Frank Bompensiero

Frank "Bomp" Bompensiero (October 29, 1905 – February 10, 1977) was an American mobster who was a longtime caporegime in the Los Angeles crime family. In 1956, with the death of boss Jack Dragna, Bompensiero was demoted to the rank of soldier by the new boss, Frank DeSimone. He was the older brother of associate Salvatore "Sam" Bompensiero. Bompensiero made a name for himself for the many killings he committed on the orders of his superiors. Jimmy Fratianno, a close associate, once said that Bompensiero "had buried more bones than could be found in the brontosaurus room of the Museum of Natural History."

Bompensiero's family was from Porticello, Sicily. His family immigrated to the United States in 1904 along with the Balistrieri family (Frank Balistrieri would eventually lead the Milwaukee crime family). After the family settled in Milwaukee, Bompensiero was born on October 29, 1905. As a child, he attended Andrew Jackson Elementary School in Milwaukee but dropped out after the third grade. While in Milwaukee, he worked at an automobile parts manufacturer. He moved to San Diego as a young man in the mid-1920s. It was during his time in San Diego that Bompensiero got his start in organized crime by bootlegging alcohol coming over the border from Tijuana. He eventually married Thelma Jan San-Felippe and had one child, a daughter named Mary Ann. He also had a grandson named Frank. His first home in San Diego was at 5878 Estelle Street in El Cerrito before he moved to Pacific Beach later on. During World War II, Bompensiero served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1943.

Early in Bompensiero's crime career in San Diego in the 1920s, he met Jack Dragna in Los Angeles, who was the boss of the Los Angeles crime family. After seeing how fearless Bompensiero was, Dragna soon became his mentor. Bompensiero was then involved in bootlegging operations in San Diego during Prohibition. He was later convicted of a liquor violation in San Diego. His other early arrests were for possession of firearms, illegal gambling, kidnapping, and murder. Charges were dropped in most cases. He eventually served a year in McNeil Island Corrections Center for the liquor conviction and was released in 1933.

Impressed with the young criminal, Dragna eventually made him a caporegime, placing him in charge of all of the L.A. family's interests in San Diego. Wanted for questioning in the 1937 Redondo Beach murder of mobster Les Brunemann, Frank Bompensiero left California, but was able to return in 1941 after an innocent man was convicted of Brunemann's murder. During the 1940s and 1950s, Bompensiero owned a San Diego music store with Gaspare Matranga and a horseracing wire service company. He also owned the Gold Rail cafe in downtown at the U.S. Grant Hotel, a successful business that he owned with Tom Dragna's son Frank and nephew Louis. Bompensiero and his crew also co-owned and operated several bars in the downtown San Diego area where they often conducted loan sharking operations.

During this time, Bompensiero was tabbed by Dragna as an extortion shakedown artist and hitman in San Diego and Los Angeles. He was involved in one of the attempts on Mickey Cohen's life at Cohen's business office on the Sunset Strip, and killed Cohen torpedo Neddie Herbert. Bomp's San Diego crew included Tony Mirabile, Paul Mirabile, Gaspare Matranga, Joe Adamo, Biaggio Bonventre, and Joseph Li Mandri. His close associates in the Los Angeles mob included Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno and Leo "Lips" Moceri, both of whom he teamed up with on multiple occasions to commit mob-sanctioned murders.

In 1955, Bompensiero was convicted of bribery and conspiracy in an illegal liquor license transaction and was sentenced to 3–42 years in prison. He began his sentence at Chino. While in prison, his wife Thelma died of a stroke. Bompensiero was escorted from prison by the police so he could attend her funeral. He was later transferred to San Quentin State Prison in Northern California, the same prison where Jimmy Fratianno was serving a prison sentence for extortion.

While Bompensiero was in prison, mob boss Jack Dragna died of a heart attack, and attorney and mobster Frank DeSimone took over the Los Angeles family. DeSimone immediately demoted Bompensiero to soldier from capo, and appointed Tony Mirabile as the boss of San Diego. Outraged, Bompensiero later attempted to transfer to the Chicago Outfit, but was unsuccessful. Johnny Roselli later told Fratianno that he didn't want both Fratianno and Bompensiero to transfer to Chicago, because it would seem to Chicago like "everyone" who was a good worker wanted to leave the L.A. family. While on parole, Bompensiero worked several jobs for friends and associates to satisfy his parole work requirements.

Soon Bompensiero had numerous new dealings in Las Vegas with Cleveland mobster and casino owner Moe Dalitz and Chicago Outfit mobster Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro. He also counted retired Bonanno crime family boss Joseph Bonanno in Arizona, and John Roselli as allies; later over a hit dispute, he had a falling out with Roselli. In 1967, Bompensiero was arrested with Fratianno over a Fratianno Trucking Company dirt hauling union scheme where Jimmy's company had violated PUC regulations. This legal violation involved Jimmy and Jewel Fratianno's large trucking company, Fratianno Trucking. Under intense pressure, with he and Fratianno in the El Centro jail, unable to make a high bail, Bompensiero agreed to become a confidential informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the charges against him were eventually dropped.