Jul 05 2007
The Mafia Plot To Kill Dennis Kucinich
With Nardi and Greene out of the way, the only real threat to the mob was the Boy Mayor, Dennis Kucinich.
As the Cleveland mafia waged its civil war after the death of boss Scalish, newly elected Mayor Kucinich fought hard to sever its old ties to local government. In 1977, Kucinich mandated that all city contracts be re-evaluated. The most coveted deal was the garbage-hauling contract once held by Danny Greene, before an associate of his named James Palladino took it over. Palladino made no secret of his contempt for Kucinich after the mayor awarded the contract to another businessman not directly connected to such nefarious characters.
Tony’s Diner – The Old Man wanted to whack Kucinich here.
That same year, Kucinich refused to sell Muni Light, Cleveland’s public power plant, to private interests that stood to make a bundle of money. Every fat cat, every racketeer, every low-level thug with his hand in the gravy wanted Kucinich out of the picture.
And someone wanted him dead.
IT WAS 1978 and Ed Kovacic was the sergeant in charge of the Cleveland Police Department’s Scientific Investigation Unit when he got the phone call from the undercover cop from Maryland. The officer told him a story about a professional hitman from his area they called The Old Man, who had gotten high at a bar one evening and blabbed about a sweet assignment he once had in Ohio.
“The Old Man said he’d picked up a contract on the mayor of Cleveland,” recalls Kovacic. “He was supposed to take him out at a parade. He told the Maryland police that his Cleveland contact was someone he knew only as “Tommy.’”
It was the Columbus Day parade, organized by the Call & Post, to be exact. But the hit didn’t happen because an ulcer inside Kunicich’s stomach burst before the event and the mayor was rushed to the hospital.
The hit location then changed to Tony’s Diner on West 117th. Kucinich had breakfast at the greasy spoon every morning at a table near a window. The Old Man picked up an untraceable rifle and scope and tried to secure a location across the street from the window. The angle wasn’t right, though. Instead, he picked a rooftop across the street from the entrance. He could shoot Kucinich in the head as he left.
“After killing Kucinich, he would leave his gun on the roof, walk down the fire escape and climb into a second-floor window,” says Kovacic. “He would leave the building with everyone when they rushed outside to see what the commotion was. Then he would just walk away.”
But when Cleveland Trust called in long-standing debts in retaliation for Kucinich’s refusal not to sell Muni Light, the city went into default and Kucinich’s popularity plummeted. It was obvious he would not be re-elected and the mafia was inclined to wait and see if his successor was more reasonable. The hit was called off. Still, Cleveland police wanted to know who had given the order.
The acting chief told Kovacic to meet with the hitman at Burke Lakefront Airport and try to get The Old Man to identify his contact. There, The Old Man picked out Tommy Sinito’s photograph.
“I knew him as a player, but not a big player,” says Kovacic. “I knew Sinito was an associate of the Cleveland mafia, but I didn’t know if he was a made man. I remembered that Sinito’s name had come up as a bit player in the attempted assassination of Robert Doggett.”
In August 1973, Robert Doggett was the director of the Model City program, a federally funded initiative to rebuild Cleveland’s East Side. Of course, the mob wanted its front companies to receive the biggest contracts, but apparently, Doggett had other ideas. While walking to his office on St. Clair, Doggett was shot in the belly and nearly died. His would-be assassin was found a few days later, floating facedown in the Ohio River. The shooter’s name was Gerald “Chick” Johnson. According to Kovacic, who investigated the crime, Johnson’s car was leased from a dealership where Tommy Sinito worked.
