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Void We're prohibited by Law 23 00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:58.359 eighteen plus. Terms and conditions apply. See website for details. 24 00:00:59.479 --> 00:01:02.840 Hello lo Hostadian. 25 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.439 You are now listening to True Murder, The most Shocking 26 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:18.519 Killers in True Crime History and the authors that have 27 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:25.879 written about them Geesy Bundy, Dalhmer, The Nightstalker DTK. Every 28 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.599 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 29 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:34.239 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 30 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:46.359 journalist and author Dan Zupansky. 31 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:49.719 Good evening, This is your host Dan Zupanski for the 32 00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:52.840 program True Murder, The most Shocking Killers in True crime 33 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:56.920 History and the authors that have written about them. In Tampa, 34 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:00.439 in nineteen forty eight, known gangster Jimmy Velasco was gunned 35 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:04.359 down by a hitman. In the ensuing weeks, when neither 36 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:08.560 the Tampa Police Department nor Hillsboro made an arrest, Jimmy's 37 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:11.400 brother took the investigation to the governor, who ordered a 38 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:15.560 grand jury investigation. In February nineteen forty nine, the findings 39 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:19.199 were revealed. Among the discoveries was a payoff list written 40 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:22.599 by Velasco prior to his death, detailing the public officials 41 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:25.039 he paid off to remain immune to a law enforcement 42 00:02:25.639 --> 00:02:28.120 The public was captivated by the news, and rumors swirled 43 00:02:28.120 --> 00:02:30.800 over who was named The grand jury. Never released the 44 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:33.159 names on the list and it has been locked away 45 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:36.879 ever since. This list detailed to who is who of 46 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.879 Tampa Bay's leadership, from judges to city councilmen to the 47 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.800 mayor and sheriff. Some of these names are old, had 48 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:46.800 exposed years later by the Cafabre Commission. Others are new 49 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:53.680 and previously thought as upstanding leaders. The program we're featuring 50 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:57.360 this evening is Tampa Bay Organized Crime with my special guest, 51 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:01.360 journalist and author Paul Guzo. Welcome to the program, and 52 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:03.080 thank you for agreeing to this interview. 53 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:05.759 Paul good thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. 54 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:09.439 Well, thank you very much. Very interesting story. We've done 55 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:12.199 quite a few, or quite a few mob stories, but 56 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:17.159 this is again another little twist. Every city has its dark, 57 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.159 dark history, and Yampa Bay has got its share. Now, 58 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:24.360 let's first off, before we do anything else, I'd like 59 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:30.439 to get your background, and basically, after you give you 60 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:35.120 the background, tell us why you felt compelled and why 61 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:38.360 was important for you to write this article and do 62 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:42.080 all the necessary extensive research that you would have to 63 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:47.199 be able to do this very very interesting and important article. 64 00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:49.719 So tell us about your background and then tell us 65 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:51.719 why this was an important story for you. 66 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:56.599 I've been a journalist in Tampa Bay for about fifteen 67 00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:59.120 years and the focus of my writing over that Over 68 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:02.759 that course of time morphed into history writing, but not 69 00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:05.120 so much boring history. I don't mean to offend people. 70 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:06.719 Write history of this, but not so much as in 71 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:09.840 oh and in fifteen hundred, this happened, and this happened. 72 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:14.520 I have began specializing in digging up old dirt about Tampa, 73 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:18.120 that old mysteries, things that people have just said, this 74 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:21.199 will never be solved, so they forgot about it. I 75 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:23.600 specialize in digging those up and kind of using that 76 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:28.360 historical rearview mirror that you've got fifty years now facts 77 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:30.560 to work with. It's to try to figure out what 78 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:33.959 it is that exactly happened. The main magazine that has 79 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:35.959 employed me doing these I'm a freelance writer. But the 80 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:38.519 main magazine i've written for doing stories like this, it's 81 00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:41.399 called Cigar City Magazine Cigar City Magazine dot com. And 82 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:44.240 you know, over the years we've written about everything from 83 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:48.040 the Hillsdalo County Sheriff's office having a secret deal with 84 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:51.399 Fidel Cashhrow to run him guns in Cuba during the 85 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:54.759 revolution in exchange for Santra tropic Conte when Castro One. 86 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.360 I've written about the first serial killer in the history 87 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:00.000 of Tampa, who turned out to be the first Africa 88 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:04.120 American serial killer in the history of the US. How 89 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:07.959 Tampa Bay is linked to the criminalization of marijuana and 90 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.480 things like that. I've always specialized in kind of digging 91 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:15.560 up things like that. So last August I published my 92 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:18.240 first book on true crime, which is a collection of 93 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:20.879 stories I've written about over the year's twelve stories about 94 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:25.000 infamous characters and events in the history of Tampa. And 95 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:27.639 one of them that I wrote about was about the 96 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:31.040 murder of a gentleman named Florentino Martinez. He was kind 97 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:35.360 of a you, kind of low level numbers runner in Tampa, Florida. 98 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.759 But he was murdered. It wasn't in broad daylight because 99 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:41.959 it was the evening, but there were dozens of witnesses 100 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:44.639 around to watch this. He was murdered in front of everybody, 101 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:47.920 and when the police showed up, nobody saw a thing 102 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:52.240 and it was it became an unsolved murder, but everybody 103 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:54.920 in town knew that the murder was roy Velasco. So 104 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.199 when I wrote the article. The purpose of the article 105 00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:59.519 was kind of really show how corrupt Tampa was, that 106 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:02.160 somebody could murdered out and brought right out in the 107 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:06.720 streets like that, and yet the police, city council and 108 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:09.079 everybody would just kind of get together and say, let's 109 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:10.800 just cover this up. There's no need to solve this 110 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:13.519 crime because the person who murdered him is kind of 111 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:16.040 on our side. So when I wrote about this, you know, 112 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:17.879 I finger Roy Velasco as the guy who did it. 113 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:20.399 The book comes out. A few months after the book 114 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:22.240 comes out, I get an email from somebody, I'll just 115 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:27.199 say this, an anonymous source with a scanned with two 116 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:30.480 skinned pieces of paper from the nineteen forties, and he said, 117 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:32.240 you probably will know what to do with this. And 118 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:34.920 that turned out to be the infamous payoff list, which 119 00:06:34.920 --> 00:06:37.480 I write about in this article, that revolves around the 120 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:40.279 murder of Jimmy Velasco. And that's kind of how I 121 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:41.319 got to this story. 122 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:46.160 Okay, you've now answered that question why you would feel 123 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:48.959 compelled to do this. You've already answered that. Tell us 124 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:50.079 what the name of your book is. 125 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:52.040 That the name of the book is called The Dark 126 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:55.040 Side of It's called The Dark Side of Sunshine, and 127 00:06:55.079 --> 00:06:56.199 I guess if you're out of town, and it is 128 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.800 available on Amazon dot com. And it's like I said, 129 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:02.800 it's twelve stories, not all criminal stories, and not everybody 130 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:04.360 I write about is a criminal. So I like to say, 131 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.959 twelve infinite stories revolve rangos surround the city of Tampa, 132 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.439 from axe murderers and serial killers to gangsters, the Cuban 133 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:14.480 revolutionaries to the advent of the strip club here in Tampa. 134 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:17.639 I covered all. So if you ever, if you want 135 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:21.399 to know how much dirty laundry one city can have 136 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:23.480 in so many different areas, pick up this book. It's 137 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:26.240 you know, even if you know from Tampa, if you're true, 138 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:28.399 if you're far at a true crime, you'll enjoy these stories. 139 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:32.560 Absolutely. It's a very colorful city, to say the least. Now, 140 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:35.560 the thing is too that these you mentioned Cigar City 141 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:39.040 magazine And for those people who don't know, I didn't know, 142 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:43.639 is that a moniker a nickname for Tampa Bay Cigar City. 143 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:47.639 Yeah, Tampa is called cigar City because at one point 144 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:51.160 in the height of Tampa cigar industry in the thirties 145 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:53.279 and you know, in the twenties, thirties and forties, we 146 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:56.160 were the cigar capital of the world. Hundreds of millions 147 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:58.920 of hand rolled cigars came out of Ebor City and 148 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.720 West Tampa, which is the Latin districts in Tampa every year. 149 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:04.680 So Tampa, even though we're no longer the cigar capital 150 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:07.759 of the world, we've forever been known as cigar City. 151 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:10.240 If you've got the big Apple in New York, will 152 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:13.399 where's cigar City? There you go. Now, So the magazine 153 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:15.360 is not so much a cigar night. We do have 154 00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:18.399 cigar stories obviously, we cover the history of cigar industry 155 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:20.720 and we interview a lot of cigar Ficionado is because 156 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.319 of Tampa the history of cigar industry. But Cigar City Magazine, 157 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:27.959 it's a history magazine that over the years, like me, 158 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:30.920 has morphed into covering some of the more fascinating and 159 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:32.840 unsolved true crime stories in Tampa. 160 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:33.960 Yeah. 161 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:36.320 Great. And the thing is this is on the advent 162 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:40.480 of the article being published, and it's a major article, 163 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:45.840 a very important article, featured article April fifteenth, of just recently. 164 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:49.799 So yes, I'll tell you, I'm sorry, I lost you 165 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:50.799 for a second. I'm sorry. 166 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:52.879 Yeah, No, I was just going to say that the 167 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:58.279 article in Cigar City magazine was just published on April fifteenth, right, 168 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:00.960 so it's just the advent of this being public this article. 169 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:03.120 Yeah, this is yeah one. No, it came out on 170 00:09:03.159 --> 00:09:07.919 April first, and yeah, and it's gotten tremendous attention. You know, 171 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:09.919 the city's been buzzing about this. This list that I 172 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:12.440 write about, which we'll get into a little bit, had 173 00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:15.879 been locked away, and some of the old timers who 174 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:17.799 are around for have even said to me, We've always 175 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:20.320 wanted to know who's on that list. Thank you, And 176 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:21.879 some of the people who are new to this stuff 177 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:24.879 and said, oh my god, we've known Tampa was corrupt, 178 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:27.120 and a lot of people have written about Tampa's corruption 179 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:31.039 over the years, but this list really does show that 180 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:34.000 everybody in the city was dirty. There was no such 181 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.240 thing as somebody who is not getting a little extra 182 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:38.240 couple of dollars stuff stuff in the back pocket at 183 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:38.600 the time. 184 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:44.159 Now, oh go ahead, sorry, go ahead. 185 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:46.399 Oh. I was going to say, you know, I tell 186 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:47.720 you a little bitbout Jimmy Velasco. 187 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:50.799 Well, that's what I was gonna say. Let's let's go 188 00:09:50.919 --> 00:09:54.200 back for our audience, and let's let's get a little 189 00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:57.840 bit of background on the main character of this story, really, 190 00:09:58.000 --> 00:09:59.360 Jimmy Velasko. 191 00:09:59.320 --> 00:10:02.039 Tell us all about it comes to you is when 192 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:03.559 it comes to his backpack story. I don't know a 193 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:06.039 whole lot about that yet, although his family read this article, 194 00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:08.039 and I'm supposed to be meeting up with them, hopefully 195 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:10.159 in May, to get a little more on him. But 196 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:13.039 Jimmy Velasco is actually such a mystery in this town. 197 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:15.360 There's not a photo of him. My friend Scott Ditchy, 198 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:18.559 who wrote the defining book on the Tampa mafia here 199 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:22.240 called Cigar City Mafia his book, even this guy who 200 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:25.159 spent I think at least a decade investigating in Tampa 201 00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:28.000 mafia for his book, cannot find a photo of Jimmy Velasko. 202 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:31.559 That's how mysterious this guy is. But what people seem 203 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:34.600 to know is Jimmy Velasco broke into the numbers industry 204 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:37.799 early on, around you know, the nineteen thirties with a 205 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:41.279 gentleman named Charlie Wall. Charlie Wall is known as the 206 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:43.919 Dean of the Tampa Underworld. He's a man who organized 207 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:47.399 unorganized who organized what was then unorganized crime in Tampa. 208 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:51.200 He was an Italian. He was a Sicilian. He was 209 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.559 what you would consider an Anglo had Irish blood, but 210 00:10:55.240 --> 00:10:57.960 Charlie Wall had the distinction of being able to fluently 211 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:00.639 speak Spanish and English. Plus he came from one of 212 00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:03.240 the most blue blooded families in this city, one of 213 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:07.879 the founding fathers. But rather than using his wealth to 214 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:10.399 do good things, he decided to go into crime. So 215 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:14.840 he became, like I said, the first real down of 216 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:18.679 the city of Tampa. Jimmy Velasko broken some numbers industry 217 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:23.559 with Charlie Wall working working at his casinos, you know, 218 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:26.759 playing the card games, running numbers for him. And one 219 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:29.840 thing that Charlie Wall was great at and what kept 220 00:11:29.879 --> 00:11:32.480 him in power was Charlie Wall knew how to fix election, 221 00:11:32.679 --> 00:11:35.919 whether it be ballot box stuffing, whether it be paying 222 00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:38.240 homeless people to vote we're just paying poor people to vote, 223 00:11:38.919 --> 00:11:43.200 or just knowing how to put money behind the right candidate. 224 00:11:43.399 --> 00:11:47.000 And he knew by fixing the elections, all of his 225 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:48.919 numbers games to be taken care of, because you don't, 226 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:51.200 you don't bite the hand to feed you. You. You know, 227 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:53.559 when somebody would be elected in the city council or mayor, 228 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:55.960 they knew you protect Charlie Wall and he'll get you reelected. 229 00:11:56.200 --> 00:11:59.639 So Jimmy Velasco learned from the master, He learned from 230 00:11:59.639 --> 00:12:02.960 the best how to fix elections. So Charlie Wall retires 231 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:06.759 in the nineteen thirties and Jimmy Velasco kind of takes 232 00:12:06.759 --> 00:12:09.679 the reins and he became the man to go to 233 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:12.840 the fixing elections. So when candidates wanted to ensure the victory, 234 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:16.679 they went to him. And how exactly he went about 235 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:19.120 fixing the elections, you know, obviously, like I said, there 236 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:21.840 was the old things of stuffing ballot boxes and paying 237 00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:25.399 people off. Nobody knows exactly what his favorite thing was, 238 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:28.399 but it has been said from some of the old 239 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:31.639 timers that if Jimmy Velasko promised you to you'd win 240 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:35.080 an election. You want an election, So that became his 241 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:37.759 main play. Wasn't even so much to casino games anymore. 242 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:42.080 It was he made money by by helping candidates win elections, 243 00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:47.360 and so gangsters would pay Jimmy Velasco to get their 244 00:12:47.399 --> 00:12:50.240 candidates in office. So he became that type of guy. 245 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:53.960 But in the nineteen forties he decided to retire. I 246 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:56.080 think the story goes and I'm social meeting with his 247 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:57.600 daughter and may I'll be able to find out this 248 00:12:57.679 --> 00:12:59.720 is true or false. But he was just getting a 249 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:02.519 little worried. It's it's it's a stressful life, I'm guessing, uh, 250 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:06.320 being you know, being in the in the in the underground. 251 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:10.799 So he decided to retire to California, stopped worrying about 252 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:13.759 somebody trying to snatch power away from him with one bullet, 253 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:18.879 and open up a restaurant there when he left. The 254 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:22.879 main people who were in power were Santa Trafficante, which 255 00:13:23.399 --> 00:13:25.320 a lot of people know if you're a fan of 256 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.919 mafia history. Santa trauft Conte, of course, helped establish the 257 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:32.200 casinos in Cuba. A lot of people pinpoint him as 258 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.200 perhaps being the mafia member behind the assassination of JFK. 259 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:37.519 So truft Content is a pretty well known guy. At 260 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:40.720 the time, Travacante was not the man. He shared power 261 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:44.240 with another man, uh, with another family called the Italiano family, 262 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:51.159 and together they began pulling their resources with the sheriff 263 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:54.120 and the police chief and other people to kind of 264 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:57.360 solidify their power. Now, as time went on in the 265 00:13:57.399 --> 00:13:59.720 Trough Contents and Italianos had a war and the trout 266 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:02.399 Content family won and they became the prevailing family. But 267 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:05.320 at the time it was the topic contest and the 268 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:09.200 Italian sharing power here in Tampa. So nineteen forties came 269 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:13.159 and there was an election coming up, and it was 270 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.440 this election where people are saying, we're cleaning up city Hall. 271 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:19.120 Everybody in city Hall was pee. There were whispers that 272 00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:21.759 they were corrupt, and they said, we need to get 273 00:14:21.799 --> 00:14:25.000 new candidates in here. It's time to clean his place up, 274 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:30.159 new candidates who are not on their payroll and who 275 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:32.240 are not in you know, buddy buddy with the mafia. 276 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:35.360 Of course that's worried him because if you don't control 277 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:38.799 city Hall, then they can shut your games down. So 278 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:41.559 they needed to make sure that the guys they wanted 279 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:45.919 to win won the election. So they called their old 280 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:49.080 friend the last go and said, please come back. We 281 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:51.960 need your help. So I think they offered him enough 282 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:54.159 money that he could not say no. So the man 283 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:56.200 who was supposed to be retired from California or a 284 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:59.559 safe came back to Tampa and he fixed the election. 285 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:04.159 He made sure that their candidates won the election. But 286 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:09.799 what happens is when he fixed the election, these candidates 287 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:13.639 even though traffic conte and Talliano paid for him to 288 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:17.639 fix the election. They kind of saw, well, Trafficante and Taliano, 289 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:20.039 they have the power, but this man can help us 290 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:23.799 stay in power. And he kind of realized, what without 291 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:26.519 Charlie Walleran anymore, this is kind of an open city. 292 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:30.879 A man with my abilities, I could probably control the city. 293 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:33.679 So he began getting some delusions of grandeur of thinking, 294 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:35.120 I'm going to become the man in the city. I've 295 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:37.600 been working for other people for years, helping people out. 296 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:39.519 Maybe it's my turn to be the boss. So rather 297 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:43.440 than return in California, he stayed in Pampa and he 298 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:47.200 began running his own games, and he began paying people off. 299 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:51.240 And so now he had he had the people on office, 300 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:55.960 they more or less owed him the favors. So traffic 301 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:00.840 Conte and Italiana, who were in charge, they kind of 302 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:02.960 saw their power slipping away a little bit. They kind 303 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:04.840 of saw this guy of Alaska who they brought in, 304 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:07.639 taking some of the power, and they began getting a 305 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:09.679 little worried that he was going to become the main 306 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:12.039 power figure in the city of Tampa. So he needed 307 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:14.279 to be taken care of. Hence, on the night he 308 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:14.879 was murdered. 309 00:16:16.039 --> 00:16:18.159 Now let me ask him just a couple of questions here, 310 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:24.080 because it's fascinating. Now. From the article or from the 311 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.600 way I read it, it almost sounded like, okay, so 312 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:29.480 he's retired, he wants to leave. Now, that's pretty unusual 313 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:31.720 for the mob too. You just you just get to retire, right, 314 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:33.919 That's that's unusual. So that's sort of a gift. And 315 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.039 they asked him to come back because he's very valuable. 316 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:40.240 He does what he's supposed to do, and and like 317 00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:43.320 you say, everybody realizes, hey, this guy, this guy's valuable. 318 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:48.320 In fact, it goes to his own head. Now it 319 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:54.799 almost sounds like that he thought, for a moment, again 320 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:58.080 kind of foolish that the people that he knew that 321 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:01.679 were legitimate I guess, you know, the politicians and the police, 322 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:05.240 law enforcement, those kinds of people were actually the people 323 00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:07.759 that ran things. But like you say, Trafford, Kanty and 324 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:13.880 Italiana will bring them in and they're pretty offended by this, 325 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:16.960 and obviously that's why. But for a second, does he 326 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:20.519 actually believe that there are more powerful people than these 327 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:22.880 gangsters that he knows very very well. 328 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:26.480 I don't think it's that. I think he wasn't dumb 329 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:29.720 to the game. But it's kind of like, here's how 330 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:34.640 Tampa operated. Back then. Everybody was in cahoots. The gangsters 331 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:37.240 worked with the politicians, and as long as they got 332 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:41.519 the politicians elected, the politicians would say, we will turn 333 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:43.960 a blind eye to everything you're doing. One of the 334 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:45.680 things that they turn a blind eye to was now 335 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:48.680 the gangsters giving the police and giving the sheriffs odd 336 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:52.240 office money. By giving them money. By giving the police 337 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:56.599 and the sheriff's office money, they also turned a blind 338 00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:58.279 eye and they said, you're running in a legal game, 339 00:17:58.359 --> 00:17:59.960 we don't see it. And then on top of that, 340 00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:04.599 they would also any of your competitors that they would 341 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:06.960 shut them down. So say, for instance, if I'm running 342 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:10.759 a game and traffic Conte said to me, give me 343 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:12.640 a portion of your game, and I said no, the 344 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:14.440 next day, the police should come and shut me down. 345 00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:17.039 In the meantime, traffic Conte might come in the next 346 00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:19.200 day and open up a casino right where I got 347 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:20.960 shut down and open up. The police should let him go. 348 00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:22.960 So now on top of that, now the gangsters would 349 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.640 also pay off the attorneys. And by paying off attorneys, 350 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:30.400 both prosecutors, defense, and then judges, you even wielded more power. 351 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:33.400 Now the police come in and they arrest your competitor, 352 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.119 he's going to go to court. The defense the judges, obviously, 353 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:38.799 since he's on your payroll and you're giving him a 354 00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:41.000 little extra money, is going to say, of course, this 355 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:44.079 guy is guilty. The prosecutor is going to prosecute him 356 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:46.279 a little extra hard. And if you secretly have defense 357 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:49.519 attorneys in your pocket, now he might hire that defense attorney. 358 00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:52.240 Now that defense attorney won't even defend him to the 359 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:55.400 best of his abilities because he's on your payroll as well. 360 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:58.880 So the gangsters were only as powerful as the money 361 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:01.480 they were bringing in, because they were only as powerful 362 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:05.440 as the people they were to pay off. So the 363 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:10.119 power came through money. These people were going to they 364 00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:12.160 were they were going to back whoever they thought could 365 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:15.000 make them the most money. So the Lastica wasn't blind 366 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:17.519 to this. So after he helped everybody get elected, he 367 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:20.440 knew that wasn't enough. So uh, he started paying people 368 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:22.359 off as well. He started giving money to the judges, 369 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:24.799 they started giving money to the police, and he's you know, 370 00:19:24.839 --> 00:19:28.079 he would buy them Christmas presents, liquor and diamond rings 371 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:30.359 for the wives and buy them cars. And he would 372 00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:32.720 do this for the judges and the politician and everybody, 373 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:36.119 making his own power play. And he was doing the 374 00:19:36.119 --> 00:19:38.720 same thing that trafal Contes and the Italiano family were doing. 375 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:42.079 But he had one thing up on them. He could 376 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.400 get these people re elected. They could not do it 377 00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:48.799 without him. So that's where they got worried. He had 378 00:19:48.839 --> 00:19:53.480 the money and he had he had the political knowledge. 379 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:56.279 So after he won, after he came in and helped 380 00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:59.079 them win the election, in the following election, they said, 381 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:02.119 can you help us again? He said sure, so he helped. 382 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:05.720 He helped the guys they wanted win election, except for 383 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:08.839 one thing. They were backing one candidate for governor, and 384 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:11.480 he said, well, I want governor uh, I want a 385 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:15.480 different candidate to win, Governor Warren. And he backed Governor 386 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:18.480 Warren instead of their handing candidate, and Governor Warren won. 387 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.039 So now not only did he have local power that 388 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.119 he was sharing with them, but now he was the 389 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:26.839 only gangster in town that had the ear of the governor, 390 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:30.559 which now gave him even more powerful power over them. 391 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:34.240 So he was definitely on the verge of taking over. 392 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:38.519 When he was murdered. You know this this went all 393 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:39.960 the way to the top. This This wasn't just a 394 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:43.160 local thing. He was controlling power on every level, all 395 00:20:43.160 --> 00:20:45.359 the way up to the States. That's how crooked these 396 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:48.440 things were. Everybody was in bed with the gangsters. 397 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:52.880 Now, just before we talk about the events that happened 398 00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:55.720 shortly after this, we're going to talk about and people 399 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:58.960 probably know this, but and this code used to exist. 400 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:01.559 It doesn't seem to existing anymore. But once upon a time, 401 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:03.960