Aladena \u201cJimmy the Weasel\u201d Fratianno carved out a unique place in American organized crime history. He rose from Cleveland street thief to acting boss of the Los Angeles crime family, only to become the highest-ranking Mafioso to flip and testify for the government\u2014until Sammy \u201cThe Bull\u201d Gravano surpassed that distinction a decade later. Fratianno\u2019s story reads like a mob epic: decades of killings, power struggles across multiple families, and an eventual betrayal that sent shockwaves through La Cosa Nostra nationwide.<\/p>\n
From Naples to Cleveland\u2019s Streets<\/strong><\/p>\n Born in Naples, Italy on November 14, 1913, Fratianno arrived in Cleveland as an infant. His parents settled in the city\u2019s Little Italy neighborhood, where young Aladena quickly developed a distaste for his given name. He insisted on being called \u201cJimmy\u201d because he thought \u201cAladena\u201d sounded like \u201ca broad\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n School held no appeal for Fratianno. He dropped out early and turned to petty crime, stealing from fruit stands in the neighborhood. During one theft, a witness watched him outrun pursuing police and shouted, \u201cLook at that weasel run!\u201d The nickname stuck, though Fratianno never liked it and nobody dared call him \u201cWeasel\u201d to his face. As a teenager, he even boxed under the name \u201cKid Weasel,\u201d trying to own the moniker on his own terms.<\/p>\n By the 1930s, Fratianno had graduated from theft to more serious crimes. In 1937, he was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to eight years in prison\u2014his first extended stretch behind bars. He was paroled in 1945, but Cleveland was no longer big enough for his ambitions.<\/p>\n Moving West and Making His Bones<\/strong><\/p>\n After his release, Fratianno headed to Los Angeles, where the underworld was in flux. Initially, he associated with Mickey Cohen<\/a>, the flashy Jewish mobster who was feuding with Los Angeles crime family boss Jack Dragna.<\/a> But Fratianno quickly recognized that the traditional Mafia structure offered more stability and power than Cohen\u2019s volatile operation.<\/p>\n Dragna needed reliable enforcers in his war with Cohen, and Fratianno proved himself capable. In 1947, after carrying out several \u201cpieces of work\u201d\u2014mob parlance for murders\u2014Fratianno was formally initiated as a made member of the Los Angeles crime family alongside Louis Tom Dragna and Salvatore \u201cDago Louie\u201d Piscopo.<\/p>\n His most infamous hit came on August 6, 1951, when Dragna ordered him to kill Anthony Brancato and Anthony Trombino, two Kansas City hoods known as \u201cthe Two Tonys.\u201d The pair had made the fatal mistake of robbing the Flamingo Hotel\u2019s cash room in Las Vegas, then compounding their error by shaking down a mob bookmaker in Los Angeles. Fratianno lured them with a phony tip about a $40,000 poker game ripe for robbery. Instead, he and Charley \u201cBats\u201d Battaglia\u2014a nervous first-timer from Buffalo\u2014climbed into the back seat of the Two Tonys\u2019 Oldsmobile on North Ogden Drive near Hollywood Boulevard and shot both men in the head. The car radio was still playing when police arrived.<\/p>\n The murder remained officially unsolved for over 25 years, protected by an airtight alibi. Fratianno and a dozen other mobsters claimed they\u2019d been at Nick Licata\u2019s Five O\u2019Clock Club in Burbank for a fish fry that night.<\/p>\n Climbing the Ladder and Prison Stints<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite his value as an enforcer, Fratianno couldn\u2019t stay out of trouble with the law. In 1954, he was convicted of attempted extortion and served more than six years, mostly at San Quentin. After his release, he continued working for the mob while attempting to establish legitimate businesses. In the 1960s, he and his wife Jewel started a trucking company that became quite successful, grossing nearly $1.5 million annually.<\/p>\n However, when a California newspaper exposed his mob connections in 1966, Fratianno was arrested on various charges related to the business. Though eventually acquitted, he and Jewel lost the company. Fratianno also made multiple attempts to gain a stake in Las Vegas casinos, including the Tally Ho Hotel (later the Aladdin), but the Nevada Gaming Control Board blocked him every time.<\/p>\n During this period, Fratianno began providing limited information to the FBI\u2014a dangerous double game. In exchange for $16,000 and reduced scrutiny, he fed agents intelligence on organized crime. His early information was of minimal value and never led to convictions, allowing him to maintain his position in the mob.<\/p>\n Acting Boss of Los Angeles<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1975, when Los Angeles boss Dominic Brooklier was sentenced to prison, the family offered Fratianno a significant opportunity. Louis Tom Dragna became acting boss on the condition that Fratianno serve as co-acting boss alongside him. This required Fratianno to transfer his membership back to Los Angeles from the Chicago Outfit, where he\u2019d been operating.<\/p>\n As acting boss from 1975 to 1976, Fratianno worked to restore the Los Angeles family\u2019s reputation. The L.A. operation had been seen as weak for years, and Fratianno traveled the country making connections and deals, hoping to solidify his position permanently once Brooklier was released.<\/p>\n But the arrangement soured when Fratianno was approached about killing Frank Bompensiero, one of his few trusted friends in the organization. Bompensiero was suspected of being an informant\u2014and he was right to suspect him. Feeling trapped and betrayed by the murder contract, Fratianno stalled for months until other associates carried out the hit in February 1977.<\/p>\n When Brooklier returned from prison in October 1976, tensions escalated. Brooklier began claiming that Fratianno had never really been acting boss and accused him of running a separate crew. Fratianno began to suspect that Brooklier was laying the groundwork to have him killed.<\/p>\n The Breaking Point<\/strong><\/p>\n The final straw came in 1977. At a wake for Cleveland mobster Tony Delsanter, Fratianno learned from Cleveland boss James Licavoli that the family had a mole in the FBI\u2014a female clerk providing documents and informant code numbers. When Danny Greene, an Irish mob boss and secret FBI informant, was killed by a car bomb in October 1977, hitman Ray Ferritto was arrested. Evidence found at Ferritto\u2019s house linked him not just to the Greene murder but to Fratianno as well.<\/p>\n Facing federal indictments for murder and realizing that Brooklier intended to kill him, Fratianno made his move. On November 29, 1977, he agreed to become a government witness. It was a seismic event in Mafia history\u2014no acting boss had ever flipped before.<\/p>\n Life as a Witness<\/strong><\/p>\n Fratianno\u2019s testimony was devastating to organized crime. He helped convict high-level mobsters including Frank \u201cFunzi\u201d Tieri, Anthony \u201cFat Tony\u201d Salerno, Joseph Aiuppa, Carmine Persico<\/a>, and his former boss Dominic Brooklier. In exchange, he pleaded guilty to murder charges but served only 21 months of a five-year sentence.<\/p>\n In 1980, Fratianno entered the federal Witness Protection Program with his second wife Jean, whom he\u2019d married in 1975. He became the highest-paid participant in the program\u2019s history, eventually receiving over $1 million in federal payments over ten years. The Mafia placed a $100,000 contract on his life.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/americanmafiahistory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jack-Dragna.png\")
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