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The Day Verne Gagne Broke a Mobster’s Leg

When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of “All Star Wrestling". It was the weekly television program of the American Wrestling Association (AWA). It promoted professional wrestling in the upper Midwest and was extremely popular.

Every Sunday morning at 11 am, I faithfully tuned in to watch live or prerecorded matches and hear announcements about upcoming matches at local arenas. It was also where the wrestlers would cut their promos – challenging or threatening another foe. There were good guys (known as baby faces) and bad guys (known as heels) and there was always some feud that needed settling.

On any given Sunday, you might get to see Nick Bockwinkel defend his heavyweight championship while his manager Bobby “The Brain” Heenan employed every dirty trick in the book to aid in that endeavor. We might get to see The High Flyers (Greg Gagne and Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell), take on Jerry Blackwell and Shiek Adnan El-Kaissey in a tag team match. If you were lucky, you might also get to see The Road Warriors, Mad Dog Vachon, The Crusher, Baron Von Raschke, Jesse “The Body” Ventura or even a pre-superstar Hulk Hogan. In the midst of all that chaos, the legendary “Mean” Gene Okerlund tried to maintain order.

So many big names with colorful personalities…and so many great memories.

I wonder though, if you remember a wrestler by the name Lenny Montana? Montana was one of the early AWA heels and one of the promotion’s first tag team champions alongside his partner "Hard Boiled" Haggerty.

In March of 1961, Montana was wrestling local hero Verne Gagne, in a tag team match at the St. Paul Auditorium. Legend has it that something went wrong while the two were grappling and somehow Montana's leg was broken. According to the Minneapolis Tribune, he "had to be carried from the ring on a stretcher."

While Montana recovered and was unable to compete, Haggerty was forced to choose a new partner with whom to defend his tag team title - and Montana was left out.

Because of that injury, Lenny Montana never wrestled in the AWA again and never regained his tag team title. His career cut short, and out of options, Montana ended up working as a mob enforcer in New York.

If you’ve ever read my ramblings before, you know this is the part where I tell you - that version of events may not be entirely true.

To borrow a line from famous radio personality Paul Harvey, “Now for the rest of the story.”

Leonardo Passafaro

In December of 1923, Leonardo Rocco Passafaro was born in The Bronx, New York.

By all accounts, Passafaro had a normal childhood and grew up in a good home with two parents and one sister. Sadly though, his father passed away at a young age.

Passafaro struggled in school and wasn't the most well-behaved student. At 17 years old, he lied about his age so he could leave school and enlist in the Army. He became a paratrooper and fought in WWII - receiving a purple heart.

Following his service in the military, he took a job as a bouncer in a night club. It is there, that his family thinks he was recruited into professional wrestling.

Passafaro started wrestling professionally in 1950 at 26 years old. At 6’6” and using the professional name “Lenny Montana”, he was billed as a “bruising 270-pound giant”. One of his first documented matches was in November 1950 at the VFW in Lansdale, PA.

In early 1951, he took up a commonly duplicated ring persona of “The Zebra Kid”. In addition to a zebra striped outfit, the competitor often wore a mask to conceal their identity. Fans feverishly speculated about the mysterious wrestler’s true identity. The promoter’s story-line often included matches where the wrestler was nearly unmasked – but at the last minute they miraculously prevented it. The payoff match would conclude with The Zebra Kid being dramatically unmasked and his identity revealed.

Montana’s version of The Zebra Kid wrestled both masked and unmasked depending on the location and story-line. There was however, a dramatic unmasking during a match against Antonino Rocca in 1952.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-of-atlantic-city/168034957/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/courier-post/190030481/

According to his daughter, Annette Loretta (one of Montana's four children) he commonly played the part of the heel in most matches. IN a recent interview she said, “He was always the bad guy.” She remembered one night an old lady asked him for his autograph and he replied, “You want an autograph?” He grabbed her autograph book and tore it to shreds. The angry woman then climbed into the ring and started screaming at him. Loretta now recalls that it was probably staged and part of the story. She also recalled a match at Madison Square Garden when another wrestler was talking to her and her sisters. When a disapproving Montana saw this, “He picked the man up by the neck and threw him across the room.”

Early on in his career as he learned the business, Montana stayed close to home, competing primarily in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. But the road soon came calling.

The Journeyman

In late 1953, Montana began wrestling in the Central States Wrestling (CSW) circuit out of Kansas City. The territory covered Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. On October 1st of that year, Montana won the CSW Heavyweight Championship from Dave Sims. Also referred to as the “Heart of America” title, Montana held onto that championship belt for two months before losing it to Sonny Myers.

Montana spent 1954 wrestling in the Midwest Wrestling Association out of Columbus Ohio. During that time period, much of pro wrestling in the U.S. was governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) - a national body that governed all the regional territories. The NWA sanctioned their own champions as well as decided which regional contenders would get to challenge those champions and have a shot at claiming their titles. In February, wrestling under the name Bull Montana, he was given a title shot against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz but lost the match due to a referee’s decision. Newspaper accounts say Montana was unable to return after the first fall (of a three fall match) and had to forfeit.

Throughout the mid to late 50’s Montana continued working in multiple territories, and in late 1956 he wrestled briefly in Texas under the name Len Crosby.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-joseph-news-press/189640887/

Montana’s name made national headlines in January 1958 when his opponent Gordon McKinley aka the “The Flying Scotsman” had a heart attack and died in the middle of their match in Youngstown, Ohio. The crowd thought McKinley was faking and booed as he laid dying on the mat.

In February 1959, Montana began working in upstate New York as a wrestler by the name of Chief Chewacki, an unstable wild man who was billed as “King of the Gypsy Badmen” and “the nephew of a former great Indian wrestler”.

In early 1960, Montana worked in Tennessee’s Mid-America territory. It is there that he wrestled a 600-pound bear named Terrible Teddy. Initially, the bear refused to fight Montana. Montana then shouted to the crowd, “See! Even the bear is afraid of me!”

Like most professional wrestlers, Montana was a true journeyman. He even wrestled Internationally – In Canada as well as traveling to Buenos Aires for a match with his old foe and Argentinian Heavyweight Champion Antonino Rocca.

All his travels and connections eventually led Montana to a full time job in Minnesota with the AWA in the Fall of 1960.

The AWA

Verne Gagne is arguably the most well-known professional wrestler in Minnesota history. Born in 1926, he wrestled as an amateur at Robbinsdale High School and at the University of Minnesota. He also played college football at Minnesota and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1947. He played in a few NFL pre-season games, but quickly learned that he could make more money in professional wrestling than in football.

Gagne's professional wrestling career began in 1949, traveling the country competing in the different territories. However, after years of being passed over for a chance to take on the NWA heavyweight title holders, a frustrated Gagne decided to change course and forge his own path with the help of his business partner Wally Karbo. Karbo was a referee and promoter born and raised in Northeast Minneapolis.

In December of 1959, the two men purchased the Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club which promoted many of the matches in Minnesota. The following year, they formed a new wrestling promotion - the American Wrestling Alliance (aka the AWA - Later known as the American Wrestling Association). By forming this new promotion, the AWA effectively severed ties with the NWA.

Drawing on all the connections Gagne made while traveling during his early years, the AWA's popularity would eventually spread throughout the upper Midwest, to some western states and even into Canada.

The excitement of this new promotion drew in wrestlers from other territories. One of those early newcomers was Lenny Montana. This wasn't Montana's first time in Minnesota, however. In October 1953, he wrestled Lu Kim in an under-card match at the Minneapolis Auditorium. He returned to Minnesota the following summer for an appearance as a 265-pound grappler known as “The Mask”. (“The Mask” seems to have been portrayed by many different wrestlers depending on who was available on any given night). According to the Minneapolis Tribune, this version of The Mask had his identity revealed as Lenny Montana on June 22, 1954 by Hard Boiled Haggerty (Don Stansauk) at the St. Paul Armory.

Both of those matches however, were sanctioned by the NWA.

Montana's official AWA debut occurred in August 1960. Newspapers indicate his first match was against Man Mountain Campbell (Luke Brown) in Austin, Minnesota, on August 18th.

Verne Gagne

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39860317

Wally Karbo

https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune/189542386/

Montana was soon paired with Gene Kiniski as a tag team.

On September 24, 1960, he and Kiniski were slated to face the AWA Heavyweight World Tag Team Champions known as “Murder Inc” (Stan “Krusher” Kowalski and Tiny Mills) at the St. Paul Auditorium. However, Kiniski wasn’t able to wrestle that night for some reason. Hard Boiled Haggerty stepped in as a replacement. Haggerty was one of the AWA’s first heels and was a long-time nemesis to fan-favorite Verne Gagne.

Haggerty and Montana defeated Kowalski and Mills that night, but Kowalski filed a protest. He claimed that Haggerty had not signed the contract for the match, and therefore the win was not legal. Ten days later the newly formed duo of Montana and Haggerty legally defeated Kowalski and Mills for the AWA World Heavyweight Tag Team title at the Minneapolis Auditorium.

Montana and Haggerty held on to the AWA Tag Team title for the next 6 months.

On March 18th, 1961 – the fateful night of Montana’s “broken leg” - he was wrestling in a non-title tag team match at the St. Paul Auditorium, teaming up with his old partner Gene Kiniski. The two were matched against Verne Gagne and Leo Nomellini when the alleged injury occurred.

According to wrestling historian George Schire, injuries and suspensions were often a way of explaining a wrestler’s absence. In his book, Minnesota’s Golden Age of Wrestling, Schire wrote “Fans weren’t the wiser because they lacked the resources to know when wrestlers were really injured, injured as part of an “angle”, or just plain done in the [territory].”

On April 5th, three weeks after the alleged “broken leg”, Montana was wrestling again in Rochester, Minnesota. The Rochester Post- Bulletin referred to the “broken leg” as a “knee injury” and further stated, “[Montana] says the knee’s fine and he’s eager to get back in action.”

Asked about the “injury”, Annette Loretta said, “I don’t remember my father ever getting injured while wrestling.”

Schire is convinced it was just a story-line to explain Montana’s absence. In those days, “It wasn’t out of the ordinary for wrestlers to do that after a six month to a year run in a territory.” he said.

While Montana was out “recovering”, Haggerty was allowed to choose a replacement. He and Gene Kiniski (Montana’s old partner) were named Tag Team champions. They held on to the AWA heavyweight Tag Team title until May 23, 1961 when they lost to Nomellini and Wilbur Snyder at the St. Paul Auditorium.

In May of 1961, Montana left the AWA and moved on to a different territory.

Fun Facts

-Montana’s Daughter Annette Loretta remembers Hard Boiled Haggerty coming to their house once. Her mother had prepared a roast for dinner and Haggerty thought the whole thing was for him.

-On November 13, 1959, Montana and Gagne were slated to face each other in a title bout in Atlanta. Gagne, who held the NWA World Television Championship at the time, never made it because he was "snowed in at Detroit", and the match never happened.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-albert-lea-tribune/145651185/

A Road Warrior

Following his stop in Minnesota with the AWA, Montana spent his next few years working territories in the Southeast United States.

In the Summer of 1961, he wrestled in the CWF (Championship Wrestling from Florida) based in Tampa, where he briefly reassumed The Zebra Kid character. That version of The Zebra Kid was unmasked by Eddie Graham in a “Death Match” on July 4 at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory. Montana finished that year wrestling briefly in the Mid-Atlantic Championship territory in Virginia and the Carolinas.

In 1962, Montana began working in Georgia Championship Wrestling where he got revenge against Eddie Graham who was the Southern Heavyweight champ at the time. On May 1, 1962, Montana beat Graham during a title bout in Macon, Georgia. Despite the victory, Montana was not awarded the title because Graham was disqualified. He did however, win Georgia tag team titles with Tarzan Tyler three separate times, in April, June, and September of 1963.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune/168039665/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal/189551780/ https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal/190034024/

Annette Loretta remembers accompanying her father on some of his travels. “He took us everywhere, all over the world.” There was a match in Florida where her father brought the whole family along and rented a house in the city of Pinellas Park. Loretta vividly remembers the Ku Klux Klan showing up at the door and telling them to leave.

In the mid 1960’s, Montana worked again in Tennessee’s Mid-America territory. According to newspapers, it appears that he had some matches in New Jersey and Maine as well. His name last appears associated with wrestling matches in Knoxville, Tennessee in December of 1966.

After 16 years on the pro wrestling circuit, Montana’s wife Sylvia made it clear that it was time for him to come home. According to Annette Loretta, Sylvia said, “Enough is enough with the traveling!” Montana then returned home to Lindenhurst, New York, and took a job as a salesman at a fence company.

Fun Fact

According to his family, Montana participated in a match that was held in a Georgia Penitentiary as entertainment for prisoners.

He also did benefit matches for Boy Scout troops and Veterans’ hospitals.

The Columbo Crime Family

According to his family, “there was someone who was connected” - working in the back room of the fence company that Montana had taken the job at. His family believes that’s how his asociation with the Columbo crime family began. It would make sense that someone connected to organized crime would take an interest in Montana, given his particular size and skill set.

As you might imagine, there is very little published information about what type of “business” Montana conducted for the Columbos. However, one incident managed to make news and capture headlines around the country. In June of 1968, Montana was arrested in Nassau County, New York, for being connected to an attempted assault at a rail station. The incident was later thought to be a murder for hire gone wrong. Montana and 4 others were charged with, "conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, first and second-degree assault, conspiracy to commit assault, coercion, conspiracy to commit a felony and illegal weapons possession.”

He was released on $25,000 bail after pleading innocent to the charges. According to the Atlanta Constitution, “Officials in Nassau County say that because of a congested criminal court calendar, all defendants in the case were allowed to submit pleas.”. Published records indicate that he and the other defendants were eventually given suspended sentences.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-suffolk-edition/189061868/

The Godfather

In March of 1967, Paramount Studios made an offer to purchase the rights to The Godfather, a book by Mario Puzo, and make it into a film.

But… that film almost never made it to the screen.

The film’s producer, Al Ruddy, had to clear a great many hurdles before the film could become a reality. One of those hurdles was a real life “sit down” with the Columbo crime family.

According to “The Gangster Glossary”, a “sit down” is a meeting with Family administration to settle disputes. If you’ve watched any movies or documentaries about organized crime, you know those “sit downs” were to be taken very seriously. They could end amicably, or possibly even deadly.

Fun Fact

-Mario Puzo’s book The Godfather was released in March of 1969. It was on the New York Times best seller list for a total of 67 weeks and held the #1 ranking on that list for 21 weeks. To this day, the book has sold over 21 million copies.

Joe Columbo, the boss of the family at that time, had recently started a political advocacy group called the “Italian American Civil Rights League”. He claimed the group was formed to promote and advocate for Italian Americans as well as combat negative stereotypes.

Columbo threatened to use his influence with the unions and shut down the filming of The Godfather because he felt the movie may be promoting negative stereotypes of Italian Americans. It has also been suggested that Ruddy may have been physically threatened at one point.

For Ruddy to continue production, he had to make an agreement with Columbo to abstain from using the words “Mafia” or “Cosa Nostra” during the film.

During those “sit downs”, Ruddy and director Francis Ford Coppola met a Columbo enforcer and bodyguard by the name of Lenny Montana. They became enamored with his stories, particularly one in which he described how he would set fire to a building - After spreading gasoline, Montana would tie a tampon to a mouse's tail, light the tampon on fire and let the mouse go.

Ruddy and Coppola eventually cast Montana to play Luca Brasi, the loyal bodyguard to Vito Corleone, the boss of the family.

In the film, Brasi is sent on a mission pretending to defect to a rival family. He ends up getting killed in one of the most shocking death scenes of the time. The scene also led to one of the film’s most memorable lines, “Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.”, which meant his character was dead and his body was in dumped in the ocean.

In March of 1972, Paramount Studios released The Godfather. It went on to become, what many consider to be, one of the greatest films of all time. The film won four Academy Awards including best picture and it currently ranks as #2 on the American Film Institute’s top 100 films.

Hollywood

Following the success of The Godfather, Montana was bitten by the acting bug. He went on to work in 20 films including The Jerk with Steve Martin, Contract on Cherry Street with Frank Sinatra, and The Big Brawl with Jackie Chan. His old tag team partner Hard Boiled Haggerty also had a part in that film.

Montana had bit parts on some TV series including Kojak and Magnum P.I. At times he a guest on talk shows like The Julie Andrews Show.

He also starred in iconic commercials. He was in some of the earliest Rice-A-Roni and Miller Lite beer commercials and even played a caveman in a Honeycomb cereal commercial.

Today, it’s not uncommon for professional wrestlers to transition into movie careers. John Cena and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have become bankable Hollywood names in recent years. In 1982 Terry “Hulk” Hogan played a character named “Thunderlips” in Rocky III. Andre the Giant played the lovable character "Fezzik" in the memorable 1987 classic The Princess Bride. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Predator would not have been the same without “Blain”, a character played by Jesse “The Body” Ventura, who utters the famous line, “I ain’t got time to bleed!”

Back in the 70’s however, it was NOT common for professional wrestlers to transition into acting careers. In fact, it was unheard of. Lenny Montana was the first to do it. It’s fair to say that all the wrestlers that found their way to Hollywood might owe a tip of the cap to Montana for showing that it was even possible.

Lenny Montana (Passafaro) died in August of 1984 in Lindenhurst, New York. Unlike Luca Brasi, he does not sleep with the fishes. He is buried in St. Charles cemetery in East Farmingdale, NY. At the time of his passing, he was survived by his wife, 4 children and 14 grandchildren. According to his daughter, “He was an excellent father and grandfather. He was very giving and compassionate.”

To say Montana lived an incredible life is an understatement. He was a WWII veteran. A professional wrestler. A mob associate, and a Hollywood actor in one of the greatest films of all time. He was also a family man.

For most people, choosing even one of those life paths might prove challenging enough to navigate.

Lenny Montana lived them all.

*Note

I want to thank the Passafaro family for allowing me to connect with them and their willingness to share his life and stories with me. When I first contacted them, they were apprehensive because they didn’t know who I was or what my intentions were. (Rightfully so in today’s world.)

While I was trying to ease their worries and gain their trust, his granddaughter warned me, “Just remember, if you mess with us, YOU’LL end up sleeping with the fishes!”

We all laughed together. I think. I’m pretty sure she was kidding.

I hope when they read this, they feel that I’ve given his incredible life a proper tribute.

I also hope to avoid any unplanned visits to bodies of water in the near future. 😉

Sources

Schire, George. Minnesota’s Golden Age of Wrestling

Interview with Annette Loretta (Passafaro) and other family members on January 20, 2026 4pm.

Interview with Leonard Passadaro Jr. February 7, 2026 4 pm

Newspaper Articles

Paratrooper

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-day/189471153/

Early matches

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bayonne-times/188998467/