Frank (Cowboy) Ippolito

Frank Ippolito was a longtime soldier of the Santo Trafficante Family in Tampa, Florida. He was a central player in the Tampa family’s control over the area’s gambling rackets .

He was specifically said to be involved in helping to oversee large-scale horse and sports bookmaking, an Italian lottery racket , and a major Bolita lottery operation said to be very popular among Tampa’s many Cuban immigrants .

Frank (Cowboy) Ippolito - aka Francesco Ippolito Jr. (TN) - was born on April 16, 1921, in Tampa, Florida. He was one of ten children born to Sicilian immigrants Francesco and Mattia (nee’ Cacciatore) Ippolito. He was raised and reared in Tampa.

Frank Ippolito

When Ippolito came of age, he married a non-Italian girl named Ester Jacqueline Ward. But he still continued to reside with his new bride in the same small, unassuming family home of his youth in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa at 2412 9th Avenue. Soon, Frank and Ester started a family of their own, giving birth to a son and daughter, Frank Jr. and Frances.

Frank Ippolito stood about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed a solid 200 pounds. As a kid, he started out with a full head of black hair, but by his mid-thirties, he had turned mostly bald. He had brown eyes.

FBI #3631483, Tampa-PD #65949

By the time he was 22 years old, Frank Ippolito had started what would later become a lengthy criminal record.

From 1943 forward, he racked up arrests for assault and battery, vagrancy, breaking and entering (burglary,) failure to assist a police officer, gambling, illegal use of a facility in interstate commerce, bookmaking (twice,) and operating an illegal Bolita lottery (twice.)

His rap sheet eventually grew to eight pages long. The Tampa City Police Department identified him as a direct subordinate of underboss Francesco (Daddy Frank) Diecidue. He was also said to sometimes serve as a driver and bodyguard for Enrico (Henry) Trafficante, the brother of family boss Santo Trafficante Jr.

Among Frank Ippolito's other criminal associates, authorities named Augustine Primo Lazzara, Giuseppe (Joe) Scaglione, Frank Trafficante, Antonio and Frank Diecidue, Joseph (Jojo) Cacciatore, Frank Cacciatore, Augustine Friscia , Angelo Bedami, and William Savarino. Documented mafiosi, one and all.

Frank Ippolito was said to be a central player in the Tampa family’s control over the area’s gambling rackets. He was specifically said to be involved in helping to oversee large-scale horse and sports bookmaking, an Italian lottery racket, and a major Bolita lottery operation said to be very popular among Tampa’s many Cuban immigrants. He was also suspected of being a narcotics trafficker.

Authorities initially listed Frank Ippolito as having never been legitimately employed at any job or legal business. He was also known to most often hang around a local poolroom located at 1120 Grand Central Avenue, the nearby Columbia Restaurant, and the Yellow House Bar where he conducted his criminal businesses. Each of these locations was known to be under the direct ownership or control of various Trafficante family members.

But by the early 1960s, Ippolito was thought to have become a part-owner of La Tropicana, a local restaurant serving Cuban and Italian fare. This location was also suspected of serving as a base for Ippolito’s gambling activities in partnership with Henry Trafficante.

In subsequent years, he was instrumental in starting up two additional food and entertainment venues, the Club Italia and the San Souci.

In 1970, Frank Ippolito and fellow mafioso Frank Cacciatore were nailed by the authorities on interstate gambling charges relating to their operation of a bookmaking business that used the Western Union Telegram Service. They were also nailed for operating a ticker-tape ’wire service’ to book and record the results of baseball bets and other types of sports wagering.

Unfortunately, years later his beloved son Frank Jr. was shot dead in 1993 while attempting to rob an armored truck carrying a large payroll. His beloved wife Ester, his spouse of fifty-one years, had died only one year earlier, in 1992.

I’m sure these two losses broke the old man’s heart. But regardless of any personal heartache and despite having a faulty ticker for many years, Frank (Cowboy) Ippolito did pretty well for himself.

He died on April 17, 2008, just one day after his family celebrated Frank’s birthday. Cowboy had just turned 87 years old.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Frank (Cowboy) Ippolito

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Frank (Cowboy) Ippolito

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