Since at least the late 1910s, mob historians say there was a Cosa Nostra presence living and operating in Southern California.
Among the first notable mafiosi to settle into the City of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas were such notorious Sicilian-born crime figures as Vito DiGiorgio, Rosario DeSimone, Giuseppe Ardizzone, and the Matranga family. Each of these early mafiosi headed small rival Mafia factions who competed with one another as they attempted to establish their power around the City of Los Angeles and its outer suburbs.
DiGiorgio and his associates are largely credited with having been among the first, if not the first, recognized Mafia powers to organize the territory as their own. After he was killed, DeSimone is thought to have become the first “official” head of what was a newly formed “borgata,” or Mafia Family, that would firmly establish itself in Los Angeles.
Another early Mafia leader in the Los Angeles area was Giuseppe (Joe) Ardizzone, who gained the moniker “The Ironman” during his time in the underworld. By the mid-1920s, after DeSimone stepped down, Ardizzone was thought to have risen to power as Family boss.
Soon, Ardizzone reportedly came into conflict with rival mafiosi in the area by the name of the Matranga clan and a long, bloody conflict started between the two factions. This protracted conflict would produce assassination attempts and murders that claimed lives on both sides. But Joe “The Ironman” Ardizzone eventually gained supremacy over his enemies and secured the territory for his Mafia clan.
Along the way, two young Sicilian brothers by the name of Gaetano and Ignazio Dragna relocated to the West Coast and joined up with Ardizzone and the Los Angeles Family. Just as millions of other Sicilian and Southern Italians had done before and after them, the brothers had bravely left their hometown in Sicily and sailed to America to start a new life.
After arriving in the United States, the Dragna brothers made their way to the East Harlem section of New York City where support was readily available from fellow amici. By that time, an entire immigrant Corleonese colony had formed in Upper Manhattan. The brothers soon also adopted the more American-sounding names of Jack and Tom.
Soon, Jack and Tom Dragna joined in with other young Sicilians who had formed a fledgling local street gang. This criminal network was generally comprised of fellow townsmen from Corleone and the City of Palermo. This group later become notorious as the “Gaetano Reina Family.”
The Dragna brothers are suspected of having been inducted as mafiosi under Gaetano Reina’s sponsorship. What is certain is that among their earliest and most important friendships and alliances were several young men who, within a few years, also become major Mafia powers, Gaetano Gagliano, Gaetano Lucchese, and the LaSalle brothers, Stefano and Vito.
