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Seeking gangster lore, bidders crowd auction of Santo Trafficante's possessions

 
Auctioneer Joseph Magnani tracks the bidding during the auction that included items from Santo Trafficante Jr.’s estate at Joseph’s Auction Gallery in St. Petersburg on Saturday evening.
Auctioneer Joseph Magnani tracks the bidding during the auction that included items from Santo Trafficante Jr.’s estate at Joseph’s Auction Gallery in St. Petersburg on Saturday evening.
Published Feb. 8, 2016

ST. PETERSBURG

Originally, it was Dom for the Don. Now a new owner can decide whether to open a 1975 bottle of Dom Perignon that once belonged to the late Tampa mob boss Santo Trafficante Jr.

The vintage champagne went for $800 at Saturday night's standing-room-only auction of furniture, artwork and other items from Trafficante's South Tampa home. His two daughters sat unnoticed in the back row of Joseph's Auction Gallery as bidders snapped up four of their childhood dolls (for a total of $525); a pair of crystal candelabra lamps ($400 for both) and a globe on a walnut stand ($225).

So private are the daughters that they turned down a request from the Fox Business channel to feature the auction on its popular Strange Inheritance show.

"They keep a low profile but they were really happy'' auctioneer Joseph Magnani said, both with the huge interest in the sale and the prices fetched even by items that went out of style decades ago. (A hand-painted porcelain night-light with two ladies riding in a swan-shaped gondola brought $130.)

An estimated 400 people jammed the gallery and a house-record 225 registered to bid, many lured by the chance to own something from the man who held a mob leadership role and was linked to several gangland slayings and an assassination plot against Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

After Trafficante died in 1987, his widow lived in their home until her death last year. Their daughters Mary Jo Paniello and Sarah Valdez recently sold the house and contracted with Magnani to sell several dozen of their parents' possessions.

A preview Friday drew many lookers with Trafficante stories to tell.

Brad Prevatt of Wimauma said his uncle was the undertaker who handled the mobster's funeral, which drew some unwelcome guests — FBI agents curious to see which organized crime figures might show up.

"My uncle had to shoo them away,'' Prevatt said. "He was trying to conduct a funeral and they were trying to take down license plate numbers.''

Prevatt arranged with the auction house to bid by phone Saturday night on a mahogany curio cabinet once owned by the Trafficantes. But before he had a chance to bid, the piece already had been sold.

"I understand it went for $600,'' he said Sunday. "I gladly would have paid that to have a piece of memorabilia.''

While the auction included items from numerous consignors, Magnani made sure to flag all of those with a Trafficante connection, like the mobster's massive dining room set. Somewhat unusually, it had just one, not two, of the captain's-style chairs with armrests that sit at either end of a dining table.

"That's because there was only one captain and that was the Don,'' Magnani told the crowd, which burst into applause when the set sold for $800.

Also generating high bidder interest was a framed print of a comely young blonde, said to be one of Trafficante's nieces. It went for $500.

Magnani was especially pleased with the bidding on Trafficante's belted wool jacket, which brought $225 despite several small moth holes, and sports coat and matching vest, which went for $375. The buyer said he planned to display them in a gangsters' museum though it was unclear where. (The two main ones are in New York and Las Vegas).

As far as Magnani was concerned, the evening's sole disappointment was that Trafficante's ornate and enormous sofa — 9 feet long — brought just $750.

The buyer might be having his own regrets.

As of Sunday afternoon, Magnani said, the man hadn't told his wife yet.

Contact Susan Taylor Martin at smartin@tampbay.com or (727) 893-8642. Follow @susanskate.