Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime

John Lazia

Described in 1950 Senate hearings, by a Treasury narcotics agent and by a witness agreeing with counsel's question, as a leader of Kansas City's underworld and a figure in its gambling; he was killed in 1934, as the agent testified.

Aliases
Johnny Lazia
Source
Kefauver Committee hearings, Part 4: Missouri (1950), p. 91 (testimony of Claude A. Follmer), via Internet Archive
Rights
Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state.

On the record

  • 28 September 1950 — Follmer testified that Lazia was "associated very closely with the people who were alleged members" of an alleged Kansas City Mafia society, and, in answer to counsel ("He was killed in 1934?"), "Yes" (Kefauver Part 4, pp. 91-92). Informant-based testimony.
  • 28 September 1950 — Anthony Gizzo agreed with counsel that Lazia was "pretty well known as king in the gambling world here back in the 1920's and 1930's," said the Glendale Sales Co. soda business "was started by Lazia," and said "Lazia ran the club" when asked about a North Side Democratic Club (pp. 112, 119). He adopts counsel's characterizations.

The page rests on 1950 testimony only. Follmer told the committee that Lazia “was the leader or czar of the underworld for a number of years prior to his assassination” (Kefauver Part 4, p. 91). The agent’s description is attributed to informants and law-enforcement belief and is not a finding of the committee or a court, so no role line is set from it. A 1934 Associated Press report of the shooting is a post-1930 newspaper page and is not filed in this archive, so the date and place of the shooting are not stated here. The Kefauver testimony gives only the year, 1934.

Records

itemKefauver Part 4: testimony of Claude A. Follmer, narcotics agent, on an alleged Kansas City 'Mafia society' (28 September 1950)A Treasury narcotics agent says at p. 91 that John Lazia 'was the leader or czar of the underworld for a number of years prior to his assassination,' and at p. 92 lists unsolved murders 'attributed to the Mafia by persons engaged in law-enforcement work.' Pp. 81-100.itemKefauver Part 4: testimony of Anthony Gizzo (28 September 1950), pp. 108-139: Lazia and a North Side clubIn answer to counsel's questions, Gizzo says at p. 112 that the Glendale Sales Co. soda business 'was started by Lazia' and agrees Lazia was 'pretty well known as king in the gambling world here back in the 1920's and 1930's'; at p. 119 he says 'Lazia ran the club.'itemKefauver Committee hearings, Part 4: Missouri (1950)Printed hearings of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Part 4, Missouri: sessions in Washington and Kansas City, July to September 1950.