One of the quietest and least publicized organized crime networks was headed by a shadowy mafioso named Francesco (Frank I) Iaconi, who ruled over the City of Worcester, Massachusetts, beginning in the early 1920s.
With a population of 185,000, Worcester is the second-most populated city in New England after Boston. When the greater metropolitan area is considered, its total population exceeds 900,000. Located smack dab in the middle of the state, Worcester was and is one of the most vibrant sections of Massachusetts.
Technically, Frank Iaconi was a “Capo di Decina” of New York’s Luciano/Genovese Family. He was one of a dozen sub-leaders who controlled various “regimes” within the Family. But because he was given sole control over the entire City of Worcester, Iaconi was generally viewed as a Mafia “boss” in his own right.
Iaconi started bootlegging whiskey during Prohibition in the early 1920s and continued until The Volstead Act was finally repealed in 1933.
Thereafter, Iaconi and his men seamlessly transitioned full-time into the gambling rackets. This included a large-scale illegal lottery operation, as well as floating dice and card games, bookmaking, and Las Vegas-style slot machines, placed all over Worcester through a coin-vending machine company he owned, which served as a “front.”
