The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia by Rick Porrello

Author:Rick Porrello
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781569800584
Publisher: Barricade Books

CHAPTER SEVEN

The

Ascendancy

of the

Mayfield

Road Mob

On June 30, 1930, Joe Porrello’s desire to attain the political power he lacked was well on its way to fulfillment. The 21st District Italian-American Republican Club was born. With the club, Porrello, in his first taste of politics, had hoped to organize the Woodland Avenue voters like Milano had done on Mayfield. Porrello’s plan was to support selected candidates for office and secure representation in City Hall just as Milano had done.

More than two thousand persons attended the enormous flag-christening dinner and Joe Porrello was there as an honorary president. John Porrello was also listed in the program as an honorary president, but he was unable to attend because he had been arrested earlier in the day in connection with a raid on a two-hundred-gallon Porrello-owned still.

The club’s chairman was Attorney Salvatore LoPresti. (He will be remembered for having been retained by Porrello to defend several of the Sicilians arrested in the Statler Hotel raid.) Notable guests at the huge dinner included Maurice Maschke, Cuyahoga County Republican leader, three judges, a congressional candidate, and County Coroner Dr. A.]. Pearse. City Councilman Sonny DeMaiorbus was also present, having recently resigned as a member of Frank Milano’s political club.

Milano soon heard about Porrello’s newly created club. He considered it a threat to his quickly developing monopoly on Cleveland rackets. Al Polizzi called Porrello and told him Milano wanted to talk to him again. He suggested a sit-down and maybe a few hands of Ziganetta at the Venetian the next afternoon. Porrello may have believed Milano had come around to thinking a merger was the best thing for the two ruling families of the Cleveland rackets.

On the other hand, he had a right to wonder if it could be a set-up. Only weeks earlier, Michael Corcelli, Akron ally of the Porrellos, had been shot to death while relaxing on his front porch. Though the murder was never solved, it was theorized that it was retaliation for the killing of Lonardo supporter Frank Bellini. Bellini and Corcelli had once been close friends until the murders of Big Joe and John Lonardo.

Sam Tilocco didn’t like the idea of meeting with Milano. Neither did Raymond Porrello and he urged his brother not to go. It was not that they were against working out some sort of agreement with The Hill for mutual benefit. They just didn’t like the idea of the meeting being in Milano territory. But, in the end, Joe Porrello decided to go.

“What are you worried about, Sam? You got a gun,” he asked Tilocco.

Porrello was anxious to organize an alliance with Milano. Besides, he figured Milano would certainly not be looking for trouble right in his own restaurant.

It was Saturday afternoon about 12:30, not quite one week after the opening dinner of the 21st District Italian-American Republican Club. Sam Tilocco drove his new Cadillac to pick up his chief at his Heights home. Together they then drove down to the Porrello sugar warehouse and checked in on things with Mike Chiapetta, who reported business as usual.

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