Silver Meteor Bar

On the night of June 6, 1953, two shotgun blasts tore through the front window of the bar and blew off the face of Henry Hicks, a janitor who was mopping the floor.

The shots were intended for Paul Ferraro, who had just walked out the front door. Ferraro was the bartender at the Silver Meteor, as well as a gambling figure with a long record of arrests. At that time, the Silver Meteor was owned by gambling figure Ciro Spoto Bellucia. Ferraro, now deceased, subsequently went into hiding, and Hicks became the 20th victim of gangland violence in Tampa. The murder remains unsolved.