| |
| Plinio Ottaviano | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | July 8, 1911 Hoboken, New Jersey |
| Died | January 5, 1946 Hell's Kitchen, New York City |
| Affiliation |  Stracci
|
| Title(s) | Soldier |
Plinio Ottaviano was an African-American mobster who was a member of the Italian Mafia's Stracci crime family, although African-Americans were not usually accepted into the Mafia (but he was of Italian descent). He was a soldier under Leon Grossi, a mob Capo in the Stracci family. In 1946, he was murdered by Aldo Trapani, a rival mobster.
Biography[]
Plinio Ottaviano was born to an Italian-American father and a black mother in New Jersey. As a young man, he was a robber who robbed a bank once and was arrested at the age of eighteen. In 1939, he joined the Stracci crime family and became? An associate under Leon Grossi. In 1945, he became a made man in the Stracci family, although he was a African; generally Africans were not allowed in the Mafia, but he was still Italian and was thus allowed in the family. Ottaviano became connected with the explosives rackets, and managed the Stracci businesses across the Hudson River in Hell's Kitchen. He took part in shady deals for dynamite, Molotovs, and bombs, and used Stracci money to sponsor attacks against the rival Corleone crime family.
In January 1946, Angelo "the Trojan" Granelli,? a soldier in the Corleone family, sanctioned a hit on Ottaviano, which Corleone associate Aldo Trapani accepted.? Ottaviano was making a deal with associates in the Hell's Kitchen Industrial Park when Aldo Trapani hurled dynamite at him from 100 feet above over a balcony, as Ottaviano's deal was in the train yards some feet below the streets. Ottaviano was killed in the explosion, and this was a severe blow to the Leon Grossi Regime.