Johnny Roselli
| John Roselli | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Filippo Sacco July 4, 1905 Esperia, Lazio, Italy |
| Died | August 9, 1976 (aged 71) |
| Body discovered | Dumfounding Bay, Florida |
| Other names | John F. Stewart |
| Allegiance |
Chicago Outfit Los Angeles crime family |
John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli (born Filippo Sacco; July 4, 1905 – August 9, 1976), sometimes spelled Rosselli, was an influential mobster for the Chicago Outfit who helped that organization control Hollywood and the Las Vegas Strip. In the early 1960s, Roselli was unknowingly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a plot to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Filippo Sacco was born in Esperia, Province of Frosinone, near Rome, on July 4, 1905. His father, Vincenzo Sacco, moved on his own to the United States. Filippo immigrated with his mother, Mariantonia Pascale Sacco to Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1911. His father died in 1918.
In 1922, Sacco committed a murder and fled to Chicago, changing his name from Filippo Sacco to John Roselli. The new name was in honor of Italian Renaissance sculptor Cosimo Rosselli. He became a member of the Chicago Outfit and was known by his mob nickname of "Handsome Johnny".
The exact date and reason for Roselli moving to Los Angeles is unknown. Some sources say that Al Capone or Frank Nitti sent him west to oversee the Outfit's business interests such as the racing wire and movie extortion scheme. However, Roselli moved to Los Angeles in 1924, before either Capone or Nitti became boss of the Chicago Outfit. He pleaded guilty to bootlegging beer in 1924 (then going by the name "James Roselli"). Roselli began his California criminal career working with Los Angeles mobster Jack Dragna.
Roselli became close friends with film producer Bryan Foy, who brought Roselli into the movie business as a producer with Foy's small production company, Eagle Lion Studios, where Roselli is credited on a number of early gangster movies as a producer. In the 1940s Roselli was involved in the Outfit's multimillion-dollar extortion campaign against the motion picture industry.
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