The old Joseph Zerilli Family of Detroit, Michigan has the well-deserved reputation of having operated for many years as a low-key and lucrative criminal network.
Over the years, the legendary Joseph (Joe Uno) Zerilli and his brother-in-law and partner, underboss Guglielmo (Black Bill) Tocco, painstakingly developed and structured a close-knit “Family” of loyal members and associates that worked like a well-oiled machine for upwards of a half-century.
The men brought into the official ranks of what was to become known as the “Detroit Partnership” would loyally serve the Zerilli Family over the years. This, in turn, allowed their borgata to generally maintain their rackets and business operations without excessive bloodshed and the constant interruptions brought on by criminal investigations of the local police department and other law enforcement agencies.
The men Zerilli and Tocco selected to head up the various Family crews were chosen carefully. Over the years, these capos groomed select crew associates and later “tapped” them for formal membership into the ranks as newly minted “soldiers” after observing them for lengthy periods. These “sponsored” hoodlums became the new “recruits” for the Zerilli Family’s rank-and-file.
Those chosen were men with a long history of serving faithfully and unfailingly, adhering to the leadership’s directives and objectives.
Although Joe Zerilli’s Family was only considered medium-sized by Cosa Nostra standards, with a suspected inducted membership of approximately 50 to 60 soldiers, they were a tight-knit bunch and a force to be reckoned with who ruled their Detroit fiefdom with an iron fist.
Besides Zerilli and Tocco themselves, the Detroit Family was staffed with such seasoned and capable men as Giovanni (Papa John) Priziola, Angelo Meli, and Pete Licavoli, who were all respected old-timers serving in senior advisory positions similar to that of consiglieri, constituting what amounted to the Detroit Mafia’s “Ruling Council.”
Directly underneath them was a small cadre of loyal “capo di decina,” or section leaders, who ran the actual regimes active throughout Detroit and its outer suburbs. These men included such notorious mafioso as Pietro (Machine-Gun Pete) Corrado, Raffaele (Jimmy Q) Quasarano, Anthony (Tony Jack) Giacalone and his brother Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone, Michael (Big Mike) Polizzi, and several others.
One such man was Michael Rubino, better known throughout the Detroit underworld as “Mike the Enforcer.” Born in Detroit on February 26, 1911, Rubino allegedly first cut his teeth under the guidance and tutelage of notorious Detroit powerhouse, Peter (Horseface) Licavoli.
