The Curse of Elaine Worth: San Francisco Gangster Moll’s Kiss of Death
- Matteo Galante
- Apr 25, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 25, 2023
Actress Catherine Elaine Ellsworth, known on stage as Naana Wortova, or more commonly as Elaine Worth, was born in Russia in 1909. She began dancing ballet at an early age, winning her first competition at three years old. After achieving some childhood success in Moscow, her family immigrated to California, settling in the northern Bay Area city of Richmond. Elaine Worth excelled in her young career, winning a competition in San Francisco for children under the age of six, then becoming a dance instructor by the time she was nine.
In the early 1920s, Worth performed in a variety of live productions on the west coast, from touring with the Russian Scandals dance group to headlining a vaudeville circuit. In 1925, she joined Captain Billy’s Whizbang Band under the direction of producer Harry “Captain Billy” Middleton. This is when the troubles began for Elaine Worth, who - without her parents’ consent - married Middleton and gave birth to their son, Billy, at 15 years old. The next year, while at a Saint Patrick’s Day party in Los Angeles, Worth got married again, to Hollywood writer George Chapman Moses. One week later, Harry Middleton was arraigned on embezzlement charges, and her first marriage was soon annulled. She and Moses would also separate after five months, but they remained secretly married for several years.
In September 1928, Worth landed the leading role in Easy for Zee Zee, a play described as a "risqué French farce” that premiered at the Green Street Theatre in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. North Beach had recently seen an influx of southern Italian gangsters that specialized in bootlegging, extortion, hijacking, and counterfeiting. One evening, Gennaro “Handsome Jerry” Ferri, a racketeer with a history of blackmailing and kidnapping, attended the show and introduced himself to Elaine Worth. The two quickly became a public couple, sharing a Lombard Street apartment and appearing in press photos together. Jerry would introduce Elaine as “Mrs. Ferri.”
A possessive man with many admirers, Handsome Jerry was known to flash a pistol at any man who looked at his woman for too long. One of those men was a young hijacker named Joseph “Baby Face” Biagini, who ran a cafe near the theater. Baby Face and Elaine Worth became friendly, which led to a fight between the men. Biagini pulled a gun on Ferri, who wrestled it away. After threatening to blow his head off, Ferri gave Baby Face a beating, then threw him out of a car on Skyline Boulevard. Worth broke up with Ferri and moved back to her parents' home in Richmond after she claimed Ferri shot his gun at her. Over the coming weeks, Ferri would be arrested multiple times, for possession of illegal weapons and burglary tools.
Around 2:30 am on November 24th, 1928, Ferri was awoken by two gunshots through his apartment door. He jumped out of bed, grabbed a jacket and hat, and ran for the rear exit. But he was trapped by his assailant and hit by six bullets. Gennaro Ferri, alleged “Mafia chieftain,” was found dead in his bathroom. Police questioned Elaine Worth and Baby Face Biagini, but both were released. Within a week, they had linked bloody handprints to Ferri’s partner, Alfredo Scariso, and delcared they were searching for him.
On December 15th, Alfredo Scariso was found near Sacramento with an associate, Vito Pileggi. Both were dead. In Scariso’s pocket were three photographs of Elaine Worth, one of which had been pierced by a bullet. By the spring of 1929, Worth found company in another one of Ferri’s partners, Rene Fabri. A French immigrant, Fabri was known to authorities as a gambler and procurer, with over 100 women in his address book. On April 29th, after reportedly leaving a card game, Fabri’s body was found on Rockaway Beach in San Mateo County. He had been beaten, shot four times, and slashed across his throat.
Still entangled in the San Francisco underworld, Elaine turned to Frank Grupico, a member of the same gang who had previously been arrested with Jerry Ferri. Grupico was considered a go-between for gangsters, politicians, and parole boards. His father, a Black Hander implicated in several shootings, was killed in 1924. In July 1929, Grupico attacked a woman who mistakenly wandered into the private dining room of Mimi Imperato’s North Beach cafe. When Elaine visited him behind bars, she signed in as “Mrs. Grupico” and claimed the two were married. Frank denied the allegations, saying it must have been a dream. Worth suddenly collapsed at the jail, the result of an evident overdose on sleeping pills. She was in a coma for two days, then re-joined the Easy for Zee Zee cast in mid-August.
Moving on from Grupico, Worth began spending more time with Robert Chapman, leading actor in the play. He was also the son of a prominent Alameda County attorney. On the night of August 20th, following an altercation with two unidentified men, Chapman was thrown from the sixth-floor window of an apartment and found dead in the light well. A few days later, Sid Goldtree, owner of the Green Street Theatre, announced that Zee Zee was shutting down after a fifty-week run. The next month, Worth’s home caught fire when the kitchen stove exploded.
Seeking a fresh start, Elaine Worth divorced George Chapman Moses in March 1930, which was followed by announcements that she’d be moving to New York or Texas. However, in 1931, she performed in another run of Easy for Zee Zee from Reno, NV to Hollywood, CA. In January 1932, using the name Alice Dunn, Worth gave what appeared to be her final public interview from a Los Angeles hotel room. Convinced that death was trailing her, she expressed that she may need to change her name again and leave the country.
Four months later, Frank Grupico was shot by a man he was allegedly trying to shake down. He survived, but newspapers reported he would likely die. Continuing to distance herself from the underworld, Worth worked as a Hollywood dance instructor until 1938, when she returned to Richmond and opened a dance studio. Elaine Worth eventually managed to stay out of the headlines, but her “curse” became a notorious piece of San Francisco gangland history.
