John Mirabella
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Giovanni "John" Mirabella (1905-1955) was a hitman for the Detroit crime family, known primarily for the 1930 murder of radio newscaster Jerry Buckley.
A member of Detroit mobster James Licavoli's criminal organization, Mirabella served as muscle for the Purple Gang during the later years of Prohibition. In 1930, Mirabella and two other gunmen ambushed crusading journalist Jerry Buckley. Buckley, who had been publicly attacking organized crime and corruption in city hall in his weekly radio broadcasts, had been sitting in a hotel lobby when Mirabella and his accomplices fired at Buckley, killing him instantly after eleven shots.
With the widespread attention of the Buckley murder, the Licavolis were forced to flee Detroit with Mirabella following his employers to Toledo, Ohio. During the early 30s, Mirabella was responsible for a number of family enforcers and rival mobsters, including bootlegger Jackie Kennedy.
By 1934 however, arrest warrants for the Buckley and Kennedy, among other gangland murder victims, were made out to Mirabella who hid out in Youngstown, Ohio. In 1945, under the name Paul Magine, he married a local woman and began operating a produce business. However, according the testimony of Youngstown mobster and former Mirabella chauffeur Charley Cavallaro, the business was a front as Mirabella traveled to weekly meetings with Licavoli until his death of cirrhosis of the liver in 1955, at age 48.
[edit] References
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
[edit] External links
- The St. Louis Family by Allen May
