Silas Jayne

popular name: Eliot Ness

date_of_death: May 16, 1957

age: 54

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Influenced by the career of his brother-in-law, Eliot Ness began his own law enforcement career in 1927, with the United States Treasury Department. In 1929, he transferred to the Justice Department and was assigned to the Prohibition Bureau. Ness was chosen to head a newly formed task force for the Bureau and was allowed to select his own men. The special squad, dubbed the "Untouchables" by the Chicago news media, attacked the bootleg empire of gang lord Alphonse "Scarface" Capone and helped cripple him financially. Eliot Ness and his elite team of law enforcement officers was immortalized in Hollywood legend, first as the television show "The Untouchables" and later by a movie of the same title.

popular name: Joe Profaci

date_of_death: June 6, 1962

age: 64

cause_of_death: Liver cancer

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci was an Italian-born New York City La Cosa Nostra boss who was the founder of the Profaci crime family. Established in 1928, this was the last of the Five Families to be organized. He was the family's boss for over three decades. On December 5, 1928, after the murder of Brooklyn boss Salvatore D'Aquila in 1928, Profaci attended the infamous mob meeting in Cleveland, Ohio that would make him an organized crime boss in Brooklyn to maintain calm among the Brooklyn gangs. In addition to his illegal enterprises such as protection rackets and extortion, Profaci continued with his olive oil company making him a wealthy man both legally and illegally. When Profaci died from liver cancer in 1962, his second in command would take charge, Joe Magliocco. A year after taking control of the family Magliocco made plans with Joseph Bonanno to assassinate several rivals such as Tommy Lucchese, Carlo Gambino, and Stefano Magaddino in order to get control of the entire syndicate. Joe Columbo stepped up to The Commission and turned in Magliocco and Bonanno. Magliocco was forced out of the family and Joe Columbo took over the reins of the Profaci crime family and renamed it the Columbo Family.

popular name: Michael Rizzitello

date_of_death: October 26, 2005

age: 78

cause_of_death: Cancer

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Michael Rizzitello (aka "Mike Rizzi") was a capo (underboss) in the Milano crime family of Los Angeles. Rizzitello's criminal record stretched back to 1947 whe he worked for "Crazy Joe" Gallo in the 1950s who was a member of the Profaci crime family (later named the Colombo crime family). When Gallo attempted to take over the Profaci crime family, Rizzitello was one of his key gunmen who participated in the murder of mobster John Guariglia and Paul Ricci at the HiFi Lounge in Brooklyn on November 11, 1961, along with future LA mob soldier Tommy Ricciardi. Soon after in 1956, Mike Rizzitello moved to California. In California, Rizzitello first became affiliated with the Los Angeles crime family working as a debt collector and extortionist for Salvatore "Dago Louie" Piscopo along with a friend of his named Louie "Lefty" Castiglione. He was also mentored by Joseph Sica; an associate of Piscopo. During his time in Los Angeles he was responsible for conspiracy to commit murder, armed robbery, illegal gambling, racketeering, extortion, loan sharking, mail fraud, insurance fraud, and extortion. Rizzitello's activities were featured in several biography novels by mobsters-turned-informants Jimmy Fratianno (The Last Mafioso and Vengeance Is Mine), Anthony Fiato (The Animal in Hollywood), and Kenny Gallo (Breakshot).