Colorado's Carlino Brothers: A Bootlegging Empire

by Samuel Carlino

From 1922 to 1931, Pete and Sam Carlino controlled the flow of Prohibition alcohol from southern Colorado to Denver before their empire suffered a gruesome, bloody demise. The brothers battled their own kin in the Danna family to secure southern Colorado's bootleg liquor territory. Dozens perished in their rise to power. Eventually, mafia boss Nicola Gentile intervened to settle a dispute involving the brothers' associates. Pete Carlino's grandson, author Sam Carlino, uncovers intimate photos and new revelations, including confirmation that Pete Carlino met with Salvatore Maranzano in New York and that the death of both men on September 10, 1931, may not have been a coincidence.

192 pages, Paperback

Published October 28, 2019

Reviews

[Derrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cool book about 10 years worth of gangland activities in Colorado. Spanning from southern Colorado to Denver, a lot happened in those 10 years. I've lived in Colorado for my whole life including Pueblo and Metro Denver. I really enjoyed reading about all these events happening right in my home state! It's clear the author was passionate and did a tremendous amount of research on this topic. This book makes a special addition to my ever growing collection of nonfiction books about gangsters/mafia/organized crime.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Disclaimer: The author provided me with several revisions of Colorado's Carlino Brothers before publication. I contributed edit suggestions and provided a foreword to the book. - TH.]

Colorado's Carlino Brothers: A Bootlegging Empire (The History Press), is at once an intimate family portrait and a detailed Mafia history. The author deftly tracks the development of the regional crime family before and through the Prohibition Era, revealing its proper place in the national scene, while providing personal insight into his ancestors, who were members and leaders of the organization. The author's unique perspective helps to fully develop and humanize the book's primary subjects, brothers Pete (the author's grandfather) and Sam, and reveals the often painful impact of their career choices on their extended families.

The book deals in depth with the career and murder of early Pueblo Mafia leader Pellegrino Scaglia, the long and violent Carlino-D'Anna rivalry, the successful infiltration of the Carlino operation by an undercover federal agent and the Denver police raid that exposed a budding regional bootlegging syndicate. It explores Pete Carlino's travels to Mafia home cities in the Midwest and the East in a seemingly desperate effort to strengthen his position at home. And it chronicles the tragic and bloody ends of the Carlino faction leaders.

But its most momentous revelation concerns a link between Pete Carlino and the powerful but short-lived New York City-based Mafia boss of bosses, Salvatore Maranzano.

[Nate Jordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief, entertaining piece of Pueblo history during prohibition. I'd say more but, uh, er, I don't want to end up in the Arkansas River wearing a pair of concrete shoes.

[Laura Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was loaded with fantastic information on the lives of the members of a family that gained notoriety in the newspapers of the 1920s and the early 1930s. It was a little bit dry but I loved learning from it.

[Walt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam Carlino set out the family history of his grandfather and his uncles. Readers of Betty Alt and Sandra Wells' Mountain Mafia already have knowledge of Pueblo, Colorado's Carlino Gang. Led by Pete and Sam Carlino, they were liquor barons in Southern Colorado and eventually sought to expand their business into Northern Colorado, albeit less successfully. Their short and violent history is spread out across 150 pages.

The pace of the book is slower than Alt and Wells. Carlino goes to some pains to explain and detail who was shot and why. He clearly lines up the opposing factions and shows the strike, counter-strike perspective of gangland conflict from the 1920s. The book is overwhelmingly charting the violence surrounding the Carlino Brothers. There is not much on the business side, competing gangs, or socio-political analysis. Readers will still see that the Carlinos were so dysfunctional and broke they resorted to blowing up the boss's house in a poor attempt at insurance fraud. These guys were the leaders of the Colorado Mafia?

Despite the narrow window that the author uses on his subject matter, the material is clear. The author discovered some major revelations, namely more information into the murder of Pellegrino Scaglia; and the connection(s) of Pete Carlino to New York's Salvatore Maranzano. The single news article connecting Carlino and Maranzano may not (probably does not) mention Maranzano by name; but the author does a good job at explaining the connection. There are lose ends. Scaglia's role in the Pueblo underworld remains vague. The murder was ascribed to "charges" brought against him by Mr. LaRocca, presumably Frank LaRocca of Kansas City. The problem being that LaRocca was closely identified with the Kansas City Mafia, to which Scaglia's relatives fled following the murder. Really? Other pieces are missing from the puzzle. There does appear to be evidence that Scaglia was connected to the Carlino Brothers. But, if he was the Mafia boss of Pueblo, then he would have connections to the Danna's who allegedly murdered him.

The overall writing is off-putting. Even for an amateur historian and writer, the text awkwardly jumps between vague family relations and gangsters all sharing the same names. A large part of the text is given over to repeating family gossip and activities after they fled Colorado (and the last of the gangster brothers slain). Finally, each chapter ends with something called the author's perspective which is something like an analysis. The entire book is the author's perspective. When something is not from the author, he does a remarkable job at attribution. He is eager to call attention to organized crime historians Humbert Nelli and Thomas Hunt for their contributions. I am sure the text benefited enormously through their feedback.

Overall, it provides great insight into the underworld. The author brings to light the original gang that couldn't shoot straight. The focus is on the violence rather than the more mundane business and racketeering. It is a bizarre mixture of gang killings and genealogical research. The writing is a handicap; but the information and pictures make this book an important contribution to the field.

[Charlene Garza · Rating 4 out of 5]

My father received this book from the author and allowed me to read it. It describes the history of the mafia during prohibition in Colorado. I had no idea there was mafia activity in Colorado, so this was very educating. I love hearing about family history, and the process of discovery by the author. I relished the pictures of the authors family members shared in the book. I occasionally had to regroup as the timeline jumps around a bit. It was an enjoyable book.

[Emma Locke · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not the best book ever. It is a bit awkward in places. But it is interesting, the narrative moves well, and I’ve wanted to learn more about this aspect of Colorado history for a long time, but the sources are scarce.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read about places I’m very familiar with such as Trinidad, Aguilar, Pueblo as well as names I’m familiar with, Coletti, Spinuzzi, Giarratano, Riggio and the influence of organized crime in Southern Colorado.

[Kylee Gish · Rating 4 out of 5]

My relatives were bad bad bad. I thought the book gave a lot of insight on the mafia and shred light on the mafia in Pueblo. It was very interesting and I would recommend to anyone that was interested in this part of history.

[Lynn Gates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book! This is part of Colorado history I knew nothing about, and I found it interesting. I'm interested in learning more on the subject.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-researched and contained previously unknown details that I had been searching for.

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well researched book. I leaned a lot about the Colorado bootlegging history in an easy to read style! A great read for anyone who likes mafia history!