Born in Buffalo, New York, "Charlie Batts" was a soldier of the L.A. crime family and brother of fellow family soldier John Louis Battaglia. He eventually became a reputed capo of the L.A. mob. Battaglia had longstanding ties to the Brooklyn-based Bonanno crime family and to the sporadic violence of the "Bananas War" in New York. He was reportedly made a member of the Los Angeles family in 1953 by Jack Dragna.