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| Located at 25 mile and Romeo Plank roads in Macomb Township, the Wolverin e Golf Club came under the influence of the Detroit Outfit in 1980 when notorious bookmaker and underworld associate Jack Anthony Lucido acquired a share of the club for $65,000 dollars. At the time the club sat isolated amoung parcels of farmland and consisted of an 18 hole course, a bar and a restaurant. Lucido "whose uncle Salvatore (Sam) Lucido was indentified as a gambling boss during the 1963 Valachi hearings," ran into trouble with investigators when his application for a liquor license was reviewed. During the licensing hearing Lucido's declared income became a focal point when his 1979 income tax return showed a net income of only $37,575 dollars. The question was raised how could he afford to put up the $65,000 for of the profitable club. Lucido was also grilled as to why he was being cut into the club at such a discounted rate. Lucido was hired on as assistant manager of the Wolverine by Mitchell Karam who incidently was also the man who's stake in the the club Lucido was attempting to buy. Questions arose about Lucido and his role in the gambling business in Detroit namely bookmaking. Testimony was introduced that Jack had begun operating a bigtime operation from the Wolverine during his time spent as the clubs assitant manager. The club provided the perfect cover for a bookmaking operation for it provided a chance for the bookmaker to meet with his customers out in the open with fear of drawing the suspicion of curious onlookers. In the end, the commission voted to deny Lucido a liquor license but Jack managed to attain one after their decision was overturned on appeal. Despite being a partial owner Lucido was obviously the controlling interest in the operation of the club. By 1987 just 6 years after his buying into the Wolverine operation Lucido had managed to add 27 new holes to the course while adding an oversized clubhouse and spacious banquet hall at a cost of 1.7 million. The growth of the club drew the interest of Federal investigators who suspected Lucido's success to be the handy work of Jack Tocco and his organization. The Feds obtained court approval to bug the phones of the club under the guise that Tocco and his aides Vito Giacalone and Michael Polizzi were using the Wolverines premises to conduct underworld business. The Federal investigation soon learned of the connection of several notorious gambling figures to the new owner of the Wolverine club. Lucido was caught in a phone tap discussing gambling business with Leonard (Skippy) Torrice the man accused of overseeing the operations of Henry Allen Hiff a Detroit bookmaker with a long history of dealings with the Giacalone family. By the end of the investigation, the feds claimed to have evidence that would show a connection between the Wolverine to Edward Sarkisian a former Detroit gambler who had made a name for himself in Las Vegas, Jackie and Vito Giacalone. Investigators learned that Jacke Christopher Lucido, son of the owner was the clubs manager, another of Lucido's sons Sebastian, a daughter and his wife all played major roles in the Lucido operation. The government produced an 82 count indictment which was handed down in March of 1992 charging crimes ranging from running an illegal gambling business to conspiracy to intimidate and extort. Lucido was also named later in a money laundering investigation headed by the son of Michael Polizzi who had risen to great heights within the Outfit. Lucido and his entire family were decimated by the agressive tactics employed during the investigation and subsequent trial. One of the first moves the Federal prosecution team made was to have the Wolverine Golf Club and Lucido's $470,000 dollar home in Grosse Pointe Shores seized. After year and a half of court appearances all of the Lucido family members were found not guilty on all 82 counts named in the indictment. |
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