[2] As a youth, Salica won the Flyweight bronze medal as an amateur at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

[2] Salica was born in Brooklyn, New York to a large Italian family of sixteen children on November 16, 1912.

[3] As an exceptional amateur, he won the New York City Golden Gloves Flyweight Championship in 1932.

[2] Turning professional and fighting in the Brooklyn area from December 1932 to February 1934, he won fifteen of his first sixteen bouts with one draw.

[6] September 7, 1934, he defeated Filipino boxer Young Tommy in a ten round points decision at Hollywood's Legion Stadium.

[12] Salica subsequently lost the World Bantamweight Championship to Escobar just two months later on November 15, 1935 in a fifteen round Unanimous Decision at New York's Madison Square Garden.

[1] Escobar floored Salica for a nine count in the third round after a series of right crosses, and staggered him several times during the bout.

Marino surprised the crowd with an unexpected ten round points decision over Salica, the former World Bantamweight Champion.

[1][15] On November 2, 1937, Salica scored a fourth round technical knockout against Joey Wach in Brooklyn.

[1] On January 21, 1939, he fought Tony Dupre to an eight round draw at Ridgewood Grove, in Salica's howmetown of Brooklyn.

[19] On May 19, 1939, he defeated Filipino boxer Little Pancho in a ten round points decision at Hollywood's Legion Stadium.

[1] The Arizona Republic wrote, "it was a dead close fight for nine rounds, but Pace tired in the stretch, and Salica came on to win.

Pace was recognized as the NBA World Bantamweight Title holder at the time of the fight, and Salica was still considered by the New York State Athletic Commission to hold their version of the World Title, largely as a result of his win over Tony Olivera the previous year.

[26] On April 25, 1941, he won a fifteen round NBA World Bantamweight Championship defense against Lou Transparenti in Baltimore, Maryland.

[1] On January 13, 1941, he defeated Tommy Forte for the first time in a fifteen round split decision World Title defense at Philadelphia.

An excited crowd cheered as Hook continued to reign blows on Salica in late rounds, but was unable to capture the decision.

[1][32] The Los Angeles Times tellingly noted that Salica had lost much of the speed of his former boxing days, having weathered a large number of fights in his twelve year career as a boxer.

Salica won only one round in the bout that was described as "a cautious, cagey battle between ex-champions that afforded little excitement and no knockdowns.

[39][40] During the initial arrests made on December 20, 1945 the FBI suspected mob activity as "gangster methods" consisting of physical violence were used to silence complaints".

[41] Living a long life for a championship boxer, he died on January 30, 2002, in his hometown of Brooklyn at the age of 89.