Ritson was of Irish and Lithuanian descent, he became an enforcer and lieutenant of Danny Greene during the 1970s and was heavily involved in the gang war against the Cleveland crime family. On Aug 20, 1976, Ritson and Kevin McTaggart, held 11 men at a poker game at bay while a third accomplice beat and shot to death Joseph Illius. The killer, Elmer Brittain, got off with a misdemeanor after saying that his gun accidentally went off as he was pistol-whipping Illius. Ritson and McTaggart had the case against them thrown out. In the same month Cleveland family mobster Leo "Lips" Moceri went missing. Mobster-turned-informant Angelo Lonardo told the feds, "I believe that Moceri was murdered by Danny Greene and Keith Ritson. This was done because John Nardi was having trouble and headaches from