Inside Gaetano's: The mob stories, basement legends and ghost lore behind a Denver icon
CBS News • • business
Key Points:
- Gaetano's, an Italian restaurant in Denver's North Tejon Street since 1947, was once the headquarters for the powerful Smaldone crime family.
- Owned by Clyde and "Checkers" Smaldone, the restaurant served as a meeting place for organized crime figures and was linked to bootlegging operations involving Al Capone.
- Stories suggest famous entertainers like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. frequented the basement, which was also reportedly used for violent mob activities, including executions.
- Despite the decline of mob activity by the 1980s, paranormal tales persist, with reports of ghostly encounters in the restaurant's liquor room.
- Today, Gaetano's remains a Denver Italian institution, known both for its food and its notorious mob history.
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