User:Bnadler22/Anthony Giacalone

Anthony Giacolone
Anthony “Tony Jocks” Joseph Giacalone (January 9, 1919 – February 23, 2001), also known as Tony Jack, was a Sicilian-American organized crime figure in Detroit. He served as a capo in the Detroit Partnership, and later as a street boss. In terms of Mafia organization, he was listed by the FBI in 1963 as one of the “Big Men” and deemed an administrator or heir apparent. He came to public notice during the 1970s investigations into the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, as he was one of two Mafia members – the other being Anthony Provenzano – that Hoffa had arranged to meet on the day he disappeared. In 1976, Giacalone was sentenced to 10 years in prison for tax evasion. He died of natural causes on February 23, 2001.

Biography
Giacalone gained national fame in the 1970s with the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Prior to then, there had been growing tension between Hoffa and several Mafia members, who opposed his plans to return to prominence in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The latter included Giacalone, Anthony Provenzano and Giacalone's brother Vito. Despite the mounting strain between the two groups, it appears as though there were never any public displays of ill will or malicious intent; though he, along with his brother Vito, was allegedly involved in a plot gone awry to rob a safe belonging to Hoffa in Washington D.C. On July 30, 1975, Hoffa, who had mentioned his plans to acquaintances and family members to meet with Giacalone and Provenzano at 2:00 p.m. at the Machus Red Fox restaurant parking lot in Bloomfield Township, a Detroit suburb; was never seen again. It has been posited that Giacolone may have been motivated by the fact that Hoffa would not acquiesce to Mafia demands and retire. Though Giacalone was suspected of being involved in a conspiracy to murder Hoffa, Giacalone and Provenzano, who denied having scheduled any such meeting or appointment with Hoffa, were found not to have been near the restaurant that afternoon. In 1976, Giacalone was sentenced to 10 years in prison for tax evasion at FCI, Oxford, Wisconsin.

Criminal History
On August 9, 1954, Giacalone was arrested for the bribery of a patrolman on the racket squad of the Detroit Police Department. Giacalone offered $200 a month in return for information regarding any possible gambling raids. He was sentenced to 8 months in jail in addition to a $500 fine. He was arrested for a similar offense in June of 1963, bribing Lieutenant James W. Thomas with $50 a month to look the other way in regard to a numbers gambling operation. This arrest, his fifteenth, led to an investigation of his mafia-related activities. Giacalone was charged with bribery conspiracy, but was freed on $7,500 bond. This sudden conviction led Detroit Police Commissioner George Edwards to believe that Giacalone was not only the boss of the numbers racket in southeastern Michigan, but also the head of the Detroit Mafia. Edwards later testified in front of the Senate's permanent investigations subcommittee in October of 1963, and identified Giacalone as the Mafia gambling boss of the Detroit area. In November 1963, Giacalone and his brother, Vito Giacalone, were indicted in a Washington tax evasion hearing. The brothers received over $40,000 as fake sales representatives of two companies also indicted in the testimony.

Giacalone’s hearing in 1964 for bribing Lt. Thomas caused quite a stir within the legal system. It was originally set for February 28, 1964, before being pushed later into 1965. Judge Joseph A. Gillis, who was assigned to Giacalone’s case, felt that Edwards’ previous public assertions about Giacalone were not fair to his trial.

In August of 1964, Detroit policeman Alphonsus Coughlin was found dead with his personal gun in his right hand, suggesting he commit suicide. Coughlin played a large role in catching and convicting Giacalone for attempted bribery in the mid-fifties. In August 1964, charges against Giacalone were dismissed regarding income tax evasion. Giacalone’s 21-year-old son, Jack Giacalone, was indicted “by a Federal grand jury on charges of assaulting a Federal agent” at his uncle, Vito’s, home in Grosse Pointe Shores in March of 1965. Giacalone was finally ordered to stand trial in July of 1965 for his charges related to the bribery of Lt. Thomas. As of January 16, 1966, Giacalone has been arrested 15 times, convicted only once, which was the bribery case that had been to court 41 times and heard by six judges, but still had not been to trial. This case took a turn in March 1966 when Lt. Thomas admitted to the jury that he had lied and given false testimony about where he had written reports about the alleged bribes from Giacalone. The next month, Giacalone’s co-defendent, Harrison “Chink” Brown, had been dismissed due to lack of evidence about his involvement in the alleged bribe. Less than a week later, Giacalone and another co-defendant, Claude E. Williams, were found not guilty by a jury after a 2.5 hour deliberation. Lt. Thomas was ultimately suspended from his position with the Detroit Police Department, but was later reinstated in July of that same year.

In July of 1966, Giacalone along with Dominic P. “Fats” Corrado were arrested in Montreal due to entering Canada illegally. They were deported back to the United States shortly thereafter from Windsor, and were barred from the country.

In May of 1967, Giacalone agreed to answer four questions for George E. Bowles, the Grand Juror of Wayne County, in exchange for no jail time. The questions concerned any possible business Giacalone may have conducted with Paul Quaglia, a Detroit policeman. Giacalone refused to answer one of the questions, and ultimately was indicted and spent a week in jail.

In March of 1968, Giacalone, with his brother Vito, was among 127 people arrested during a raid of a gambling operation in Detroit. Two months later, they were also arraigned on charges regarding a large-scale loanshark racket, which included the conspiracy to extort. Only a week later, Giacalone was charged with more misdemeanor offenses regarding guns. He was found guilty on these charges in August of 1968, but was only put on probation and fined instead of jail time because he was a “family man”. Giacalone was found guilty of blackjack possession in November of 1968, he was held on a $5,000 bond and was sentenced to 4.5 to 5 years in prison the following January. Less than a week later in November, Giacalone was indicted with 11 other men on seven counts of federal offenses regarding their alleged loansharking operation, he was later found innocent with his brother in October 1969.

While Giacalone was free on bond regarding his blackjack charges, a warrant was issued in February of 1969 for an alleged gambling operation in addition to bribery, these charges were dropped in November 1969. The Giacalone brothers were indicted on three counts each of federal income tax evasion in January 1972. These charges were dismissed later that year in June, but this was overturned by the Circuit Court of Appeals in May 1973. The trials began in March of 1974, and they were again acquitted the next month. About a year later in April of 1975, Giacalone was again indicted for tax evasion concerning the years 1968 through 1971. In May of 1975, Giacalone was arrested and indicted in Detroit for mail fraud and conspiracy, he was acquitted of these charges in September of 1976.

Giacalone’s name soon blew up in newspapers nationwide in the summer of 1975, regarding the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Giacalone was allegedly supposed to meet with Hoffa on the day of his disappearance, but Giacalone denied this. Giacalone was quizzed by authorities for any connections to Hoffa’s disappearance.

In June of 1976, Giacalone was sentenced to ten years in prison in addition to a $30,000 fine for tax evasion. He posted bond despite the Assistant United States attorney labeling him as a “danger to the community”.

The Hotel Gotham
The Luxurious Hotel Gotham was declared “the finest hotel in the country owned and operated by colored,” and figures like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, and Sammy Davis Jr. filled the Gotham's long list of visitors. John White (one of the Gotham’s owners) was a gambling man involved in alternative forms of earning money. Soon after its opening, the Gotham became known as “the fortress of the numbers racket in Detroit”. At this time, Tony Giacalone was Detroit’s boss of the numbers racket, thus it is hardly surprising that his unlisted telephone number was contained in White’s personal directory. White’s numbers operation was wildly successful because Giacalone and the Mafia supplied the daily lottery’s winning number combinations, gambling paraphernalia, but most importantly protection from law enforcement and any other trouble. Giacalone himself was recorded on wire-tap bribing police officers for information on upcoming gambling raids at his establishments like the Gotham. Although this earned Giacalone 8 months in the Detroit House of Corrections and a $500 fine (roughly $5,000 today), it did little to hinder the progress of numbers operations like White’s and rackets like Giacalone’s.

The Gotham’s penthouse, reserved exclusively for gambling, saw policemen, politicians, and other wealthy individuals come and go on a daily basis. Even after the Gotham officially closed for business in 1962, White’s numbers operation continued. This served as an opportunity to conduct a Federal raid, which was carried out that November. Officials discovered, among many other things, that the Gotham raked in over $21 million annually (equivalent to $166 million today). Unfortunately for Federal officials, despite arresting and later convicting 41 people including John White, the only link uncovered between Giacalone and the Gotham was that of his phone number. This served little purpose to authorities other than to confirm what they already knew; the mafia assisted numbers operators in Detroit.

Investigations
In the 1963 hearings presented in front of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations United States Senate, numerous sources presented evidence on organized crime in Detroit, Michigan. Over the course of six days, Senator John L. McClellan, who presided as the chairman of the subcommittee, observed multiple testimonies brought forward, including those against Tony Giacalone. George C. Edwards, Police Commissioner in Detroit, provided direct links between known Mafia activities and Giacalone. Edwards covered 69 gangland murders, 98 businesses with mafia infringement, 66 mafia members, and 18 associates involved with gambling, prostitution, and narcotics, resulting in the identification of 84 members. Through the connection of John White, the owner of the Gotham Hotel, they were able to identify Tony Giacalone as a mafia gambling boss. Edwards addressed the continual attempts in bribing law enforcement earlier in Giacalone’s career to hide his gambling raids, suggesting that Giacalone was a continuous threat to the welfare of Detroit.

In a wiretap of the Giacalone brother’s offices at Home Juice Company, won in a gambling match, law enforcement was able to use direct statements as evidence. Their surveillance resulted in information such as: "The Home Juice is ours" and “He’s gonna blast Home Juice, I know it, there’s no question about it, he hasn’t yet, he just mentioned fruit juice businesses, it’s coming through”. This led to the assumption that the owner on record was not in charge. During the raid of the building, they were once again able to identify the brothers as their names were labeled on the plush office doors and personal evidence that was found in the building. Similarly, the truck drivers for the company had known criminal records and transported both Home Juice Co and illegal goods that the Giacalone brothers distributed.

The Lesod Club, formerly known as the "Lebanese-American Republican Club," provided the perfect place for Giacalone to conduct his barbudi games. This illegal dice gambling game allowed him to earn up to $30,000 each night. It was run as a “social fellowship” organization, under a state charter that wasn’t recognized by officials. Their security was extremely cautious when identifying law enforcement or patrons without proper identification. This led to a highly strategic security system, allowing it to function for years going unnoticed.

In Popular Culture
He was played by Patrick Gallo in Martin Scorsese's 2019 film The Irishman. In Scorsese’s aforementioned film, Anthony Giacalone’s role is more understated, as a character he does not have a significant or essential role. The movie chooses to ignore the FBI’s interest in him as a suspect in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa.