--- aliases: - Peter Milano - Peter John Milano - Peter J. Milano category: Organized Crime created: 2026-10-09 location: Los Angeles, California relations: - fn: 3 role: boss, identified as such in the California Attorney General's 1986 annual report start: 1986 type: head_of with: '[[Los Angeles Crime Family]]' - fn: 3 role: brother; underboss of the family in 1986 start: 1986 type: relative_of with: '[[Carmen Milano]]' - end: 1975 fn: 2 reverse: true role: federal gambling conspiracy case; convicted on two counts, four-year concurrent sentence (United States v. Calaway) type: prosecuted with: '[[Department of Justice]]' - end: 1988 fn: 6 reverse: true role: federal racketeering and loansharking indictment returned May 21, 1987; detained pending trial; reported guilty plea in 1988 start: 1987 type: prosecuted with: '[[Department of Justice]]' summary: Boss of the Los Angeles crime family by 1986, convicted in a 1970s federal gambling case and a defendant in the 1987 federal racketeering case in Los Angeles in which he reportedly pleaded guilty. tags: - Person - OrganizedCrime - LaCosaNostra - LosAngeles - Racketeering - Gambling - IndianGaming updated: 2026-10-09 --- Peter John Milano was identified as the boss of the [Los Angeles Crime Family](/organizations/los-angeles-crime-family/), a [La Cosa Nostra](/organizations/la-cosa-nostra/) group, in 1986, and was a defendant in federal cases in 1975 and 1987. David Amoruso wrote in 2012 that Milano died on April 21 at age 86.[^1] ### Gambling conviction, 1970s The earliest federal case located against Milano is a gambling conspiracy in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. The Ninth Circuit heard consolidated appeals in 1975 from five defendants, Martin C. Calaway, Luigi Gelfuso, Tony Endreola, Milano and John Joseph Vaccaro, who had been convicted under a three-count indictment charging conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C. 1955, operation of an illegal gambling business, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Vaccaro was convicted on all three counts. Milano, Gelfuso, Calaway and Endreola were convicted on the first two. Milano, Gelfuso and Calaway received concurrent four-year sentences under each count, and Endreola received a suspended two-year sentence and probation.[^2] The court's account of the evidence says that Gelfuso and Vaccaro had agreed that Gelfuso and Milano would each receive 20 percent of the profits and Vaccaro 60 percent. The evidence suggested that Milano arranged free bail bonds for the operation's arrested employees. The court found that the evidence showed Milano knew of the conspiracy almost from its inception. After Coloduros told him in an alley near the bail bond office that Deems was cheating at the blackjack table, Milano replied, "I'll look into it." At the bail bond office, referring to a newspaper item, Milano stated that the conspirators had not told him "in the front" that they were using crooked dice. The court described the bail-bond evidence as "highly suspicious" and noted Milano's contention that he was engaged in the legitimate pursuit of his profession, and held the remaining evidence sufficient to support the finding of his participation. The court affirmed the judgments of conviction.[^2] ### Boss of the family, 1986 The [California Attorney General's Office](/organizations/california-attorney-generals-office/) annual report to the legislature, issued in June 1987 covering 1986, described the Southern California Crime Family as "the only functioning traditional organized crime family based in this state." The report lists Peter John Milano as boss, his brother Carmen Milano as underboss and Jack LoCicero as consigliere. It names Luigi Gelfuso, Vincent Dominic Caci, John Aquilante and Michael Rizzitello as caporegimes, and states that the family consisted of about 20 members. The report says the structure "remained unchanged in 1986."[^3] The report attributes the family's weakness "largely to police scrutiny and ineffective family leadership."[^3] It states that, in addition to the Southern California family, members and associates of the [Gambino Crime Family](/organizations/gambino-crime-family/), the Lucchese Crime Family and the DeCavalcante crime family were involved in California businesses including pornography, high-stakes bingo on Indian reservations and vending machines.[^3] ### Piggy's Vending and the Cabazon cardroom In its discussion of vending machines, the report describes an investigation of Piggy's Vending in Riverside County. It states that Keely Smith, also known as Dorothy Prima, the business's owner, had a boyfriend, Bobby Milano, publicly identified as a member of the Southern California Crime Family, and that Bobby Milano's brother, Vincent Dominic Caci, is a caporegime of the family. The report adds in parentheses that Bobby Milano was often seen at the business. It states that Steven Cino, the manager of Piggy's, and [Rocco Zangari](/people/rocco-zangari/), who was observed unloading cartons of cigarettes at the business, also have been identified as members of the family.[^4] On February 9, 1989 the Press-Enterprise of Riverside reported that Rocco Zangari, the manager of the cardroom of the [Cabazon Indian Casino](/organizations/cabazon-indian-casino/) until 1981, had been sentenced the previous year to five years' probation and a $2,000 fine after pleading guilty to federal racketeering charges in Los Angeles. The article states that he was identified in the indictment in that case as an associate of Peter Milano, whom federal prosecutors identified as the leader of mob activities in Southern California until his conviction for racketeering.[^5] ### The 1987 indictment and the Gelfuso appeal Michael Gelfuso, Peter John Milano and Luigi Gelfuso were indicted on May 21, 1987 in a multi-count indictment charging them with racketeering and loansharking violations, conspiracy and attempt to distribute cocaine, and distribution of cocaine. They were ordered detained under the Bail Reform Act of 1984. The district court found that no condition or combination of conditions would reasonably assure the safety of the community, and found Michael and Luigi Gelfuso to be flight risks. The defendants did not appeal the denial of their motions to revoke the orders and instead moved the district court three months later for reconsideration, arguing that the length of their detention violated due process. They contended that the government's failure to deliver over 600 hours of taped conversations required them to move for a trial continuance; the district court found the government was not responsible for the delay and denied the motions. The Ninth Circuit affirmed on February 1, 1988 without deciding at what point detention becomes excessive, and noted that the defendants had been detained since June 1987 and that trial was then scheduled for March 1, 1988.[^6] [United Press International](/organizations/united-press-international/) reported on April 5, 1988 that the racketeering trial of Luigi Gelfuso Jr. and co-defendants John DeMattia and John Vaccaro had opened in Los Angeles federal court. The report stated that eleven other men, including Peter John Milano, described as the reputed boss of the Los Angeles Mafia, had already pleaded guilty, and that the case rested on an 18-count indictment returned the previous May.[^7] ### Family Carmen Milano is identified in the 1986 report as underboss. In a 1998 federal indictment, the Las Vegas Sun described Carmen Milano as the reputed underboss of the Los Angeles mob and as the brother of Peter Milano.[^8] A Cleveland, Ohio underboss named Anthony Milano appears in the appendix to the President's Commission on Organized Crime's 1986 report on organized crime, business and labor unions, in questions put to a Cleveland witness, who gave the same answer to each. One question described Anthony Milano as the consigliere and underboss of the Cleveland family; the next asked whether the witness was aware that a Carmen Milano, "a relation of Mr. Anthony Milano," was attorney for a joint council. The records found do not establish whether Anthony Milano is related to Peter Milano, or whether the Carmen Milano of the question is the Los Angeles underboss.[^9] ### 1998 Las Vegas indictment A federal racketeering indictment unsealed in [Las Vegas](/places/las-vegas/) on February 2, 1998 named 16 defendants, including Carmen Milano, whom the Las Vegas Sun described as the reputed underboss of the Los Angeles mob, the suspected capos Vincent "Jimmy" Caci, 73, and Louis Caruso, 40, and the made members Stephen Cino, 60, Charles Caci, 62, and Rocco Zangari, 65. The newspaper described the indictment as superseding a smaller April 17 indictment and as a 50-count case. The records found do not establish whether the Vincent "Jimmy" Caci of 1998 is the Vincent Dominic Caci named as a caporegime in 1986. It described the investigation as part of the [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/)'s nationwide Operation Button-down initiative, which used court-approved electronic surveillance, informants and several undercover agents who had penetrated the Los Angeles mob.[^8] The article states that Peter Milano "was not charged in the two-year probe, which authorities said is continuing." It states that Carmen Milano, who owns a condominium in Las Vegas, surrendered to the FBI that morning. The Sun reported on February 4, 1998 that Carmen Milano told the paper after a hearing, "I'm being framed" and "This is a government conspiracy," and that he was released on a $25,000 bond carried over from a federal money laundering charge against him in Los Angeles.[^10] According to the article, the indictment accused Carmen Milano of trying to share in the profits of the illicit activities after the killing of Herbie Blitzstein, and charged him, with Peter Caruso, with extortion and threats against an undercover agent. The article says the plan to kill Blitzstein was hatched in October, before the January 6, 1997 killing, at a meeting in Las Vegas with Milano, Cino and John Branco, a longtime hoodlum who had become a government informant.[^8] The Ninth Circuit's appellate opinion in the Blitzstein case recorded that Robert Panaro and Stephen Cino, along with fourteen co-defendants, were charged in a fifty-count indictment with racketeering-related crimes including murder, conspiracy to commit extortion, money laundering, counterfeiting, wire fraud and mail fraud. The opinion describes count 33, which charged Cino with money laundering by aiding and abetting Vincent Caci's acceptance, in California, of a $2,000 tribute payment from Nevada.[^11] In March 2000 the Las Vegas Sun reported that Carmen Milano and Dominic Spinale had pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, and that Zangari pleaded guilty to supervising other mob members while they sold $75,000 in counterfeit checks to undercover agents in the fall of 1996. The article describes Carmen Milano as the Los Angeles La Cosa Nostra family underboss.[^12] ### Death Amoruso, writing for Gangsters Inc. on August 4, 2012, wrote that Peter John Milano died on April 21 at age 86 and that the death went unnoticed by the media and the public. Amoruso also wrote that Milano became head of the Los Angeles crime family in 1980 after his predecessors were sent to prison on racketeering charges, that he and his crew pleaded guilty in 1988 to racketeering and extortion charges, and that he was released from prison on April 5, 1991.[^1] [^1]: David Amoruso, "Three dead mobsters three different stories," *Gangsters Inc.*, August 4, 2012. https://gangstersinc.org/2012/08/04/three-dead-mobsters-three-different-stories/ [^2]: *United States v. Calaway*, 524 F.2d 609 (9th Cir. Oct. 3, 1975), consolidated appeals of Martin C. Calaway, Luigi Gelfuso, Tony Endreola, Peter John Milano and John Joseph Vaccaro. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8910026/united-states-v-calaway/ and https://static.case.law/f2d/524/cases/0609-01.json [^3]: California Department of Justice, Bureau of Organized Crime and Criminal Intelligence, *Annual Report to the California Legislature* (June 1987; Attorney General John K. Van de Kamp), pp. 2-3, "Southern California Crime Family" and "Leadership of the Southern California Crime Family," and pp. 6-7, "Traditional Organized Crime Involvement in Businesses." https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/111070NCJRS.pdf [^4]: California Department of Justice, *Annual Report to the California Legislature* (June 1987), pp. 19-20, "Piggy's Vending." https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/111070NCJRS.pdf [^5]: *The Press-Enterprise* (Riverside, California), February 9, 1989, p. A-1, "Cabazon bingo casino listed as Mafia-tied," reprinted in FBI Los Angeles file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1. https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols [^6]: *United States v. Michael Gelfuso, Peter John Milano and Luigi Gelfuso*, 838 F.2d 358 (9th Cir. Feb. 1, 1988). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/500776/united-states-v-michael-gelfuso-peter-john-milano-and-luigi-gelfuso/ and https://static.case.law/f2d/838/cases/0358-01.json [^7]: United Press International, "Trial begins for reputed members of 'Mickey Mouse Mafia,'" April 5, 1988. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/04/05/Trial-begins-for-reputed-members-of-Mickey-Mouse-Mafia/4166576216000/ [^8]: Jeff German, "FBI deals crippling blow to L.A. mob," *Las Vegas Sun*, February 3, 1998. https://lasvegassun.com/news/1998/feb/03/fbi-deals-crippling-blow-to-la-mob/ [^9]: President's Commission on Organized Crime, *The Edge: Organized Crime, Business, and Labor Unions* (1986), appendix hearing transcript (Cleveland witness). https://ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/102922NCJRS.pdf [^10]: Jeff German, "Reputed underboss Milano: 'I'm being framed,'" *Las Vegas Sun*, February 4, 1998. https://lasvegassun.com/news/1998/feb/04/reputed-underboss-milano-im-being-framed/ [^11]: *United States v. Panaro*, 241 F.3d 1104 (9th Cir. Feb. 28, 2001), appeal of Robert Panaro and Stephen Cino. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/772293/united-states-v-robert-panaro-united-states-of-america-v-stephen-cino/ and https://static.case.law/f3d/241/cases/1104-01.json [^12]: Kim Smith, "Alleged mobsters plead guilty," *Las Vegas Sun*, March 13, 2000. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2000/mar/13/alleged-mobsters-plead-guilty/ --- *The Info Web has an MCP server for agents at https://theinfoweb.org/mcp (streamable HTTP, no auth): search by meaning, exact text, source or date, and follow typed, footnoted connections. Setup and the same tools over GET: https://theinfoweb.org/llms.txt*