Columbus Avenue Productions

Columbus Avenue Productions Golden Gate Underworld: an exposé of the mafia’s tentacles around the San Francisco Bay Area. columbusaveproductions.com

Columbus Avenue Productions is a small, independent media organization based in San Francisco, California, led by executive producer Matteo Galante. We are currently producing Golden Gate Underworld, a documentary series examining the little-known history of the mafia’s influence around the San Francisco Bay Area. Please check out our documentary fundraiser here: https://igg.me/at/ggu.

June 13: Yesterday in Bay Area underworld history, 1989, racketeering indictments were made against former Teamsters lea...
06/15/2026

June 13: Yesterday in Bay Area underworld history, 1989, racketeering indictments were made against former Teamsters leader Rudy Tham, Abe “The Trigger” Chapman, and Federal District Court Judge Robert P. Aguilar. Tham was a long-time San Francisco union leader who was previously convicted of embezzling union funds. Chapman, then 83, was a self-proclaimed “mob assassin” and alleged member of Murder Inc., with previous convictions for narcotics violations. He was also described as one of the biggest dope peddlers on the west coast. Judge Aguilar of San Jose, whose younger brother was married to Chapman’s stepdaughter, became the first sitting federal judge to be indicted under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

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June 9: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1959, Anthony Lanza, brother of James Lanza, is interviewed by Speci...
06/10/2026

June 9: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1959, Anthony Lanza, brother of James Lanza, is interviewed by Special Agents Frank Warner and Herbert Mudd at 559 Washington Street, the Lanza brothers’ place of business. Lanza was questioned about his brother traveling to New York and Scranton, Pennsylvania, in November 1957, when the infamous meeting of American mafia leadership took place in Apalachin, NY.

Lanza said that he already told everything he knew when he testified before the Special Federal Grand Jury in Los Angeles the previous month; that his brother, James, did not attend the Apalachin meeting and he knows nothing about it. Anthony claimed that James was in New York to help settle a relative’s estate, and that he went to Scranton to “see a man about olive oil.”

A check at the Hotel Casey in Scranton showed that Russell Bufalino (Northeastern Pennsylvania boss) had reserved rooms for James Lanza (San Francisco underboss), Joe Cerrito (San Jose boss), Frank DeSimone (Los Angeles boss), Sam Scozzari (Los Angeles underboss), and Joe Civello (Dallas boss).

Clockwise from top left: J. Lanza, Bufalino, Cerrito, DeSimone, Scozzari, Civello.

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In August 1963, James “Jimmy the Hat” Lanza was recorded via FBI microphone surveillance talking with associate Vito Bru...
06/08/2026

In August 1963, James “Jimmy the Hat” Lanza was recorded via FBI microphone surveillance talking with associate Vito Bruno (aka Salvatore Internicola) about turncoat Joseph Valachi and how the “federals know everything.”

In May 1970, Lanza was approached by an FBI agent who wanted to interview him. Lanza said that he had nothing to hide, had no objection to any questions, and was tired of the harassment by law enforcement ever since Valachi named him as a boss. “That Valachi, he don’t even know me. What is all this mafia?”

Lanza stated that former Special Agent Herbert Mudd “has been following me for seven years. If he has anything on me, why doesn’t he arrest me?” He was considering reporting Mudd to the boss of the SF FBI office to cease the harassment, then said if the FBI has really observed him, they know he is not involved in anything, has worked hard all his life, and he cannot be put in jail for associating with people he has known his whole life. Lanza had been boss of the San Francisco mafia family for almost nine years at this point.

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June 6: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1944, Calogero “Big Nose Charlie” LaGaipa is last seen alive after t...
06/07/2026

June 6: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1944, Calogero “Big Nose Charlie” LaGaipa is last seen alive after telling his wife that he is going to meet a friend in San Jose. LaGaipa, who had previous arrests for narcotics violations and murder, was a reported associate of Vincent Mangano that helped bring Nicola Gentile into the narcotics business. Big Nose Charlie moved from New York to Santa Cruz, CA in the early 1940s, where he operated the Red Devil Inn, a cafe with slot machines on Pacific Avenue.

On the west coast, LaGaipa associated with mobsters like Sam Maugeri, James Franzone, and Mike LaFata, and was known to frequent LaRocca’s Corner in North Beach. His operations didn’t last long, however. After LaGaipa shorted Joseph “The Eye” Tocco in an o***m deal, a meeting was held by San Francisco consigliere Sam Lima, along with Alphonse LaRocca, and Marco “Mimi” Li Mandri, to address the grievances. LaGaipa’s vehicle was later found in Oakland with brain tissue on the dashboard. His body was never found.

Clockwise from top left: LaGaipa, Mangano, Gentile, Maugeri, Franzone, LaFata, Tocco, Lima, LaRocca, Li Mandri.

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June 1: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1956, San Francisco boss Michele (Mike) Abati makes a deal with Henr...
06/02/2026

June 1: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1956, San Francisco boss Michele (Mike) Abati makes a deal with Henry Irving, in which Irving agrees to pay Abati $100/month for five years after Abati is deported. Henry Irving, who was the accountant for the Lanza brothers and Abati (out of an office on Irving Street), purchased the Coronet Olive Oil Co. after Frank Scappatura died in 1952. Abati was manager of the plant and resided onsite in Thermalito, near Oroville. When Irving remodeled the plant, a cache of arms and ammunition was discovered in a wall above Abati’s bed. In 1961, Mike Abati bought a one-way ticket to Italy in lieu of deportation, and reportedly boarded a plane from San Francisco to Rome with $75,000 (~$835,000) in cash.

Henry Irving on the right. Irving & 9th Ave (c. 1959) in the background.

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May 31: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1932, Aniello Scognamillo (aka Anello Scoguanello) is captured by SF...
05/31/2026

May 31: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1932, Aniello Scognamillo (aka Anello Scoguanello) is captured by SFPD after a chase over seven rooftops on the 1300 block of Hyde Street. Scognamillo, an alleged “Black Hand leader” who was wanted for questioning in Luigi Malvese’s killing, operated the Napoli Bakery on Broadway. He was described as a “king of one mafia society and a member of two others,” and was deported in 1948.

Also on this day, 1947, Leonard Calamia, who was arrested shortly after the slaying of Nick DeJohn (May 7), is released due to insufficient evidence. That same day, Sol Reinstein, a Stockton furniture store employee and former New York gambler, was last seen alive. He was found the next day in a ditch near Rancho Cordova (Sacramento County) after being shot and thrown from an automobile.

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May 30: Yesterday in Bay Area underworld history, 1933, Stephen Sorrentino is arrested in San Francisco after assaulting...
05/31/2026

May 30: Yesterday in Bay Area underworld history, 1933, Stephen Sorrentino is arrested in San Francisco after assaulting Ernest Franceschini at the Dante Billiard Parlor on Broadway at Columbus Avenue. Sorrentino was an associate of San Francisco’s “Public Enemy Number One,” Eddie Quinones, and was reportedly involved in narcotics, counterfeiting, prostitution, robberies, and was a suspect in multiple murders.

Photos: Sorrentino above, Franceschini below, Broadway & Columbus in background (c. 1940s)

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May 26: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1937, Mario Balistreri, Salvatore Taranto, John “Banana” Provenzale,...
05/27/2026

May 26: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1937, Mario Balistreri, Salvatore Taranto, John “Banana” Provenzale, and Peter Dallas are held in San Francisco to face counterfeiting charges, after being arrested the previous day at a new cocktail lounge on O’Farrell Street operated by Balistreri and Provenzale. Secret Service agents believed they had foiled plans to flood the city with bogus money during the Golden Gate Bridge Fiesta, a week-long festival to celebrate the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, starting May 27, 1937.

Balistreri, who was on parole for a narcotics violation, was sentenced to 15 years. Taranto was sentenced to five. Provenzale and Dallas were each sentenced to six months after testifying against Balistreri and Taranto, then were transferred out of the city to Solano County Jail after receiving death threats from the “notorious Sicilian counterfeit ring.” Taranto would become a member of the San Francisco mafia family, with which Balistreri was also associated. Pete Dallas was considered San Francisco’s “Public Enemy Number Two” in 1933. The ring had allegedly used its profits to build a war chest to help fight Mussolini.

Left to right: Mario Balistreri, Pete Dallas, Salvatore Taranto.

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May 19: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1932, the day after Luigi Malvese is killed in North Beach, the San ...
05/19/2026

May 19: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1932, the day after Luigi Malvese is killed in North Beach, the San Francisco Police Department enacts a citywide dragnet to bring in every known “gangster, racketeer, gunman, extortionist, hoodlum, suspicious person, and undesirable.” In eight days, over 1,000 individuals had been arrested, many charged with vagrancy. SFPD got no closer to catching Malvese’s killer.

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May 18: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1932, San Francisco gangster Luigi “Bugs” Malvese is shot and killed...
05/19/2026

May 18: On this day in Bay Area underworld history, 1932, San Francisco gangster Luigi “Bugs” Malvese is shot and killed in his vehicle outside the Del Monte Barber Shop at 720 Columbus Ave. Contrary to some popular lore, Frank Lanza was not the shooter, and this killing did not elevate Lanza to boss. Lanza was already the boss of the SF mafia family for around a decade before this, and the shooter was Gennaro Campanello, who was never caught. Only two people - Malvese’s girlfriend and an associate, Jimmy Soldavini - reportedly attended Malvese’s funeral, which was paid for by Johnny Rosselli.

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