| abstract
| - Originally from the East Coast, Caci was born in Westfield, New York to Alfonzo and Josephine Caci. Caci grew up around the Buffalo-Western New York area. Caci began his career as a mobster associated with the Buffalo crime family and was involved in schemes attempting to take over vending machine companies in New York. In 1972, Caci was got three years in prison for his part in a plot to blow up a vending machine company that mob figures were attempting to take over. While serving time for his previous case Caci was put on trial for trying to shakedown a Binghamton vending machine operator but was acquitted. In the 1970s, Caci spent several years in Attica prison for armed robbery where he met many mobsters including Stephen "The Whale" Cino, both would eventually switch to the Los Angeles crime family. After a couple more run ins with the law in Buffalo Caci decided to move out west. In the late 1970s he moved to Southern California. He was promoted to caporegime shortly after by boss Peter Milano. Until his death, Caci was active as a loan shark in Palm Springs and Las Vegas. Caci kept close ties to the Buffalo crime family and helped contribute to the growing ties between the two families. He owned his own construction company in Erie, Pennsylvania and was the owner of a restaurant and night club in New York and California. At the height of his criminal career he ran a multitude of illegal bookmaking and loan sharking operations that made upwards of $1 million per week. In 1984, Caci was arrested with 20 other Los Angeles mobsters for attempting to take over a $1 million a week illegal bookmaking operation. However, due to lack of evidence, Caci was not charged. Caci controlled his empire of crime from his base of operations in Palm Springs, California. Caci had two younger brothers who also were well known in Buffalo's organized crime circles. Salvatore "Sam" Caci, a construction worker who was president of Laborers Local 210 during a time when federal agents said it was controlled by Buffalo's mob, who died in 2002 and Charles Caci, a night club singer known as "Bobby Milano". Until his death in 2006, Charles was a soldier in the Los Angeles family and a part of his brother Jimmy's crew. Other members of Caci's crew included Stephen Cino, Rocco Zangari, Steven Mauriello, Vince Lupo and associates Kenny Gallo, Robert Zeichick and Alfred Mauriello. When Peter Milano and his Underboss Carmen Milano were sentenced to prison time in 1988, Caci became street boss of the Los Angeles crime family for a short time. In August 1996, Caci was sentenced to 42 months in prison for conspiracy, wire fraud, and interstate transportation of fraudulently obtained money for his role in a telemarketing scheme that victimized over 100 people in the Midwest. After his conviction for the telemarketing scheme the California Attorney Generals office listed Caci in its annual organized crime report saying "Caci's imprisonment left an organized crime leadership void in the Palm Springs area, with no one stepping up to take his place". Caci was able to avoid serious jail time by the FBI in connection with the Las Vegas RICO cases "Operation Thin Crust" and "Operation Button Down", which were investigations into the Mafia's influence in Southern Nevada in 1997. In 1998 Caci was convicted and received a six-month sentence. Caci, who was described by associates as one of the toughest mobsters ever to emerge from Buffalo's underworld, died on August 16, 2011 at the age of 86 in the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. He was buried on August 21, 2011 at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Cheektawaga, New York.
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