Ignacio Antinori
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Ignacio Antinori (d. October 22, 1940) was a Florida mobster who controlled criminal activities during the 1920s and 30s.
Although much of his early life is unknown, Antinori was one of the earliest mobsters to emerge in Florida during Prohibition. One of the largest drug traffickers in the country by the 1930s, he repeatedly refused requests or demands by other crime families for him to cease his activities. He was also able to establish a drug pipeline from Marseille, France and, using his connections in the Cuban government, smuggled narcotics through Cuba and into Tampa where, according to the Narcotics Bureau, it was subsequently distributed in the Midwest primarily through St. Louis mobster Thomas Buffa and Kansas City mobsters including Nicolo Impostato, James DeSimone and Joseph DeLuca.
However, Antinori's operations were beginning to gain the attention of law enforcement as well as the emergence of rival mobsters, in particular Santo Trafficante, Sr. and, by the time of Antinori's murder on October 22, 1940, Trafficante had already begun to assume control of criminal operations.
[edit] References
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
