{{short description|American mobster}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Vincent Meli | birth_name = Vincenzo Angelo Meli | birth_date = {{birth date|1921|1|2|mf=y}} | birth_place = San Cataldo, Sicily, Kingdom of Italy | death_date = {{death date and age|2008|1|7|1921|1|2|mf=y}} | death_place = Warren, Michigan, U.S. | resting_place = Resurrection Cemetery, Clinton Township, Macomb County, Michigan, U.S. | other_names = Little Vince Meli | citizenship = United States | occupation = Mobster | children = 6 | relatives = Bill Bufalino (brother-in-law)<br>Angelo Meli (uncle)<br>Jack Tocco (cousin-in-law) | allegiance = Detroit Partnership | education = University of Notre Dame (1944) | conviction = Extortion (1979) | conviction_penalty = Three years' imprisonment }}
'''Vincent "Vincenzo" Angelo Meli''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛ|l|ɪ}}; {{IPA|it|ˈmɛːli|lang}}; January 2, 1921 – January 7, 2008) was an Italian born-American mobster who was a soldier of the Detroit crime family.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10786064/detroit-free-press/|title=Detroit mob thrives quietly|page=9|work=Detroit Free Press|quote=Soldier; Vincent Meli, 71, Grosse Pointe Woods|date=November 9, 1992|access-date=August 22, 2020|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref>
==Early years== Meli was born on January 2, 1921, in San Cataldo, Sicily, to Frank Meli and Grazia Panzica; and he immigrated to the United States at the age of 10.<ref name="Mobster dies">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/363379987/?terms=vincent%2Bmeli|title=Reputed mobster of Detroit Meli dies at 87|last=Ashenfelter|first=David|quote=Vincent Meli was born in Sicily in 1921, and came to the United States with his parents when he was 10. [...] The FBI described Vincent Meli's father, also named Frank, and uncle Angelo Meli as Detroit-area Mafia leaders. [...] Vincent Meli died of bone cancer Monday at St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital Warren. He was 87.|page=23|work=Detroit Free Press|date=January 10, 2008|access-date=August 22, 2020|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription}}</ref> His father was a member of the Detroit Partnership along with his uncle Angelo Meli.<ref name="Mobster dies"/> His sister, Marie Antoinette, married attorney Bill Bufalino.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/marie-bufalino-obituary?pid=182933899|title=MARIE A. TONI BUFALINO|work=The Detroit News|location=Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan|via=Legacy.com|quote=Beloved wife of the late William. [...] Sister of Vince Meli.|date=December 9, 2002|access-date=August 22, 2020}}</ref> His cousin, Maria, married Jack Tocco,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bcfhsterlingheights.com/tributes/Maria-Tocco|title=Maria "Toni" Tocco|work=Bagnasco & Calcaterra Funeral Home|quote=Tocco, Maria “Toni” age 84, November 25, 2018. Beloved wife of the late Jack. [...] Dear sister of the late Vincent Meli, Sam Meli and Angela Lucido.|location=Sterling Heights, Michigan|date=November 25, 2018|access-date=August 22, 2020}}</ref> future crime boss of the family.
In 1944, he graduated from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.<ref name="TwoSteel">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29232025/love/|title=How Two Steel Hauling Firms Thrive on Terror|quote=He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, was an intelligence officer in World War II, is the father of six and lives quietly.|page=6|work=Detroit Free Press|date=April 10, 1974|access-date=August 22, 2020|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> Enlisting in the United States Army soon after graduation,<ref name="TwoSteel"/> Meli saw a lot of action and was discharged three years later. During his service, Vincent was a member of Operation Overlord. This was the code name for the Battle of Normandy where Allied operations launched the successful invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II. His division was a primary force in helping to secure Nuremberg concentration camps and free the prisoners.
Meli married Grace Mercurio, and had two daughters, Carmen and Phyllis, and four sons, Frank, Carl, Vincent, and Paul.<ref name="Meli obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/vincent-meli-obituary?pid=182713762|work=The Detroit News|quote=Beloved husband of the late Grace. Loving father of Carmen (Simon) Thomas, Phyllis (Tony) LaPiana, Frank, Carl (Cathy), Vincent (Liz) and Paul (Debbie). [...] January 7, 2008, age 87. [...] Entombment Resurrection Cemetery.|location=Sterling Heights, Michigan|title=VINCENT A. MELI|date=January 9, 2008|access-date=August 22, 2020|via=Legacy.com}}</ref><ref name="TwoSteel"/>
==Music business and labor racketeering== Shortly after his return to Detroit, Meli became involved in organized crime. He was a major crime figure who attempted to gain control of Detroit's coin machine industry. At age 24, with the financial backing of his uncle Angelo, successfully bought the Meltone Music and Jay-Cee Music Co with Peter Tocco, Michael Polizzi, and Raffaele Quasarano.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Dan E. Moldea|last=Moldea|first=Dan E.|title=The Hoffa Wars: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Hoffa|year=1978|page=43|publisher=Charter Books|quote=Angelo Meli's nephew, Vincent A. Meli, bought the Meltone Music Company with $30,000 worth of help from his uncle. Peter Tocco, owner of the fish market ''cum'' heroine drop, opened the Jay-Cee Music Company with Quasarano and Michael Polizzi, John Priziola's son-in-law.|isbn=0-441-34010-5}}</ref>
A capo by the 1960s, Meli was a major labor racketeer and, through Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone, was an associate of Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa. During the 1990s, Meli was tied to labor racketeering. He was named by former Detroit mobster Nove Tocco and retired federal agents as an associate of Michael Bane,<ref name="Ties">{{cite news|url=https://nlpc.org/2001/01/08/hoffa-ally-allegedly-lied-about-organized-crime-ties/|work=National Legal and Policy Center|title=Hoffa Ally Allegedly Lied about Organized Crime Ties|last=Nelson|first=Michael|quote=A new report accuses Michael C. Bane, president of Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters Local 614 in Pontiac, Mich., of lying under oath about his personal relationships with Detroit organized crime figures. Bane, who was convicted of embezzlement in the 1970s, has been affiliated with the local for more than 30 years and became president in 1990. [...] Nove Tocco, one of four men convicted in the 1998 federal trial of the Detroit mob, told the FBI [...] Bane was friendly with Vincent Meli, LaPiana and others. To support his claim that he knows Bane, Tocco also related incidents in which Bane participated with them.|date=January 8, 2001|access-date=August 22, 2020|archive-date=January 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124164354/https://nlpc.org/2001/01/08/hoffa-ally-allegedly-lied-about-organized-crime-ties/|url-status=dead}}</ref> president of Pontiac, Michigan's Teamster Local 614, during federal investigations into labor union corruption.<ref name="Ties"/>
In 1979, Meli was convicted of extortion, and began serving a three-year sentence on January 3, 1984.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/94480NCJRS.pdf|title=h - NCJRS|work=National Criminal Justice Reference Service|quote=Vincent Meli, a prominent member of the Detroit mob, was convicted in 1979 for using extortionate practices in an effort to force Teamster drivers of one of Detroit's largest steel hauling companies to pay their uwn health benefits. After a lengthy and unsuccessful appeal, began serving a three-year sentence on January 3, 1984.|date=October 18, 1984|access-date=August 22, 2020}}</ref>
==Death== Meli died on January 7, 2008, of bone cancer at St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital Warren in Warren, Michigan,<ref name="Mobster dies"/> at the age of 87. He is buried in Resurrection Cemetery, Clinton Township, Macomb County, Michigan.<ref name="Meli obit"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|last=Burnstein|first=Scott M.|title=Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2006|isbn=0-7385-4084-6}}
==External links== {{Find a Grave|102880080|name=Vincent A Meli|author=Twist|date=December 31, 2012|accessdate=August 22, 2020}}
{{Detroit Partnership}} {{American Mafia}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meli, Vincent}} Category:1921 births Category:2008 deaths Category:American gangsters of Italian descent Category:Deaths from bone cancer in Michigan Category:Detroit Partnership Category:Italian emigrants to the United States Category:People from Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan Category:People from San Cataldo, Sicily Category:Gangsters from the Province of Caltanissetta Category:University of Notre Dame alumni Category:United States Army personnel of World War II