The Palmiera crime family was a relatively unknown branch of the Cosa Nostra crime syndicate sweeping across

the United States of America. The Palmiera crime family was one of three families operating in Chicago up until the mid-1990s, until a spontaneous decision made by current boss (or don) Samuel Palmiera lead the family being moved out to western Los Angeles. Its suspected by various law enforcement agencies to have been professionally started around 1992, however there are controversies over the legitimacy of this date. The Palmiera crime family was often referred to as being in the shadow of the two other families operating in and around Chicago, mainly due to the familys lack of influence. But shortly following the incarceration of thenboss Domenic Palmieri, and the fall of the Caruso crime family in 1995, the Palmiera crime family soon started gaining attention. I Domenic Palmiera (1930 2002) was an unknown figure around Chicago and its populated underground crime circles. Palmieras main bases of operation were small loan sharking set ups with Laundromats as legal fronts. In the November of 1968, he and his spouse Natalie Palmiera (ne Carducci) gave birth to Samuel Palmiera. Domenic made no effort to separate the business side of his life from his family, often carrying out acts of violence in his own home. In March 1976, when Samuel was 8 years old, Palmiera shot and killed an African American male who had infiltrated his home by means of forced entry. He was initially arrested for first degree murder, but the case was later dropped on the grounds that Domenic carried out an act of self-defence. Aiden Callahan, a Federal Prosecutor stated that: Although Palmieras back may have been saved by the judiciary system this time, I whole heartedly believe that there was malicious intent behind this attack. This definitely isnt your run-of-the-mill self-defence case. Two years later, in 1978, Palmiera reportedly got into an altercation with a male who had allegedly winked at his wife, who was present at the time. The argument escalated into physical violence and resulted in Palmiera repeatedly bludgeoning the male with an iron pipe. He was found guilty and was thus convicted of one case of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to eight years, but ultimately only served five and a half after being let out on parole for good behaviour. Upon his release during the October of 1983, Palmiera stated at a press conference that he felt no remorse whatsoever. He went on to state that the guy deserved it and that Id do it again if I had to. The male who Palmiera had initially fought with retorted with a statement to the local media, saying I am outraged by Mr Palmieras nonchalant and ignorant attitude towards this series of events. I find it disgusting, and quite frankly sickening that one human being could treat another like this. A mere two months after this statement, Palmiera was indicted for the first degree murder, after being recorded by a CCTV camera shooting the male three times with a hand gun in a gentlemens club. Palmiera was sentenced to twenty five years in a high facility prison, with no chance of parole. II Being the next immediate family of Domenic, at the age of 16, Samuel Palmiera was appointed control of the family business. Although it seemed that he had taken the reins of the Palmiera organization, it was actually long time Captain Michael Garfola and Street Boss Eugene Travella who

were the real decision makers. The pair allowed the illusion of Samuel being in charge to continue for the next four years until in 1987, Travella was shot dead whilst talking with an unnamed acquaintance at a fast food restaurant. It was reportedly a vengeful retaliation from a small time Irish based crime syndicate, who Travella had apparently betrayed. Garfola, who was now at a loss of what to do, fled the state of Chicago and his whereabouts remains unknown. Now twenty years of age, Samuel Palmiera began to take full control of the direction in which the family was headed. Palmiera had formed a small inner circle of associates he had recruited, primarily consisting of small time criminals dotted around the city. It is suspected that this is how current underboss Richard Loiera was admitted into the organization. Palmiera slowly began delegating more responsibility to his new batch of numerous faces, and thus left long-time members in the dark. Ultimately, this led to some of the old time members of the family, such as Nicholas Vercazzi, to leave. Palmiera gave strict instructions to eradicate all ex members seen cooperating with any of the other families based in Chicago in spite of this, no notable or correlating deaths took place. The Palmiera crime family slowly began to reclaim the influence it once held over a small segment of southern Chicago. Samuel was rapidly gaining a reputation for being an intelligent and pragmatic character. Having faced no major convictions previously, or over the course of the following two years, Samuels clean and unblemished record was beginning to deflect any negative attention away from the dark and crime-ridden background. This allowed the Palmieras base of operations to expand without attracting any notable attention. Up until 1992, Palmieras crime syndicate continued to embellish the whole southern side of Chicago with legal fronts; betting shops, sports bars and gentlemens clubs were all show for racketeering, mass drug dealing and pornography. Palmiera was slowly dragging the organization out of the dark corner it had been in whilst under his fathers regime. However in mid-1993, Palmiera was charged with the murder of well-known Caporegime Matthew Sabelli, one of Palmieras leading figures in cocaine distribution. Palmiera had become suspicious of Sabellis loyalty when he was spotted leaving a coffee shop with Francis Britton, one of the leading figureheads in Palmieras case file and the DEA on February 13th. Two weeks later, Sabelli was found in the trunk of a car by a car crusher operator. Hed been stabbed into total over thirty times in the upper torso, lower torso, neck and face. The car, once swept over by forensics, had found two of Palmieras hairs on the seat. Palmieras trial began in August 1993, but was later dropped due to lack of evidence. III It had become apparent that one of Los Angeles most well-known crime families, the Caruso crime family, was losing its war against feuding rivals, the Magliore crime syndicate. Carusos struggle was made worse when sever of its operations were put under the heavy spotlight of the FBI. In the next year, seven indictments were made, and as a result, five major figures of the Caruso family were incarcerated on multiple charges in 1994. Having cataclysmic effects on the organization as a whole, its structure imploded and its downfall was imminent, resulting in the organizations termination later that year. After a further twenty four arrests, the last remaining members of the Caruso crime family were either murdered or never seen again.

Palmiera saw this as an auspicious opportunity with potential to progress the organization further. After gaining permission from the three remaining families to operate there, he, along with reputed Underboss Richard Loiero, set up a small front in Los Angeles. Both Palmiera and Loiero are under careful watch by various different law enforcement agencies including the CID, the GNU and the DEA.