Charles Binaggio

Charles Binaggio (January 12, 1909 - April 6, 1950) was an American gangster who became the boss of the Kansas City crime family and concocted a bold plan to control the police forces in Kansas City, Missouri and St. Louis, Missouri.

Born in Beaumont, Texas, Binaggio moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, at an early age.

Binaggio grew up in the city's North Side, which was then heavily populated by Sicilian and Italian immigrants.

It isn't known when first Binaggio fell in with the mob; when he did join them, he rose quietly to prominence.

The violence had reached a peak during and immediately following the Lazia years (1928–1934), but things had remained relatively quiet under Carollo's rule.

This would change under Binaggio as several unsolved mob slayings occurred on his watch.

In December 1930, in Denver, Colorado, Binaggio was arrested for the first time at age 21.

The police raided a Denver apartment that Binaggio shared with Anthony Gizzo and Tony Casciola, two well-known Kansas City Mafiosi.

Searching the apartment, police found a mini-cache of firearms and charged the three with weapons violations.

The charges were later reduced to vagrancy and Binaggio was released on bond.

As it turns out, Binaggio had been part of a team sent to Denver by then Kansas City boss John Lazia to aid the Denver crime family in a "war" with the crime family from Pueblo, Colorado.

From the 1930s on, the mob had also been making money through a nationwide narcotics ring.

However, this ring was broken up by a major Bureau of Narcotics investigation that netted mafiosi in Kansas City, St. Louis, Tampa, Florida, and other cities.

Binaggio himself escaped being linked to this drug ring.

However, one of his main lieutenants, Joe DeLuca, was sent to prison when a low-level member of the ring, Carl Caramusa, turned state's evidence.

In 1931, Binaggio was again arrested in Denver for vagrancy.

Binaggio earned his prominence in the Kansas City family by earning a lot of money from liquor and gambling.

On July 20, 1931 Binaggio was arrested in Kansas City following a shootout that killed a Bureau of Prohibition agent and two others.

Prohibition agents and local police had raided the mob-run Lusco-Noto Flower Shop at 1039 E. Independence Avenue looking for evidence in a recent "spot" killing.

The building was also the headquarters of Joe Lusco, a lieutenant of Lazia.

During the raid, a shootout started, followed by a fire.

Binaggio, who was in the flower shop during the raid, was arrested and taken in for questioning.

However, the police determined that he hadn't taken part in the shootout and released him with a vagrancy charge.

After the Lusco-Noto shootout, Lazia took Binaggio under his wing.

Lazia had established a political club, the North Side Democratic Club, in order to increase his mob's power in Kansas City.

In 1934, Lazia was assassinated and his underboss Charles "Charley the Wop" Carrollo ascended to the crime throne.

At some point, Binaggio became Carollo's underboss.

In 1939, Carollo was caught up in a citywide clean-up campaign and was sent to prison for income tax evasion.

This opened the way for Binaggio to become the Kansas City mob's boss in October 1939.

The Kansas City crime family had always enjoyed a violent reputation.

It started back to the turn of the 20th century when the Black Hand version of the Mafia terrorized the city's North Side.

In the early 1940s, Binaggio turned his attention to politics.

He formed his own political club, the First Ward Democratic Club and slowly began taking over wards in and near Kansas City's North Side.

In the process, Binaggio became a major rival of Jim Pendergast, the nephew of former Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast, and his Democratic faction.

In November 1941, Binaggio was speeding down Broadway near his Armour Boulevard apartment when he struck and killed a 50-year-old man while crossing the street.

Binaggio was arrested and charged with manslaughter, but a coroner's jury refused to indict him.

Following this incident, Binaggio was always accompanied by his driver, Nick Penna.

Binaggio and the local mob continued to get rich through their gambling and liquor interests.

In 1945, Caramusa was found murdered on a Chicago street.

This led to Binaggio's involvement with the local and State political scene that would last until his death in 1950.