Early Italian gangs
The earliest records are of the Italian Mafia gangs in the mid-1890s. By the early 1910s, Dominick Giambrone was recognized as the local Mafia boss until 1924, when he stepped down and fled the city. With the passage of Prohibition in 1920, control of St. Louis's illegal bootlegging operations became a major power struggle between the seven different ethnic gangs: the Green Ones, the Pillow Gang, the Russo Gang, the Egan's Rats, the Hogan Gang, the Shelton Gang and the Cuckoos all fighting to control illegal rackets in the St. Louis area.
The Green Ones was a Sicilian gang, formed in 1915, by Vito Giannola, his brother John Giannola and Alphonse Palizzola before immigrating to America. After the three men arrived in America they went their separate ways: Vito Giannola to St. Louis, John Giannola to Chicago and Alphonse Palizzola to Springfield, Illinois. During the early 1920s, Vito Giannola reunited with his brother John Giannola and Alphonse Palizzola in St. Louis. The three men imposed a tax on all goods sold in the city's Italian community. In 1924, Vito Giannola became the most powerful Mafia boss in St. Louis forcing Dominick Giambrone to flee the city. Giannola attempted to take control of the bootlegging rackets in the area and fought with members of the Egan's Rats gang and Cuckoos Gang. On September 9, 1927, Alphonse Palizzola was shot and killed by a rival gang. Months later boss Vito Giannola was shot 37 times to death on December 28, 1927. The remaining members of the Green Ones gang including John Giannola went into hiding.
The Pillow gang was the earliest Italian gang in the city being active since 1910. The gang was led by Pasquale Santino until 1927, when he was murdered. Carmelo Fresina became the new leader, nicknaming it the Pillow gang because Fresina carried a pillow with him to sit on after he had been shot in the buttocks. Fresina formed an alliance with splinter group of the Green Ones called the Russo gang led by Tony Russo. The two gangs battled with the Green Ones until 1928, when the Russo gang lost too many members and blamed the Pillow gang for betraying them. In 1931, Fresina was murdered and members of the Pillow gang continued fighting with the Russo gang and the Green Ones.
The Pillow gang was taken over Thomas Buffa, who became boss of the St. Louis Mafia family. The rival gangs continued fighting until the end of Prohibition, when the various Mafia factions began functioning as one family. In 1943, Buffa fled the city and was murdered in 1947 in Lodi, California. After Buffa's murder leadership of the family went to Tony Lopiparo, Frank Coppola, and Ralph Caleca.
Giordano and the Detroit family
After Tony Lopiparo's death, Anthony Giordano became boss and declared independence from the Kansas City crime family. In the 1970s, Giordano, along with Detroit mobsters Anthony Joseph Zerilli and Michael Polizzi, attempted to gain control of the Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. They failed and all three men were convicted of conspiracy. In 1975, Giordano was sent to prison, his nephew Vincenzo Giammanco became the acting boss until Giordano was released in December 1977. On August 29, 1980, Giordano died from cancer in his St. Louis home.
