Born to one of the Unione Sicliones most influential underworld families, Leonard was the younger brother of Joe "Misery" Moceri a powerful member of the Pascuzzi combine and a relative of the Licavoli brothers. Leo picked up his first arrest and conviction at the age of 15 when he was sent to Michigan's boys republic after being charged with truancy. Moceri remained a guest of the state for 1 year. Following his release he quickly followed up with multiple arrests for Grand Larceny, armed robbery and violation of narcotics laws. Sentenced to serve 1 to 5 years in Michigan's Jackson state Prison on 11/8/1924 Moceri served just under a year before being released on parole 10/15/1925. Moceri continued his criminal activities garnering yet another arrest for armed robbery a month and a half after his release. Between the date of his armed robbery arrest "11/28/25" and February of 1928, Leo Moceri was arrested or charged with 15 seperate counts which included drug possession, 3 additional charges of grand larceny, 1 federal narcotics violation, 1 parole violation, 4 armed robberies, 1 felonious assault, and 5 other counts related to gambing and or prohibition violations. During the late late '20s Moceri shifted his operations from the city of Detroit into the Youngstown and Toledo Ohio areas which were being targeted by the Licavoli gang as part of an expansion effort spearheaded by Thomas "Yonnie" Licavoli. Leo's skill and reputation as a gunman would play prominently in the plans of the Licavoli gang especially in the Toledo Ohio area. The arrest record of Leo Lips grew steadily throughout the years but didn't include another conviction until November 19,1952 when he was arrested in Los Angeles on charges of putting slugs into a pay phone. This senseless charge was made even more incredulous when one considers the fact that Moceri's brand new Cadillac was parked near by and on inspection he had in excess of $2,000.00 dollars in cash in his pocket. At the time of his arrest Moceri was under investigation by Los Angeles police for his role in the death of gambler George "Les" Bruneman on October 24,1937. Leo was also wanted on a fugitive warrant in Toledo in connection with a murder and an extortion attempt against his uncle Angelo Parisi. Parisi was also an underworld associate but apparently had been superceeded in influence by his nephew. Leo had demanded a cash payment. When his uncle refused to pay Leo contacted several commercial fishing boats which had done business with his uncle and warned them that if they continued to do business with Parisi then their boats would be blown out of the water. Most of those contacted went along with Moceri and his uncle was out of the fishing business. Inspite of the mountain of information and the seemingly airtight case against him, Moceri escaped conviction on all charges and returned east where he became an active participant in the battle raging in Youngstown Ohio for control of the local gambling and juke box concessions. This battle resulted in the death of Sandy Naples a Youngstown racketeer who was killed with a shot gun blast in 1960. The prime suspect in Naples murder was none other than Leo Lips Moceri. Following his time in Youngstown Leo joined the ranks of the Cleveland family which had fallen under the control of John Scalish a former underling of close Licavoli friend and former Unione leader Al Polizzi. Moceri would rise to serve as the Underboss of the Cleveland family under yet another Licavoli James T. Licavoli. This arrangement ended with Moceri's disappearance in August of 1976.
