Calogero Blanda – aka “Charles Blanda” – was born to Italian immigrant parents in the town of Ames, Iowa on November 2, 1899.
At some point in his early adult life, Blanda relocated to the State of Colorado and settled in the City of Pueblo. This is where he would eventually get married and raise a family, conduct his criminal affairs, and remain for the rest of his life.
Charlie was built like a fireplug. He stood a mere 5-feet 5-inches tall but weighed in at a stocky 180 to 200 pounds. He sported dark brown eyes and hair and had a dark-olive complexion.
For many years, he lived in a very unassuming, small modest home with his wife Cora and their son at 1104 Carteret Street in Pueblo.
FBI # 379778, Denver-PD # 14562
But during his rise within Colorado’s underworld, Blanda would invest and accumulate a string of profitable legitimate businesses including The Five Queens Nightclub, the Jiffy Automatic Car Wash, and Spinuzzi Brothers Plumbing Company, all of which were located in Pueblo.
He often conducted underworld activities and directed his mafia underlings from The Coffee Pot Cafe, one of his favorite daily haunts which was owned by a fellow Mafia member and close associate of his named Joseph “Scotty” Spinuzzi.
Blanda’s criminal record commenced way back in 1915 at the tender age of only sixteen when he was picked up on a burglary charge.
During those early years, he was arrested numerous other times for burglaries, attempted burglary, possession of burglar tools, various heists, petty larcenies, and grand larcenies.
Then, in 1953, he served three years in Federal Prison after being convicted on an income-tax evasion charge.
By the 1950s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had already identified Charlie Blanda as the second-in-command or underboss to longtime Colorado Family Mafia leader Vincenzo (Black Jim) Colletti.
Over the years, Charlie numbered among his closer associates most notorious hoodlums and racketeers operating across the State of Colorado including fellow mafiosi Rosario (Bobby) Dionisio, Donato (Danny) Colletti, the aforementioned Spinuzzi and his brother Anthony (The Turk) Spinuzzi, Frank (Blackie) Mazza, Vincenzo (Jimmy) Spinelli, Joseph (Ram) Salardino, Thomas (Whiskers) Incerto, and the three notorious Smaldone brothers of based in the City of Denver.
Together with his boss “Black Jim” Colletti and help from other hierarchy leaders like Dionisio, Spinelli, Clyde (Flip Flop) Smaldone and his kid brother Eugene (Checkers) Smaldone, Blanda and the crew reportedly maintained tight control over Colorado’s underworld rackets which included gambling, narcotics distribution, illegal alcohol sales, jukebox and coin-machine monopolies.
Until next time…”The Other Guy”
