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Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld
Bootleggers, gambling, ringleaders, arsonists, narcotics dealers and gang murders―a variety of characters flourished in the era known as Prohibition, and Tampa, Florida was where they battled for supremacy of the criminal underworld.
292 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
March 6, 2020
If this book, and another I read, are any indication, Barricade should hire a few serious, experienced editors; I surely hope their other volumes are not as poorly edited. Perhaps they are a shoestring outfit and really can't afford it, but it surely is a shame, because overall this book is catastrophe. Ok, maybe that is a bit overboard, but I think I ground off at least the upper layer of enamel from my teeth. While reading I realized I'd come across Deitche earlier, and was similarly disappointed. I am honestly amazed he has published so many books. In his defense, I think he gathers interesting material and does a decent amount of research, but he is a poor writer at best. If it were not for the topic, as I am a sucker for Tampa-related history, I wouldn't have finished this book, but so many names and locations are familiar to me, right down to the bar in which I had my very first legal drink (purchased by my Dad on my eighteenth birthday). While growing up in Tampa I heard many of these stories; I even had friends on the fringes of mob-related activity, more so in warehousing shenanigans and nightclubbing, as opposed to gambling or other illegalities (like drugs). I may even have contributed a little money to some of the establishments and such while I was young. I even knew some of the law enforcement and political people mentioned (as my father was a deputy for a while in Hillsborough County). But the biggest crime in this book is fairly horrendous writing. I really hate to say that. If I were Deitch, I'd hire a competent editor and have them boil down this book into a tighter, better-delivered piece. I probably should now be watching out for a black sedan to drive up alongside my car and have someone [Deitch] blow my head off with a shotgun blast! Other than his book on Trafficante, I can't remember a more repetitive, undisciplined, unchronological, cliche-riddled, amateurish mess. Nonetheless, I still gave it an additional star, because it was a tad more readable. I like his enthusiasm and immersion in the topic, and applaud his attempt, but this story deserves a better historian. Luckily, I no longer live in Tampa, or I would be checking under my car for a bomb.
January 18, 2008
Deitche is young and from Central New Jersey, but did attend college in South Florida. I did not find any indication that he has been a full-time journalist or law enforcement figure. This is an amateur labor of love.
Fascinating topic and a decent overview for those who will take this with a high degree of scepticism. Deitche conveys lots of data, but frankly it reads like a very long-winded high school term paper. If he were 17 and I were his history teacher, I'd give him a B-plus, with a few points off for bad grammar: countless sentences end with prepositions, he misuses words, such and such was for "all `intensive' purposes....." (p. 180), typos, etc.
Of course, he throws in the requisite JFK ("J.F.K.") conspiracy theories, which keep things interesting in the midst of the mindless litany of similar sounding, unexceptional events.
While his energy and enthusiasm are commendable, I personally found the amateurism of it all off-putting at times. For example, though printed in 2004, he cites the Internet as if it were brand new (to him?). And you get the sense that he's less critical than he ought to be about some of the sites he utilizes.
Though it is not well-written or compelling, what really could have helped rescue this book would have been simply the documenting and organizing of scattered materials on this important topic. Many of his sources are otherwise hard to access for most readers: local newspaper articles, police reports, etc. Unfortunately, he provides only 59 footnotes in 268 pages of text (one footnote for every four pages or more!)
Regarding the printing by Barricade Books in NJ - the cover photo, paper, and typeface are decent, but the binding (glue) on my copy did not stand up to one complete reading. The book split near the photo section in the middle, though the pages have not yet started to fall out. The center photos are interesting, though they mostly come from two sources -police mug shots, and one mafia relative who provided some snapshots. A little more time devoted to digging up other shots would have added a lot.
Sadly, there is no index to the book, though there is a very helpful glossary of dozens of the most prominent figures from the narrative.
Fascinating topic and a decent overview for those who will take this with a high degree of scepticism. Deitche conveys lots of data, but frankly it reads like a very long-winded high school term paper. If he were 17 and I were his history teacher, I'd give him a B-plus, with a few points off for bad grammar: countless sentences end with prepositions, he misuses words, such and such was for "all `intensive' purposes....." (p. 180), typos, etc.
Of course, he throws in the requisite JFK ("J.F.K.") conspiracy theories, which keep things interesting in the midst of the mindless litany of similar sounding, unexceptional events.
While his energy and enthusiasm are commendable, I personally found the amateurism of it all off-putting at times. For example, though printed in 2004, he cites the Internet as if it were brand new (to him?). And you get the sense that he's less critical than he ought to be about some of the sites he utilizes.
Though it is not well-written or compelling, what really could have helped rescue this book would have been simply the documenting and organizing of scattered materials on this important topic. Many of his sources are otherwise hard to access for most readers: local newspaper articles, police reports, etc. Unfortunately, he provides only 59 footnotes in 268 pages of text (one footnote for every four pages or more!)
Regarding the printing by Barricade Books in NJ - the cover photo, paper, and typeface are decent, but the binding (glue) on my copy did not stand up to one complete reading. The book split near the photo section in the middle, though the pages have not yet started to fall out. The center photos are interesting, though they mostly come from two sources -police mug shots, and one mafia relative who provided some snapshots. A little more time devoted to digging up other shots would have added a lot.
Sadly, there is no index to the book, though there is a very helpful glossary of dozens of the most prominent figures from the narrative.
October 9, 2018
Some less than cautious copy editing from a small press can frustrate the reader from time to time, but it doesn't get in the way of a good story told by Deitche, who has spent several years researching organized crime on Florida's west coast. The book tries to transcend, but is till burdened by, the larger than life image of the Trafficante family, their influence exaggerated both by their decades at the center of Tampa Mafia operations, and by the tenuous ties Santo Trafficante Jr. had to CIA Cuba escapades, the JFK assassination, and to Frank Sinatra.
Deitche is astute enough to tell us that even in the height of the Trafficante years, the son was living off the faded glory of his father, who helped form gambling, bootlegging, and drug rings in Tampa from the 1920s through 1940s. Trafficante the son was an important don, to be sure, but his actual importance vs. lesser-known thugs was often exaggerated in the media.
Deitche's book is interesting for reminding the reader that the Mafia's role in Chicago and New York usually takes front and center attention, but lesser cities like Tampa, Cleveland, Detroit, and Denver were equally important to study. The Tampa organized crime scene, oddly enough, was more coherent than Miami's, at least until Cuban exiles and South American bigwigs took over Miami in the 1990s, because in earlier decades Miami was considered a no man's land, where no particular crime family held dominance. Yet at the end of the book, Deitche shows how the Trafficante family was tied into Steve Raffa and other Miami locals to make the larger Miami metro area a virtual subsidiary to Tampa.
The book provides an interesting historical look at the Ybor City area of Tampa, which became an organized crime mecca after drawing Italian and Cuban immigrants to work in the cigar factories. While we often remember the ultra-violence favored by Al Capone and his family in the 1920s, Deitche reminds us that all cities with a significant Mafia presence were extremely violent places in the 1930s and 1940s, where drive-by shootings using sawed-off shotguns were the modus operandi. The terror of the gang wars during those decades led to the later professionalization of the Mafia, to focus on hidden killings (like that of Jimmy Hoffa), and eventually fraudulent penetration of legitimate businesses, where outright murder became less common.
Deitche carves his mid-length book into nearly 50 chapters, which makes for short snapshots of crime actions, perfect for casual reading on the beach in Tampa/St. Pete when the red tide isn't present. Alternatively, he might have woven his information into longer chapters to provide more interpretation of what organized crime's evolution meant to Tampa. As it stands, however, Cigar City Mafia is loaded with fascinating tales of organized crime reaching back nearly a century in Tampa's history.
Deitche is astute enough to tell us that even in the height of the Trafficante years, the son was living off the faded glory of his father, who helped form gambling, bootlegging, and drug rings in Tampa from the 1920s through 1940s. Trafficante the son was an important don, to be sure, but his actual importance vs. lesser-known thugs was often exaggerated in the media.
Deitche's book is interesting for reminding the reader that the Mafia's role in Chicago and New York usually takes front and center attention, but lesser cities like Tampa, Cleveland, Detroit, and Denver were equally important to study. The Tampa organized crime scene, oddly enough, was more coherent than Miami's, at least until Cuban exiles and South American bigwigs took over Miami in the 1990s, because in earlier decades Miami was considered a no man's land, where no particular crime family held dominance. Yet at the end of the book, Deitche shows how the Trafficante family was tied into Steve Raffa and other Miami locals to make the larger Miami metro area a virtual subsidiary to Tampa.
The book provides an interesting historical look at the Ybor City area of Tampa, which became an organized crime mecca after drawing Italian and Cuban immigrants to work in the cigar factories. While we often remember the ultra-violence favored by Al Capone and his family in the 1920s, Deitche reminds us that all cities with a significant Mafia presence were extremely violent places in the 1930s and 1940s, where drive-by shootings using sawed-off shotguns were the modus operandi. The terror of the gang wars during those decades led to the later professionalization of the Mafia, to focus on hidden killings (like that of Jimmy Hoffa), and eventually fraudulent penetration of legitimate businesses, where outright murder became less common.
Deitche carves his mid-length book into nearly 50 chapters, which makes for short snapshots of crime actions, perfect for casual reading on the beach in Tampa/St. Pete when the red tide isn't present. Alternatively, he might have woven his information into longer chapters to provide more interpretation of what organized crime's evolution meant to Tampa. As it stands, however, Cigar City Mafia is loaded with fascinating tales of organized crime reaching back nearly a century in Tampa's history.
October 28, 2018
Bolita and strip clubs. Bootleggers and gambling. Mob bosses and drug kingpins. Murders all around. This book has it all and it all happened in Tampa. Book has some issues with flow that make it a bit of a choppy read but the history and research of this book make it worth the read.
“Police didn't know it at the time, but they had stumbled on one of the first meetings of what would later become a part of the American vernacular: the Mafia. At the time, the organization was a fledgling operation; however, it would soon come to dominate organized crime in America. The Tampa family was there from the beginning. The Tampa family would never be as large as its counterparts in New York or Chicago, but it would exert a tremendous influence on the underworld. The family spawned arguably one of the most powerful mob bosses in the country, and was linked to assassination attempts on both Fidel Castro (in cooperation with the CIA) and John F. Kennedy. In Florida, they oversaw labor racketeering, gambling, loansharking, narcotics trafficking, and influence peddling, and, with the help of the Marcello family from New Orleans, the family eventually came to control the entire Gulf Coast.”
“Police didn't know it at the time, but they had stumbled on one of the first meetings of what would later become a part of the American vernacular: the Mafia. At the time, the organization was a fledgling operation; however, it would soon come to dominate organized crime in America. The Tampa family was there from the beginning. The Tampa family would never be as large as its counterparts in New York or Chicago, but it would exert a tremendous influence on the underworld. The family spawned arguably one of the most powerful mob bosses in the country, and was linked to assassination attempts on both Fidel Castro (in cooperation with the CIA) and John F. Kennedy. In Florida, they oversaw labor racketeering, gambling, loansharking, narcotics trafficking, and influence peddling, and, with the help of the Marcello family from New Orleans, the family eventually came to control the entire Gulf Coast.”
May 26, 2010
Honestly, this book is way cooler in concept than in reality. It's about the history of the mafia in Tampa, my hometown, so I was excited to learn about all the shady dealings that went on in my old neighborhoods. Sadly, the book just reads like a long laundry list of guys with Cuban and Italian names who whacked each other, one per 3-page-long chapter. There's really no cohesive narrative (save for perhaps the life of Santo Trafficante Jr., Tampa's most famous crime boss who doubtlessly got into the most interesting shenanigans). I'm not quite sure how the author made this stuff seem so boring, actually. But I'm glad I picked it up, though, if only for the fun of recognizing names throughout the book, like that developer my mom works with who's constantly "joking" about breaking her kneecaps. Gulp.
May 24, 2015
This seems like it'd be a fascinating book. I'm from Tampa and I have family members that would tell stories about the mafia in Tampa, so I thought it would be read about it. Unfortunately, this was a struggle to get through and ended up calling it a day around half way through. This seems like just a long list of names, dates, and deaths. And since I didn't have ANY background information on the dead guys, describing how and when they got whacked meant nothing.
It was just "Joe Schmoe was shot in the head. Tony Schmony was shot in his car. So-and-So was shot--" blah blah blah. They all run together.
I rarely say this about a book, but it if were longer, it might be better. If the author took the time to really get in-depth into the subject, rather than just rattling off all the names and deaths, this could do justice to a fascinating subject.
It was just "Joe Schmoe was shot in the head. Tony Schmony was shot in his car. So-and-So was shot--" blah blah blah. They all run together.
I rarely say this about a book, but it if were longer, it might be better. If the author took the time to really get in-depth into the subject, rather than just rattling off all the names and deaths, this could do justice to a fascinating subject.
May 4, 2014
This is precisely the kind of local history that I wish there was more of, so its a real disappointment that its as bad as it is. The prose is very rough, there' no real sense of narrative or pacing. The history is rough, mostly consisting in unsourced anecdotes without any real proof or attempt to connect the biographies here with any sort of greater theme or narrative about the Mafia in the US at large. Indeed, all the author seems to have done is read a bunch of old newspapers, which, hell, *I* could have done that. There's a sense in which this book is valuable because nobody actually has done that yet, but unless you are researching the Mafia in Tampa in order to write a better book on the topic, I wouldn't recommend this one.
March 13, 2014
I was really excited about this book. Interesting history of the city you call home, exciting crime stuff, right?
I'm sorry to say it's essentially a mash-up of newspaper articles. There's no style to the writing, no apparent connections to the many, many characters.
Just because it's exciting subject matter doesn't guarantee a good read. There's plenty of opportunity for good style but it just doesn't happen.
I tried, but I gave up.
I'm sorry to say it's essentially a mash-up of newspaper articles. There's no style to the writing, no apparent connections to the many, many characters.
Just because it's exciting subject matter doesn't guarantee a good read. There's plenty of opportunity for good style but it just doesn't happen.
I tried, but I gave up.
January 12, 2008
Okay, I got this book because I wanted to learn about the mafia's ties in Tampa however after I started reading it I quickly lost interest. I mean... come on... how many times can you read about a black sedan pulled up and... I am sure you can figure out the rest. So, basically, there was a lot of mafia related crime in Tampa. I didn't care to finish it.
March 8, 2010
Great topic that the author muddles through with loosely linked anecdotes.
February 22, 2019
Starts out good
Having lived in the Tampa Bay area most of my life, this was an interesting read. Lots of details, but with the ongoing crime in the area, Deitche might have been better off deciding on a cut off point. Instead he seemed to try to go as far as he could with the book just becoming a listing of organized crime figures. I felt like he was trying to finish a book that had no ending and we had run into a Genesis listing of bosses. Still a good fact filled read though.
Having lived in the Tampa Bay area most of my life, this was an interesting read. Lots of details, but with the ongoing crime in the area, Deitche might have been better off deciding on a cut off point. Instead he seemed to try to go as far as he could with the book just becoming a listing of organized crime figures. I felt like he was trying to finish a book that had no ending and we had run into a Genesis listing of bosses. Still a good fact filled read though.
May 10, 2019
DNF. Read like a kids books report, including all the errors. “For all intensive purposes” nearly had me toss the book at page 35. Numerous discrepancies with dates added to all the jumping back and forth in time results in a mess.
Picked it up because my husband said his grandfather had some dealings with the Tampa mob and he thought grandpa was mentioned in this book. I didn’t get to that part. Perhaps there’s a digital version I can a search in....
Seriously in need of editing and corrections.
Picked it up because my husband said his grandfather had some dealings with the Tampa mob and he thought grandpa was mentioned in this book. I didn’t get to that part. Perhaps there’s a digital version I can a search in....
Seriously in need of editing and corrections.
June 9, 2014
I read this book for researching my novel Another Man's Treasure. It was a great resource for conveying the underworld in the Bay area of Florida. It was a little disconcerting when I recognized a few of the names of the bad guys that my Dad and I had bumped into over the years while working in a few businesses in the Tampa Bay area.
December 24, 2018
It took me forever to read this book. So slow and despite what should’ve been compelling information, it was so poorly written and transitioned that I spent most of the time reading it either editing in my head or falling asleep. Googled a lot of the local places though.
July 10, 2019
I really enjoyed learning about the history of the mafia in Tampa. Many things hit close to home!! The book could hav definitely been written better and it jumped all over the place; lots of mistakes! But, I’m definitely glad I read it!
June 29, 2008
A decent account of the history of the mafia in Tampa. Could have been better.
February 19, 2016
Read this one a while ago...a really interesting exploration of the shady underside of Floridian life, with Tampa's renowned cigar industry as its focus.
January 11, 2020
Good stories, hard to know what's true and what isn't, very poor editing. Fun to read, though.
January 26, 2020
I agree with the other reviews that it was poorly edited and a lackluster litany of Tampa mafioso
June 17, 2020
Good true crime
A bit disjointed and rambling, it does give a good history of organized crime, and public corruption, in Florida. And I thought N.Y. and NJ were hotheads! HA!
A bit disjointed and rambling, it does give a good history of organized crime, and public corruption, in Florida. And I thought N.Y. and NJ were hotheads! HA!
November 24, 2017
A very interesting read from the beginning. I like the small chapters as this lends itself to make a great reference book. I do not pretend to know the history or facts that the author does, however, some of the stories are not told the same as other books. I also think the author has a little "man crush" on Santo Trafficante. Which is fine. And as far as the editing and all those negative ratings, I am not a English teacher and not grading a term paper. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and learned a lot. I will read his other book, Silent Don as well. Plus I believe the author does mafia tours in Tampa area, which will be on my to-do list when I get down that way.
September 4, 2018
This was essentially a chronological summary of important events in the history of Tampa organized crime. If you already had a working knowledge of this topic, the book offers little. I was disappointed that there was no serious attempt to bring these colorful characters or occurrences to life, and it was presented one or two dimensionally, mainly from police reports and newspaper accounts. Very little original thought went into this book, aside from some retreading of unsubstantiated links to the JFK assassination. The writing was clumsy and uninspiring. Only reason I gave it three stars instead of two was the fact that it could serve as a good roadmap for someone who wanted to present a scintillating history or novel.
April 4, 2020
This book started out good. I have learned a few fun facts about the city I work near and in. But then it started to just go to every chapter being about a different mob member, what they did, how they got killed and then what happened in court, trying to find the person who killed them. That repeated for several chapters with very little story in between. Not saying this was a bad book but I skipped through the last half of it.
April 26, 2025
Love the subject, especially living in the Tampa Bay area myself, but this one took some effort to get through. The way the book is organized made it difficult to keep up with so many different players. It would have been an easier read if the chapters were chronological through time rather than skipping back and forth between decades. It also got to a point where the stories just started to become redundant.
January 27, 2020
The saving grace for this book is the subject matter, which is the only reason I bothered reading all the way through. However, finishing the book took effort as it reads more like an exercise book in spotting grammatical errors you would give to a 6th grade English class. I don’t know if this is the fault of the author or publisher, but someone definitely dropped the ball here.
July 24, 2021
This should have been a good book, as the subject matter was interesting and the author obviously did a lot of research.
Unfortunately the writing style is early Wikipedia, and it is quite obvious that no one proof read this book before it was published. E for effort but I was so disappointed at how hard it was to get a good level of interest going when the writing was so ineffective.
Unfortunately the writing style is early Wikipedia, and it is quite obvious that no one proof read this book before it was published. E for effort but I was so disappointed at how hard it was to get a good level of interest going when the writing was so ineffective.
January 24, 2020
Very good read!!!
Fascinating investigation of the mob underworld in Florida. Tampa is such an incredible place filled with mystery and flavour. This book makes it even more adventurous!
Fascinating investigation of the mob underworld in Florida. Tampa is such an incredible place filled with mystery and flavour. This book makes it even more adventurous!
August 5, 2020
This book is loaded with facts and perhaps some of the authors presumptions. It mives fast and has the earmarks of an old fifties style crime magazine. If one wants to know about the history of organized crime in Tampa this book is a reasonable start.
September 9, 2017
A fascinating look at Tampa's underworld, including a few people I have met in my time living here as well as many people from the past who are still talked about today.
January 8, 2019
Great historical read about Tampa
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews