Even though Black Jim Collett would eventually become boss of the Colorado Crime Family, he started his career in New York City.
He became acquainted with and allied with top members of the Salvatore Maranzano/Joseph Bonanno family. He and boss Joe Bonanno would maintain close ties for the rest of their lives, even partnering in a business together.
And he was even one of the 62 mobsters captured at the infamous Apalachin meeting in Upstate New York in 1957.
