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Former lawman, reporter dies at 80

He was a big thorn in the side of organized crime in the bay area.

By ACE ATKINS
Published April 23, 2007

HARTWELL, Ga. - The Ybor City mob called him El Canejo, the Rabbit.

Ellis Clifton, who died Saturday at 80, was the captain of the Hillsborough Sheriff Office's vice squad during the 1950s, the zenith of organized crime in the bay area.

As a lawman, he not only investigated some of the most famous mob hits - including the murder of Charlie Wall and Joe "Pelusa" Diaz - but also led several successful raids on the illegal bolita lottery business.

He loved Ybor City and was known by other detectives to have the Latin district wired with informants.

Before working as a cop, he was a police reporter for both the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times.

Clifton called his illegal lottery busting days a cat-and-mouse routine with plenty of investigative work. The illegal lottery was a multimillion dollar trade at that time run by gangsters.

In 1958, the Tampa Daily Times reported there was a $10,000 bounty on Clifton's head because he'd been making too much trouble for those in the bolita game.

A short, thin man with slightly protruding teeth, Clifton picked up the nickname of "Crusader Rabbit" because of a popular TV cartoon, said Leland Hawes, a retired Tribune reporter.

"He was almost like a cop when he was a reporter, always pursuing someone in the middle of the night," Hawes said. "He was intense. A no-nonsense guy."

As a detective, even Latinos in Ybor began to call him "the Rabbit."

"His reputation spread throughout the bolita organization," said Buddy Meisch, who worked with Clifton. "It felt like he was everywhere. He got around as quick as a rabbit. You're only as good as your sources and he had the ability to cultivate and keep informants."

Meisch recalled a time when a hit was out on an informant named "Brand New" and how Clifton took the responsibility to place the gambler in protective custody. Meisch said Clifton's word cemented his reputation among lawmen and criminals.

A World War II veteran, Clifton attended the University of Georgia on a GI Bill and worked for a short time as a reporter in Atlanta before heading to Tampa.

Clifton left the Sheriff's Office in 1965 for more law enforcement work in Brevard County. He later took a job wheeling and dealing mobile homes in the '70s, but it wasn't for him.

He became a investigator for the DeKalb County, Georgia juvenile court for five years and later took over as the head of security for the Carter Center in Atlanta.

In 1991, he retired in Hartwell, Ga., with his wife of 57 years, Jo.

He enjoyed caring for his peach trees and gardening. He loved to read, especially the crime novels and westerns of Elmore Leonard.

In January, facing throat cancer for a second time, he returned to the bay area and rented a condo in Dunedin.

"It was a hell of a time," he said, before his health forced him into a hospice program in Georgia.

In Dunedin, he gathered around family, old detectives and friends, even taking a trusted few back to Ybor City to point out spots of famous mob hits and bolita houses he'd once raided.

"He loved the cloak and dagger," Meisch said. "Being able to solve things, getting to the bottom of situation."

In addition to his wife, Jo, survivors include two sons, Mark and David, and two daughters Marcia Finucane and Andrea Acker.

[Last modified April 23, 2007, 12:27:45]