Full Notification

100-year-old Retiree, Gangster Squad Alumus, Honored by LAPD Officers

WHAT:          Media availability and photo opportunity for birthday cake presentation to honor retired Sgt. Lindo "Jaco" Giacopuzzi.

WHEN:          Tuesday, May 17, 2016

                        10:15 AM

WHERE:       LAPD West Valley Community Police Station

                        19020 Vanowen Street, Reseda, CA 91335

WHO:             Sgt. Lindo "Jaco" Giacopuzzi

On-duty officers and detectives at the West Valley Station

WHY:             “I felt like Huell Howser finding the Lingbergh Light in a basement,” said Capt. Paul Vernon about meeting retired Sgt. Lindo Giacopuzzi for the first time last year.  “He was 99 years old and had given us a tip on a prolific car thief.  I realized we had an historic treasure living in our division.  I wanted the officers to meet this man, and I thought it would be nice for him to be remembered by some 21^st century officers.”

                        Sgt. Giacopuzzi was born April 6, 1916.  After his father leased their San Fernando Valley dairy farm to supermarket mogul Joe Albertson, Giacopuzzi joined the LAPD.  In the 1950s, he was recruited for the Gangster Squad due to his the size and ability to speak Italian.  Jaco attributed his strength and size to all those years of lifting milk cans on the family’s dairy farm.

                        LAPD’s Gangster Squad was re-constituted after World War II to stop the incursion of “Eastern Gangsters.”  They dealt with local mobsters like Mickey Cohen (raised in Boyle Heights), Bugsy Siegel, and Jack Dragna.

                        For more information, please contact Sgt. Frank Avila at (818) 374-7690.