Because family is at the heart of the Mafia
Most everyone on the ranch was still asleep when the raid began. There were two homes on the property near the whiskey production barn, the larger of the two belonging to Jack Dragna, and the smaller occupied by Tom and Julia. Bonventre was found in bed, suffering what might have been gunshot injuries, but no one would say for certain.
What Fratianno disregarded as damaging bias---nepotism---is a feature of the Mafia, not a bug.
According to the legend, Nick Licata’s comfortable position in Detroit was pulled out from under him when he somehow offended Joseph Zerilli, one of the most powerful gangsters in the city.
One newspaper described the attack as the opening salvo in a “race war” between Italians and African Americans, a few blocks west of the Los Angeles River.
By most accounts, Mafia associate and vineyardist Frank Borgia was last seen early in December 1951.
Jack Dragna, the first boss of Los Angeles under Luciano's Commission, was convicted of extortion with ringleader Sam Streva, a gangster whose life story has been conflated with another man's.
