In the wake of Nick Civella�s death, law enforcement officials believed Carl Civella took over the leadership of the family. Even before his brother died there was evidence to suggest that Carl Civella was running the day-to-day operations and serving as acting boss with the advice and support of Carl DeLuna. Carl Civella began accepting leadership duties when his younger brother was facing mounting legal and health problems in the mid-1970s.
Nicknamed "Cork," due to his violent temper, the newspapers claimed "he was easily the most visible and talkative of the mob figures who reigned during the 1960s, �70s and �80s." He was once called "impulsive" by a FBI agent; this undoubtedly came from an incident in 1960 when, after leaving a courthouse and being surrounded by newspaper reporters and photographers, he unzipped his pants and exposed himself.
Civella�s first brush with the law came in 1929 when he was fined $500 for stealing tires. In 1934, police searched for him after the murder of a bank messenger who was robbed of $200,000. Even with a $10,000 reward being offered Civella evaded arrest for three years. However, after being captured and questioned by police, he was released. In 1939, he was convicted for possession of morphine and served one year in prison.
Setting up his headquarters in the City Market area, Civella described himself to reporters as a "peddler." He was arrested over the years for various gambling charges and was called before several grand juries to testify. In 1982, he tried to impress his girlfriend by muscling in on a Kansas City, Kan., strip joint. When he was rebuffed, he allegedly ordered two of his men to blow up the owner�s Lincoln automobile. Civella was later acquitted for lack of evidence.
Shortly after his conviction and 30-year sentence in the Strawman case, he and his son Anthony and two others were charged with operating a continuing criminal enterprise. Civella pled guilty and was sentenced to an additional 10 years.
Suffering from a variety of illnesses, Civella was treated at prison medical facilities in Minnesota and Texas. He was eventually confined to the low-security Fort Worth facility that housed long-term care inmates with chronic medical problems related to old age. Carl Civella died there on Oct. 2, 1994 of complications from pneumonia at the age of 84.
There is some confusion as to who assumed leadership of the Kansas City Family after the conviction of Carl Civella in 1983. His son Anthony was also sent to prison at the same time. Some insight into the situation was provided in July 1992. When one time Lucchese Family boss Alfonso D�Arco testified via written statement that he had met Anthony Civella when they were both imprisoned at the federal facility in Springfield, Mo., during 1984 and 1985. There he claims Paulie Vario, Sr., the Lucchese capo of the movie Goodfellas fame, introduced D�Arco to Civella, calling him the "boss" of the Kansas City Mafia.
D�Arco�s statement said a William Cammisano visited Civella at Springfield. Civella introduced Cammisano to D�Arco as a made member of the Kansas City Family. However, D�Arco�s statement did not identify which William Cammisano was introduced � senior or junior.
The statement also claimed that D�Arco was asked by Civella to mediate a dispute between the Kansas City and Pittsburgh Families over the proceeds of a rock concert. Civella�s attorney at the time, famed mob lawyer Oscar Goodman, who would be elected mayor of Las Vegas in 1999, called D�Arco a "punk." Goodman said D�Arco�s statement was unfair because Goodman wasn�t present and there was no way to refute D�Arco�s testimony.
William Cammisano, Sr. was as a four-time felon. By 1966 he had been arrested more than 100 times. FBI agents believed he operated a "semi-independent" arm of the Civella crime family. Of Cammisano�s long criminal career, The Kansas City Star reported, "he stared down a U. S. Senate committee, threatened the life of a Kansas City councilman and helped kill off an entire business district (River Quay). Although authorities accused or suspected him of taking part in several killings, he was never formally charged with any of them."
As early as 1929, Cammisano had been labeled an incorrigible juvenile. His rap sheet included arrests for carrying a concealed weapon, bootlegging, pistol whipping a robbery victim, running a still, being AWOL from the Army, disturbing the peace, and gambling. It was said that he had stolen everything from the wheels off a truck to the rings off a woman�s fingers. Cammisano once served a felony sentence at a prison in El Reno, Okla. In the 1940s, he opened a tavern and called it the El Reno Bar, stating that had been the name of his favorite prison.
Like many of Kansas City�s organized crime figures, Cammisano and his brother, Joseph, worked as gunmen for Charles Binaggio. During that time the brothers muscled their way into a lucrative policy wheel operation. Later, in the 1960s, the Cammisano brothers operated a tavern that catered to gambling and prostitution in the downtown area of the city. In the 1970s, they moved the establishment into the aforementioned River Quay business district.
In 1978, Cammisano pled guilty to federal charges of extortion. He was sentenced to five years in prison. When he refused to testify before a U.S. Senate committee in 1980, he was sentenced for contempt and given an additional two years. In 1983, he was just being released from prison as Carl Civella and his son Anthony were going in. The FBI believed that Cammisano became the acting boss at this time and that his son, William "Little Willie" Cammisano, Jr., ran the day-to-day operations.