In the 1940s, Niccoli was reportedly a bodyguard, close friend and business associate of Mickey Cohen who was a bitter rival of the Los Angeles crime family then led by Sicilian crime boss Jack Dragna, vying for control of lucrative illegal activities. Los Angeles family capo Jimmy "the weasel" Fratianno had known Niccoli for thirteen years and they had done time together in an Ohio penitentiary in the 1930s. Los Angeles boss Jack Dragna had asked Fratianno, an ex-associate and friend of Cohen, to try to have Cohen's Italian gang members switch over to the L.A. family, among them Frank Niccoli. During his years in organized crime, Niccoli had been arrested for armed robbery, spent time in prison in Cleveland and on April 12, 1949, was arrested and indicted on charges of conspiracy in Los A