Alfred Polizzi

Alfred "The Owl" Polizzi (1900-1994) was a Cleveland, Ohio mobster who helped establish criminal syndicate operations in Northeast Ohio.

Born in Sicily, Polizzi immigrated as a child to the United States with his family in 1900. During the 1920s and 30s, Polizzi worked with his brother Joseph Polizzi, Antonio Milano, and Moe Dalitz. By 1935, Polizzi ruled the Cleveland rackets.

In 1944, Polizzi was convicted of tax evasion. Around that time, he moved to Coral Gables, Florida . At one point, Senate investigators characterized Polizzi as "...one of the most influential members of the underworld of the United States. By the 1970's, his influence reportedly extended from Ohio to Central Florida and Southern California during Peter Milano's leadership of the Los Angeles crime family.

Alfred Polizzi died in 1994.

Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
Fried, Albert. The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. ISBN 0-23109683-6
Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
Jacobs, James B., Christopher Panarella and Jay Worthington. Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra. New York: NYU Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8147-4230-0
Johnson, Curt and R. Craig Sautter. The Wicked City: Chicago from Kenna to Capone. New York: Da Capo Press, 1998. ISBN 0-306-80821-8
Reppetto, Thomas A. American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2004. ISBN 0-8050-7798-7
Porrello, Rick. To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia. Novelty, Ohio: Next Hat Press, 2004. ISBN 0-9662508-9-3
Schatzberg, Rufus, Robert J.Kelly and Ko-lin Chin, ed. Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994. ISBN 0-313-28366-4

References

Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3

Further reading

References