Rosario Borgio (1893 – February 21, 1919) was an early Italian mobster establishing one of the first organized crime operations in the America Midwest during the early 20th century.^[1] In 1917, as the leader of Akron's Black Hand, he offered gang members $250 for each police officer they killed.^[2] He died by electric chair in 1919.^[3] Borgio's many aliases included: Russell Berg, Russell Burch, Mike Burga, Joe Filastocco, Joe Philostopo, Pippino Napolitano, Joe Neapolitan, Rosario Borge, Rosario Borgi, and Rosario Borgia.^[1][4]

Borgio was born in 1893 in Sant'Agata del Bianco, Calabria, Italy, perhaps to Giovanni and Maria Borgi.^[1] He took up crime as a child and by his early teens was "a hardened criminal."^[1] Borgio briefly worked as a professional wrestler and a barber^[1][5] and had at least one sibling, Salvatore.^[6] Borgio immigrated to the United States in 1910 and moved to Akron shortly after, where he married Filomena Matteo, also an Italian immigrant.^[1][5] The couple opened a brothel under the guise of a "soft-drink establishment" from their home on North Howard.^[4][1] Police raided the business in February 1916 and arrested the couple and two of its "waitresses," but all four were released on a $100 bail.^[1][7] Borgio moved the brothel across town after the arrest.^[1] He filed for divorce against his wife on grounds of adultery but it was withdrawn shortly after.^[1] Around this time, Borgio was also arrested for illegal concealed carry by Officer Edward Costigan.^[7]

Along with the brothel, Rosario operated a successful general store, which he used as a front for the criminal options taking place in the two back rooms.^[5][2] He claimed his home was "police proof," as the property was guarded by an extensive security system including alarms on both the front and back stairs; pits built into the stairs which held foot-long steel spikes; a solid steel door; and a large arsenal of weapons including shotguns, rifles, pistols, and submachine guns.^[5][2][8]

Before long, Borgio controlled the Akron arm of Black Hand, a criminal organization aimed primarily at Midwestern cities with growing Italian communities.^[8][5] He was involved with illegal gambling, bootlegging, blackmail, drug peddling, and prostitution, and was known to gather at a pool hall on Furnace Street with his men.^[5][9][2] Borgio had extensive political protection, with much of the city's politicians on his payroll;^[8] Akron's police force, however, remained considerably immune to his bribery.^[2] In early 1917, Akron police began raiding Borgio's gambling dens and brothels, arresting gang members and clientele indiscriminately.^[8]

In the fall of 1917, after years of being monitored, patted down, and otherwise harassed, Borgio declared war on the Akron police force, offering a bounty of $250 on all police officers in the city.^[2][8] The first victim was Patrolman Guy Norris, who, while patrolling his beat, witnessed a robbery and was shot twice in the back when he confronted the burglar.^[8][3][4] He was the first policeman in Akron to die while on duty.^[10] On January 10, 1918, patrolmen Edward Costigan and Joe Hunt, also on patrol, were shot and killed.^[3][11] Borgio targeted Costigan specifically because Costigan would stop him in the street and search him for concealed weapons whenever the two would meet following Borgio's concealed carry arrest.^[4] A fourth officer, Gethin Richards, was killed on March 12, 1918.^[10] He had been following two suspicious men when he was shot multiple times in the stomach.^[8][4] Borgio reportedly held Richards' hands behind his back while Frank Mazzanno shot him. A passerby witnessed the murder and reported it to the police, who apprehended the killers shortly after.^[8]

Akron police were initially unaware of Borgio's involvement and considered it might be the work of a murder ring.^[8][12] After Detective Chief Harry Welch was given Tony Manfredi's name as a suspect, and subsequently found medical records detailing a bullet wound in the hand, Detective Chief Eddie McDonnell brought in Lt. Michael Fiaschetti from the NYPD head the mafia unit to consult.^[13][14][15] Welch sent Fiaschetti information about Manfredi, thought to have fled to New York, and the address of a pool room Manfredi's relative owned.^[14] Manfredi and James Palmeri were arrested at the pool room Welch described and were escorted back to Akron by Welch and Fiaschetti.^[14] Detectives Welch, McDonnell, and Corey arrested an additional suspect, Pasquale Biondo, in a rooming house in Sandusky, Ohio.^[14] Manfredi and Palmeri received life sentences; Biondo was sentenced to the electric chair.^[14]

Borgio, along with accomplices Frank Chiavaro, Frank Mazzanno, and Pasquale's brother Lorenzo Biondo, were convicted.^[2][16] Borgio and Mazzanno were sentenced to the electric chair and died minutes apart.^[17][5] Chiavaro also died by electric chair.^[14] James Palmeri and Tony Manfredi were sentenced to life terms in prison,^[14] while Lorenzo Biondo's sentence was secretly acquitted by Gov. George White and he fled to Italy.^[5] Borgio reportedly admitted to other crimes while awaiting death in hopes that it would delay or call off his execution.^[8][5]

Borgio died by electric chair on February 21, 1919, at the Ohio Penitentiary.^[18][3] In the weeks following his death, three more policemen were shot by angry Black Hand members, one of whom, Officer George Werne, died.^[8][19]