place of Angelo Meli and his associates. Milazzo and Parrino were seated and while awaiting La mare or his representatives they began their lunch. Without comment two gunmen leaped out and unleashed a barrage of shotguns blasts that hit Milazzo in the head and killed him instantly, Parrino was hit in the chest, abdomen and arm and soon died. Gaspar Milazzo died at the age of 43. He left behind his wife, Rosaria, and four children. Aftermath The reactions to the murder of Gaspar Milazzo was one of shock and outrage, the men who were closely aligned with Milazzo such as Meli, Tocco and Zerilli called for vengeance and were determined to eliminate La Mare and his associates for such a disgraceful attack on a man who had been a friend to all who knew him, even La Mare whose safety in other Mafia territories outside of Detroit was assured by a Gaspar Milazzo with one phone call on many occasions. Some organized crime historians and writers believe that Milazzo had become the most senior Detroit mafiosi upon Catalanotte's death, but with Milazzo being murdered only 3 months after, there was no time for Milazzo to assume power as he was allegedly supposed to do, or if he could have. Some speculate that Chet La Mare became the top Boss in Detroit, but upon Milazzo's death his closest associates and supporters unleashed a wave of violence upon the La Mare faction and decimated it within a year with over 14 murders. La Mare himself would be betrayed and murdered by his own men less than a year later. While some organized crime historians and crime scholars speculate that Milazzo's murder started the bloody Castellammarese War in New York City between Joe "The Boss" Masseria and Milazzo's associate, Salvatore Maranzano. Others dispute this based on the fact that close Maranzano associate and ally Gaetano "Tommy" Reina was murdered in New York on Masseria's orders three months prior to Milazzo's killing, but it is widely believed or considered to be the first volley within the nationwide Mafia war that lasted from 1930 to 1931 being that Milazzo and Parrino were the first Castellammarese casualties of the war and that it was this huge insult against the Castellammarese that cemented their resolve and motivated them to go to war against Joe the Boss. In 1999, Milazzo was portrayed by Ralph Santostephano in the