Los Angeles mobster Charles Battaglia and his wife extorted and bombed their way through Tucson.
Charlie Batts’ niece was getting married.
Charles “Batts” Battaglia, the notorious Los Angeles mobster, lived with his parents in North Hollywood, California.[1] They’d moved west from Charles’ native Buffalo, New York around the end of World War II with his youngest brother, John, and his wife and children. Around the same time the Battaglias moved to L.A., their two eldest sisters, Anna and Celia, moved to Arizona.
Anna and Celia Battaglia were married to brothers Tony and Tom Telesco. The brothers worked as a grocer and a clerk in Buffalo, but they reinvented themselves as the premiere home builders of Tucson, Arizona.
Miss Dolores Telesco, the daughter of Anna and Anthony Telesco, was engaged to marry a few years after the family moved to Arizona. Originally, the wedding was planned for spring of 1951, but the couple were married at Christmas, 1950.[2] Among the guests were her grandmother, Mrs. Charles Battaglia (her grandfather did not attend), and her uncle and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Battaglia, all of whom lived in Hollywood. I can’t find any other evidence of Charlie “Batts,” who would become a made man in a couple of years, having married anyone by 1950.
Battaglia was regularly stopped by Los Angeles police, and once, in 1948, was found guilty of bookmaking. His activity in Tucson appears to have begun in 1951, with his connection to his brothers-in-law’s Tucson development company. He continued to be active in Los Angeles—he was made into the Family in 1952—with regular mentions in the news as a notorious hoodlum, questioned in connection with everything from suspicious banking practices to murder.[3]
Battaglia’s break with the Los Angeles Family began in 1956. A 1959 article included his home address at 6248 Vineyard (actually Vineland Avenue, his parents’ address) in North Hollywood and the name of the Triple H Guest Ranch in Tucson where Battaglia reportedly stayed when in town.[4] In 1964, it was still being reported that Battaglia divided his time between the two cities.[5]
In the late 1950s through December 1960, the former Detroit gangster Pete Licavoli was in prison for income tax evasion. “Two Tonys”—a confidential source of Mafia blogger Shaun P. Attwood—claims that Battaglia and the Bonannos were skimming Licavoli’s Tucson businesses during this time, partly by intimidating or fooling Licavoli’s agent, Joe Hootner.[6] (Attwood is an unreliable reporter—he ran an ecstasy ring in Arizona and is banned from the US for life—but parts of his story that check out have been included here with this caveat.) Hootner disappeared soon after.
In June 1959, Charles took police on a high-speed chase across the Arizona desert and was arrested. About nine months later, Douglas Battaglia, the son of Charles Battaglia and Joyce Marie Estes, died at three days of age. Joyce had another baby boy in January 1961. He’s recorded as the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Battaglia, who resided at the same address as when their first son was born, 1738 W. Lester Street.[7]
Joyce Estes had a daughter from a previous relationship, called Ginger (or more often, “Jinger.”) Jinger was born Virginia Antoinette Bishop (1954-2000), though she later used the name Jinger Battaglia.[8] She was the only child of her mother’s first marriage, to Willard “Bruce” Bishop (1930-2009).[9]
Joyce was called Battaglia’s wife at her brother’s wedding in May 1964, where Charles was an attendant to the groom.[10] She continued to be called his wife through 1968-69 in reporting on her workplaces being bombed: first the Wig, a salon where she was a receptionist, was targeted, and then the Old Heidelberg, a restaurant/nightclub where she worked as a cashier.[11]
Peter Licavoli, Sr. established a residence in Tucson in 1945.[12] He used blind trusts—Arizona was one of the only states that offered these—to hide his involvement in a variety of businesses and properties. By the late 1960s, he’d embarked on a campaign to legitimize his holdings. He was approaching retirement and wanted to leave his son a clean legacy. An FBI memo from 1970 provides some hints that among Licavoli’s interests in Tucson were night spots, restaurants and bowling alleys. According to the memo, Licavoli offered one confidential informant furnishings for a bar he was planning to open.[13] In 1972, Licavoli’s hidden interests in Emprise, a Buffalo, New York-based company, were revealed and the company was convicted for concealing ownership stakes of gambling interests.[14]
According to local police, a war for domination of the coin-operated vending and gaming machine business in Tucson led to a series of bombings.[15] The vending industry has been tied to organized crime and strong arm tactics in a number of cities: I’ve written about their importance in the Seattle, Washington and Springfield, Massachusetts area rackets. The first targets in Tucson were businesses that made the mistake of refusing their equipment offers. A restaurant on the East Side, Paulos’ Steak & Chop House, was bombed twice in six months using dynamite.[16] (Dynamite is associated with copper mining, one of the major industries in the Tucson area.)
That this was something of a proxy war becomes more evident when we learn that one of the explosions, in July 1964, destroyed the roof of Tucson Vending.[17] It might be necessary to remind readers that bombings are not the typical modus operandi of lawful business owners. The scale and evident purpose of the explosions signalled to law enforcement the involvement of career criminals: people who don’t shy away from bombings, beatings, and murder. The Tucson chief of police kept close track of the movements of known gangsters from other cities.
At the urging of law enforcement, the city of Tucson enacted a law requiring all coin-operated vending machines to have identifying labels connecting them with their owners. Just before the new law went into effect, but a few months after their roof was bombed, Tucson Vending owner Salvatore Spinelli handed over the company to one of its employees, the 21-year old brother-in-law of Charles Battaglia, T. K. Estes.[18] Estes went on to ignore the city ordinance until police confiscated several of his machines and the city court issued a fine.[19]
Charles was in trouble again for traffic offenses in the summer of 1964. After being caught speeding once again in an automobile leased to the Tucson Vending & Amusement Company, he was arrested and freed on bond.[20] His past traffic convictions—failing to yield, failing to stop, and speeding offenses, all in the previous year, added up to enough points to potentially suspend his license.[21] In court, his case was reviewed and his license suspended for three months.[22] He got a hearing before a review board and argued that he needed his driver’s license to work as a sales representative for Tucson Vending. Two weeks after it was suspended, his license was reinstated.[23]
Charles Battaglia and the Bonannos disappeared in October. Battaglia came home to his family in Tucson at Christmas, a few days after it was rumored that he’d been killed.[24] He was soon back in New York City facing a federal grand jury for questioning in the disappearance of his colleagues, who remained missing.[25]
In January, one of the witnesses subpoenaed to appear before the federal grand jury in Tucson was Anthony Telesco, reportedly a former contact man for the vending machine firm.[26] Battaglia’s brother-in-law had moved on from construction into owning recreational venues like bars and bowling alleys.[27]
In March 1965, Battaglia, Estes, and Spinelli were arrested and charged by a federal grand jury with obstruction of interstate commerce through force and threats of violence.[28] They were indicted on federal charges of forcing Jerome C. Greenwell and Ida Chapman, the operator and manager, respectively, of Diamond Pin Lanes, to install one of their coin-operated pool tables.[29] Battaglia’s lawyers were able to get his trial delayed due to his poor health. Estes and Spinelli were tried together and acquitted in December 1965.[30]
Charles Battaglia (center) and T K Estes (right). Source: Suspects in extortion case freed on bail. (1965, March 7). Arizona Daily Star. P. 1.
In 1971, Joyce and her old boss at the Wig, Charles S. Antonick, were arrested for extortion.[31] A couple years earlier, Joyce had become a close friend of Doris Gale Patty. Patty thought Joyce and her kids were new arrivals in Tucson; in truth she’d lived there for more than a decade. Mrs. Patty reported seeing Joseph Bonanno Sr. on a number of occasions meeting with Joyce Battaglia and giving her packets of hundred dollar bills: her husband’s share of rackets which Bonanno continued to direct. The business partners quarreled, however, when Battaglia tried to conduct a takeover from prison, and the money stopped.[32]
Soon after they became friends, Patty’s husband, Ted Ehney, bought the American Beauty College. Joyce loaned him money, and also to Donald Lee Brost, who operated the Old Heidelberg. Antonick, who sometimes worked as a roofer, used credible threats of violence to collect from Joyce’s clients at extortionate rates.[33]
Joyce worked for Brost as his cashier. When the Wig changed hands after it was bombed, Salvatore Spinelli changed the hair salon’s name to the Salon de Paris. The building remained the property of Charles Antonick.[34] It was bombed again while Spinelli was the business owner. Antonick was investigated the first time the Wig was attacked, suspected of causing the damage for an insurance payout, but he was acquitted. Spinelli went on to operate a bar on Tanque Verde, but had moved to Albuquerque by the following January when a federal jury convened in Tucson and desired his testimony.[35]
It became clear that while Charles Battaglia was serving time for extortion, Joyce was transitioning to a new relationship with her husband, both privately and criminally. She testified to visiting him in Leavenworth and ordering him to call off a hit on Antonick, threatening to reveal her husband’s other rackets.[36] A month after their arrest, the police chief publicly criticized the county attorney’s office for failing to prosecute Joyce Battaglia and Charles Antonick. Someone working in the office leaked that they were afraid of Antonick suing them personally if they filed charges.[37]
Charles Steven Antonick and Joyce Battaglia. Source: Heltsley, E. (1971, February 25). Mrs. Battaglia held on extortion charges. The Arizona Daily Star. P. 17.
Before going away in 1968 for a ten-year federal sentence, Charles Battaglia put his Tucson properties—including the home he and Joyce once shared on Lester Ave, and Joyce’s mother’s house at 6161 E. Fairmount Street—into a real estate trust managed by another of Joyce’s brothers, David “Kit” Estes, their mother, Virginia K. Estes, and an unrelated couple, the Leonards.[38] Donald and Viola Leonard owned some local night spots but don’t seem to have had any other connections either to the Estes family or with organized crime. When Battaglia was released in June 1973 on furlough pending his official parole, he filed to put the properties back in his own name. That same day, his wife filed for divorce.[39]
Jinger’s younger brother, born in 1961, is called Charles S. Antonick, Jr. today, though he has also been known as Charles Battaglia. He was named in Battaglia’s obituary along with his two children from his second marriage.
Charles married for the last time to Sharon. (Confusingly, Charles’ brother, John, has a daughter named Sharon who is a year older than Charles’ wife, as well as an ex-wife named Joyce who is close in age to Estes.) Sharon was called Charles’ ex-wife in April 1981, but in his obituary, two years later, she was called his surviving spouse.[40]
Joyce Estes’ new husband, Charles S. Antonick, Sr., formerly the muscle in their extortion racket, was seriously injured in a train collision in 1981.[41] Joyce and Charles Antonick divorced in 1984.[42] Charles Antonick, Sr. died in 2007.[43] Joyce died in 2019 at the age of 85.[44]
Jinger, who grew up as the stepdaughter of first Charles Battaglia, then Charles Antonick, married three times, first in 1974 to Robert Sortelli.[45] A couple months after her stepfather’s accident in 1981, two men were arrested for forcing their way into a third man’s home at gunpoint and demanding cocaine.[46] One of the arrestees was Joseph Tupper, who gave the Antonick family residence as his address. The other was Kevin J. Bonner, a convicted burglar, living at Virginia Estes’ former residence on Fairmount.[47] A month later, Kevin and Jinger were married.[48] Jinger married again in 1996 to Jack Wojton (or Wolton).[49] She died in 2000.[50]
Charles pleaded guilty to mail fraud in a real estate scheme in 1979 and served one year of a three-year sentence.[51] He died on 27 May 1983 following a heart attack in his home in Tucson.[52] He was 66.
[1] New suspect held in gang slayings. (1951, August 12). The Los Angeles Times .P. 2.
[2] Miss Telesco, Evan Morris repeat vows. (1950, December 31). Arizona Daily Star. P. 17.
[3] Dancer hunted in gang slayings. (1952, November 21). The Los Angeles Times. Pp. 1, 16; Gangster jailed for assault. (1954, July 22). Pasadena Star-News. P. 15; 70 sorprendidos al dedicarse a juegos de azar. (1955, February 20). La Opinión [Los Angeles, CA]. P. 3; Nab Louis Battaglia at airport in Dallas. (1958, January 28). Los Angeles Mirror. P. 5; Battaglia has court date on traffic count. (1964, June 3). Tucson Citizen. P. 15.
[4] ‘Wolfing’ brings police checkup. (1948, June 11). The Los Angeles Times. P. 5; “Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHN-PQH7-19TV-J?view=explore : Mar 16, 2026), image 25 of 43; National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 108823440; New suspect held in gang slayings. (1951, August 12). The Los Angeles Times .P. 2; Evans, G. (1959, June 25). Speeding woes trail Battaglia. Tucson Citizen. P. 1.
[5] Battaglia has court date on traffic count. (1964, June 3). Tucson Citizen. P. 15.
[6] Attwood, S. P. (2008, April 24). Two Tonys solves the murder of Joe Hootner. Jon’s Jail Journal (By Shaun Attwood). Accessed 14 March 2026 at https://jonsjailjournal.blogspot.com/2008/04/24-apr-08-two-tonys-solves-murder-of.html
[7] Births. (1961, January 9). Tucson Citizen. P. 3.
[8] Schwab dance group performs for guests. (1960, February 26). Arizona Daily Star. P. 30.
[9] Public records. (1957, January 12). Arizona Daily Star. P. 8; Public records. (1957, February 12). Arizona Daily Star. P. 10; Slessor, G. (1964, November 5). Mrs. Battaglia: ‘I’m praying.’ Tucson Citizen. P. 21; Funeral notices. (2000, September 24). Arizona Daily Star. P. 31.
[10] Estes-Anderson vows repeated. (1964, May 26). Tucson Citizen. P. 12.
[11] Rawlinson, J. (1969, June 21). Bomb assault ‘expected’ at supper club. Arizona Daily Star. P. 19; Smith, D. (1969, August 20). Did former agent instigate Bonanno blast? FBI is silent. The Los Angeles Times. Pp. 1, 25.
[12] Donahue, N. (1973, June 4). Licavoli, Emprise linked by trust. Tucson Citizen. P. 1.
[13] Bretzing, R. T. (1970, July 20). Peter Licavoli, Sr., aka. FBI Phoenix office memo. NARA.
[14] Donahue, N. (1973, June 4). Licavoli, Emprise linked by trust. Tucson Citizen. P. 1.
[15] Cook, J. E. (1964, October 10). Vending machine owner faces trial. Arizona Republic. P. 30; Tucson jury seen wanting to quiz Batts. (1965, January 13). Tucson Citizen. P. 1; Pasternak, H. (1965, January 15). Anthony Telesco appears before grand jury. Tucson Citizen. P. 1.
[16] Pasternak, H. (1965, January 15). Anthony Telesco appears before grand jury. Tucson Citizen. P. 1; Pasternak, H. (1965, January 20). Estes takes Fifth and risks citation. Tucson Citizen. Pp. 1, 8.
[17] Bradshaw, A. (1965, March 6). FBI arrests 3 men on extortion count. Arizona Daily Star. P. 1.
[18] Estes-Anderson vows repeated. (1964, May 26). Tucson Citizen. P. 12; Cook, J. E. (1964, October 10). Vending machine owner faces trial. Arizona Republic. P. 30.
[19] Cook, J. E. (1964, October 10). Vending machine owner faces trial. Arizona Republic. P. 30; Bradshaw, A. (1965, March 6). FBI arrests 3 men on extortion count. Arizona Daily Star. P. 1.
[20] Battaglia has court date on traffic count. (1964, June 3). Tucson Citizen. P. 15; Battaglia speed trial postponed. (1964, June 26). Tucson Citizen. P. 26.
[21] Battaglia drivers license hearing to be held soon. (1964, July 9). Tucson Citizen. P. 45.
[22] Battaglia’s driver right suspended. (1964, July 11). Arizona Daily Star. P. 15.
[23] Battaglia surprises cops with new driver’s license. (1964, August 1). Tucson Citizen. P. 1.
[24] Slessor, G. (1964, December 21). Bonanno doesn’t show up at probe. Tucson Citizen. P. 1; Tight-lipped Battaglia back. (1964, December 28). Tucson Citizen. P. 1; Bradshaw, A. (1965, March 6). FBI arrests 3 men on extortion count. Arizona Daily Star. P. 1.
[25] Tucson jury seen wanting to quiz Batts. (1965, January 13). Tucson Citizen. P. 1.
[26] Pasternak, H. (1965, January 20). Estes takes Fifth and risks citation. Tucson Citizen. Pp. 1, 8.
[27] Pasternak, H. (1965, January 15). Anthony Telesco appears before grand jury. Tucson Citizen. P. 1.
[28] Bradshaw, A. (1965, March 6). FBI arrests 3 men on extortion count. Arizona Daily Star. P. 1; Bonanno aide, two others face federal trials. (1965, March 6). Waco Tribune-Herald. P. 12.
[29] Appeal by Estes on docket today. (1965, April 23). Arizona Daily Star. P. 14.
[30] Bradshaw, Jr. A. (1965, December 9). Tucson extortion case opens in U.S. court. Arizona Daily Star. P. 19; Bradshaw Jr., A. (1965, December 10). Spinelli, Estes win directed verdict. Arizona Daily Star. P. 15.
[31] Matthews, G. (1971, February 24). Mrs. Battaglia and associate jailed on extortion charges. Tucson Citizen. P. 31; James, C. (1971, June 25). ‘Batts’ attempted to unseat Bonanno. Tucson Citizen. Pp. 1, 5.
[32] James, C. (1971, June 24). Antonick was mafia target. Tucson Citizen. P. 27.
[33] Mrs. Patty testifies about visit by Mrs. Battaglia, Charles Antonick. (1971, June 4). Tucson Citizen. P. 11; James, C. (1971, June 25). ‘Batts’ attempted to unseat Bonanno. Tucson Citizen. Pp. 1, 5.
[34] Rawlinson, J. (1969, June 21). Bomb assault ‘expected’ at supper club. Arizona Daily Star. P. 19.
[35] Tucson jury seen wanting to quiz Batts. (1965, January 13). Tucson Citizen. P. 1.
[36] James, C. (1971, June 25). ‘Batts’ attempted to unseat Bonanno. Tucson Citizen. Pp. 1, 5.
[37] Matthews, G. and Green, D. (1971, February 25). Gilkinson criticizes county in Antonick-Battaglia case. Tucson Citizen. P. 11.
[38] Armed services. (1968, February 2). Arizona Daily Star. P. 14; Battaglia sues trustees. (1973, June 22). Arizona Daily Star. P. 2.
[39] Property suit filed by ‘Batts.’ (1973, June 22). Tucson Citizen. P. 16.
[40] Funeral notices. (1983, May 31). Tucson Citizen. P. 28.
[41] Public records. (1977, April 1). Tucson Citizen. P. 45; “United States, Residence Database, 1970-2024”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6TJF-KW8L : Sat Feb 28 01:38:58 UTC 2026), Entry for Joyce Antonick, Nov 1971; Eastside man critical after pickup-train collision. (1981, March 24). Arizona Daily Star. P. 12.
[42] Public records. (1984, April 17). Tucson Citizen. P. 52.
[43] Deaths. (2007, August 9). Tucson Citizen. P. 13.
[44] Deaths. (2019, September 4). Arizona Daily Star. P. B4.
[45] Public records. (1974, January 22). Arizona Daily Star. P. 25.
[46] 2 charged in apparent drug rip-off. (1981, May 23). Arizona Daily Star. P. 2; Public records. (1981, June 13). Tucson Citizen. P. 3.
[47] Public records (1977, March 9). Tucson Citizen. P. 12; Public records. (1977, June 21). Tucson Citizen. P. 24; Public records. (1980, April 18). Tucson Citizen. P. 47; Public records. (1980, April 26). Tucson Citizen. P. 11; Public records. (1982, August 2). Tucson Citizen. P. 22.
[48] Public records. (1981, June 27). Arizona Daily Star. P. 34.
[49] Public records. (1996, May 15). Arizona Daily Star. P. 20.
[50] Funeral notices. (2000, September 24). Arizona Daily Star. P. 31.
[51] Heltsley, E. (1981, April 26). Battaglia told FBI of ‘stolen’ car, plane deal. Arizona Daily Star. P. 15.
[52] Charles Battaglia, 66; reputed Mafia figure. (1983, May 31). The Boston Globe. P. 61.
Mafia Genealogy 
Leave a comment