Dallas crime family

American Mafia crime family

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Dallas crime familyFounded| 1910

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Founded by| Carlo Piranio
Founding location| Dallas, Texas
Years active| 1910–1990
Territory| Various neighborhoods in Dallas, Houston, and Austin
Ethnicity| Made men (full members are Italians or Italian-Americans. Criminals of other ethnicities are employed as "associates.")
Membership (est.)| Unknown
Criminal activities| Racketeering, conspiracy, loansharking, money laundering, murder, drug trafficking, extortion, pornography, labor racketeering fraud, gambling, skimming, bookmaking, corruption, and prostitution
Allies| Chicago Outfit
Five Families
New Orleans crime family
Rivals| Various gangs in Austin, Houston, and Dallas

The Dallas crime family or Dallas Mafia was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Dallas, Texas.

## History[edit]

### Carlo Piranio[edit]

Carlo Piranio, a native of Sicily, immigrated to the U.S. circa 1901 with his brother Joseph. They first settled in Shreveport, Louisiana. Carlo began the Dallas faction of the American Mafia in 1921 with Joseph as his underboss. Carlo, later described as the "original head of the Mafia in Texas," was born about 1876 in Corleone, Sicily, the same hometown as early New York Mafia boss Giuseppe Morello. Piranio's marriage to an eighteen-year-old woman, recently arrived from Italy, occurred in 1903. In 1904, a son, Angelo, was born to Carlo and Clementia Piranio. The Piranio relocation to Dallas, Texas, occurred sometime between the marriage and the Shreveport birth of Angelo in 1904. The April 1910 U.S. Census says the family lived temporarily at 774 Main Street in Dallas. The household included Carlo and Clementia, young Angelo, and Joseph Piranio and his new bride Lena. Carlo ran a real estate business from his home. Joseph worked as a grocery salesman. Joseph was not entirely settled in Texas. He moved back to Louisiana for a few years. He, his wife and two young daughters returned to Dallas by 1914. Carlo died of natural causes in 1930. Joseph took over the family after Carlo's death. He owned a number of bars, controlled numerous gambling operations, and ran some minor labor rackets through his construction business.[1]

### Joseph Civello[edit]

Joseph Civello was born in 1902, in rural West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. He was the second child born to Philip and Catherine Civello. His father, a farm laborer, had been in the United States since 1900. The Civello family grew to include seven children. The family remained in West Baton Rouge until 1923, when Philip relocated the clan to Dallas and opened a grocery store.

Civello married in November 1929. He and his wife Mary moved into Philip Civello's home at 1902 Moser Avenue. Joseph worked as a salesman for his father's grocery store.[2]

### Death of Joe DeCarlo[edit]

Law enforcement officers quickly became aware of Joseph Civello. He was convicted of Prohibition violations in 1926 and served forty days in jail. On July 12, 1928, Civello was again arrested on liquor charges. His arrest was part of a series of raids that nabbed a total of twenty-two suspected bootleggers around the city. Civello was arrested on St. Paul Street with two other men, Ernest Calchano and Joe DeCarlo. DeCarlo was an important bootlegger in the Dallas area and had recently begun refusing to send tribute payments to Carlo Piranio. Civello was selected to administer Mafia discipline.

Just two days after their arrest together, Civello and DeCarlo met inside the St. Paul Drugstore at the intersection of St. Paul and Bryan Streets. Civello happened to be carrying a loaded shotgun at the time. As the men stood close to each other, the shotgun went off. DeCarlo was shot in the stomach. Rather than flee, Civello remained with the mortally wounded DeCarlo, protesting that his weapon had fired by accident. DeCarlo, with his dying breath, confirmed Civello's story.

Civello was arrested and charged with murder. He continued to insist that the killing was accidental. A Dallas grand jury gave considerable weight to DeCarlo's dying statement. Within two days, Civello was released on his own recognizance. The grand jury continued its investigation into DeCarlo's death and decided on July 27 not to indict Civello.

### Apalachin Meeting[edit]

Joseph Civello assumed control in 1956, when Joseph Piranio died at age 78. Civello attended the infamous Apalachin Meeting of Mafia leaders in 1957, a time when he controlled narcotics, gambling, prostitution and night clubs in most of Texas. After the Apalachin Meeting, the FBI began keeping closer tabs on Civello. On January 13, 1960, Civello was indicted for conspiracy and perjury offenses. Judge Irving R. Kaufman sentenced him and nineteen other mob leaders that were at Apalachin to five years in prison. Ten months later, a U.S. Appeals Court overturned the convictions of the twenty men. Prosecutors had proven conspiracy, the court decided, but had not proven that the conspiracy was designed to accomplish some unlawful act.

### Post-Civello[edit]

After Civello's death in 1970, some law enforcement intelligence officers surmised that local restaurant owner Joseph Ianni, a long-time friend of Civello, became head of the organization. Ianni's only legal trouble was a 1946 liquor law violation and he was reported only to have nothing more than a "vague association" with Marcello. According to D Magazine, he "had fewer direct ties to New Orleans than Civello, only what some intelligence officers call 'friend of a friend of a friend' relationships".[3]

## Historical leadership[edit]

### Boss[edit]

* 1910–1930 – Carlo Piranio
* 1930–1956 – Joseph Piranio
* 1956–1970 – Joseph Civello

## See also[edit]

* Law portal

* Benny Binion

## References[edit]

1. ^ Machi, Mario. "Dallas, Texas". American Mafia. Com. Archived from the original on 2010-03-02.
2. ^ Dallas Morning News, Jan 19, 1970
3. ^ Atkinson, Jim (December 1, 1977). "Who's Behind the Mafia in Dallas?". D Magazine. Dallas. Retrieved February 12, 2023.

* v
* t
* e

Italian-American Mafia

* List of Mafia crime families
* Mafia bibliography

Families|

| Five Families of
New York City|

| Bonanno|

* Calabrian group
* Motion Lounge crew
* Sicilian group

|

Colombo|

Colombo

Gambino|

* Baltimore Crew
* Ozone Park Boys

Genovese|

* 116th Street Crew
* Broadway Mob
* Greenwich Village Crew
* New Jersey faction

Lucchese|

* Jersey Crew
* Tanglewood Boys
* Vario Crew

East Coast|

* Buffalo
* DeCavalcante (Northern New Jersey)
* Patriarca (New England) (Angiulo's Boston crew)
* Philadelphia (10th & Oregon Crew)

Midwestern/Western|

* Chicago
* Detroit
* Kansas City
* Los Angeles

Mostly defunct|

* Bufalino (Northeastern Pennsylvania)
* Cleveland
* Colorado
* Dallas
* Genna (Chicago)
* Galveston (Houston)
* Lanzetta (Philadelphia)
* Morello (Italian Harlem)
* D'Aquila (Little Italy, Manhattan)
* New Orleans
* Milwaukee
* Pittsburgh
* Rochester
* San Francisco
* San Jose
* Seattle
* St. Louis
* Trafficante (Florida)

Structure|

| Chain of command|

* The Commission
* Boss
* Underboss
* Consigliere
* Caporegime
* Soldato
* Associate

|

Members (made men)|

* List of Italian-American mobsters
* List of Italian-American mobsters by organization

Terms|

* Initiation ritual
* Made man
* Bagman
* Black Hand
* Black Hand in Chicago
* Vendetta
* Capo dei capi (boss of bosses)
* Mustache Pete
* Omertà
* One-way ride
* Sixth Family
* Zips

Events|

| Meetings|

* Atlantic City Conference (1929)
* Havana Conference (1946)
* Apalachin meeting (1957)
* Palermo Mafia summit (1957)

|

Hearings|

* Kefauver Committee (1950–1951)
* Valachi hearings (1963)

Wars|

* Mafia–Camorra War (1914–1917)
* Castellammarese War (1929–1931)

Trials|

* Pizza Connection Trial (1985–1987)
* Mafia Commission Trial (1985–1986)

Closely related
and affiliated
organizations|

| Active|

* Camorra
* Commisso 'ndrina
* Cotroni crime family
* The Corporation or Cuban Mafia
* Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan
* Inzerillo Mafia clan
* Jewish Mafia
* Luppino crime family
* Musitano crime family
* 'Ndrangheta
* Papalia crime family
* Philadelphia Greek Mob
* Rizzuto crime family
* Sacra Corona Unita
* Sicilian Mafia
* Siderno Group
* South Brooklyn Boys
* Stidda
* Unione Corse
* Velentzas Organization
* Winter Hill Gang

|

Defunct|

* Broadway Mob (Originally Jewish and Italian; absorbed by Genovese family)
* Bugs and Meyer Mob (Jewish, absorbed by Murder Inc.)
* Bumpy Johnson gang
* New York Camorra
* Los Angeles crime family (Both an American Mafia and Jewish Mafia family)
* The Council
* Dutch Schultz Mob
* East Harlem Purple Gang (Semi-independent, most closely affiliated with Genovese family)
* Five Points Gang
* Forty-Two Gang
* Italian-American National Union
* Marat Balagula gang (Russian mafia, affiliated with Lucchese)
* Murder, Inc. (Italian and Jewish, closely affiliated with or part of the American Mafia)
* National Crime Syndicate (Mostly Italian and Jewish)
* Rudaj Organization (Albanian mafia)
* Tanglewood Boys (Semi-independent Italian-American gang, affiliated with Lucchese family)
* Westies (largely defunct)

Other topics|

| Government
operations|

* Collaborations between the United States government and Italian Mafia
* Operation Family Secrets
* Operation Old Bridge
* Operation Solare
* Operation Underworld
* Operation Wasteland

|

Crimes|

* French Connection
* Hired Truck Program
* Lufthansa heist
* Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

Related articles|

* Barrel murder
* Buster from Chicago
* Cement shoes
* Shotgun Man

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