One of the Italian criminals who rose to prominence during the Pendergast years was Johnny Lazia. He followed in the footsteps of Joe Damico and Mike Ross in supplying the Italian vote in the North End.
Lazia was born in Kansas City�s "Little Italy" section in 1897. When he was 18, he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to the state penitentiary in Jefferson City. After promising to enlist in the Army and use his "violent energy" to fight the Germans, a fairly common practice at the time, he was granted parole after less than two years in prison. Lazia forgot his promise about joining the Army though and went right back to his life of crime.
Mike Ross, an Irishman, had been running "Little Italy" for the Pendergast interests. Around 1927, he moved out of the North End, but attempted to run it as an absentee boss. Lazia had no interest in answering to an Irish boss living outside the neighborhood. During a special election day in May 1928, Lazia made his move. He kidnapped several of Ross�s lieutenants, including Frank Benanti, Anthony Bivona, and Joe Gallucci. A week after the election, the lieutenants agreed to join Lazia, and Ross gave up his North End leadership.
Although not happy with the North End coupe, Pendergast accepted Lazia�s political support and in turn had the police department turn a blind eye to Lazia�s bootlegging and gambling activities. Lazia cut the police in for a slice of the profits. During his rise to power in the 1920s, Lazia�s gang included Anthony Gizzo, Charley Gargotta, Charles Carollo, Sam Scola, and Gus Fascone. Each was a capable gunman and was responsible for helping to oversee the profitable gambling and bootlegging that occurred in the North End. On election day they were also in charge of getting out the Democratic vote.
Because of Pendergast and Lazia�s control of the Kansas City Police Department, the city gained a notorious reputation for being a "safe haven" for criminals. In Jeffrey S. King�s The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd, the author states, "Lazia insisted that he be told what criminals were in the area, what their plans were, and how long they intended to stay. Any crooks from out of town who did not pay him off would be arrested or forced to leave the city. Any money on them would be appropriated."
Robert Unger, in his recent book, "Union Station Massacre," explains:
"Lazia had to fight everyday to preserve the place he�d carved for himself � Lazia�s big threat was always from outsiders who saw the sweet deal home rule and bossism had brought to Kansas City and wanted to muscle in� by gentle persuasion and ruthless action, Lazia kept them all out. Nothing criminal of any consequence happened in Kansas City without the knowledge and consent of Johnny Lazia."
Beginning in the spring of 1933, Lazia�s undisputed control in overseeing these activities received severe challenges. The first incident occurred on May 27 with the kidnapping of Mary McElroy, the daughter of City Manager Henry F. McElroy, a Pendergast lieutenant. The attractive 25-year-old Mary, who was described as slightly disturbed, was in the middle of a bubble bath when she was hustled out of her father�s home by four amateur kidnappers. A ransom of $30,000 was negotiated and paid and Mary was home in just under 30 hours.
The kidnappers were captured within days and justice was swift: the leader of the group was sentenced to death. Because Mary begged that his life be spared, her father requested life imprisonment for the man, which was granted. Mary later wrote in a suicide note, "My four kidnappers are probably the only people on earth who do not consider me an utter fool."
The kidnapping was a blow to Lazia�s pride and he felt it undermined his importance to the Pendergast interests. Things would get worse. On June 17, 1933, one of the most celebrated crimes in U.S. history � the crime that J. Edgar Hoover used to launch the Federal Bureau of Investigation � was committed in the parking lot in front of Kansas City's Union Station. There, in the bustle of early-morning rush hour, four law enforcement officers were shot to death as they were attempting to transport bank robber Frank "Jelly" Nash to the penitentiary in Leavenworth. In the hail of machinegun fire, Nash was also murdered. Although for years Hoover advanced the notion that he believed the shooters were Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd and Adam Richetti, recent research has proved otherwise. In fact recent forensic studies indicate that Nash and several of the officers may have been killed by "friendly fire." Robert Unger�s book delves deeply into this subject.
Verne Miller, who was positively identified as one of the participants in the shootout, was reputed to have met with Lazia before and after the shooting to arrange safe passage out of town. Miller would later be murdered and his body dumped outside Detroit.
By mid-summer, the newly-formed FBI was suspicious of Lazia�s connections to the killings. With one of its own federal agents dead, the FBI was desperate to pin the Union Station Massacre on someone. In addition to this headache, a small gang headed by Joe Lusco was trying to create a niche for itself with the local Democratic Party, and another local hood, Ferris Anthon, began to intrude on Lazia�s operations.
Anthon was dealt with first, but it would be costly for Lazia. In the early hours of Aug. 12, 1933, Lazia gunmen cut down Anthon as he was entering his home at the Cavalier Apartments in Kansas City. Ironically, the apartment building was being used by the FBI to safe keep Agent Joe Lackey, one of the wounded survivors of the Union Station shooting. Lackey�s first thoughts were that the gunfire was a warning for him to keep his mouth shut.
Driving nearby at the time of the shooting was Sheriff Tom Bash. The sheriff and a deputy were on their way home from an ice cream social with Mrs. Bash and a 14-year-old neighbor girl. Bash slammed on the brakes, grabbed a riot gun and he and the deputy jumped out and blasted away at the getaway car. Killed instantly were Sam Scola and Gus Fascone. Charley Gargotta jumped from the car and emptied his revolver at Bash, missing every shot. Throwing down the gun, he pleaded, "Don�t shoot me � Don�t shoot me!" A fourth gunman escaped.
Two of Lazia�s lieutenants were dead and another was in jail. To make matters worse, another lieutenant, James "Jimmy Needles" LaCapra, known as a bomb expert, was now at odds with Lazia over his stingy control of the gambling rackets in the city. When two of LaCapra�s associates disappeared � one spirited away from a hospital by the Lazia / Pendergast controlled police force � Jimmy Needles responded by tossing a bomb at Lazia�s North Side Democratic Club, demolishing the front of the building.
To add to Lazia�s woes, he was convicted of income tax evasion in early 1934. Lazia was fined $5,000 and sentenced to a year in prison, which he immediately appealed.
Lazia�s problems came to a brutal end in the early morning hours of July 10, 1934. The night before, Lazia and his wife Marie were returning from Lake Lotawana, located southeast of the city. Charles Carollo was driving and serving as a bodyguard for Lazia. Carollo drove into the driveway of the Park Central Hotel, where the Lazia�s made their home, at about 3 a.m. When Lazia got out of the car, two gunmen, hiding in the bushes, opened fire with a machinegun and a shotgun. Carollo sped off with Lazia�s wife to safety as the gunmen continued to blast away at Lazia on the ground. Lazia was taken to St. Joseph�s Hospital where he died 12 hours later.
Police ballistics experts stated that the machine gun used to kill Lazia was also used in the Union Station Massacre. The authorities quickly arrested Joe Lusco and 27 others, but Lazia�s killers were never identified. Lazia�s gang pinned Lazia�s murder on LaCapra and tried to kill him the following month outside Wichita, Kan. LaCapra, terrified and fearing for his life, went to a local police station and told a fantastic tale that tied Lazia, Floyd, and Richetti to Verne Miller and the Union Station Massacre. However, associates of Lazia always maintained that LaCapra�s statement to police was the "ramblings of a desperate man out to cut a deal."
LaCapra was still in fear for his life in January 1935 and was advised by FBI agents to leave for South America where he had family. LaCapra refused and instead went to New York where his bullet riddled body was found by police on a highway 10 miles west of Poughkeepsie.