Nicholas Civella

Nicholas Civella (March 19, 1912 - March 12, 1983) was a Kansas City, Missouri mobster who became a prominent leader of the Kansas City crime family.

Early life

Born Giuseppe Nicoli Civella was the son of Italian immigrants in Kansas City. He was the younger brother of mobster Carl "Cork" Civella. Nicholas Civella began his criminal career as a teenager in the Italian "Northeast" neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. Civella's first arrest was at age 10, after which he dropped out of school. Before age 20, Civella had been arrested for auto theft, gambling, robbery, and vagrancy.

In 1932, Civella spent two months in prison for bootlegging. He was married in 1934 to Katherine, his wife for almost fifty years. He had no children of his own. Civella was the uncle of Anthony Civella. In the early 1940s, Civella became a Democratic Party precinct worker on the North Side of Kansas City and became friends with Kansas City crime boss, Charles Binaggio.

Rise to power

By the 1950s, Civella dominated criminal activity in Kansas City. In 1950, he was identified as a figure in the organized crime society during the U.S. Senate Kefauver hearings. Although Kansas City remained a satellite of the larger Chicago Outfit criminal organization, Civella attended the ill-fated 1957 Apalachin Meeting of mob bosses in Apalachin, New York. Civella's involvement with organized crime led to the Nevada Gaming Commission listing Civella as one of the first entries in the Black Book, prohibiting him from entering casinos in Nevada. Later, due to his aquaintance with Teamsters president Roy Lee Williams, Civella played an important role in controlling the Central States Pension Fund of the Teamsters Union and in the skimming of casino gambling profits in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Arrests & Convictions

In 1959, Civella was sent a summons before a grand jury and later convicted of tax evasion. From the two Missouri State tax evasions cases, he was convicted and fined $150 in one case, and the other was dismissed. During this period, Civella built relations with the Mob families in St. Louis, Denver, Milwaukee, and California.

In 1966, Civella was called to appear before a Clay County, Missouri grand jury. Afterwards, the news media asked him why it took him 15 minutes to address the group. Civella replied that he, "stopped in the men’s room," where he, "was drawing dirty pictures on the wall." Law enforcement agencies did not appreciate Civella’s humor or his ability to elude conviction. This would result in their constant surveillance of him for the rest of his life.

In the 1977, Civella was convicted of illegal gambling charges and sent to prison.

In 1980, Civella was convicted of attempting to bribe a prison official in order to get his nephew, Anthony Civella, transfered to a minimum-security prison in Texas.

Death

Due to illness, Nicholas Civella was given a medical release from the Federal Medical Facility at Springfield, Missouri and died of lung cancer two weeks later on March 12, 1983 in Kansas City. Upon his death, his brother Carl "Cork" Civella became head of the Kansas City family.

Further reading

• Pileggi, Nicholas, and Shandling, Larry, Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas Simon & Schuster (October 12, 1995) ISBN 0684808323
• Neff, James. Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989 ISBN 087113344X.

References

• Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2

External links

• NewYorkTimes.com - Reputed Mob Leader Paroled
• The Mob in Decline - A Special Report: A Battered and Ailing Mafia Is Losing Its Grip on America by Selwyn Raab
• Americanmafia.com - Nick Civella: Kansas City Chief by Allen May, Crime Historian (January 31st 2000)
• Nick Civella at Find-A-Grave