and Warren, Ohio. During this period, Licavoli was a suspect in the murders of Jim "Mancene" Mancini and gambling slot czar Nate Weisenberg. In 1951, Licavoli was called before the US Senate committee on organized crime, known as the Kefauver Committee. Licavoli refused to answer any questions. Rise to power By 1970, James Licavoli had become known as "the king of the hill" - Murray Hill, Little Italy. He never married and remained a lifelong bachelor. He lived with a 70-year-old roommate who was also a bachelor and worked as a carpenter. Since his income had never been declared, he was even able to draw a monthly social security check. Licavoli had been called "Blackie" while he was growing up in Collinwood. Now he was known in the Mob as "Jack White," an ironic reference to his swarthy complexion. Despite his immense wealth, he had a reputation for being cheap and occasionally foolish to the point of embarrassment. Once at a local mall, he was detained by store detectives for switching the price tags on a pair of pants. After hearing about his background, the department store manager declined to prosecute. Another time, he was caught using slugs on machines. He also used stolen credit cards on vacations. In 1976, longtime Cleveland family boss John Scalish died, leaving control of Cleveland's lucrative criminal operations, specifically the cities' Teamsters Union locals, up for grabs. Licavoli was Scalish's logical successor, and he became boss of the Cleveland crime family. Cleveland mob war During this time, Licavoli had to deal with Irish gangster Danny Greene trying to take control of rackets in Cleveland. Mafia associate John Nardi sided with Greene and switched alliance, strengthening Greene's criminal empire and giving him an advantage on the Cleveland family. This erupted into an all out war with many of Licavoli's supporters being killed in the process. These murders soon gained the attention of other criminal organizations, particularly the Genovese crime family of New York. Despite the war hurting the Cleveland family's reputation, Licavoli declined Genovese leader Frank "Funzi" Tieri's offers for help; he feared that the Genovese family would try to muscle in on Cleveland's criminal operations if he accepted. Licavoli also had to fend off interference from the Chicago Outfit. Outfit leaders Tony Accardo and Joseph Aiuppa finally declared their neutrality in the Cleveland gang war and ordered their subordinates not to assist Licavoli. During