About: Charles Gargotta   Sponge Permalink

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Born in Kansas City, Gargotta joined the criminal organization of boss Johnny Lazia as a young man. Gargotta and his close associate, Charles Binaggio built a gambling ring that grossed as much as $34,500,000 a year on dice and card games, numbers racket, and bookmaking. Gargotta was arrested more than 40 times over a 30-year period for murder, illegal gambling, liquor law violations, carrying a concealed weapon, robbery, auto theft, extortion, attempted burglary, and vagrancy. However, due to Gargotta's political influence, all of these charges were eventually dropped.

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  • Charles Gargotta
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  • Born in Kansas City, Gargotta joined the criminal organization of boss Johnny Lazia as a young man. Gargotta and his close associate, Charles Binaggio built a gambling ring that grossed as much as $34,500,000 a year on dice and card games, numbers racket, and bookmaking. Gargotta was arrested more than 40 times over a 30-year period for murder, illegal gambling, liquor law violations, carrying a concealed weapon, robbery, auto theft, extortion, attempted burglary, and vagrancy. However, due to Gargotta's political influence, all of these charges were eventually dropped.
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  • Born in Kansas City, Gargotta joined the criminal organization of boss Johnny Lazia as a young man. Gargotta and his close associate, Charles Binaggio built a gambling ring that grossed as much as $34,500,000 a year on dice and card games, numbers racket, and bookmaking. Gargotta was arrested more than 40 times over a 30-year period for murder, illegal gambling, liquor law violations, carrying a concealed weapon, robbery, auto theft, extortion, attempted burglary, and vagrancy. However, due to Gargotta's political influence, all of these charges were eventually dropped. In 1933, Lazia's control over organized crime in Kansas City was challenged by Joe Lusco and Ferris Anthon, two other Kansas City mobsters. Lazia tasked Gargotta and several other mob associates to kill Anthon. On August 12, 1933, the gunmen shot Anthon as he was entering his apartment building in Kansas City. However, county sheriff Tom Bash and a deputy came upon the scene, and opened fire. Two of Lazia's men were killed and one escaped. During the firefight, Gargotta leaped from the car, emptied a Colt .45 automatic at Bash, and then surrendered, yelling, "Don’t shoot me – Don’t shoot me!" In 1935, Gargotta was indicted for the 1933 attempted murder of Bash. However, Gargotta had strong allies in the law enforcement and legal community. The court granted 29 continuances before the case finally came to trial. Kansas City police officers switched the evidence tags on several guns recovered at the scene so as to shed doubt on the question of who held the murder weapon. Testimony of sheriff Bash and a ballistics expert placed the murder weapon securely in Gargotta's hands, but the jury had been bribed. Gargotta was acquitted of the homicide charge and convicted of the illegal possession of a gun, sentenced to a minimum term, and released promptly. Eventually, over the protest of the police department, the Governor of Missouri pardoned Gargotta. The police officer who changed the evidence tags was eventually convicted of perjury and sent to jail.
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