Angelo Meli
Testified at the Kefauver Committee's Detroit hearing in 1951 that he lived on rents and a farm and had been in the jukebox business until 1943; named in a 1958 McClellan investigator's marriage chart and, by a newspaper account the FBI summarized, among five Detroit 'dons' in 1963.
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records and the filed newspaper pages state.
On the record
- 1951-02-08 — Kefauver Committee, Detroit: Carl Renda said Vince Meli, his brother-in-law, was the son of Angelo Meli, whom he described as "a farmer."
- 1951-02-09 — Kefauver Committee, Detroit: asked whether a list of arrests from 1919 to 1951 was correct, Meli answered, "It must be." He said, "I was in the jukebox business up until 1943."
- 1958-07-01 — McClellan Committee, Part 32: investigator George H. Martin named Angelo Meli among Detroit men "interrelated through various marriages."
- 1963-10-10 — An FBI page summarizing a newspaper account says Commissioner George Edwards named Angelo Meli among five Detroit "dons." Second-hand.
- 1963-10-10 — Named on the 1963 subcommittee chart: the "Ruling Council" band of Exhibit 18, "The Mafia Organization in the Detroit Area," presented by Detroit Police Commissioner George C. Edwards, carries a name plate for Angelo Meli. A chart label, not a finding.
No family or role is set; none of the records filed here states one in its own voice. The arrest list read at the hearing records arrests, not convictions. No filed record gives his birth date or death.
Records
itemKefauver Committee, Detroit: testimony of Angelo Meli (9 February 1951)Angelo Meli told the committee he lived on rents and a farm and had been in the jukebox business until 1943; asked whether a police record read to him was correct, he answered 'It must be.'itemKefauver Committee, Detroit: Carl Renda and the 1949 dance program (8 February 1951)Questioned about the program of a November 1949 dance he presided over, Carl Renda told committee counsel that Tony Zerilli is related to Joe Zerilli, that he believed Jack Tocco is a son of 'Black Bill' Tocco, and that he did not know who Tony and Bill 'Giacolone' were.itemMcClellan Committee: investigator George H. Martin on the Detroit intermarriage chart (1 July 1958)In the committee's 'Mafia' hearings, investigator George H. Martin explained a chart of intermarriages to chief counsel Robert F. Kennedy and named Detroit men he said were 'interrelated through various marriages'; the committee's printed list of Apalachin contacts adds Detroit entries.
itemFBI Detroit report page summarizing Commissioner George Edwards's McClellan testimony (October 1963)A page of a Detroit report in the Giacalone file summarizes a Detroit Free Press article of 11 October 1963: Police Commissioner George Edwards had told the McClellan subcommittee that the Detroit area was controlled by a five-man 'council' whose members were called 'dons'.
itemExhibit No. 18: "The Mafia Organization in the Detroit Area"Detroit Police Department fold-out chart presented on October 10, 1963: a "Ruling Council," "The Big Men," and lower tiers, with photographs, a relationship legend and a criminal-activity code.
itemFBI Detroit report page summarizing Commissioner George Edwards's McClellan testimony (October 1963)A page of a Detroit report in the Giacalone file summarizes a Detroit Free Press article of 11 October 1963: Police Commissioner George Edwards had told the McClellan subcommittee that the Detroit area was controlled by a five-man 'council' whose members were called 'dons'.itemExhibit No. 18: "The Mafia Organization in the Detroit Area"Detroit Police Department fold-out chart presented on October 10, 1963: a "Ruling Council," "The Big Men," and lower tiers, with photographs, a relationship legend and a criminal-activity code.