Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola

Who was Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola?

Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola was a New York City mobster who became a caporegime of the 116th Street Crew, with the Genovese crime family. Coppola headed many Genovese family criminal operations from the late 1930s until the early 1960s. He should not be confused with the Michael "Mikey Cigars" Coppola, a current mobster of the Genovese crime family.

Michael was born to Giuseppe and Angelina. He was the brother of Ralph, John, Vincent, Louis, Helen, Amelia, Josephine and Mary. He stood at 5'5 and weighed 155 pounds. He was first arrested in 1941 for burglary, then later assault, murder and drug dealing. Coppola entered the ranks of the New York mafiosi with a reputation as a sadistic and violent gunman during Prohibition. Following the end of the Castellammarese War gang war in New York, Coppola became a high-ranking member of Charles "Lucky" Luciano's family. In 1936, following the conviction of Luciano on prostitution charges and later Underboss Vito Genovese's fleeing the country on a murder charge, Coppola was left in charge of the Luciano crime family criminal operations including a monopoly on New York's artichoke supply and Harlem's numbers racket, worth over $1,000,000 a year. He controlled Mason Tenders Locals 47 and 13 of the Laborers Union. Local 13 secretary-treasurer George Cervone was murdered in 1961 during a bitter struggle for control of the local. Shortly thereafter, his brother, Basil Cervone, assumed control, and eventually Basil's sons, Joseph and Basil, Jr.