|
By the time Prohibition arrived, there were five gangs of
importance in the St. Louis: The Sicilian Green Ones, the Pillow
Gang, the Egan’s Rats, the Hogan Gang, and the Cuckoos.
The Green Ones reportedly received their name from the farming
communities in Sicily where they originated. The leadership of
this group, brothers John and Vito Giannola and Alphonse Palizzola,
came from the Stoppagleria faction of the Sicilian mafia. The trio
financed their passage to United States with several robberies in
1915. Once they arrived in America the three went their separate
ways– John Giannola to Chicago, Vito Giannola to St. Louis, and
Palizzola to Springfield, Illinois.
A few years later at Vito’s urging they reunited in St. Louis
where they imposed a tax on all goods sold in the city’s Italian
community. With little resistance, the trio went about
establishing a foothold in the rackets. In 1923, Vito moved to
take control of the wholesale meat industry. One recalcitrant
distributor objected and was brutally murdered as an example to
others. His body was found under the Kingshighway viaduct on
September 16, 1923.
Finding bootlegging a more prosperous venture, the trio soon
found that the non-Italian gangs dominated the liquor trade in St.
Louis. Their first endeavor in this area resulted in the death of
Sam Palizzola, a relative of Alphonse, in September 1924. The
murder was believed to have been carried out by members of the
Egan’s Rats gang. When members of that gang were sent to prison
in 1925, the Green Ones found a new adversary in the Cuckoos Gang.
The Green Ones struck the first blow in this battle. On
September 14, 1925, John and Catherine Gray were murdered after
complaining about having to purchase liquor for their Eagle Park
resort from the Green Ones. The couple was shot dead in their
automobile, which was then set on fire. The Cuckoos retaliated by
shooting up a farmhouse hideout of the Green Ones where the gang
had an alky-cooking operation. No one was injured.
On January 29, 1926, law officers Ohmer Hockett and John Balke
attempted to shake down a still operation belonging to the Green
Ones. After ignoring an opening offer of $200, the two men waited
until “the boss” arrived. The two lawmen were greeted by four
members of the gang, who then beat them unconscious. The following
day they were taken into the woods and watched as their graves
were dug. They were then shot and buried.
Pasquale Santino, a member of a rival gang, put the finger on
Alphonse Palizzola, as he became the first of the Green Ones’
leadership to be murdered. On September 9, 1927, four gunmen
blasted away at Palizzola on Tenth Street. A 10-year-old boy was
also killed by one of the ricocheting bullets.
Vito Giannola was the next to die. He was shot 37 times while
hiding in the house of Augustina Cusumano on December 28, 1927.
Giannola had chased away Cusumano’s husband and was living with
the woman. Two men claiming to be police officers came to the
house and, after finding Giannola hiding in a secret compartment
upstairs, murdered him. John Giannola went into hiding after the
death of his brother and was never again a factor in St. Louis. He
was said to have died peacefully in his sleep in 1955.
 |
James Licavoli,
(POLICE) |
During the short Giannola and Palizzola leadership, police
records show 30 people were murdered and 18 wounded. Among the
wounded was James Licavoli, the future boss of the Cleveland
mafia. Police shot Licavoli as they attempted to arrest Joseph
Bommarito, an associate of the Green Ones. The police killed
Bommarito when he resisted arrest.
| 
