Kansas city old timer Gaetano Lococo

  Kansas City old timer Gaetano "Tano" Lococo (1895-1993)

1930s-1940s mugshot

Born in Missouri on 01/03/1895 to Ignatius Lococo and Angelene Caroline Matrascia, both from the Termini Imerese commune of Palermo, Sicily. Gaetano would marry Edith Gargotta in 1919, with both recorded as living at 346 South Jackson Avenue, Benton 1502. The pair would have two daughters, Carolina Lococo and Santa Lococo, who would marry Edward John Bruni, a restaurateur from Pennsylvania. Lococo's sister Justina was also the mother of James Duardi, a suspected member, world war two veteran and long time career criminal heavily involved with the Kansas city family.

Newspaper reel of the infamous 1933 shootout involving Tano, Gargotta and others.

Much of Gaetano's police records from the 1920s to the 1930s are lost, due to the level of corruption and infiltration of the police and local government by the mafia during this time. But per a 1950 memorandum profile on Lococo, police and FBI officials believed that Gaetano had risen through a 'stormtrooper squad' of enforcers who violently enforced the syndicates' power. Likely made in the late 1920s, Gaetano would be infamously involved in the August 12th, 1933, assassination turned gun battle, which would pit a syndicate hit squad comprised of Gaetano, Charles Gargotta, Gus Fasone and Sam Scola against Sheriff Thomas B. Bash and Deputy Sheriff Lawrence Hodges. Ferris Anthon, a bootlegger, had been the original victim of the hit; however, Hodges and Bashes' arrival had turned a clean hit into a bloody gunbattle that left Scola and Fasone dead while Gargotta was caught at the scene with Gaetano escaping.

Scene of the car in which Scola and Fasone were killed

Gaetano would move into the gambling business with Charles Binaggio and Charles Carollo in the rackets during this time, partnering up with associates of Binaggio in a wire racing service while entering into a bingo joint with Charles Carollo, where they had essentially muscled a California-based Jewish gambling figure out of it under the threat of death. Notably, Lococo was also involved in the labour rackets side, bombing his own athletics club to collect on insurance. The man he hired for the job, an Italian by the name of Tony Miceli, snitched and was promptly murdered after leaving prison in 1930.Gaetano would also serve as a financier of the narcotics ring ran by the Deluca brothers, which generated millions of dollars in revenue from heroin smuggled in from Asia until it was brought down in 1942 by FBI efforts which dismantled the ring.

Mugshot of Charles Binaggio and Charles Carrollo

Wealthy from his rackets, Lococo would invest in a large farm and buy up property in Nogales, Arizona and homes in Mexico. He'd buy the El Reposa Hotel in Nogales, posing as a retired businessman, and he'd spend much of his winter time in Arizona and Mexico
to treat an arthritic condition while spending the remainder of the year otherwise in Kansas City. Interestingly, Gaetano is accused of involvement in smuggling while based out of Nogales, Arizona, but nothing much develops from this accusation, and it appears that Gaetano does not face any convictions or further police interest in the future.

El Reposa Hotel

Present at a mafia drug summit in Tijuana shortly before the murder of KC boss Charlie Binaggio and his underboss Charles Gargotta, Gaetano Lococo is accused of involvement in the planning and participation in their murder, with James Duardi, the son of his sister Justina Lococo Duardi, also being a person of interest in multiple gang murders at the time. An alibi saves Lococo from being picked up in relation to the two Charlies' murders, with police unable to link him to the dropped gun left at the scene by the gunman. Though they couldn't get him for the murders, his history of not paying tax would soon catch up. Called in to court for questioning in May of 1950, Lococo would soon be convicted for tax charges in September of the same year, with Lococo owing authorities a sum of 64,661 dollars. Lococo would be forced to sell much of his homes and businesses to pay it back while facing a two-year sentence.

 Gaetano Lococo and Edward Osadchey left and right at a May 1950 court hearing

Maintaining a relatively low profile for the rest of the 1950s going into the early 1960s, Gaetano and multiple other mafiosi would again be called in to testify before a grand jury in 1961 on matters related to gambling and mafia activity in the Kansas City area. Gaetano would spend a total of five minutes before the jury before leaving the courtroom. He’d spend time around Gaetano's restaurant, a restaurant run by his son-in-law and named after him, attempting in 1963 to obtain a liquor license for the place, which proved difficult due to his felon status. Gaetano appears to have maintained an advisor-like role, much like fellow old timers Joseph Filardo and Joseph Cusumano and remained close to the family throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Noted to have met William Cammisano Sr. in 1973 at one of Cammisano's workplaces, much of the subject matter is redacted regarding the purpose of these meetings, and the informant notes the strangeness of Lococo meeting with Cammisano. Much like Filardo, who had health issues, Lococo would also be in the hospital at various points during the 1970s and 1980s, yet maintained an advisory role.

1961 photo of Gaetano Lococo awaiting court trial and a photo of his namesake restaurant

Gaetano would pass away in 1993 at the age of 98, the last of the iron men of Kansas City and a figure that had seen nearly every phase of the Kansas City Borgatas' history. Rosary service would be held at Sebbeto funeral home, a place once ran by former Kansas City captain figure Joseph Carolla who’d proceded Gaetano in death years prior. Notably these were the pallbearers at his funeral, many of whom were sons and associates of Kansas City members.

Pallbearers of interest at Lococos funeral

1. Joseph Pete Simone son of Pete Simone a big gambling figure and later administration face.
2. Dr James DiRenna Jr, son of James DiRenna Sr a doctor and person noted in some lists as being a Kansas City mafioso.
3. Vince Civella, son of Anthony Civella a heavyweight Kansas City member and later boss.
4. Vincent Cammisano, oldest son of Kansas City enforcer and boss William Cammisano Sr.

Obituary notice.