In the 1970s, Genovese capo Eli “Joe the Baker” Ziccardi managed policy games for Fat Tony Salerno at Café Roma.
Attacked, 1977
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Targeted by the Irish Westies under Mickey Spillane, Ziccardi was kidnapped in 1977, and a $100,000 ransom was paid by Salerno. However, Ziccardi disappeared, leading to tensions between the Irish and Italian mobs. The conflict escalated into open warfare, resulting in Spillane’s murder and the deaths of three of his lieutenants, intensifying organized crime violence in New York during that era.