Few organized crime groups in the history of the United States have ever permeated their landscape as deeply and pervasively as the Kansas City Outfit, or more approximately, the Civella Family of Cosa Nostra did.
Led by boss Nicholas Civella, the criminal network he inherited from his predecessors had always been an underworld powerhouse. Starting with Giuseppe (Scarface Joe) Di Giovanni, generally considered to have been the founding “father” of this Sicilian borgata, and his brother and aide, Pietro (Sugarhouse Pete) Di Giovanni, this Mafia Family was extremely successful at capturing and then plundering the City of Kansas City and its outer environs for close to a century.
What follows is a systematic breakdown and surgical-like description of how this criminal network accomplished this feat.
And as the title of this story implies, these mafiosi were equal parts smart, savvy, and deadly as the need arose. These intelligent racketeers became master manipulators and the puppet masters of the city’s top politicians and key government employees, the labor unions that served their membership, and the overwhelming majority of related industries and businesses falling under their purview. Not to mention the vast criminal underworld rackets operating there.
Although this expose is quite in-depth and thoroughly researched, admittedly, to their credit, this story still only skims the surface of what the Kansas City Outfit was truly able to accomplish during their time in power.
Connections in High Places
Dating back to the days when Thomas Joseph Pendergast, better known as T.J. Pendergast, ruled as the political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri with an iron fist, the local underworld has always maintained a toehold in the area’s politics.
From 1925 until 1939, Pendergast ruled the roost. During his political reign, he made sure to kick the doors wide open for criminals and other unsavory types who were willing to grease his palm and further his corrupt nefarious goals.
Although he only officially held office as an A]alderman for a brief period of time, he later became the chairman of the Jackson County Democratic Party, which allowed him to control elections of candidates to public office.
Through voter fraud, patronage jobs, and no-bid public works contracts he awarded to “friendly” contractors, he became a very wealthy man.
