Charles Binaggio

Charles Binaggio (January 12, 1909 - April 5, 1950) was a Missouri gangster who became the boss of the Kansas City crime family and concocted a bold plan to control the police forces in Kansas City, Missouri and St. Louis, Missouri.

Born in Beaumont, Texas, Binaggio moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, at an early age. Binaggio grew up in the city's North Side, which was then heavily populated by Sicilian and Italian immigrants. It isn't known when first Binaggio fell in with the mob; when he did join them, he rose quietly to prominence.

In December 1930, in Denver, Colorado, Binaggio was arrested for the first time at age 21. The police raided a Denver apartment that Binaggio shared with Anthony Gizzo and Tony Casciola, two well-known Kansas City Mafiosi. Searching the apartment, police found a mini-cache of firearms and charged the three with weapons violations. The charges were later reduced to vagrancy and Binaggio was released on bond. As it turns out, Binaggio had been part of a team sent to Denver by then Kansas City boss John Lazia to aid the Denver crime family in a "war" with the crime family from Pueblo, Colorado. In 1931, Binaggio was again arrested in Denver for vagrancy.

Binaggio earned his prominence in the Kansas City family by earning a lot of money from liquor and gambling. On July 20, 1931 Binaggio was arrested in Kansas City following a shootout that killed a Bureau of Prohibition agent and two others. Prohibition agents and local police had raided the mob-run Lusco-Noto Flower Shop at 1039 E. Independence Avenue looking for evidence in a recent "spot" killing. The building was also the headquarters of Joe Lusco, a lieutenant of Lazia. During the raid, a shootout started, followed by a fire. Binaggio, who was in the flower shop during the raid, was arrested and taken in for questioning. However, the police determined that he hadn't taken part in the shootout and released him with a vagrancy charge.

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