Dallas crime family

The Piranio brothers

The Mafia in Dallas was formed by mafiosi from Corleone, Sicily who had moved to the area from New Orleans in the early 20th century.^[2] The founding members of the Dallas crime family were the brothers Carlo and Giuseppe "Joe" Piranio.^[1] The Piranio brothers immigrated to the United States circa 1889 and initially arrived in New York City, establishing themselves among the mafiosi of Upper Manhattan.^[2][3] They then settled in Shreveport, Louisiana and maintained ties to the New Orleans underworld before moving to Dallas in the early 1900s.^[2] With the backing of fellow Corleonese Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello, boss of the Morello crime family in New York, the brothers founded the Dallas faction of the American Mafia, with Carlo elected boss of the organization and Joseph installed as his underboss.^[3]

The marriage of Carlo Piranio, later described as the "original head of the Mafia in Texas," to an eighteen-year-old woman, recently arrived from Italy, occurred in 1903. In 1904, a son, Angelo, was born to Carlo and Clementia Piranio. The Piranio relocation to Dallas occurred sometime between the marriage and the Shreveport birth of Angelo in 1904. The April 1910 U.S. Census says the family lived temporarily at 774 Main Street in Dallas. The household included Carlo and Clementia, young Angelo, and Joseph Piranio and his new bride Lena. Carlo ran a real estate business from his home. Joseph worked as a grocery salesman. Joseph was not entirely settled in Texas. He moved back to Louisiana for a few years. He, his wife and two young daughters returned to Dallas by 1914.

Carlo died of natural causes in 1930. Joseph took over the family after Carlo's death.^[4] He owned a number of bars, controlled numerous gambling operations, and ran some minor labor rackets through his construction business.

The family engaged in gambling, fencing stolen goods, and narcotics trafficking, but only on a minor scale as organized crime in Dallas was dominated by non-Italian gangsters.^[5]

Joseph Civello

Joseph Civello was born in 1902, in rural West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. He was the second child born to Philip and Catherine Civello. His father, a farm laborer, had been in the United States since 1900. The Civello family grew to include seven children. The family remained in West Baton Rouge until 1923, when Philip relocated the clan to Dallas and opened a grocery store.

Civello married in November 1929. He and his wife Mary moved into Philip Civello's home at 1902 Moser Avenue. Joseph worked as a salesman for his father's grocery store.^[6]

Law enforcement officers quickly became aware of Joseph Civello. He was convicted of Prohibition violations in 1926 and served forty days in jail. On July 12, 1928, Civello was again arrested on liquor charges. His arrest was part of a series of raids that nabbed a total of twenty-two suspected bootleggers around the city. Civello was arrested on St. Paul Street with two other men, Ernest Calchano and Joe DeCarlo. DeCarlo was an important bootlegger in the Dallas area and had recently begun refusing to send tribute payments to Carlo Piranio. Civello was selected to administer Mafia discipline.

Just two days after their arrest together, Civello and DeCarlo met inside the St. Paul Drugstore at the intersection of St. Paul and Bryan Streets. Civello happened to be carrying a loaded shotgun at the time. As the men stood close to each other, the shotgun went off. DeCarlo was shot in the stomach. Rather than flee, Civello remained with the mortally wounded DeCarlo, protesting that his weapon had fired by accident. DeCarlo, with his dying breath, confirmed Civello's story.

Civello was arrested and charged with murder. He continued to insist that the killing was accidental. A Dallas grand jury gave considerable weight to DeCarlo's dying statement. Within two days, Civello was released on his own recognizance. The grand jury continued its investigation into DeCarlo's death and decided on July 27 not to indict Civello.

Joseph Civello assumed control in 1956, when Joseph Piranio died at age 78. Civello attended the infamous Apalachin Meeting of Mafia leaders in 1957, a time when he controlled narcotics, gambling, prostitution and night clubs in most of Texas. After the Apalachin Meeting, the FBI began keeping closer tabs on Civello. On January 13, 1960, Civello was indicted for conspiracy and perjury offenses. Judge Irving R. Kaufman sentenced him and nineteen other mob leaders that were at Apalachin to five years in prison. Ten months later, a U.S. Appeals Court overturned the convictions of the twenty men. Prosecutors had proven conspiracy, the court decided, but had not proven that the conspiracy was designed to accomplish some unlawful act.

Beginning in the 1960s the family saw some degree of notoriety when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, as Ruby was a friend of Civello.^[7]

Post-Civello

After Civello's death in 1970, some law enforcement intelligence officers surmised that local restaurant owner Joseph Ianni, a long-time friend of Civello, became head of the organization. Ianni's only legal trouble was a 1946 liquor law violation and he was reported only to have nothing more than a "vague association" with Marcello. According to D Magazine, he "had fewer direct ties to New Orleans than Civello, only what some intelligence officers call 'friend of a friend of a friend' relationships".^[8]

Ianni was succeeded by Joseph Campisi. Campisi had much closer ties with the Marcello family. He and his brother Sam made trips to New Orleans where they would socialize with members of the Marcello family, including Marcello's brothers.^[9] Campisi attended the wedding of Michael Marcello.^[10] Through Campisi, Vincent LoScalzo attempted to strengthen ties between the Trafficante crime family and Marcello.^[11]

Boss

• c. 1910–1930 — Carlo Piranio — died on February 20, 1930
• 1930–1956 — Giuseppe "Joe" Piranio — committed suicide on October 27, 1956
• 1956–1970 — Joseph "Joe" Civello — died on January 17, 1970
• 1970–1973 — Joseph "Little Joe" Ianni — died on May 29, 1973
• 1973–1990 — Joseph "Papa Joe" Campisi — died on January 12, 1990

Underboss

• 1921–1949 — Peter DeLuca — died
• 1949–1959 — Charles Vincent Satarino — died on November 21, 1959
• 1959–1973 — Joseph "Papa Joe" Campisi — became boss

Consigliere

• 1921–1925 — Chiro LaBarba — died
• 1925–1957 — Francesco "Frank" Ianni — died
• 1957–1966 — Rosario "Ross" Musso — died