MOB TOWN: PUEBLO BOSS DIED IN 'SUGAR MOON' WAR

"Sugar Moon" brought money and death to Colorado.

One of Pueblo's earliest mob bosses, grocer Pellegrino Scaglia, was gunned down while making deliveries on May 6, 1922 - the state's first gangland execution during Prohibition. Scaglia - AKA Tony Viola - distributed bootleg liquor made by the Carlino clan through his grocery store and pool hall.

They called the booze "Sugar Moon."

The Carlino's were poor farmers who rose to the top ranks of Colorado bootlegging. They started out growing sugar beets in Sugar City in Crowley County and found brewing hooch more lucrative than peddling raw beets.

Scaglia's killers were presumed to be rival bootleggers, members of the Danna family, which waged a lengthy blood feud with the Carlino clan dating back to their native Sicily.

Scaglia, 40, was riding in a wagon with his daughter Mary, 4, and a boy named Frank Cardino, 9.  A stolen car pulled alongside the wagon and opened fire. Scaglia shielded his daughter. He and the Cardino died instantly. A bystander was wounded. The car sped off. Scaglia carried a revolver and it was found under his seat.

After Scaglia’s murder, the Carlino brothers - Sam and Pete - assumed Scaglia's position in Pueblo. Their friend John Mulay took over as the Carlino's distributor from his pool hall at 224 Union Avenue. Over the next decade, Mulay and the Carlino's would meet violent deaths as did the Danna clan.