Kansas City Mafia Hit

This clip is from the documentary film Black Hand Strawman: The History of Organized Crime in Kansas City (www.blackhandstrawman.com). This was one of the most significant national hits in the history of the Mafia because it gave rise to the Kefauver Hearings, the U.S. Senate investigation into the workings of the Mafia in 1950 and 1951. Charlie Binaggio was the front man for the Mafia in KC in the 1940s and his henchman Charlie Gargotta was a known enforcer for the Mafia. The national syndicate ordered the execution of these two men because they were under investigation by a federal grand jury and Binaggio had failed in his promises to open Missouri up to gambling.

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[TeeMoe216]

Had anybody ever heard this story before? Harry Truman definitely took some heat for this mob hit!

[NWOkillas]

Nick Civella was my father's godfather and then later ordered the hit on my uncle's the Spero's. The Spero's were considered the "Young Turks" attempting to get rid of the old faction. The feds were quite aware of the hits prior to when they happened and did nothing to prevent them.

[TeeMoe216]

Frankly, the FBI believes Nick Civella earned his bones perpetrating this hit. It is written in Ed Reid's 1953 Mafia Tome that an assasin brought in by the Maria from Tia Juana MX. He is said to have bumped off Willie Morettin in New Jersey and that he was known as "lil" Joe because he always tries to use no more than four shells in doing any single job.