Anthony Giordano – St. Louis Crime Family Boss

Anthony Giordano was the boss of the St. Louis crime family based in St. Louis, Missouri .

Starting out as a street thug and strong-arm man during the 1930s and early 1940s, Giordano gained a reputation as one of St. Louis’ top hoodlums and racketeers by the early 1950s.

Learn more about Anthony Giordano in this Racketeer Snapshot.

Anthony Giordano - Early Life

Anthony Rico (Tony G) Giordano - aka Anthony Giardano, Anthony Giordana - was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 24, 1914.

Tony was one of six children of Vincent and Mary Giordano. He had two brothers named Joseph and Samuel, and three sisters - Pearl Tocco, Josephine Trupiano, and Phyllis Fontana.

Anthony (Tony G) Giordano

Tony married a non-Italian local girl named Catherine Burns, and by the 1950s, he had bought a private residence for them at 6901 Roland Boulevard in St. Louis.

At some point, the couple was said to have adopted a son they named William. Tony and his family would reside in this home for many years to come.

Giordano stood about 5-feet 8-inches tall and weighed a stocky 185 pounds. He had a full head of jet-black hair he swept back, blue eyes, and a dark Mediterranean complexion. He also sported a tattoo on his right arm.

FBI #1624141, St. Louis PD #43407

Street Thug and Strong-Arm Man

Starting out as a street thug and strong-arm man during the 1930s and early 1940s, Giordano gained a reputation as one of St. Louis’ top hoodlums and racketeers by the early 1950s.

He was suspected to have been formally inducted as a Mafia member into the St. Louis “Family” by the time he was in his early thirties, around the mid to late 1940s.

By at least the mid-1950s, he was thought to have taken over as the official “boss” of Cosa Nostra in St. Louis. In later years, he brought his nephew Mathew (Mike) Trupiano into the fold and tutored him for an eventual succession to the Family hierarchy.

Giordano’s criminal record dates back to 1938 when he was only twenty-four years old.

His first recorded arrest was for carrying concealed weapons and robbery. In subsequent years, he added to his anti-social register with arrests for assault, armed holdups, income-tax evasion, counterfeiting tax stamps, and gambling. On the charge of counterfeiting, he was later convicted and sentenced in 1956 to serve four years in the Federal Penitentiary.

Some years later, during the 1970s, Giordano would be indicted once again.

This time around he was charged along with top members of Detroit’s Zerilli Family with conspiracy and Federal income-tax evasion for “skimming” gambling profits off the tables of several major Las Vegas Casinos. He was later convicted of these charges at trial and served several more years before bars.

The Most Important Members

Over the years, the FBI documented Giordano’s closest criminal associates as virtually every important member of the St. Louis Family, including former boss Vincenzo Chiapetta, future bosses John (Johnny V) Vitale and Anthony (Tony the Pip) Lopiparo, Ralph (Shorty) Caleca, Anthony Miceli, Vincenzo (Sugar Vince) Filippello, and Anthony Rizzo.

He was also reportedly closely affiliated with top figures of the Detroit Family such as capos Raffaele (Jimmy Q) Quasarano and Michael (Big Mike) Polizzi; the Kansas City Family through boss Nicholas (Nick) Civella, brothers Joe and Mike Lascuola, and brothers Frank and Joe DeLuca; Sam Vitale of the Marcello Family of New Orleans, Louisiana; and former Detroit capo Francesco (Three-Finger Frank) Coppola, who was later deported back to his native Sicily.

A Monopoly on Vending Machines

During the early 1950s, Giordano, Vitale, and their top men started to infiltrate the coin-operated vending machine and jukebox business in St. Louis. Within a few years, the Giordano Family had succeeded in creating somewhat of a monopoly over the local vending machine industry.

Subsequently, for many years to come, Giordano listed his business and employment as the Anthony Novelty Company, located at 3401 Kienlen in St. Louis County. MO. He also operated a second firm from this address, Anthony Discount Company. Underboss/Acting Boss John J. Vitale was partnered with Giordano in these two businesses.

Giordano was known to also hold ownership interests in several other business firms. These included his partnership with Anthony Lopiparo in the Greene Fluorspar Mining Company in Elizabethtown, Illinois, and the Twin-City Distributing Company in St. Louis in partnership with fellow mafiosi Ralph Caleca and Anthony Lopiparo.

Although the Anthony Giordano Family operated continuously for decades as an autonomous borgata, some say this particular Family remained somewhat subservient to and took counsel from Detroit’s Joe Zerilli Family and Kansas City Outfit boss Nick Civella.

It’s also believed that boss Joseph Zerilli represented Anthony Giordano and his borgata before the Mafia Commission based in New York.

After many successful years steering the Cosa Nostra ship for the St. Louis Mafia, Family boss Anthony Giordano passed away in August 1980. He was only sixty-five years old.

Until next time…”The Other Guy!”

Anthony Giordano – St. Louis Crime Family Boss

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Anthony Giordano – St. Louis Crime Family Boss

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You May Also Enjoy

Racketeer Snapshot: Connecticut’s Frank (The Cigar) Piccolo

The Anthony Strollo Regime of NY/NJ

The Day Charlie (the Bug) Workman Saved a Horse

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