Ted Schwarz - Shocking Stories of the Cleveland Mob

TED SCHWARZ

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2010 by Ted Schwarz

All rights reserved

Front cover: Courtesy of Cleveland State University Cleveland Press Collection and Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.

First published 2010

e-book edition 2011

ISBN 978.1.61423.200.1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schwarz, Ted, 1945-

Shocking stories of the Cleveland mob / Ted Schwarz.

p. cm.

print edition ISBN 978-1-59629-918-4

1. Organized crime--Ohio--Cleveland--History. 2. Mafia--Ohio--Cleveland--History. I. Title.

HV6452.O3S39 2010

3641..1060977132--dc22

2010039765

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Discovering the love affair between the mob and Clevelands Statler Hotel is a little like stepping into the closet of a stately, soft spoken, conservatively dressed grandmother and discovering a carefully hidden scrapbook that reveals a very different woman than you thought you knew. Decades old photos and yellowed newspaper clippings reveal the seemingly bland dowager to have once been the type of woman your mother warned you against. There had been a time when she wore six-inch stiletto heels adorned with rhinestones, too short a dress and revealed too much cleavage, exploding through the fabric of her blouse like twin volcanoes spewing lava. She was the woman who would seduce you, use you and get you to thank her even as she broke your heart.

The Statler lives on in Cleveland on Euclid Avenue just off Playhouse Square, and the renovated building houses beautifully appointed upscale apartments. Before the current incarnation, the Statler was an office buildingsturdy, with suites to meet the needs of any business that chose to rent there, but nothing that would likely get the attention of a casual passerby. And before that, the Statler had been that aging dowager whose conservative appearance belied a youth of wild abandon and illegal activity.

The Statler Hotel was young, vital and the destination of choice for men of power when a pair of touring cars pulled up in front of the hotel and eleven well-dressed mentheir custom tailored suits concealing both their bulging muscles and their holstered handgunsstepped into the early morning air. It was December 5, 1928, and the time was 4:30 in the morning. Their presence would prove surprising, though it should not have been. The first time such men were known to have met at the hotel was when a young man named Angelo Lonardo was being honored as the newest member of what would become known as La Cosa NostraOur Thing.

In fact, so much happened in the Statler in its stately but audaciously wicked early years that it deserves a chapter of its own, a chapter that begins with a dagger, a gun and the oath of Omerta.

Angelo Lonardo had always known some of the dirty little secrets of the Statler Hotel, though he did not reveal them for the first time until he spoke of them before the U.S. Senate in 1988. By then he was seventy-seven years old. He was also a raritya former underboss of the Cleveland organized crime family who would eventually die in bed from natural causes at the age of ninety-five despite having become one of the FBIs most important informants. As he remembered the Statler, its so important to start with his career as a bad guy:

June 11, 1930 photo of Angelo Lonardo and Judge James B. Ruhl. Courtesy Cleveland State University Cleveland Press Collection.

When I was madeor became a member of La Cosa NostraI went through an initiation ceremony. I was invited into a room at the Statler Hotel in Cleveland and asked if I knew what I was doing there. You naturally say, No. Present were John Scalish, the acting boss; Tony Milano, the underboss; John DeMarco, a capo; and Frank Brancato. They explained to me that I had been proposed to be made a member of La Cosa Nostra and defined the rules and regulations of the organization. They told me that you cannot fool around with narcotics; you cannot own a house of prostitution or have prostitutes working for you; you cannot fool around with a woman thats married to a member of La Cosa Nostra; and that whatever illegal activity you engage in, you have to report to the boss and receive permission to engage in that activity. After I was told the rules, I was asked if I still wanted to join the organization. One can still leave at that time, but the person usually accepts. In my case, I joined and became a member of La Cosa Nostra.

Once you accept the rules of membership, they lift a cloth off a table; underneath is a gun and a dagger. You are told that you now live and die with the dagger and the gun. You die that way, and you live that way. You are then given a card with a picture of a saint on it. The card is placed in the palms of your hands and lit. You shake the burning card back and forth until it is burned down to ashes. They then pinch your finger to draw blood, and then everyone gives you a kiss on the cheek and says, You are now a member.

Angelo Lonardo. December 9, 1977. Courtesy Cleveland State University Cleveland Press Collection.

I later learned that to be proposed for membership in La Cosa Nostra you would have to have killed someone and stood up to the pressure of police scrutiny. Today, you dont have to kill to be a member but just prove yourself worthy by keeping your mouth shut, or by being a stand up guy. However, if you are called upon to kill someone, you have to be prepared to do it.

In my case, my father [Joseph Lonardo, former boss of the Cleveland family] was murdered by Salvatore Todaro in 1927. In revenge, my cousin, Dominic Sospirato, and I killed Todaro. This is one of the reasons that I was proposed for membership in La Cosa Nostra.

Lonardo never did say if there was a luncheon or other celebration of his new status, though the Statler food service was always considered excellent. Then, over the years, it was obvious that the mob enjoyed the hotel, such as would be seen as 1928 came to an end and the Statler unwittingly hosted the first national gathering of the leaders of organized crime.

It was 4:30 in the morning of December 5, 1928, when Patrolman Frank Osowski made what was to have been his last pass of the Statler Hotel before returning to the station. Had it been a few hours earlier, the two touring cars that unloaded eleven male passengers would have seemed like the vehicles groups of tourists routinely hired to transport them to and from area nightclubs and restaurants. Had it been a few hours later, when most of the guests had arisen from bed and enjoyed their breakfast, it might have seemed that a routine meeting was taking place. The problem was that downtown Cleveland had a rhythm to its year, and the men who entered the Statler under the watchful eyes of the uniformed officer did not fit.