Thomas Sinito was born on Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 18, 1938. His upbringing was tied to the everyman—his family ran a fruit market, and he spent early years working side gigs like running vending machine routes. Eventually he become bartender at Angelo Lonardo’s Highlander Lounge, which would become his power launchpad into the Cleveland mob.

In the mid-1970s, amid a generational change in the family following John Scalish's death, Sinito rose fast. He was trusted with laundering schemes (like the gift basket venture) and storefronts (Appliance Mart) that doubled as loan sharking and criminal meeting spots.

Amid rising tensions with Danny Greene—who muscled into the family's rackets—Sinito burned through the business front and territorial norms. A dynamite bomb planted under his car by Greene didn't faze him: he disarmed it, and it only escalated their conflict into full-on mob war

Thomas Sinito’s entrée into the Cleveland crime family came not through bullet‑scarred street fights, but behind a bar. Tending drinks at Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo’s Highlander Lounge, he wove himself into the mob’s underbelly as the war for power hit the city in the late 1970s. Over time, he graduated from errand boy flipping vending machines to a cash‑flow kingpin—pimping fronts like a gift‑basket company and an Appliance Mart with his brother in Euclid and Bedford. The backroom of that store became a crime strategy headquarters—planning drug scripts, contracts, shakedowns—all while touting legitimate business.

In 1975, Danny Greene carved into vending routes that were mob turf. Sinito wasn’t having it. He saw Greene’s overcharging schemes as outright robbery. In retaliation, Greene wired a bomb to Sinito’s car. But Sinito saw the package first, disarmed it, and threw the burner back—sparking the explosive Cleveland mob war of the 70s.

Sinito’s knockdown was controlling dissent. Joseph Bonarrigo had the wrong reputation—and Sinito flagged him to the bosses. A Hells Angels enforcer took care of the rest. David Perrier was another story—he was a money collector turned target. After loose comments and a bar slap against mob hierarchy, Sinito drove him to the outskirts of Warren and emptied five rounds into his head. Perrier gasped out, “You son of a bitch—I thought we were brothers,” before dying. His body was dumped, and the car torched to ash.

When Dennis Kucinich became mayor, he tore into the mob’s city contracts. Sinito, loyal to the old order, went underground—to Atlantic City—to book a sniper hit. He met "Gene," paid $25,000, and mapped shots at Kucinich—from a diner fire‑escape or the Columbus Day Parade march. Divine timing (or ulcer) saved the mayor, and the hit never happened—but authorities digitally traced the plot back to Sinito.

Sinito’s stealth and cash production made him a made man by 1979, inducted by Lonardo and Licavoli in a ritual dripping with omertà. He became the Cleveland family’s drug architect—teaming with Carmen Zagaria to push major cocaine, marijuana, and Quaaludes networks. By 1981, they were hauling in an estimated $15 million a year. When Zagaria flipped in 1982, his testimony exposed Sinito’s crime empire and murder orders.

Federal racketeers grabbed him in 1981—RICO, extortion, tax evasion—and slapped him with a hefty sentence. In 1986, he pleaded guilty to the Perrier hit. Despite being buried in jail, Sinito's mind never stopped working—he recommended new members and plotted comeback moves, deep in prison—but his heart finally gave out. He died behind bars on December 21, 1997 at Belmont Correctional, aged 59