May 28, 1886- Santo Trafficante Sr. is born in Allessandria Della Rocca, Sicily. December 5, 1928- Hotel Statler meeting in Cleveland. This was one of the first national gangland conferences. Representing Tampa were produce salesman Ignacio Italiano and bar owner/grocer Giuseppe "Joe" Valgicia. June 8, 1930- Charlie Wall, Tampa's self-proclaimed "Dean of the Underworld", survives the first of three assasination attempts. January 10, 1932- Gambling figure Fernando Serrano was sitting with his wife in their car, talking to Fernando's brother in Ybor City. Another car pulled alongside them and opened fire with a shotgun. Fernando was slightly injured but his wife took a face-full of buckshot and died at the hospital. The murder remains unsolved. July 11, 1937- Early Mafia figure Joe Vaglicia was hit in the back with ten slugs from a shotgun. He was reportedly killed on orders from Charlie Wall. June 5, 1950- James "Head of the Elks" Lumia was killed near the port of Tampa. He was shot in the face with a shotgun from a car that pulled up alongside his. Lumia was the right hand man of Salvatore "Red" Italiano. Sept. 22, 1952- Gambling figures Rene Nunez and Angelo Giglio were gunned down inside a partly constructed building in Tampa. February 18, 1953- Black numbers kingpin Charlie Williams, who controlled illegal gambling in St. Petersburg, was gunned down outside an Ybor City barbershop June 6, 1953- Henry Hicks, a janitor at the Silver Metero Bar, was killed when buckshot, intended for Paul Ferraro, hits him in the face. August 10, 1954- Santo Trafficante Sr. dies of stomach cancer. He is succeeded by his son, Santo Jr. Oct. 23, 1975- Former Tampa detective Richard Cloud is murdered in his house by associates of Frank Diecidue. May 1976- Jimmy Longo holds a meeting at the Sevilla Restaurant in Tampa with crime figures from New York , New Jersey, Boston, and New Orleans to discuss gambling operations in Florida. June 5, 1980- Santo Trafficante Jr and Vincent LoScalzo meet with Bonnano capo Sonny Black Napolitano at Pappas restaurant in Tarpon Springs. June 8, 1985- Salvatore "Silent Sam" Lorenzo is convicted of racketeering and conspiracy and sentenced to three years in prison Oct. 26, 2000- Over a dozen members and associates of the Trafficante family's Miami faction were arrested on charges from money laundering to gambling. The crew was led by Steve "Uncle Steve" Raffa, and included New Jersey mobster John Mamone, Giuseppe "Joe Baldy" Belitto, Fred and David Morgenstern, Julius Chiusano, Joseph Spitaleri, John Sivlestri, Mickey "The Professor" Bass and Frederick Scarola. November 16, 2000- Steve Raffa, head of the Trafficante family's Miami faction, hangs himself in his Pembrooke Pines home.
