Tocco is a former soldier of the Detroit Partnership. He is a member of the Tocco clan that has been a powerful group within the Detroit mafia since it was founded in 1921. Tocco is a graduate of the University of Detroit and cousin of current Detroit boss Jack Tocco. Tocco joined the Detroit mob, or the "Combination" as he called it, in the 1960s and was taken to Las Vegas in 1969 "to be shown how things work". In the 1980s, Tocco said, he "was making a street living ...involved in the cocaine business." He was once imprisoned on narcotics charges.