Danny Greene
Danny Greene | |
|---|---|
 Greene circa. 1970s | |
| Born | Daniel John Patrick Greene November 14, 1933 |
| Died | October 6, 1977 (aged 43) Lyndhurst, Ohio, U.S. |
Cause of death | Car bomb |
| Occupations | Longshoreman, dock worker, teamster, mobster, racketeer, Mafia family associate |
| Known for | |
Daniel John Patrick Greene (November 14, 1933 – October 6, 1977) was an American mob boss in Cleveland, Ohio, whose conflicts with the Cleveland crime family of the Italian-American Mafia ended in Greene's murder in 1977. Greene initially built a close working relationship with Jewish-American organized crime figure Shondor Birns, as neither of them could become a "made" man in the mafia due to lack of Italian ancestry.
Greene gained power in the local chapter of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), where he was elected president during the early 1960s. He later became a full-time crime boss and began competing with the Cleveland crime family and one-time friend Shondor Birns for control of the city's criminal underworld. Greene set up his own crew called the Celtic Club, and allied with outlaw biker gangs, effectively becoming the Irish mob in Cleveland, and the Italian-American Mafia's main competitor. Celtic identity became Greene's trademark in the underworld.
During the 1970s, Greene allied with mob-affiliated labor union leader John Nardi during the latter's war against Jack Licavoli for leadership of the Cleveland family. The war involved at least 37 separate bombings, mostly car bombs. 21 of the bombings were in the city of Cleveland and 16 of the bombings took place in the suburbs. It is estimated by the FBI that Greene was involved in three of every four bombings. Other bombings in Cleveland, like the Thinker statue at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1970, Playhouse Square in 1970, and ones at Cleveland schools in the 1960s and 1970s by George Cicero, were unrelated to Greene and the Cleveland crime family.
Greene survived multiple attempts on his life and taunted the Licavoli faction as "maggots" in the local press, before finally being assassinated by Los Angeles crime family enforcers Ray Ferritto and Ronald "Ronnie The Crab" Carabbia in 1977.
A police investigation revealed that Greene's murder had been a criminal conspiracy between the Mafia families of Cleveland, New York City and Southern California. The investigation also resulted in the defections of Ray Ferritto and Los Angeles boss Jimmy Fratianno, followed by the exposure and arrest of a mole inside the Cleveland FBI. The investigation also laid the groundwork for many Federal prosecutions of the Mafia.