Elena Semander

popular name: Cesare Bonventre

date_of_death: April 16, 1984

age: 33

cause_of_death: Mob hit - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: As a member of the Sicilian faction of the Bonnano family, Cesare Bonventre worked as a bodyguard for the unofficial boss Carmine Galante. Several members of his family were involved with organized crime, including his uncle John Bonventre, a former Bonanno underboss and his cousins Baldassare “Baldo” Amato and the first family boss Joseph Bonanno. The lean and handsome Bonventre was known as “The Tall Guy” because he stood close to six feet seven inches tall. He was often seen with his shirt unbuttoned with a gold crucifix hanging from his neck. Bonventre was described by one author as having something about him that made him stand out from the other ethnic Italians. He wore stylish clothing, aviator sunglasses and carried European made man purses that embodied Italian couture and frequented clubs such as The Toyland Social Club and the Knickerbocker Avenue area with other Sicilia mobsters. While he may be best remembered for setting up his boss, Carmine "Cigar" Galante, along with associate Baldo Amato for one of the most infamous murders in American mafia, he eventually was murdered himself in a glue factory in New Jersey. Upon his death, he was buried at St. Charles / Resurrection Cemetery on Long Island, NY.

popular name: Violette Nozière

date_of_death: November 26, 1966

age: 51

cause_of_death: Unknown

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Violette Nozière was a French woman who was convicted of murdering her father. Known as "L'Affaire" the trial had everything to captivate all of France in the 1930s - parracide, incest, prostitution, syphilis. Given all the lies and stories Violette stated during the trial and her complete silence after her release from prison we will never truly know what happened in the small apartment on the 3rd floor of 9 Rue de Madagascar one steamy, hot August night.

popular name: Michael Coppola

date_of_death: October 1, 1966

age: 66

cause_of_death: Kidney disease

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola was a New York City mobster who became a caporegime of the 116th Street Crew, with the Genovese crime family. He entered the ranks of the New York mafiosi with a reputation as a morally depraved, sadistic and violent gunman during Prohibition. Coppola headed many Genovese family criminal operations from the late 1930s until the early 1960s. He is suspected of murdering his first wife, Doris Lehman, in 1943 because she overheard Coppola's plans to assassinate New York Republican Party political activist Joseph Scottoriggio. Doris Lehman was reportedly murdered by her Coppola a day after giving birth to prevent her from testifying against him (her scheduled testimony was postponed due to her pregnancy). Ann Coppola, Trigger Mike's second wife, filed for divorce, supposedly due to Coppola supplying drugs to her daughter, and later agreed to testify against Coppola in an income tax investigation. As a result, Coppola ordered several gunmen to kidnap and assault her. Found severely beaten on an isolated beach, Ann Coppola continued with the investigation. She later fled to Europe and overdosed on sleeping pills after sending a letter to the IRS detailing the criminal activities of the Luciano crime family.