Scappatura was born in Chicago, Illinois and later moved to California where he became a member of the San Francisco crime family and gained the rank of capo. He was the co-owner of Sunland Sales Company which dealt in olive oil. Scappatura also operated the Coronet Olive Oil Co. in Oroville, California. He was one of various suspects in the murder of Chicago Outfit mobster Nick DeJohn in 1947. Scappatura and Anthony Lima were identified by an eye witness as being around the car in which DeJohn's strangled corpse was found. All of the mobsters suspected in the murder investigation went into hiding including Sebastiano Nani, Leonard Calamia and Michael Abati. Scappatura was known as a "Tough Guy" and always boasted that he could beat any rap. When he was arrested during the Nick DeJohn murd