Often considered a faction of the Kansas City Crime Family; the mafia in Omaha Nebraska in a lot of ways operated as their own independent family.
- mobtalk247
- May 29
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 8
Often considered a faction of the Kansas City Crime Family; the mafia in Omaha Nebraska in a lot of ways operated as their own independent family. The head of the Omaha organization was Anthony J. Biase, a made member of the Kansas City family and a close associate of KC boss Nick Civella. Tony Biase ran the organization with his three brothers Benny, Sam, and Louis. All four of them had connections with made guys from New York to California, and had extensive records dating back to the 1920s, which included armed robbery, possession of burglary tools, assault, resisting arrest, operating bunco (dice) games, and bookmaking. The Biase brothers could be found on South 16th Street at the Owl Smoke Shop located at 610 S. 16th Street, which was a front for their gambling operations. If your curious as to what was so important about Omaha Nebraska; because of its location, it was the center of bookmaking for several Midwest families. Tony Biase's lieutenant Benny Barone was the biggest earner who's gambling empire extended into Iowa where he had connections with Chicago Capo Lou Fratto in Des Moines. Aside from gambling and bookmaking, the Biase brothers were major narcotics traffickers.
One of Tony Biase's suppliers was Los Angeles mobster Louis Fiano, also known as Lou Friedman. Tony was also associated with LA Jewish mobster Meyer "Mickey" Cohen. In March of 1960, Tony was hit with an eight count indictment on narcotics violations. The information against him was collected by a Kansas City burglar Kennith Sheetz, who was also one of Tony's dealers that turned informant. Tony immediately put a hit out on Sheetz for five grand, demanding it be done before he went to prison. The contract was given to a couple of Kansas City wiseguys Anthony "Tiger" Cardarella and Felix "Little Phil" Ferina. On June 20, 1960, When Sheetz arrived home at 4501 Michigan Ave in Kansas City, Cardarella and Ferina were waiting. Sensing something was wrong as he entered his screened-in porch, Sheetz heard one of the killers say something like "This one's from Tony." Sheetz was then shot in the stomach, twice in the back and once in the head. Miraculously Sheetz survived and identified his assailants as Cardarella and Ferina. In December 1960, Tony was hit with 15 years and Anthony Cardarella and Felix Ferina got 10 years each. Tony Biase's new home for the next decade would be Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. He was released on Parole in 1970 which caused him to tone down his profile a bit. He and his brothers were still heavily active in bookmaking and gambling well into the 80s. Benny Barone was still using his guys John Salanitro and Ross "Soddy" DiMauro as layoff bettors who operated out of the Rocket Bar and Grill; a pool hall also located on 16th Street, owned by a major Omaha gambling figure Max Abramson. Soddy DiMauro was a well connected man himself who was associated with Chicago powerhouse Ralph Pierce, an oldtime gunman for Al Capone. Despite a few gambling raids and arrests, the Biase brothers pretty much stayed out of the limelight from then on. At the height of their power the Biase organization's strength was about 20. The Biase brothers all managed to pass away of natural causes and free men. The first to go was Louis in 1989, he was 73, Tony passed two years later at 82, Benny died the following year at 81 and Sam died in 2002 at 89. As for the two Kansas City hitmen who botched the Sheetz contract, Cardarella was found strangled to death in the trunk of his car in February 1984, his car was found abandoned in a parking lot, he had been in the trunk about three weeks. On September 19, 1984 Phil Ferina is shot to death in front of his house by gunmen in a passing car. They were killed for plotting against Willie "the rat" Cammisano who took over the Kansas City family after Nick Civella passed away of lung cancer in 1983.
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