Frank Scalise timeline

[JeremyTheJew]

is this correct?
Frank Scalise Boss 1930 - 31. steps down to Mangano. who waz from 31 - 51. And Mangano doesnt even have him in admin spot. Anastasia and Biondo were admin. Then Anastasia becomes boss and Scalise is then UB till his death.

[johngotti2018]

On November 5, 1930, Mineo and his underboss, Stefano "Steve" Ferrigno, were murdered by Castellammarese Sicilians led by Salvatore Maranzano.Scalice became the new boss of the family and a strong ally and supporter of Maranzano in the Castellammarese War.

The Castellammarese War ended on April 15, 1931, when Masseria was killed. Maranzano met with the New York bosses in May 1931 to work out a peace plan and organize the Five Families. Scalice was recognized as the Don of one of the families. However, after the murder of Maranzano on September 10, 1931,new boss Lucky Luciano forced Scalice to resign as family boss. He was replaced with Vincent Mangano.
Scalice become underboss from 1931 to 1957 when was killed maybe because alleged sold membership for money to incapable men.After his death, Carlo Gambino became Anastasia's underboss.

[johnny_scootch]

Maranzano met with the New York bosses in May 1931 to work out a peace plan and organize the Five Families.

Question is who originally gave Maranzano false credit for organizing the 5 families? It pisses me off a bit that people believe this lock stock and barrel

[Angelo Santino]

Maranzano met with the New York bosses in May 1931 to work out a peace plan and organize the Five Families.

Question is who originally gave Maranzano false credit for organizing the 5 families? It pisses me off a bit that people believe this lock stock and barrel

Valachi. He joined during a very turbulent period. He began as an associate in the Lucchese Family around people allied with Reina who gets murdered and Pinzolo replaced him. He's told by other Reina members that Pinzolo wouldn't be around long as they intend to kill him. After the Pinzolo murder, Gagliano's faction went 'under' Maranzano.

Maranzano at this point, was in Galante territory, the last formal boss being Schiro who fled, Maranzano's elevation was an internal matter. We don't know if the entire Bonanno Family was behind Maranzano, since history has been written by the winners. But what followed was a temporary coalition of rebel members (who were technically going against the Mafia government of Masseria) with sympathetic ears in the Gambino and Colombo groups. Following Masseria's murder, Maranzano and Gagliano were elected boss (formalities) and the Families separated. Being that new recruits were made during the war into this temporary band of "fuorisciti' it makes sense that when they separated again it would have to be doled out. Valachi witnessed it he just didn't know what he was witnessing. But he was technically made by Maranzano. He went from Lucchese associate to Bonanno soldier and on to Genovese where he stayed.

To be fair, even Nick Gentile states that in 1931 "there came to be formed" Boss, Under, Consig, Soldier 100 or so pages into his book, meanwhile all through his narration from 1915 up to that point (1931) he name drops people as being bosses, underbosses, consiglieri and captains all across the United States. It's very contradictory. All these ranks existed before 1930, before 1900 and going back to at least, at the very very least, 1870.

In Sicily, when a new boss is named, the family is "reformed" meaning all offices are up for a vote, technically. Maybe Maranzano had some say in that regard but I'm grasping at this point to try and make it fit. I think Maranzano and Luciano are 'legends' at this point and legends never die. Bonanno all but makes Maranzano out to be a Greek God compared to "Joe the Gluttonous Chinaman." Maranzano weighed more than Joe the Boss did at his time of murder, he wore a girdle. And yet, it's ingrained in mob lore that Maranzano was a refined SuperMafioso of the old school and Masseria a brash fat pig. Masseria did more to influence the American Mafia while he was alive whereas Maranzano's death served as a catalyst for mob political reform.

[The Greek]

Maranzano met with the New York bosses in May 1931 to work out a peace plan and organize the Five Families.

Question is who originally gave Maranzano false credit for organizing the 5 families? It pisses me off a bit that people believe this lock stock and barrel

Valachi. He joined during a very turbulent period. He began as an associate in the Lucchese Family around people allied with Reina who gets murdered and Pinzolo replaced him. He's told by other Reina members that Pinzolo wouldn't be around long as they intend to kill him. After the Pinzolo murder, Gagliano's faction went 'under' Maranzano.

Maranzano at this point, was in Galante territory, the last formal boss being Schiro who fled, Maranzano's elevation was an internal matter. We don't know if the entire Bonanno Family was behind Maranzano, since history has been written by the winners. But what followed was a temporary coalition of rebel members (who were technically going against the Mafia government of Masseria) with sympathetic ears in the Gambino and Colombo groups. Following Masseria's murder, Maranzano and Gagliano were elected boss (formalities) and the Families separated. Being that new recruits were made during the war into this temporary band of "fuorisciti' it makes sense that when they separated again it would have to be doled out. Valachi witnessed it he just didn't know what he was witnessing. But he was technically made by Maranzano. He went from Lucchese associate to Bonanno soldier and on to Genovese where he stayed.

To be fair, even Nick Gentile states that in 1931 "there came to be formed" Boss, Under, Consig, Soldier 100 or so pages into his book, meanwhile all through his narration from 1915 up to that point (1931) he name drops people as being bosses, underbosses, consiglieri and captains all across the United States. It's very contradictory. All these ranks existed before 1930, before 1900 and going back to at least, at the very very least, 1870.

In Sicily, when a new boss is named, the family is "reformed" meaning all offices are up for a vote, technically. Maybe Maranzano had some say in that regard but I'm grasping at this point to try and make it fit. I think Maranzano and Luciano are 'legends' at this point and legends never die. Bonanno all but makes Maranzano out to be a Greek God compared to "Joe the Gluttonous Chinaman." Maranzano weighed more than Joe the Boss did at his time of murder, he wore a girdle. And yet, it's ingrained in mob lore that Maranzano was a refined SuperMafioso of the old school and Masseria a brash fat pig. Masseria did more to influence the American Mafia while he was alive whereas Maranzano's death served as a catalyst for mob political reform.

Excellent post Chris

[Frank]

On November 5, 1930, Mineo and his underboss, Stefano "Steve" Ferrigno, were murdered by Castellammarese Sicilians led by Salvatore Maranzano.Scalice became the new boss of the family and a strong ally and supporter of Maranzano in the Castellammarese War.

The Castellammarese War ended on April 15, 1931, when Masseria was killed. Maranzano met with the New York bosses in May 1931 to work out a peace plan and organize the Five Families. Scalice was recognized as the Don of one of the families. However, after the murder of Maranzano on September 10, 1931,new boss Lucky Luciano forced Scalice to resign as family boss. He was replaced with Vincent Mangano.
Scalice become underboss from 1931 to 1957 when was killed maybe because alleged sold membership for money to incapable men.After his death, Carlo Gambino became Anastasia's underboss.

The Black Hand Family lineage chart for the Gambino Family doesn't list Gambino as ever being Underboss. Also it lists a guy named Conte as Antastasia's original Underboss, then Scalice as Underboss later at an unspecified year. Not saying your wrong, but this chart was well researched. Anyone's thoughts on this??

[Angelo Santino]

Another thing is that during the so-called 'Castellammarese War' it wasn't known as that. Valachi can be credited with that as well. Bonanno referred to it by that name as well but didn't explain it, but Castellammarese is singular and not plural with an i. I'm not certain but I wonder if that was a reference to Maranzano made later. I've read interviews with members later who classified as era as "there was war and then one day there wasn't war." Gentile referred to Maranzano's group as 'fuorosciti' and sarcastically as the Band of Pancho Villa and in fact claimed it was composed of breakaway family members 'dissatisfied' with Masseria's conduct as BOB.

D'Aquila, who held the position from 1912 until 1928, was arguably America's most successful: longest reign, wasn't caught by law enforcement and headed the Mafia during a time of growth and development. Opportunities and edicts that did or did not happen during his tenure would have lasting implications. The fuck of it is very little is still known about him. During the First Mafia War of November 1913 which saw two (presumably) ranking members murdered. Six months later his Genovese/Lucchese rival is murdered by him (as everyone found out years later from Umberto Valente) but during that time he escaped total suspicion. Salvatore Clemente paid for the funeral carriage and attended the reception and then reported back to the SS that no one had any idea who hit him. Following LoMonte and one or two others, the power shifts to Little Italy with Salvatore Loiacano, presumably a D'Aquila loyalist since he lasted unti 1921 and D'Aquila raised a beef over his murder which split that group into the Genovese and Lucchese networks as we know them today. At some point, a truce was made, the death sentence against Morello et all was lifted and Morello lost claim to his former Boss seat. Arguably D'Aquila was off his game (same with Schiro) by the late 1920's. If Masseria brought Al Capone to NY and made him a member and offered him control of Chicago it was done during D'Aquila's tenure and before Masseria become BOB.

Which takes us to Joe. He got the position in 1928 and in Dec of 1930 he was removed. During that time he fucked around with the admins of Lucchese, Bonanno, Gambino, Detroit, Chicago in a short time and it was too much, too soon. As little as we know about D'Aquila, one thing he did was bide his time. It's amazing to me that 6 months after two of his members are killed that Lo Monte is killed and he's not immediately suspected. But with Masseria came an Americanization. He got his criminal start on the Lower East Side, seemed to be around Bonanno and Genovese members early on and had reams of non-Sicilian associates. When the Morellos split into the Gen and Lucchese factions, Morello had just gotten out after a ten year stretch, it was Masseria who pulled in guys like Frank Yale and other lower east side members into the fold. He took half of a former family and upgraded it into America's first pan-Italian family. Basically he did on the cultural level what Charley Lucky gets credit for in terms of breaking down those final barriers.

As this relates to Scalici, he's first mentioned in the 1930's when he becomes boss, he was allegedly backed by Maranzano under the pretense that he kill Mangano, which Scalici refused to do. It came out following Maranzano's death and Scalici voluntarily stepped down and Mangano appointed. But he wasn't mentioned as a factor during the actual C-War itself from Gentile, Bonanno or Valachi.

[Ed]

CC,

this breakdown should be pinned somewhere. great job.

[johnny_scootch]

Valachi.

D'oh!

[Angelo Santino]

Valachi.

D'oh!

Not D'oh! I understand the frustration. But the politics need be considered: the FBI was trying to surpass their rival the FBN and they presented Valachi who had a dusted off and validated story. He wasn't coached, but he was prepared. And what followed was the FBI's empowerment to combat organized crime. The FBN was well aware of the Mafia's existence but the FBI were better marketers. What followed was a retelling of the same story Valachi presented, but simplified, expanded upon and misrepresented.

Before Valachi and the 1960's you'd be hard pressed to find anything detailing Maranzano, Luciano and Masseria and some major gang war known as the C-War. The murders attributed to the C-War were organized specific hits on selected individuals rather than mass murder so the crime rate didn't spike (out of control Prohibition level) and not every murder or its significance was connected. Going back 2 years prior, D'Aquila's murder wasn't given much notice either, it was considered gangland but his true stature as the King Of NY wasn't even hinted at. All at a time when every other Italian underworld murder was said to have been some boss or agent and that said murder is going to trigger an underworld war. Remarkably, D'Aquila and most of the C-Wars were not linked. It took 80 years for D'Aquila to be discovered by the mass public. Imagine how different we'd reinterpret history if Gentile's book never came out and Valachi never flipped and Bonanno never wrote his memoirs: D'Aquila would be another anonymous gangland murder who never would have fit Di Leonardo's "Sam De Quella" profile as the murder occurred in the Bronx. It's a lesson for all of us just how little we actually know.

Before 1960, there were some rumors of a war that surfaced in the late 1935's, years after the actual war itself. Luciano was considered Masseria's successor and had also taken over Yale's gang and told Scarface Al to stay clear of NY. But nothing of Luciano founding a "new organization" and nothing of a major end-all war that we all would later read about. And that organization that he headed, was of course the Unione Siciliano (which never had an office in NYC). What happened is the Chicago Unione Siciliana and all the 1920's issues involving Al Capone, spilled over into NY newspapers as the official name for Italian organized crime and applied it heavily during Luciano's prostitution case and that term continued as a literary term for 25 years until Cosa Nostra came became part of the lingo thanks to the McClellan Committee.

[johnny_scootch]

Chris do you have any idea why Masseria ended up with Morello and not Reina?

To go against D'Aquila seems like you need a good reason.

[Angelo Santino]

When the Morello-LoMonte-Loiacano Family split the Genovese got Harlem and Lower New York whereas the Luccheses got Harlem and the Bronx. Masseria was a lower east side guy so that could be it. Or it could not, he was arrested with early Bonanno members and him being from Sciacca could have put him with the Gambinos. Same with Luciano, Lercara Friddi, Joe Biondo as a roomie, why didn't he go Gambino? We could go all day.

They didn't initially go against D'Aquila so much as Morello took matters into his own hands and tried to reinstitute himself as head of his old group. It would be like if Genovese came back from Italy in the 1950's and immediately had Costello murdered, I'd imagine that wouldn't have gone over too well and might have incurred the wrath of the other 4 bosses to refuse his claim to boss and put death warrants out. I'd imagine the Luciano-Costello family might have been split between Genovese loyalists who believe it to be "our family, our problems" and those who, well maybe not Costello-loyalists, do wish to remain in good standing with the rest of NYC and the mafia political environment and if they feel Gen's going to lose then maybe their's less inclination to support his bid. I kinda believe there's a good amount of neutralists who aren't heavy hitters and just want to live their lives. With Morello, Masseria and Yale had they lost, there probably would have only have been the Lucchese Family and we'd read that Morello tried to reclaim it upon getting out of prison and was murdered and it went to Reina.

[johnny_scootch]

Great reply, thank you.

Must have been a tough pill to swallow for Morello to accept being under Masseria.

While Masseria was considered a rebel he was building up his organization with non sicilians and used them to oppose D'Aquila. Funny that Maranzano 'the traditionalist' went and did the same thing against Masseria when he needed to.

[B.]

In the Magaddino transcripts, he (Magaddino) implies that one of the possible landing pads for Morello was with the Buffalo family. The Buffalo family seems to have had great political significance within the national mafia as far back as the 1920s and later throughout Magaddino's reign, so this may have factored in. One thing I would be curious about is if Morello was the only one, or if there was a "package deal" where Morello and some of his Corleonesi relatives/supporters would go wherever he went. For example... did the Masseria family already have some Corleonesi who split off from the Reina group before Morello joined them, or did they only join Masseria when Morello did? The latter would make more sense but anything is possible. This would tell us a lot about the organization Masseria was running at the time Morello was reinstated.

Speaking of Scalise and Buffalo, I believe Frank Scalise reported Maranzano's misbehavior during a visit to Buffalo (the Scalise brothers were close to Magaddino/Buffalo), which helped put in motion the plot to kill him which involved Luciano, Genovese, Biondo, Mangano, Vincenzo Troia, and others. During the war, Scalise was part of the Mineo family but was secretly allied with Maranzano. Remember that Maranzano was furious about the attempted murder of Paolo Gambino, who was then not even a made member, and expressed relief when he received word that Gambino would recover. This is likely because the Gambino brothers were close with Frank Scalise, who was one of Maranzano's agents in that family.

On November 5, 1930, Mineo and his underboss, Stefano "Steve" Ferrigno, were murdered by Castellammarese Sicilians led by Salvatore Maranzano.Scalice became the new boss of the family and a strong ally and supporter of Maranzano in the Castellammarese War.

The Castellammarese War ended on April 15, 1931, when Masseria was killed. Maranzano met with the New York bosses in May 1931 to work out a peace plan and organize the Five Families. Scalice was recognized as the Don of one of the families. However, after the murder of Maranzano on September 10, 1931,new boss Lucky Luciano forced Scalice to resign as family boss. He was replaced with Vincent Mangano.
Scalice become underboss from 1931 to 1957 when was killed maybe because alleged sold membership for money to incapable men.After his death, Carlo Gambino became Anastasia's underboss.

The Black Hand Family lineage chart for the Gambino Family doesn't list Gambino as ever being Underboss. Also it lists a guy named Conte as Antastasia's original Underboss, then Scalice as Underboss later at an unspecified year. Not saying your wrong, but this chart was well researched. Anyone's thoughts on this??

Carlo Gambino was the consigliere at the time of Anastasia's death according to Stefano Magaddino (and possibly other sources). The administration is confusing during Anastasia's reign, as Scalise, Nino Conte, and Toto Chiri(co) have all been listed as underbosses at different times and Scalise/Gambino have both been listed as consiglieres. There may even be other names thrown in. Seems Biondo, who had been a consigliere earlier, had been demoted by the time of Anastasia's reign or early on during it.

[Angelo Santino]

In the Magaddino transcripts, he (Magaddino) implies that one of the possible landing pads for Morello was with the Buffalo family. The Buffalo family seems to have had great political significance within the national mafia as far back as the 1920s and later throughout Magaddino's reign, so this may have factored in. One thing I would be curious about is if Morello was the only one, or if there was a "package deal" where Morello and some of his Corleonesi relatives/supporters would go wherever he went. For example... did the Masseria family already have some Corleonesi who split off from the Reina group before Morello joined them, or did they only join Masseria when Morello did? The latter would make more sense but anything is possible. This would tell us a lot about the organization Masseria was running at the time Morello was reinstated.

Morello and his guys didn't go to Masseria, Masseria went to them. He joined and become boss either immediately or within a year of becoming a member. He has a history of being connected with Morello *members on the lower east side, like Lagattuta and Salvatore Mauro and a few others indirectly linking him with Boss Salvatore Loiacano.

*Regarding 'members,' before the FBI began targeting them we really have no list of members, so we don't know who was made and who wasn't. We can presume the bosses were made, we get intel of certain members who are said to be members, but when the papers and law enforcement approached this stuff they didn't have an understanding of 'associate' and 'soldier' and as we've seen throughout history, there's been alot of guys who are influential, should be made, but indeed are not. I may start using the word affiliate and restrict 'member' to just people we have specific intel on regarding membership... moving on.

As far as how the Family split, we have no lists of names. All we have is guys like the Terranovas being Genoveses and the Gaglianos, LaSalas being Lucchese 20-30 years after starting out in the same group. We see that the Luccheses have historically had the Bronx and Gen's having more representation on the Lower East Side and BK with Harlem being shared between them. If Morello was truly limited to just himself and a few stragglers and the Lucchese did indeed inherit most of the Corleonesi network during the split then that Bronx Family would have had far more representation in Lower Manhattan than they historically have had.

I know Dash's book paints a picture of the Corleonesi Family weathering with Morello's absence and that when he came home the Terranovas "were literally the last men standing." It wasn't, it was a citywide network and the Morellos/Terranovas were but one faction significant yes but not the entire makeup of the Corleonesi as a NY Family. Indeed it likely lost some status with the loss of their Representative holding the BOB but beyond that it was business as usual, and many of its members didn't feel the sting. The 1910 trial was the equivalent of the Commission trial, significant but if you're a soldier who's not really connected to the admin, how does that affect your life? Even after it became clear early on that Morello wasn't going to get an appeal, the Terranovas were raising money in for his defense and then pocketing it. They had bars, saloons, ice, plaster shops all around E Harlem. And the Family's lower Manhattan representation extends back to the 1900's and includes some colorful characters. Clemente, Lagattuta, LaDuca, Cascio Ferro, Boscarini, La Bue, Ajello, Loiacano (who would become boss 15 years later), two unrelated Pecoraros, one who was either Under or Consig in 1910 and was killed in the 2nd Mafia War of 1921-3 by D'Aquila forces. And then you had East Harlem members who had businesses or hung out in Little Italy: Morello, Bonanno, Rizzo etc. And early on they were connected to the Navy Street area in Brooklyn and may have even had members there, this was all before the Navy St Gang even existed (1914). All of these guys are predecessors to the Genovese Family. Most of the guys in the 1920's would have come up under Loiacano. If Luciano was really made in 1917, it would have been Loiacano administering it or approving it.