Welcome to “Bloody, MO,” a Civil War-through-modern day video peek into Kansas City’s bloody past – starring equally notorious and unknown gunslingers, fire-starters, and godfathers.
Today: Willie “The Rat” Cammisano
A legend in the Missouri underworld and holder of one of the most fearsome and lethal reputations in Kansas City mafia history, Willie “The Rat” Cammisano died a free man. Even the FBI said of his alleged hits, “We knew who it came from, everyone did – but nobody would talk on the record and there wasn’t enough else to make a case.”
This is the final installment of the “Bloody, MO” series. Catch up on the previous three installments:
Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd
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