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| - Dragna was born Ignazio Dragna to Francesco Paolo Dragna and Anna Dragna in Corleone, Sicily, on April 18, 1891. On November 18, 1898, Dragna came to America on the S.S. Alsatia with his mother, older sister Giuseppa, and older brother Gaetano. They stayed in Brooklyn with Antonio Rizzotti's family, also from Corleone. It is unknown when Dragna's father arrived in the United States. Dragna stayed in New York for ten years before returning to Sicily. As a young man, he joined the Italian Army and later the Sicilian Mafia.
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abstract
| - Dragna was born Ignazio Dragna to Francesco Paolo Dragna and Anna Dragna in Corleone, Sicily, on April 18, 1891. On November 18, 1898, Dragna came to America on the S.S. Alsatia with his mother, older sister Giuseppa, and older brother Gaetano. They stayed in Brooklyn with Antonio Rizzotti's family, also from Corleone. It is unknown when Dragna's father arrived in the United States. Dragna stayed in New York for ten years before returning to Sicily. As a young man, he joined the Italian Army and later the Sicilian Mafia. In 1914, Dragna returned to America. He appears to have had a relationship with Gaetano Reina, who eventually would lead his own crime family in Manhattan and the Bronx. That same year, Dragna was a suspect in the murder of Jewish poultry dealer Bernard Baff. After the killing, Dragna fled to California and assumed the name Charles Dragna. Dragna was extradited to New York, but never went on trial. In 1915, Dragna was arrested for Black Hand extortion of a Long Beach man and served three years in prison. At the time of his extortion arrest, Dragna was using the alias Ignazio Rizzoto. During the Prohibition Era, Dragna and his brother Gaetano (now named Tom) ran extortion and illegal liquor distillation operations. Ignazio Dragna now became Jack Ignatius Dragna. In 1922, Dragna married Francesca Rizzotto. After his prison stint he worked closely with Joseph Ardizzone, a prominent mobster in Los Angeles.
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