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Title
Brancato and Trombino toe tags
Alternative Title
Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo Collection
Date Created and/or Issued
1951
Contributing Institution
Los Angeles Public Library
Collection
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Rights Information
Images available for reproduction and use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at http://tessa.lapl.org/OrderingUse.html for additional information.
Description
Title supplied by cataloger.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Tony Brancato moved to Los Angeles and became involved in the organized crime scene, including illegal gambling, narcotics, and bootlegging. He was a suspect in many mob murders, including that of New York mobster Bugsy Siegel, and in a botched attempt to kill Mickey Cohen. Anthony Trombino, also from Kansas City, became Brancato's partner in crime and they became known as "the two Tonys." After robbing the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, the men became wanted by the mob and the FBI. Jimmy "the weasel" Fratianno set up a meeting with the two to discuss a bank robbery. On August 6, 1951, Brancato and Trombino were found shot to death in the front seat of a car on Ogden Drive near Hollywood Boulevard. Though many mobsters were arrested, phony alibis allowed all of them to escape punishment. Over 25 years later, after entering the federal Witness Protection Program, Fratianno confessed to murdering the pair.
Toe tags on Tony Brancato's left foot, labeled #26 (left) and Anthony Trombino's right foot, labeled #27. The bodies are on tables in front of a tiled wall. The word "homicide" is written at the top of each tag. Also written on each tag is "1648 No. Ogden Dr.," the address where the two were found shot to death. The rest of the bodies are covered with white sheets. Photograph dated August 7, 1951.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm.
Photographic prints
Identifier
00106596
Herald Examiner Collection
HE box 232
CARL0005338481
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/31862
Subject
Brancato, Tony--Death and burial
Trombino, Anthony--Death and burial
Dead persons--California--Los Angeles
Morgues--California--Los Angeles
Murder--California--Los Angeles
Murder victims--California--Los Angeles
Crime--California--Los Angeles
Criminals--California--Los Angeles
Organized crime--United States
Postmortem photographs
Los Angeles Evening Herald Express photographs
Herald-Examiner Collection photographs

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