26 Facts About Frankie Yale

Frankie Yale had an older brother, John, and two younger siblings, Assunta and Angelo.

In 1917, with the proceeds from these rackets, Frankie Yale opened the Harvard Inn bar on Seaside Walk in Coney Island.

Frankie Yale's gang engaged in Black Hand extortion activities and ran a string of brothels.

At the beginning of Prohibition, Frankie Yale became one of Brooklyn's biggest bootleggers.

Frankie Yale was noted as a stylish dresser, favoring expensive suits and diamond jewelry.

Frankie Yale was known for generosity toward the less fortunate people in his neighborhood, who often approached him and requested financial assistance.

Conversely, Frankie Yale was a violent man who did not hesitate to inflict pain on others.

When two extortionists attempted to shake down the popular hat-check operator of a neighborhood restaurant, Frankie Yale battered the two unconscious.

In May 1920, Frankie Yale traveled to Chicago and personally killed longtime gang boss Big Jim Colosimo at the behest of Chicago Outfit friends Torrio and Capone.

Tradition has long claimed that Frankie Yale fought a desperate gang war for control of the Brooklyn docks with the Irish White Hand Gang.

The first known attempt on Frankie Yale's life occurred on February 6,1921, when he and two of his men were ambushed in Lower Manhattan after they stepped from their car in order to attend a banquet.

One of Frankie Yale's bodyguards was killed and the other wounded, with Frankie Yale himself sustaining a severe lung wound.

Eight days later, Frankie Yale's men gunned down Silvio Melchiorre in front of his Little Italy cafe.

Yet another attempt on Frankie Yale's life took place on July 9,1923.

In November 1924, Frankie Yale was asked to come to Chicago to assist Capone and Torrio, who needed another rival murdered.

Frankie Yale said he had come to town for the funeral of Unione Siciliana president Mike Merlo and stayed to see old friends.

Frankie Yale further claimed to be having lunch at the time of O'Banion's murder.

Frankie Yale would oversee the landing of the booze and make sure the Chicago-bound trucks made it safely through New York.

On July 1,1928, a Sunday afternoon, Frankie Yale was in his Sunrise Club, located at 14th Avenue and 65th Street, when he received a cryptic phone call.

Frankie Yale's car was overtaken by the Buick, whose occupants opened fire at close range.

Police noted that at the time of murder, Frankie Yale was wearing a four-carat diamond ring, as well as a belt buckle engraved with his initials.

Frankie Yale's murder represented the first time that the Thompson submachine gun was used in New York gangland warfare.

Frankie Yale received one of the most impressive gangland funerals in American history, at which thousands of Brooklynites lined the streets to watch the procession.

Frankie Yale was buried wearing evening clothes, holding grey suede gloves and a gold rosary.

Frankie Yale's funeral set a standard of opulence for American gangsters that has been seldom matched over the years.

Frankie Yale's murder turned out to be the first in a series of events that facilitated Masseria's attempt to consolidate all of New York's Mafia families under his control, which eventually resulted in the Castellammarese War.