Kefauver Committee, Cleveland: testimony of James Licavoli (19 January 1951)

James Licavoli told the committee he had been arrested 'many times', had 'copped a plea on extortion' in Toledo with a one-to-five-year term and a 1946 parole, and that Pete and Thomas Licavoli were his first cousins; he refused to answer questions about his business.

Date

1951-01-19

Kind

hearing

Source

Internet Archive, scan of the printed hearings, Part 6: Ohio-Kentucky (Boston Public Library copy)

Retrieved

2026-10-12

Docket

Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Hearings before the Special Committee, 82d Cong., Part 6: Ohio-Kentucky

Rights

A work of the United States Congress, printed by the Government Printing Office. Public domain in the United States. 17 U.S.C. § 105. The scan is of a GPO printing; Internet Archive marks it not in copyright.

Printed pages 337 to 355 of Part 6. James Licavoli appeared accompanied by D. J. LaPolla, attorney, of Warren, Ohio, and gave Cleveland as his residence. Asked how many times he had been arrested, he said, “I don’t know. Many times,” and “maybe 10, 20, I don’t know.”

Asked about a conviction, he said it was for extortion in Toledo: “I copped a plea on extortion,” with a sentence “From one to five” and parole “In 1946.” (Elsewhere in his answers he gave 1945; the dates are not consistent in the transcript.) Asked whether he had been sentenced to Leavenworth for violation of the prohibition law, he said, “That’s right,” and he refused to say whether he had been in the bootlegging racket. He said he was a first cousin of Pete Licavoli and of Thomas Licavoli.

He refused, on counsel’s advice, to answer questions about his business, the Girard Novelty Co. at Niles, the Triangle Novelty Co. at Warren, and his acquaintances. The committee’s report on those refusals is Senate Report 86. His answers and refusals are the record of the hearing, not findings.