Racketeer Snapshot: Detroit Mafia Soldier “Tony the Chump” Abate

Antonino (Tony the Chump) Abate - aka Anthony Abate, Antonino Abbate, Tony Abate, and Anthony Abbate - was born on January 2, 1904, at Balestrati, Sicily. His parents were Angelo and Maria (nee’ Fiori) Abate.

Upon immigrating to the United States, the Abate family eventually made their way to the City of Detroit, Michigan . This is the place where young Tony would grow up and soon establish his criminal credentials.

As a young man, by the early 1930s, he listed his home address as 3147 E. Lafayette Boulevard, Detroit. By the 1950s, Tony had relocated with his wife and kids to 941 Lochmoor in the Grosse Point Woods section (Wayne County.)

Antonino Abate (1930s)

During his lifetime Abate would marry twice. His first marriage produced two children, a son named Angelo (after his grandfather), and a daughter named Beatrice.

By at least the early 1930s Tony had gotten divorced and remarried to a woman named Eleanor Palazzola. This second marriage was said to have produced three more kids, two more sons and a daughter that the couple named Angelo, Michael, and Mary.

In 1934, Abate’s first wife and kids were reported to be living in poverty and squalor. Authorities described she and her children as “welfare charges,” living in a small dilapidated apartment at 5033 Joseph Campau Avenue.

22020 Louise Street

But Tony didn’t seem to notice or mind any of that. He reportedly went out and bought a modest ranch-style home for his new family at 22020 Louise Street, in the Claire Shores section of Detroit. This became the residence for Tony Abate’s "new" family.

FBI #695623, Detroit-PD #35019, INS #1418454

Abate stood 5 feet 6 inches tall and had a stocky build at 180 pounds. Old police photographs show a solemn-looking hoodlum with an olive complexion, jet-black hair, dark brown eyes, and a scar running along his left cheekbone.

Tony Abate was not one of Detroit’s better-known mafiosi to the general public. But he was, nonetheless, a very devout hoodlum and racketeer who was respected by fellow Mafia members.

Criminal Career and Associates

His lengthy criminal record reportedly started with the Detroit Police Department in 1920. Over the years, it included arrests for such serious offenses as armed robbery, petty larceny, burglary, possession of burglar tools, liquor conspiracy, possession of deadly weapons, suspicious character, criminal investigation, first-degree murder, grand larceny, policy numbers, and other gambling charges.

By the 1930s, he and a fellow mafioso Sam Finazzo were partners operating the Roosevelt Democratic Club, located at 138 Columbia Street. This location was a notorious illegal after-hours nightclub and gambling den. Already an up-and-coming racketeer, Tony Abate installed another local hoodlum named Maxie Silk to manage the club.

Antonino Abate (1950s)

Other close associates over the years included the "creme de la creme" of Motor City’s criminal underworld, including such notorious characters as elder statemen Giovanni (Papa John) Priziola, Angelo Meli, Peter (Horse Face) Licavoli, Michael Rubino, Joseph Massei, Joseph (Scarface Joe) Bommarito, Joseph (Long Joe) Bommarito, Anthony Randazzo, Vincent (Jimmy) Randazzo, Samuel Lucido, Nicholas (Nick) Ditta, brothers Anthony (Tony Jack) and Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone, and boss Giuseppe (Joe Z) Zerilli himself. Each of these men were either key soldiers or represented the top hierarchy of Detroit’s Cosa Nostra.

Abate also maintained ties to the New York Mafia with such friends as Lucchese Family narcotics kingpin Giovanni (Big John) Ormento and other East Harlem hoodlums.

Family Ties

In October 1960, one of Abate’s sons married into the notorious Licavoli family. Angelo A. Abate became Pete Licavoli’s son-n-law. For Licavoli, a top Family caporegime, to encourage the marriage of his precious daughter Grace to young Angelo, you know that the groom’s father, Tony Abate, had to be a very respected and well-thought-of mafioso indeed.

More than 600 guests were said to have been invited to witness the nuptials at the church. And later, over 1000 guests arrived to celebrate a very elaborate wedding reception thrown by the proud father of the bride.

The entire fourth floor of the Sheraton-Cadillac Hotel was reportedly needed to accommodate the throng of guests, including the Grand Ballroom, the Crystal Ballroom, and the Founder’s Room. Hotel employees later estimated the wedding cost between $30,000 and $50,000. (A comparable wedding reception nowadays would cost approximately $900,000.)

Crimes and Business

Dating back to Abate’s early days, in October 1934, the then thirty-year-old Abate was arrested and charged with the shotgun killing of a Toledo, Ohio-based hoodlum-gambler named Jimmy Hayes after a verbal argument escalated into violence inside Abate’s nightclub. Witnesses and police later said that Abate opened up on Hayes with a 20-gauge scattergun, blasting him three times in the head and chest. He and his mob associates then dumped the hapless hood in a nearby alleyway.

Note: Years later, police said the real reason for Hayes’ murder was so that the Italian Mafia could seize control of his lucrative gambling rackets, which included several illegal casinos.

Police and the medical examiner's office said Jimmy Hayes had been ventilated with 26 shotgun pellets. Abate was subsequently charged with his murder, along with his partner Sam Finazzo. But both men were later acquitted after a well-publicized trial. Authorities described the victim as a major gambling racketeer himself with ownership in several illicit underground casino operations in Toledo and Cleveland.

1930s arrest (L-R) Sammy Lucido, Tony Abate, Nick Ditta, Phil Monzella.

By at least the early 1950s, Abate had gone into another business, a furniture and appliance business with two partners, a criminal associate of his named Marty Thomas, and fellow mafia soldier Tony Randazzo. The three hoodlums named the business the Uptown Furniture and Appliance Company, located at 14140 Harper Street.

Years later, Abate became the owner and operator of the Surf & Sands Motel, which was reported to be a profitable business located in Caseville, Michigan. This is where Tony could be found daily, running his business and his illegal gambling rackets.

Federal authorities said that Abate’s early career was spent as a major bootlegger and whiskey smuggler. But his primary criminal forte’ as an up-and-coming mafioso was always that of a strong-arm man and enforcer. The Detroit Police Department said that during the 1920s-1930s period of early gang warfare in the city, Abate was a key participant, antagonist, and gunman.

As he became better established in Detroit’s Mafia, he went into the gambling rackets , especially policy-numbers wheels and horse bookmaking which eventually became his main source of illicit income. Abate was also suspected of having dabbled in narcotics.

By the early 1960s, numerous informants had reported to their respective local and federal law enforcement handlers that Antonino Abate was a Mafia soldier in good standing within the Joseph Zerilli Crime Family .

In subsequent years, during various United States Senate Hearings held to investigate organized crime activity in the City of Detroit, Anthony “Tony the Chump” Abate was identified by both the FBI and the FBN (Federal Bureau of Narcotics) as a documented soldier in the Detroit Mafia.

Button Guys could find no official records or death notice that we deemed reliable regarding Antonino (Tony the Chump) Abate’s passing. Some sources say he died back in 1977, which would have made him approximately 73 years old. But it’s a safe assumption that he’s long dead. If Tony were alive today, he’d be 119 years old.

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

Racketeer Snapshot: Detroit Mafia Soldier “Tony the Chump” Abate

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Racketeer Snapshot: Detroit Mafia Soldier “Tony the Chump” Abate

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You May Also Enjoy

“Tony Whispers” DeStefano – Cosa Nostra Capo of Syracuse, NY

Big Seymour Siskind: The Jewish Mobster Who Thrived as a Master Trickster

Sharkey Ehrenreich – Buffalo’s Most Notorious Bookmaker

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