The Dream Bar

Outside the 7th Avenue corridor of Ybor was the Dream Bar, originally called the Nebraska Bar. It had an adjoining poolroom and was owned by the Trafficante family. The long-time bartender and manager was Nick Scaglione, a gambling figure who was well-known to police and named by law enforcement as a made guy in the local Mafia.

On August 18, 1954, just a week after the death of Santo Trafficante Sr, police were called to the bar to investigate a reported shooting. When police arrived

Tampa Crime Boss Santo Trafficante

they found blood on the sidewalk out front and a torn shirt inside. The customers, including Frank Ippolito, claimed no knowledge of the shooting and police never found a victim. But there was a victim a few years later when Nick Scaglione was stabbed while tending bar. He refused to name his assailant.

The Dream Bar was also at the center of a federal tax lien against the estate of Santo Trafficante, Sr. In 1962, when the Feds started closing the noose around the Trafficante brothers), the bar was damaged in a fire.