Mobsters need vacation time too. For this reason the sunny paradise of Miami (as well as the gaming destination of Las Vegas) was considered an “open city,” meaning any Mafia family could operate there without having to get permission. Things got so bad with mobsters from around the world descending on the South Florida city that Miami was declared “the international headquarters of organized crime.”

Then there were the outpost cities. Comprised of small mob crews from larger families, they were sent out to set up operation in cities without a sizeable mob presence. This enabled bosses to expand their empire with little bloodshed.

Miami, Florida

Since the 1920s Miami has been the playground of vacationing mobsters. Gangsters from the frigid north took a train or plane to the luxurious hotels and sandy white beaches of the quasi-tropical paradise. Many of the major mob figures like Meyer Lanksy, Al Capone, and John Gotti spent time and ran operations in the southern port city. The close contact between the mobsters gave rise to a lot of interfamily schemes. Gambling, stock fraud, stolen property rings, and narcotics were the big moneymakers. By the 1990s authorities estimated that over 600 members and associates of all the crime families in America were either living full or part time in South Florida. Cuban, Colombian, Haitian, Russian, and Israeli gangsters joined them. In recent years Mafia activity has moved north from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

Des Moines, Iowa

Iowa would be the absolute last place anyone would think of having a Mafia family, but a small offshoot of the Chicago mob operated there. Louis Fratto was the longtime mob “boss” of Des Moines. A capo in the Chicago Outfit, Fratto ran labor racketeering and gambling with a small crew. He was a close associate of San Giancana and Tony Accardo. He died in 1967 while under indictment for interstate fraud. His son Johnny is a minor celebrity and a frequent guest on the Howard Stern radio show.

San Diego, California

There was an active Mafia presence in San Diego, though it was never an official family. Los Angeles capo, and FBI informant, Frank Bompensiero operated lucrative rackets there before he ran afoul of the LA leadership and was murdered in 1977. Chicago sent down Chris Petti to oversee their interests in Indian gaming. Petti died in 2006. The final group was the Matranga family. The Sicilian-born mobsters operated restaurants and were suspected of being major international drug traffickers in the 1950s.

Youngstown, Ohio

Youngtown was not an open city in the traditional sense. Rather, it was split between the Cleveland and Pittsburgh families. For years the two families worked side by side running gambling, loansharking, stolen property rings, and narcotics in town. But as the city's fortunes declined as the steel industry collapsed, the mobs started warring with each other for control. Lenny Strollo, a Pittsburgh mobster, became the de facto “boss” of the Mahoning Valley. Following the murders of gangsters Joey Naples and Ernie Biondillo in the 1990s, federal authorities moved in with sweeping indictments of mobsters and politicians. Strollo decided to cooperate and became a government witness, eventually providing information against representative James Traficant.