Jack Dragna
1891 to 1957.
Dragna was the leader of the Sicilian Mafia in southern California from the mid 1930s until the 1950s. He was born in Corleone, Sicily, in 1891 and came to the United States with his family early in life. The family returned to Sicily in 1908, and Dragna sailed back to the U.S. for good in 1914. He might have been affiliated with the Capone gang in Chicago early in his career but then headed westward.

He was convicted of attempted extortion in 1915 and jailed from 1916 until the dawn of the Prohibition Age. After Prohibition, the L.A. Mafia was slow to take advantage of legal gambling in Las Vegas, allowing eastern Mafiosi (and Benjamin Siegel) to stake their claims there. The L.A. mob was happy to operate gambling ships off the California coast instead - a practice that continued from the 1920s until summer of 1939.

While Dragna maintained control over Mafia matters within his territory, he had a great deal of trouble expanding his interests. His forces proved unbelievably inept at eliminating gambling competitor Mickey Cohen in the late 1940s and early 1950s (the tax man got rid of Cohen in 1951). Las Vegas - located practically in Dragna's backyard - was gobbled up by others.

Dragna died in 1957, leaving uncertain leadership in Los Angeles. Some say Frank DeSimone stepped into the boss's job. Others insist that Simone Scozzari (also known as a DeSimone) held the position.

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The American "Mafia"