Danny Greene's assassination site

This is the parking lot where the Mafia assassinated Danny Greene.

It is situated outside the Brainard Place office building at 29001 Cedar Road in Lyndhurst, Ohio.

Danny Greene

Greene rose to power after he was elected president of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA).

During his presidency, he embezzled union funds, organized violent protests, and threatened company owners.

When the ILA removed him from office, he began working as an enforcer for various Jewish and Italian crime figures.

Shortly afterward, he established his own Irish-American gang called "The Celtic Club," which began vying for control of the city's loan sharking, racketeering, and gambling operations.

This put him at odds with the Jewish and Italian mobs, which viewed him as an emerging competitor.

In May 1975, he survived a bombing that destroyed his house and office on Waterloo Road. Greene suffered only minor injuries because the second, larger device failed to detonate.

In 1976, Greene and an influential mobster named John Nardi joined forces to take on the newly appointed boss of the Cleveland Crime Family, James Licavoli.

This led to an all-out war between the two sides.

In the months that followed, multiple mob figures were killed and injured in more than 30 car bomb attacks.

In light of the violence, the national media began calling Cleveland "Bomb City, USA."

In May 1977, Greene's ally, Nardi, was assassinated outside his Teamsters union office.

Following the murder, Licavoli offered Greene a ceasefire, which he accepted.

However, Licavoli had no intention of honoring the agreement. He viewed the ceasefire as an opportunity to lure Greene into a false sense of security.

Assassination

Five months later, after a lull in violence, Licavoli made his move.

After tapping Greene's phone, the mob learned he had a dental appointment at the Brainard Place office building on the afternoon of October 6, 1977.

While Greene was inside, two Mafia hitmen parked an old Chevrolet fitted with a bomb beside his vehicle in the western parking lot near Brainard Road.

The men watched Greene as he exited the building and walked back to his Lincoln Continental. Once he reached his vehicle, they detonated the bomb remotely, killing him instantly.

Investigation

Licavoli had hired a Mafia enforcer named Ray Ferritto to assassinate Greene.

Licavoli's associate, Ronald Carabbia, also took part.

However, Ferritto and Carabbia failed to be discreet, as a married couple called Greg and Debbie Spoth noticed their blue Plymouth driving suspiciously just moments before the explosion.

The Spoths told police that the hitmen slowed down beside the office building, watched the parking lot, and then sped away after the device detonated.

Debbie Spoth was a sketch artist who got a good look at Ferritto's face. Shortly afterward, the police matched her drawing of the suspect with a photograph in their files.

When the authorities raided his house in Erie, Pennsylvania, they found registration papers for the Plymouth.

After learning Ferritto had been arrested for Greene's murder, Licavoli ordered his death to tie up loose ends.

However, the plan backfired when Ferritto learned of the plot and agreed to cooperate with the authorities.