Anthony Giacalone

Anthony Joseph Giacalone (January 9, 1919 – February 23, 2001), also known as Tony Jack, was a Sicilian-American organized crime figure in Detroit, serving as a capo in the Detroit Partnership and later a street boss. He came to public notice during the 1970s investigations into the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, as he was one of two Mafia members – the other being Anthony Provenzano – that Hoffa had arranged to meet on the day he disappeared.[1] In 1976, Giacalone was sentenced to 10 years in prison for tax evasion. He died of natural causes on February 23, 2001.

Anthony Giacalone
Giacalone's FBI mugshot in 1975
Born
Anthony Joseph Giacalone

(1919-01-09)January 9, 1919
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedFebruary 23, 2001(2001-02-23) (aged 82)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Resting placeHoly Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield, Michigan
Other names"Tony Jack"
OccupationMobster
Known forLinks with Jimmy Hoffa and his disappearing
RelativesVito Giacalone (brother)
AllegianceDetroit Partnership
Conviction(s)Tax evasion (1976)
Criminal penalty10 years' imprisonment

Biography

Giacalone was born on January 9, 1919, on the Eastside of Detroit. He was born to Sicilian immigrant parents, the oldest son of seven siblings. He often helped his father, Giacomo, sell produce from the back of a horse-drawn wagon in the Indian Village section of Detroit.[2] He began to aspire to work in organized crime after seeing the wealth its leaders had, in contrast to the meager living his father earned. He particularly looked up to his father's relative Salvatore "Sam" Catalanotte, a leading figure in Detroit's growing Italian underworld. Giacalone was charged with his first criminal offense at the age of 18, the first of multiple run-ins with the law.

By the time he was in his 30s, he was working as a pickup man in the local numbers racket, run by Peter Licavoli, and as collector of delinquent gambling debts for Joe Zerilli. Both of these men were highly respected in local crime organizations and they helped protect Giacalone from the law. Between 1950 and 1952 he was arrested multiple times for various gambling offenses, but avoided prosecution. In August 1954, he had his first conviction after 14 arrests. He was sentenced to 8 months in jail and ordered to pay court costs. After that stint in jail he served another 7 days in jail for refusing to testify before the grand jury investigating gambling in the Detroit area.

Giacalone gained national fame in the 1970s with the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Prior to then, there had been growing tension between Hoffa and several Mafia members, who opposed his plans to return to prominence in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The latter included Giacalone, Anthony Provenzano and Giacalone's brother Vito.[3] On July 30, 1975, Hoffa was to meet Giacalone and Provenzano at 2:00 p.m. at the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, a Detroit suburb; he was never seen again.[4] Though Giacalone was suspected of being involved in a conspiracy to murder Hoffa,[1] Giacalone and Provenzano, who denied having scheduled a meeting with Hoffa, were found not to have been near the restaurant that afternoon.[5] In 1976, Giacalone was sentenced to 10 years in prison for tax evasion at FCI, Oxford, Wisconsin.[1]

Death

Giacalone died on February 23, 2001, aged 82. He had been admitted to St. John's Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit for heart failure and complications arising from kidney disease.[1] He was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, Michigan.

He was played by Patrick Gallo in Martin Scorsese's 2019 film The Irishman.

Notes
  1. Filkins, Dexter (February 26, 2001). "Anthony J. Giacalone, 82, Man Tied to Hoffa Mystery". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
  2. Jack L. Goldsmith (2019). In Hoffa's Shadow: A Stepfather, a Disappearance in Detroit, and My Search for the Truth. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374712495.
  3. Hoffa, by Arthur A. Sloane, MIT Press, 1991.
  4. "INVESTIGATIONS: Hoffa Search: 'Looks Bad Right Now'". Time. August 18, 1975. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
  5. "FBI: Tip on Jimmy Hoffa prompts search". CNN. Atlanta, Georgia: Turner Broadcasting Systems. May 18, 2006. Archived from the original on February 12, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2009.

References
  • Reppetto, Thomas (2007). Bringing Down the Mob: The War Against the American Mafia. Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-8659-1.
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