MOB TOWN: 'SKIP' LAGUARDIA & 'RALPHIE PIZZAZ'

LaGuardia

Denver tavern manager, University of Colorado football lineman and reputed Smaldone crime family associate John "Skip" LaGuardia was killed by a shotgun blast outside his home in Lakewood on July 20, 1973.

The murder is unsolved.

LaGuardia, 30, active in Denver gambling and bookmaking circles since at least the 1960s, was also bludgeoned. The assailant or assailants were hiding in bushes on West 27th Place. He arrived home at about 1 a.m.

Police recovered a handgun but not the shotgun.

There was speculation, at the time, that LaGuardia had become too ambitious for the likes of the Smaldone gang. He also had a criminal record, including gambling and extortion and loan-sharking  charges.

LaGuardia, who stood at 6-feet, is listed on the 1962 roster of University of Colorado Buffaloes as a redshirt offensive guard. He attended Mt. Carmel High School in Denver. LaGuardia is buried at a Catholic cemetery in Wheat Ridge.

Less than a year later, on or about Jan. 28, 1974, LaGuardia's friend Ralph "Ralphie Pizzazz" Pizzalato, 30, was shot dead. His body was found inside a car at LaGuardia's Alpine Inn tavern at 3551 Tejon St. in Denver.

Pizzalato had a criminal record, including a grocery store holdup in 1962.

His murder is also unsolved. 

Pizzalato