Dallas crime family

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The Dallas crime family, also known as the Civello crime family or the Dallas Mafia, was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Dallas, Texas.

Carlo Piranio, a native of Sicily, immigrated to the U.S. circa 1901 with his brother Joseph. They first settled in

Joseph Civello was born in 1902, in rural West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. He was the second child born to Philip and Catherine Civello. His father, a farm laborer, had been in the United States since 1900. The Civello family grew to include seven children. The family remained in West Baton Rouge until 1923, when Philip relocated the clan to Dallas and opened a grocery store.

Civello married in November 1929. He and his wife Mary moved into Philip Civello's home at 1902 Moser Avenue. Joseph worked as a salesman for his father's grocery store.^[2]

Law enforcement officers quickly became aware of Joseph Civello. He was convicted of Prohibition violations in 1926 and served forty days in jail. On July 12, 1928, Civello was again arrested on liquor charges. His arrest was part of a series of raids that nabbed a total of twenty-two suspected bootleggers around the city. Civello was arrested on St. Paul Street with two other men, Ernest Calchano and Joe DeCarlo. DeCarlo was an important bootlegger in the Dallas area and had recently begun refusing to send tribute payments to Carlo Piranio. Civello was selected to administer Mafia discipline.

Just two days after their arrest together, Civello and DeCarlo met inside the St. Paul Drugstore at the intersection of St. Paul and Bryan Streets. Civello happened to be carrying a loaded shotgun at the time. As the men stood close to each other, the shotgun went off. DeCarlo was shot in the stomach. Rather than flee, Civello remained with the mortally wounded DeCarlo, protesting that his weapon had fired by accident. DeCarlo, with his dying breath, confirmed Civello's story.

Civello was arrested and charged with murder. He continued to insist that the killing was accidental. A Dallas grand jury gave considerable weight to DeCarlo's dying statement. Within two days, Civello was released on his own recognizance. The grand jury continued its investigation into DeCarlo's death and decided on July 27 not to indict Civello.

After Civello's death in 1970, some law enforcement intelligence officers surmised that local restaurant owner Joseph Ianni, a long-time friend of Civello, became head of the organization. Ianni's only legal trouble was a 1946 liquor law violation and he was reported only to have nothing more than a "vague association" with Marcello. According to D Magazine, he "had fewer direct ties to New Orleans than Civello, only what some intelligence officers call 'friend of a friend of a friend' relationships".^[3]

• 1910–1930 – Carlo Piranio – died
• 1930–1956 – Joseph Piranio – died
• 1956–1970 – Joseph Civello – died
• 1970–1973 – Joseph Ianni – died
• 1973–1990 – Joseph "Papa Joe" Campisi – died

• 1921–1949 – Peter DeLuca – died
• 1949–1959 – Charles Satarino – died
• 1959–1973 – Joseph "Papa Joe" Campisi – became boss

• 1921–1925 – Chiro LaBarba – died
• 1925–1957 – Frank Ianni – died
• 1957–1966 – Rosario "Ross" Musso – died

• Benny Binion

General:

• Crime in Texas
• List of Italian Mafia crime families