I Left My Crime Family in San Francisco
You rarely hear about organized crime in San Francisco, and many wonder if we have a mafia family.
Chicago mobster Nick DeJohn could have answered the question — but it’s hard to talk when you are lying in the trunk of your car. It’s even more difficult when you’ve been strangled. If DeJohn could have spoken, he might have said:
“There is a mafia in San Francisco, and they’re not crazy about outsiders.”
While there had been organized Italian crime for decades in San Francisco, the mafia family, as we know it, was established during prohibition. Competing Italian gangs played a deadly version of what could be called “Whack a Boss.” It began when Frank Boca whacked Alfredo Scarisi, and was followed by Genaro Broccolo whacking Boca, Luigi Malvese whacking Broccolo, and Frank Lanza whacking Malvese.
When the killing ended, the last one standing was Lanza, and his family became San Francisco’s first modern mafia family. His crime family controlled rackets, such as loansharking, gambling, prostitution and narcotics, as well as Fisherman’s Wharf. Lanza died in 1937, and was succeeded by Anthony Lima, who ran the Olive Oil with the Sunland Oil and Cheese Company, a front for black market and other illegal activities.
Still, the San Francisco mafia was small cheese compared to other mafia cities, such as Chicago and New York. The New York and Chicago mobs muscled into the Los Angeles territory, but left San Francisco alone.
Why? Because the San Francisco police were the “toughest gang in town,” according to Kevin Mullen, former deputy police chief and noted crime historian. A gangster squad was created in 1931, by Police Chief William J. Quinn, to keep outside racketeers out of San Francisco. The squad would seize any out-of-town gangsters they found, charge them with vagrancy and send them back on the next boat.
DeJohn was ambitious. In Chicago in the late 1930s, he had been a rising member of the Capone gang, then headed by Frank Nitti. But he was on the losing side in a fight to take over The Continental gambling wire service. By 1946, after five of his partners were murdered, DeJohn decided a different locale might be better for his health. He changed his name to Nick Rossi and moved his family to Santa Rosa.
DeJohn invested in the Sunland Oil Company, becoming partners with Lima, his underboss Michael Abati, and others. DeJohn began spending more time in San Francisco and was planning to buy a house at 60 Alvarado Way in Monterey Heights. He became involved in the black market nylon business, and there were rumors that he was trying to organize the local bookies.
On May 7, 1947, DeJohn had dinner with some associates at the legendary Poodle Dog Restaurant before heading to La Roccas Corner Tavern on Columbus Avenue in North Beach. DeJohn left the bar at 1 a.m. with four men and said he was going to a card game.
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