Elena Semander

popular name: Vincent Alo

date_of_death: March 9, 2001

age: 96

cause_of_death: Complications from cerebral hemorrhage

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Vincent “Jimmy Blue Eyes” Alo was a mobster and made man who operated for decades alongside Meyer Lansky and Charles “Lucky” Luciano while staying well outside of the spotlight. Called "one of the most significant organized crime figures in the United States" by the U.S. District Attorney, Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo was just 15 years old when Prohibition became law. Over the next decade, Alo would work side by side with Lansky and Luciano as they navigated the brutal underworld of bootlegging, thievery and murder. Alo’s later career included prison time and the ultimate Mob tribute: being immortalized as "Johnny Ola" in The Godfather, Part II. Born in East Harlem in 1904, Alo built a quiet reputation in gambling rackets stretching from the Bronx to South Florida. FBI files placed him at the center of underground casinos, loan operations and even the Las Vegas skim. He avoided major indictments and convictions, making him an outlier in a world defined by arrests, violence and betrayal. Alo died in 2001 at age 96. And while he passed away in Florida from a complications of a stroke, Vincent Alo was returned to NYC to be buried with is family at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

popular name: Antonio Pollina

date_of_death: February 27, 1993

age: 100

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Antonio "Mr. Miggs" Pollina was an Italian-American mobster and was the short lived boss of the Philadelphia crime family during the late 1950s. Shortly after immigrating from Caccamo, Sicily he developed an arrest record dating back to 1927 and included arrests for murder, concealed weapons, untaxed liquor, assault & battery. His legitimate employment was as a cheese salesman for Maggio Cheese Co. (owned by the powerful mobster Micheal Maggio) Pollina was one of the top leaders of the mafia group known as "The Greaser Gang" and controlled a large loansharking operation. In 1959 Pollina was made interim boss of the Philadelphia crime family. It was then Pollina began plotting the murder of his rival and top earner Angelo Bruno. Pollina ordered his Underboss, Ignazio Denaro, to murder Angelo Bruno, but Denaro instead informed Bruno of Pollina's intentions. Bruno used his connections to The Commission to take Pollina's power away from him. The Commission authorized Bruno to murder Pollina. Pollina stepped down and Angelo Bruno replaced him and kept Denaro as his underboss. Upon his death, he was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA.

popular name: Kitty Menéndez

date_of_death: August 20, 1989,

age: 47

cause_of_death: Homicide - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Kitty Menendez was a former beauty queen, school teacher and mid-level Beverly Hills socialite who was married to entertainment executive Jose Menendez. Sadly Kitty and Jose will always be remembered as the murder victims of their two sons - Erik and Lyle. In August of 1989 the couple’s two sons, Lyle and Erik, drove a small white hatchback up to the house, got their weapons from the trunk and entered the house via the French doors. The first shot from a .12 gauge shotgun hit José in the back of the head and killed him instantly. They continued with two more shots, tearing open both arms. Kitty was not so lucky as they pumped 10 shots as she tried to crawl away with the final shotgun blast to the face. Lyle dialed the fake 911 call and told police they had arrived home after a movie to the grisly discovery as smoke from the gunshots still loomed in the air. But as the months passed after the execution-style deaths, police were struck by the sons’ lavish spending sprees: buying Rolex watches, private tennis lessons, expensive clothing, jewelry, a Porsche, and even a chicken wings restaurant. After two hung juries, a third trial found them guilty of murder and sentenced the two sons to life without parole.