John Nardi

John Nardi
Police mugshot of John Nardi
Born	(1916-01-21)January 21, 1916 Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Died	May 17, 1977(1977-05-17) (aged 61) Cleveland, Ohio, USA

John Nardi (January 21, 1916 − May 17, 1977) was an influential associate of the Cleveland crime family who was involved in labor racketeering in Cleveland, Ohio. At the end of his criminal career, Nardi turned against his crime family in a bloody gang war.

Born Giovanni Narcchione in Cleveland, Nardi began his mob work as an for the local vending machine workers union. He is the cousin of Anthony Delsanter, brother of Nicholas Nardi and father of John Nardi Jr. and Carol Nardi. Nardi would become a representative of his uncle Anthony Milano, a retired consigliere from the Cleveland crime family. He earned his first police record entry in 1939 at the age of twenty three. He had been employed by vending workers union to sell the services of their repair technicians. Sometimes he was too enthusiastic. When Nardi threatened a bar owner with bodily harm, the then Safety Director Eliot Ness ordered him to be arrested. Eventually, the charges were dropped.

Nardi soon became business partners with Ohio Teamsters official William Presser, a mob associate and father of future Teamsters president Jackie Presser in several Jukebox companies.

By the 1940s, Nardi had become a member of the Vending Machine Service Employees Local 410, part of the Teamsters Union. He soon became secretary-treasurer of the Local. Nardi also formed ties with Aladino "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno a future boss with the Los Angeles crime family with whom he also ran a bookmaking operation in Cleveland's Little Italy.

Nardi soon built numerous street rackets such as drug trafficking, extortion, labor racketeering, arms trafficking, illegal gambling, and loan sharking.