FBI nabs Detroit's reputed Mafia boss

Federal agents finally took down Jack Tocco, arresting the man reputed to be the nation's longest-serving Mafia boss along with five of his top aides Thursday for crimes dating back to the 1950s.

FBI agents moved in on Tocco and the Detroit mob's reputed hierarchy after a five-year investigation resulted in charges including attempted murder, loan-sharking, extortion and trying to infiltrate casinos in the early days of Las Vegas.

Jack W. Tocco, 69, allegedly led Detroit's mob family since 1979 and served as a "capo," or captain, under then-boss Joseph Zerilli since 1966.

Tocco "is one of the most powerful Mafia dons on the streets of America," said FBI agent Joseph Martinolich Jr., who runs the Detroit office.

"Here in Detroit, we believe we've driven a stake through the heart of La Cosa Nostra," Martinolich said. In all, a federal grand jury indicted 17 reputed Mafia leaders, soldiers and associates on 25 counts of extortion, loan-sharking, witness-tampering, attempted murder and arson.

Few Mafia bosses have reigned as long as Tocco. Mafia families in New York have assassinated each other's leaders, while subordinates elsewhere often murder their bosses. And those not killed often land in prison.

Tocco and three others were arrested Thursday in Florida; 12 more were picked up in the Detroit area. Only one defendant did not post bail and remained in custody.

In Washington, Attorney General Janet Reno said the government has targeted the heads of organized crime families in Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland and New York for prosecution in the past year.

In the past three years, she said, federal prosecutors have convicted 42 top figures in the Mafia, including seven bosses or underbosses.

The aim is "to keep up the pressure, to ensure that they don't have an opportunity to rejuvenate themselves, as they have in other parts of the United States," said Rick Mosquera, chief of the FBI's organized crime section in Washington.

Mosquera said 10 percent of organized crime's members are in prison nationwide. "La Cosa Nostra remains the most significant organized crime threat in the United States."

The five alleged capos indicted Wednesday are Anthony J. Zerilli, 68; Anthony J. Tocco, 65, a brother of Jack Tocco; Tony Giacalone, 77; Vito W. Giacalone, 73; and Anthony J. Corrado, 60.

Vito Giacalone was the only suspect still at large Thursday.