Wyoming history is filled with outlaws, but it’s probably Wild West gunslingers like Butch Cassidy or Kid Curry who come to mind when you think of the criminal element in the Cowboy State. One thing is for sure – the mafia isn’t usually associated with Wyoming. However, organized crime plagued the state for much of the early 20th Century. In fact, one small town in the southwestern part of the state attracted quite a few East Coast crime families. Some were even connected with big names in the mafia world, making Rock Springs as much a crime hub as it was a coal capital.
The little town of Rock Springs in Sweetwater County is best known for being a coal mining town.
Jasperdo/Flickr
Though cattle rustling, horse theft, and bank robbery were the types of organized crime that plagued the area in the late 1800s, East Coast crime began making its way into the Cowboy State in the early 20th Century.
Dmitry Valberg/Flickr
Families with ties to the mafia started arriving as early as 1907, attracted by the abundant work available in coal mines.
Butte-Silverbow Public Library/Flickr
It didn’t take long before one family emerged to lead the others, organizing them into unions and establishing a bookmaking business.
Kuro5700/YouTube The Zanetti Family was the industrious clan from back east that headed up the Rock Springs branch of the mafia. At one point Pete Zanetti made the acquaintance of Bugsy Seigel, giving him more clout and connections.
Eventually, two of the Zanetti brothers started a bus company in Rock Springs. It wasn’t too surprising that their vehicles were often seen parked outside prisons and mafia haunts.
phlubdr/Flickr
Another purported crime family based in Rock Springs is believed to have taken their illegal activity a bit further - to the point of rubbing out an enemy.
Kuro5700/YouTube
They certainly viewed a local radio station owner as a danger to their enterprise. He frequently named suspected gangsters in the news stories he reported.
State Library Victoria Collection/Flickr
When threats failed to silence the radio man, his private plane crashed under mysterious circumstances.
Pascal Bovet/Flickr
The station owner’s suspicious death led to an investigation that eventually exposed reportedly up to 50 county and state officials who were connected to the organized crime families in Rock Springs.
Kuro5700/YouTube
Have you heard tales of gangsters in Wyoming’s past?
Jasperdo/Flickr
Dmitry Valberg/Flickr
Butte-Silverbow Public Library/Flickr
Kuro5700/YouTube
The Zanetti Family was the industrious clan from back east that headed up the Rock Springs branch of the mafia. At one point Pete Zanetti made the acquaintance of Bugsy Seigel, giving him more clout and connections.
phlubdr/Flickr
State Library Victoria Collection/Flickr
Pascal Bovet/Flickr
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article.
