Charles "Charlie Bear" Calise was from a Westchester County, New York mob family. His father was the late Anthony "Teddy Bear" Calise. The Calises ran a policy racket in Yonkers which, in 1965, earned Anthony an arrest for operating a "policy gambling business". In 1964 Charles was apprehended for attempted extortion. In court he was described as one of the senior men in a Westchester County gambling racket. Calise's July 7, 1974 murder was a savage one. The victim sustained five bullets to his head and others elsewhere. His body was found at the Rockland Shopping Center during a random check by police.