Originally a member of the Gianolla Fuedist Gang, Amico gained notoriety while employed as a gunman and bodyguard for Chester LaMare the Vice King of Hamtramck and a powerful force in Detroit's Sicilian underworld during the 1920's and early '30s. Amico ran up a string of arrests which by 1931 included 13 arrests for charges ranging from disorderly conduct to murder. Amico's rap sheet listed the charges as such, 6 arrests for armed robbery, 2 for chages of violating federal naroctics laws, 1 for littering and publishing two others were for disorderly conduct and the final two were for the high profile murders of Gaspar Milazzo and Sam Parino in the Vernor Market shooting on May 31, 1931 and the killing of his boss LaMare 8 months later in his home.
The Catalanotte Raid
Amico was first subjected to public scrutiny after he was arrested in the company of Elmer Macklin, Joseph Locano, Baggio Bonconotti and the infamous Joe Catalanotte during a highly publicized raid on Catalanotte's Grosse Pointe mansion. Raiding officers found the foursome in posession of an arsenal of 54 weapons and thousands of rounds of amunition on July 27, 1930. The raid was conducted in an effort to stop a raging gang war between Catalanotte and his friend Chester LaMare against the Eastside Mob headed by Angelo Meli, Joseph Zerilli and Black Bill Tocco. The battle which eventually claimed the lives of 15 racketeers, started over a Catalanotte and LaMare's interference in the affairs of the Eastside Mob blossomed into an all out war following the shooting of Gaspar Milazzo at the Vernor Fish Market.
Amico and the Vernor Fish Market Shooting
The details of the Vernor Fish Market have be covered in several other bio's so I will cover Amico's role only in this section. Joe Amico was informed of the planned meeting between Chester LaMare and his adversaries in the Eastside Mob. Amico was instructed that he and two other men "later identified as Joseph Locano and Benny "The Ape" Sebastiano would at a given time enter the back room of the Fish Market on Vernor Highway and gun down all those in attendance from the Eastside Mob. Amico and Locano hid in the living quarters of the Fish Market and awaited the arrival of the Eastsiders to the meeting which was set for noon on the 31st of May 1930.
Apparently unfamiliar with their targets, Amico and Locano lept from their hiding places and surprising Gaspar Milazzo "the well respected ambassador of Detroit's underworld," and his bodyguard Joe Parino as they dined in the rear of the market. Amico and his accomplice opened fire without a word of warning to their victms. Parino lept from his chair and was hit in the chest, shoulder and right arm while Milazzo "the intended target of the ambush," was felled by two full charges to the head from the hostile shotguns. Amico and Locano rushed out the front door making their escape via a waiting getaway car manned by Sebastiano. The duo immediately sought refuge at the Catalanotte family home. An intense manhunt by Eastside gunmen failed to catch the wanted pair before the law did.
Amico and Locano were tried for the Milazzo and Parino murders and acquitted. Following their release from jail, Amico and Locano were offered a chance to atone for their part in the Fish Market Murders by Angelo Meli who demanded the death of Chester LaMare as payment. Locano was not as close to LaMare being a member of the down river rackets group but Amico was another story.
The Death of Chester LaMare
The plot which claimed the life of Chester LaMare was expanded to include Elmer Macklin a racketeer who was tried along with the aforementioned Joe Catalanotte in the deaths of Barney Roth and Johnny Mietz who turned out to be a Hamtramck undercover police officer and a small time bootlegger. Inspite of several arrest for a St.Louis payroll robbery and numerous armed robbery arrests in Detroit, Macklin like Amico had never been convicted. Amico and Macklin were identified as having been present on the night LaMare was shot by finger prints left on two coffee cups in the kitchen of the LaMare's Grand Avenue home. LaMare was sitting at the kitchen table engaged in conversation with Amico, a man he knew and trusted as his loyal associate as Macklin hovered about the kitchen.
Mrs. LaMare had been sent out to pickup some medication at a local pharmacy with yet another of LaMare's henchmen Tony Marino. Upon her return to the house Mrs LaMare found the body of her husband sprawled across their kitchen floor dead of two bullets in the brain. Gone from the home were the two bodyguards who were known to keep residence in two of the upstairs rooms. LaMare "who was dressed in his shirt sleeves," was 45 years old when his luck ran out. Investigators removed 15 years worth of photo's, checks and other documents from the home in an attempt to solve LaMare's murder mystery. The case quickly resulted in the arrest and trial of Macklin and Amico who were both found not guilty and released. Both men died of causes unrelated to the LaMare or Fish Market Murders years later.
