1969 in organized crime

See also: 1968 in organized crime, 1970 in organized crime and the list of 'years in Organized Crime'.

Events

• Sicily - Giuseppe "Pippo" Calo becomes head of the Porta Nuova, Palermo Clan.
• Boston Consigliere and policy racketeer, Joseph Lombardo, dies of natural causes (not to be confused with the Chicago Outfit's Joseph Lombardo).
• Sicilian mafioso and Corleonesi boss Luciano Leggio tried for his role in a mafia war, sparked by the murder of former boss Michele Navarra on Leggio's orders. Leggio is acquitted, probably due to witness intimidation.
• New York mobster Wilfred "Willy Boy" Johnson, and childhood friend of John Gotti, agrees to become an informant for the FBI after the Gambino crime family refused to support his wife while in prison.
• Fujinomiya, Shizuoka, Japan - Tadamasa Goto formed the Goto-gumi, a yakuza organization which later grew to be one of the most powerful affiliates of the Yamaguchi-gumi.
• February 6 - Thomas Zummo, a lieutenant in the DiGregorio faction of the Bonanno crime family, is killed. He is the last victim of the "Bananas War" of the 1960s.
• February 14 - Vito Genovese dies of a heart attack in a Springfield, Illinois prison hospital, while serving a 15-year sentence for drug trafficking. Following the death of Genovese, the leadership of the Genovese crime family falls to Thomas Eboli (previously run by the "Committee" Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli, Gerardo "Jerry" Catena, Michele "Mr. Big" Miranda, Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo), however it is suspected Eboli may have been placed as a "Front Boss" to draw attention away from another high-ranking member - Philip Lombardo.
• July -
  • A gang war begins in Boston's underworld between the Killeens and the Mullen gang after Mickey Dwyer's nose is bitten off and then shot three times by Kenneth Killeen, during an altercation at the Transit, a local Southie bar.
  • Several weeks following the Transit incident, Kileen enforcers Billy O'Sullivan and Whitey Bulger encounter Dennis "Buddy" Roache a member of the Mullins and brother of future Boston Police Commissioner Francis "Mickey" Roache in a Broadway bar. After a heated argument, Roache is shot and was paralyzed for the remainder of his life.
  • Killeen enforcer Billy O'Sullivan is killed near his Savin Hill home by Mullin member Paulie McGonagle. O'Sullivan had previously killed his twin brother Donnie, who had mistaken him for his brother.
• December 10 - Michele Cavataio and three of his men are killed in the Viale Lazio in Palermo by a Mafia hit squad including Bernardo Provenzano, Calogero Bagarella (an elder brother of Leoluca Bagarella the brother-in-law of Totò Riina), Emanuele D’Agostino of Stefano Bontade’s Santa Maria di Gesù Family and Damiano Caruso a soldier of Giuseppe Di Cristina, the Mafia boss of Riesi. Cavataio was able to shoot and kill Calogero Bagarella and wounding one of Di Cristina’s men before Provenzano killed him. Provenzano saved the situation with his submachine gun and earned himself a reputation as a Mafia killer with the attack. The Viale Lazio massacre marked the end of a ‘pax mafiosa’ that had reigned since the Ciaculli massacre until the end of the Trial of the 114.

Arts and literature

• The Godfather (novel) by Mario Puzo.
• The Last Words of Dutch Schultz (novel) by William S. Burroughs.

Deaths

• Joseph Lombardo, Boston policy racketeer
• February 6 - Thomas Zummo, DiGregorio-Bonanno crime family lieutenant
• February 14 - Vito Genovese "Don Vito", New York mobster and Boss of the Genovese Crime Family