the paunchy gangster.
work, he was called to testify on his involvement with the Detroit Partnership by Senator Estes Kefauver and his travelling expose on crime and gambling. Licavoli took the stand and defiantly refused to anserw any questions prompting Kefauver to refer to Licavoli as cold-blooded and contemptuous.
