Angelo joined the Licavoli gang in his home town of St. Louis and was one of the gunmen the gang transported to Detroit fellowing their migration their in the mid '20s. Livecchi made his mark serving as the bodyguard of Leo Cellura. Livecchi roomed with Ted Pizzano at the LaSalle hotel in a ninth floor room which was near a second suite occupied on occassion by Black Leo Cellura. Angelo was known for his association with big time racketeers "Cellura, Licavoli, Zerilli to name a few," but was not as highly regarded as these infamous figures. The perception of Livecchi changed in the early mourning hours of July 30, 1930 when popular radio personality Gerald E. Buckley was shot and killed as he sat in the lobby of the LaSalle.
The Buckley Murder
Gerald Buckley was the host of a nightly radio program carried by WMBC. Buckley was the local celebrity who's affinity for fine food, wine, women and song added to his luster in the eyes of the general public. Buckley also had a secret life in which he secretly associated with members of the Sicilian criminal syndicates and may have been involved in a plan to extort funds from them. Buckley's radio commentary often centered around the wide open crime and vice which plauged the city rendering law abiding citizens helpless in the face of corruption. On the night of his murder, Gerald topped off his show with a blistering attack against Mayor Charles Bowles who by the end of the night would stand as the first mayor to be removed from office as a result of a recall action sparked mainly by the efforts of Jerry Buckley. As Buckley closed his show and prepared to leave he received a call summoning him to a meeting with a woman named Mary. Buckley initially thought the Mary on the line was his sister "of the same name," but this was discounted by words spoken by Buckley before hanging up. The call ended with Buckley assuring the caller that he would meet her later at the LaSalle. Buckley arrived at the LaSalle as requested and took a seat in the lobby. Witnesses later placed a young Sicilian man in the lobby of the LaSalle 15 minutes prior to his arrival. The young man was said to have made several trips to the front door which looked out onto Adelaide street before returning to the lobby where he nervously paced back and fourth. The young man "later identified as Angelo Livecchi," performed this ritual eight to ten times looking up and down Adelaide before returning to his point of origination in the lobby. Livecchi was also placed inside the hotels restaurant an hour before the shooting where he purchased a dollar's worth of nickels and used them to make several telephone calls. Another witnesses gave the details of Livecchi's actions just moments before shots rang out in the lobby of the LaSalle leaving Jerry Buckley's lifeless body slumped on a couch. Livecchi made a final trip to the door of the LaSalle and proceeded outside where he conferenced for a moment with a man who had been sitting on the bumper of a car outside of the hotel and a third man who had been seated on a fire hydrant not four feet from the entrance of the hotel. A fourth man who had been sitting in an auto in a vacant lot across from the LaSalle was also summoned over by the trio. Livecchi then returned to the lobby in the company of the three men only seconds before a barrage of shots filled the air. Eye witnesses claimed 3 of the shooters left the building immediately after the shooting and were aided in their escape when a woman abandoned her car at the entrance of the LaSalle at the precise moment the shots rang out. The woman fled into a theatre located across the street as the gunmen escaped in a second waiting vehicle. This woman was later located and identified as Lucille Love a love interest of young Angelo Livecchi. Love said she was startled by the sound of gunfire and abandoned her auto for the safety of the movie theatre. One of the witnesses to the shooting positively identified Angelo as one of the shooters and stated that he had seen Livecchi leave the building with the other two unidentified men but Livecchi was located in his room not 5 minutes after the shooting by officers who responded to the call of shots fired. Livecchi was taken into custody and transferred to the police station where he was initially held on a charge of investigation.
The Buckley Murder Trial
Livecchi remained locked in the county jail awaiting trial for the murder of Jerry Buckley for months. Prosecutors made sure the wheels of justice turned slowly for the young gunman as they fought to extradite a second suspect in the person of Ted Pizzano, Livecchi's roomate at the LaSalle and yet another gangland figure. Pizzano delayed the course of justice for more than 4 months as he fought extradition from New York to Detroit where he was facing a life sentence for his role in the murder. The prosecution made it's move on January 27, 1931 officialy idicting Joe Bommarito, Angelo Livecchi, Ted Pizzano, Pete Licavoli and a Jane Doe and Richard Roe for the murder of Gerald Buckley. All of the principals named were located and arrested with the exception of Pete Licavoli who fled Detroit in favor of Toledo Ohio where he would be picked up on October 2, 1931 several months following the close of the Buckley murder trial. Livecchi's ordeal ended when he Pizzano and Bommarito were acquitted on April 21, 1931 in the court of Judge James Jefferies. Released immeditately, Pizzano and Livecchi returned to the Kit Kat Club which they were reportedly interested in along with several high ranking racketeers including the aformentioned Cellura who was on the lamb for a double murder outside the LaSalle just a couple of weeks before the Buckley shooting.
