| abstract | - Lanza was born in Palermo, Sicily, to Francesco Lanza, an Italian immigrant who was the first boss of the San Francisco crime family, and Caterina Lanza, an Italian-American. When he was a kid, his parents moved to San Francisco from New York City. During the 1940s and 1950s, Lanza was underboss of the San Francisco crime family, working under Michael Abati. He represented the San Francisco LCN family's interest from the early 1940s to 1952 before being convicted of failing to report nearly $1 million in unpaid taxes. In 1957, he attended the infamous Apalachin Meeting with other West Coast mobsters (Frank DeSimone, Simone Scozzari and Joseph Cerrito), representing San Francisco, when the raid happened he was never caught, possibly escaping through the woods with other mobsters.
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