Notorious figures
Peter Licavoli
1902–1984 · Detroit Mafia leader, Prohibition-era bootlegger
St. Louis-born gangster who ran rum-running and gambling rackets in Detroit and Toledo during Prohibition and was a founding leader of the Detroit Partnership.
- Born
St. Louis, Missouri- Died
near Tucson, Arizona
aged 81- Birth name
- Peter Joseph Licavoli
- Also known as
- Horseface
- Detroit years
- 1920s–1944
- Field
- Notorious figures
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Peter Licavoli grew up in St. Louis in a family involved in illegal gambling and moved to Detroit during Prohibition with relatives including his cousin James and brother Yonnie. Nicknamed Horseface, he became a leader of the so-called River Gang, which smuggled Canadian liquor across the Detroit River and extended its operations to Toledo, and he worked closely with Detroit's Jewish gangs, including the Purple Gang. He was arrested, tried or suspected in murders seven times without a conviction. In the 1930s he was convicted of bribing a federal official and served two years in Leavenworth. After the Crosstown mob war he was one of the leaders of the new Detroit Partnership alongside Joseph Zerilli, William Tocco and Angelo Meli, and his brother Dominic married Zerilli's eldest daughter. Investigators linked the Partnership to the numbers racket run from the Gotham Hotel, then a celebrated Black-owned hotel. In 1944 Licavoli moved to Grace Ranch near Tucson, Arizona, where he lived until his death in 1984.
Highlights
- Leader of the Prohibition-era River Gang in Detroit
- Ran rackets in both Detroit and Toledo
- A founding leader of the Detroit Partnership
- Served two years in Leavenworth for bribing a federal official