Historical Bosses of Palermo Province

[B.]

Another connection of interest:

- Italian investigators identified (via witness) Filippo Rappa and Antonino Amato from Borgetto as participants the 1920 murder of politician Salvatore Mineo, who was killed on orders of the San Giuseppe Iato leadership. The witness was later "suppressed".

- Filippo Rappa might be the same Filippo Rappa from Borgetto identified by Bill Bonanno as an early Bonanno consigliere. Rappa came to the US in 1925, so he was still in Borgetto when the Mineo murder took place and would have had motivation to leave Sicily given the intense investigation into the conspirators in the Mineo murder. He also appears to have been well-connected in Sicily, likely knowing Vincenzo Troia and the San Giuseppe leadership hence his assistance in this murder.

- As mentioned earlier, San Giuseppe boss Santo Termini was a partner of Antonino Passananti of Partinico in providing a man with phony travel documents for immigration to Tunis and Marseille. Passananti is believed to have been a prominent early Orlando-Schiro-Bonanno member in NYC who returned to Sicily. Rappa likely joined what remained of this early faction when he came to NYC and must have held stature, hence his election to consigliere. He likely knew Passananti given their mutual association with the San Giuseppe Iato leadership at this time.

- In addition to Lorenzo Speciale, identified as a Partinico boss in the 1920s, I wonder if Antonino Passananti may have become a boss of Partinico upon returning to Sicily. He certainly had stature in NYC and was a conspirator in the Petrosino murder. His immigration fraud partnership with San Giuseppe leader Santo Termini suggests he had stature in the area.

- A later boss of Borgetto has been identified as Francesco Rappa, perhaps a descendent of Filippo Rappa.

[Antiliar]

To quote Hannibal Smith of the A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together." This is great stuff showing the connections between Sicilian and American mafiosi. I was hoping this thread would stimulate ideas, and it looks like it has. Thanks to everyone who has contributed.

[B.]

To quote Hannibal Smith of the A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together." This is great stuff showing the connections between Sicilian and American mafiosi. I was hoping this thread would stimulate ideas, and it looks like it has. Thanks to everyone who has contributed.

Thanks for starting it. I believe there will be more to come, too.

1 Is Bisacquino still a group? It's not listed on any mandamenti and when I looked it up, the result said Bisacquino was Riina's territory.

You'll be interested in this article based on our conversation today: https://palermo.meridionews.it/articolo ... attamente/

It's about how Vito Cascio Ferro should not be considered a "Corleonese".

Cascio Ferro lived in a period in which the Corleonese mafia was always important, but not predominant. If we really want to tell it all, the weight of Cascio Ferro was felt in Palermo and in some areas of the province of Agrigento.

Also this one: https://luminosityitalia.com/pages/Myst ... quino.html

In 1977, Capra, at almost 80, made a secret visit to Bisacquino. “He desired so badly to see his mother's house but wanted to keep his distance from certain relatives involved with the mafia, especially his uncle Francesco Troncale, a mafia boss, but also others,” says Totuccio. “Capra just felt ashamed.

If that's true, Bisacquino did have a boss in the 1970s. And that first article seems to try and distance Bisacquino and Cascio Ferro from what's thought of as the "Corleonese" faction.

This might indicate too why Bisacquino general has become less of a factor all around, mafia and otherwise:

Bisacquino’s population has shrunk from 11,000 in the early 1900s to fewer than 4,500 today. “Young people depart almost every morning. They quit the town for northern Italy. Our community is at risk of becoming a ghost town if we don’t set a plan to rejuvenate it,” Totuccio says.

In reference to the 1920s: https://flore.unifi.it/retrieve/handle/ ... torato.pdf

To Bisacquino: "there is an old mafia that, due to the prosperous financial conditions achieved with more or less legitimate means, professes
conservative ideas, loyal to the national government and which follows and supports
the order elements. There are no real garments but they are all
for a purpose that is to be obedient to the authorities,
to become involved in public affairs for the good of the community ". Same
what is true for Prizzi where «there is an old conservative mafia
and respectful of the institutions and a new delinquent mafia. THE
two groups do not get along, they hate each other trying to find a way to eliminate each other and each other".

[B.]

Found the names of many historic bosses in old Italian reports. Def a margin of error with some of the estimated dates, as unfortunately they don't include that info and it can be hard to know what period they're referring to but it's mostly 1910s-1930s, more commonly 1920s. I wrote (historic) if have no idea.

Threw in a few modern bosses I came across as well.

--

Alia
Bernardo Ditta (historic) - Murdered

Altavilla Milicia
Stefano Caruso (1920s-19??) - Lawyer and mayor as well as mafia boss circa 1927. Top assistant (underboss?) was cousin Dr. Stefano Scammacca.

Bagheria
Salvatore Galioto (1910s-1920s) - identified as capoprovincia of Palermo and Bagheria boss

Balestrate
Vincenzo Chimenti (1920s) - Nephews were upstanding local politicians and a pharmacist

Baucina
Michele Canale (~1913-19??) - Murdered by Pinello
Giuseppe Pinello (1920s) - Succeeded Canale. There is a recent boss of the same name, possibly his grandson.

Borgetto
Cristoforo Salamone (early 1920s)
Benedetto Valenza (mid-1920s)

- 55 murders were carried out in Borgetto between 1920-1924, many connected to the mafia and including the murders of mafia members. Filippo Rappa, among others, was believed to be one of the main mafia killers in Borgetto. Rappa for example killed three DiMarco brothers; five DeMarco brothers in total were mafiosi. As we know, Rappa and others in Borgetto also apparently helped with the Salvatore Mineo murder in San Giuseppe Jato. These murders were described as extremely well-planned and strategized, with each participant knowing his exact role in the murder in advance.

Borgomolaro / Borgo Molara
Antonio Calo (historic)

Caccamo
Giorgio Ciaccio (1912-1925) - A more recent Giorgio Ciaccio came up as being involved with the modern Caccamo family.

Castelbuono
Francesco Gregorio (1920s?)

Casteldaccia
Francesco Tomasello (~1909)

Cinisi
Vito Badalamenti (?) - An article from the 2000s states he is boss of Cinisi despite legal restrictions.

Corleone
Carlo Taverna (1920s or 1930s) - Identified in Italian investigations as the "capo mafia", also identified years earlier as a top aide to an earlier boss Battaglia

Lercara Friddi
Girolamo Giordano (1920s-1930s) - Nephew was politician married to murdered Alia boss Ditta's granddaughter.

Malpasso
Mariano Marchese (historic)

Monreale
Saverio Spinnato (1870s-1883) - Murdered 1883
Ignazio Trifirò (1883-1910s?)
Calo brothers - identified as leaders

Parca
Giovanni Albano (historic)

Partinico
Michelangelo Ingrassia (early 1920s)
Gaspare Ofria (1920s)
Girolamo Vitale (mid-1920s)
Lorenzo Speciale (mid-late 1920s?)
Giuseppe Bertolino (2000s) - Related by marriage to Vito Badalamenti of Cinisi

- There were 200 "assassinations" in Partinico between 1920 to 1926. It notes bosses in particular were targeted for their failure to live up to agreements with other mafiosi. Not sure if any of the above bosses were murdered but if there was mafia warfare it could explain why so many bosses in the 1920s.

Porto Nuova
Alessandro D'Ambrogio (present day)

Prizzi
Saverio Maranto (2000s)

Resutanna
Francesco DiTrapani (198?-1992) - Died. From Cinisi
Nicola DiTrapani (modern) - Married into Madonia clan but family from Cinisi

Rocca Monreale (?)
Vito Pedone (historic)

Santa Maria di Gesu
Santi Pullara (mid-2010s)

Ventimiglia
Antonio Brancato (19?? - 1923) - Came to America and returned, lived in Catania, then returned to Ventimiglia. Aligned with Casteldaccia. Fearing for his life, he moved to Termini Imerese.

Vicari
FNU Magi (historic)

Villagrazia
Salvatore Tusa (historic)
Mariano Marchese (2010s)

[Angelo Santino]

[Angelo Santino]

I went by the official information out there, but yes, I'm noticing an absence of areas that should have groups like Bisacquino and Alia. The source I went by was either wrong, families have disbanded or something else. I'm just trying to be as accurate as possible.

[Angelo Santino]

I made these, they're by no means complete.

-charts-

it missed cusimano (piana dei colli), licata (resuttana), siino (malaspina), giammona (uditore)
in 1838 a document talked about criminal sects based in several towns in the province of trapani, i think it was probably the mafia

Scagghiuni's knocked me down a peg or two in the past regarding the Sicilian side of things. Sir, can you look over the charts and let me know your thoughts? Am I getting anything wrong? Thanks.

Your input would be appreciated throughout this entire thread to be honest. Salut.

[B.]

Villabate
Consigliere under Giulio D'Agati was Andrea Cottone, identified by Allegra (Andrea Cottone is also ID'd as a man of honor in the Sangiorgi report)

Camporeale
Giovanni Sacco - You already have him listed but he seems to have been boss much earlier than the 1940s according to Allegra

[Angelo Santino]

-Article

I read it and while it provides insight, they weren't speaking of affiliation they were speaking of the difference between each men. At least from my reading. It would be like saying "Paul Castellano's Mafia can't be considered the same as John Gotti's mafia."

Again, going back to Cascio Ferro, I can only go where the evidence has taken me. I can't look at the evidence and conclude that CF was Gambino because he's friends with DiLeonardo (who went Lupo/D'Aquila) and invited him to a dinner. Imagine if there's an incarcerated NY boss and two more bosses arrive to prison, another NY boss and the Buffalo boss, does the first NY boss only send out an invite to the other New Yorker and shun Buffalo? Not unless there's a reason for it.

If evidence ever comes out that CF was a Gambino, I'll accept it and consider it a learning experience. But the SS followed him daily and my takeaway, it would be like if Gravano was a Gambino but was only around Genovese locations and members and helped whack Caponigro and chased off Baldy Dom and during all this surveillance the FBI only captured Gravano meeting Gotti when he and Chin had a sitdown in 1988.

Until I see otherwise, I got to stand by it. But I encourage alternative theories and that's what my labeling CF a Corleonese is, a theory, I don't have Morello documented as saying "CF is now employed at my farm."... Speaking of which, when I get back to the early SS records, I'll send you the excerpts so you see what I see. But also, you may see something I missed.

It's an amazing subject.

[B.]

-Article

I read it and while it provides insight, they weren't speaking of affiliation they were speaking of the difference between each men. At least from my reading. It would be like saying "Paul Castellano's Mafia can't be considered the same as John Gotti's mafia."

Again, going back to Cascio Ferro, I can only go where the evidence has taken me. I can't look at the evidence and conclude that CF was Gambino because he's friends with DiLeonardo (who went Lupo/D'Aquila) and invited him to a dinner. Imagine if there's an incarcerated NY boss and two more bosses arrive to prison, another NY boss and the Buffalo boss, does the first NY boss only send out an invite to the other New Yorker and shun Buffalo? Not unless there's a reason for it.

If evidence ever comes out that CF was a Gambino, I'll accept it and consider it a learning experience. But the SS followed him daily and my takeaway, it would be like if Gravano was a Gambino but was only around Genovese locations and members and helped whack Caponigro and chased off Baldy Dom and during all this surveillance the FBI only captured Gravano meeting Gotti when he and Chin had a sitdown in 1988.

Until I see otherwise, I got to stand by it. But I encourage alternative theories and that's what my labeling CF a Corleonese is, a theory, I don't have Morello documented as saying "CF is now employed at my farm."... Speaking of which, when I get back to the early SS records, I'll send you the excerpts so you see what I see. But also, you may see something I missed.

It's an amazing subject.

Haha, I'm not talking about Cascio Ferro's affiliation in New York.

You said on the phone you thought Bisacquino might have been a part of the Corleone cosca which is why it doesn't show up as its own family on these lists. The article is saying Cascio Ferro shouldn't be thought of as a part of a Corleonesi faction in Sicily and was more tied to Palermo and Agrigento.

What that says about Bisacquino's official designation as a family, I don't know, but that article seemed especially relevant to your questions about the relationship between Bisacquino and the Corleone cosca, though it doesn't exactly answer them.

I also linked the other Capra article because it makes anecdotal reference to Bisacquino having a boss as late as the 1970s.

The second article also talks about Bisacquino's population rapidly shrinking and young people having left in droves, so I'm thinking that may have caused the Bisacquino cosca to fade away or dissolve.

[Angelo Santino]

-Article

I read it and while it provides insight, they weren't speaking of affiliation they were speaking of the difference between each men. At least from my reading. It would be like saying "Paul Castellano's Mafia can't be considered the same as John Gotti's mafia."

Again, going back to Cascio Ferro, I can only go where the evidence has taken me. I can't look at the evidence and conclude that CF was Gambino because he's friends with DiLeonardo (who went Lupo/D'Aquila) and invited him to a dinner. Imagine if there's an incarcerated NY boss and two more bosses arrive to prison, another NY boss and the Buffalo boss, does the first NY boss only send out an invite to the other New Yorker and shun Buffalo? Not unless there's a reason for it.

If evidence ever comes out that CF was a Gambino, I'll accept it and consider it a learning experience. But the SS followed him daily and my takeaway, it would be like if Gravano was a Gambino but was only around Genovese locations and members and helped whack Caponigro and chased off Baldy Dom and during all this surveillance the FBI only captured Gravano meeting Gotti when he and Chin had a sitdown in 1988.

Until I see otherwise, I got to stand by it. But I encourage alternative theories and that's what my labeling CF a Corleonese is, a theory, I don't have Morello documented as saying "CF is now employed at my farm."... Speaking of which, when I get back to the early SS records, I'll send you the excerpts so you see what I see. But also, you may see something I missed.

It's an amazing subject.

Haha, I'm not talking about Cascio Ferro's affiliation in New York.

You said on the phone you thought Bisacquino might have been a part of the Corleone cosca which is why it doesn't show up as its own family on these lists. The article is saying Cascio Ferro shouldn't be thought of as a part of a Corleonesi faction in Sicily and was more tied to Palermo and Agrigento.

What that says about Bisacquino's official designation as a family, I don't know, but that article seemed especially relevant to your questions about the relationship between Bisacquino and the Corleone cosca, though it doesn't exactly answer them.

I also linked the other Capra article because it makes anecdotal reference to Bisacquino having a boss as late as the 1970s.

The second article also talks about Bisacquino's population rapidly shrinking and young people having left in droves, so I'm thinking that may have caused the Bisacquino cosca to fade away or dissolve.

We need to ask Rick on this, but I seem to remember something somewhere saying CF was the boss of Bisacquino. I could be wrong or the information could also be ambiguous and should be taken loosely. In the absence of that, it's possible he was with Palermo or an AG group. Can't be ruled out.

There was also a Gaspare Tedeschi who was boss of I want to say Bisacquino or somewhere in the interior and there was also someone by that name deported by Petrosino. Not sure if it's the same guy. Another Bisacquinese from that era was Giuseppe Boscarino. I looked up his file and he was in touch with a NY friend from Bagheria- Frank Ajello.

This now goes into a whole other can of worms which is the Bagheria fraction- Domenico Pecoraro, Ajello,both also seemed to be around Morello, Ajello was even described as a Morello cohort (but you know how that goes). Going on geography alone, Bagheria would have went Gambino. A Giovanni Zarcone who was apparently a ranking member was part the Gambinos from Bagheria who Lupo had killed. But Ajello and D. Pecoraro, quien sabe? If you asked me, my educated guess would be Morello but Rick believes Lupo. In the end, it's the same as today- we need an inside member to lay out affiliations.

But back to Bisacquino, so there's a likelihood that it dissolved as a group due to urban conditions. In which case, I wonder if the Mandamento lists for 1957 are available.

[B.]

I've taken for granted that Cascio Ferro was boss of Bisacquino and I suspect it's true, but you have to wade through all the nonsense him being the "boss of bosses" controlling both Sicily and the US, etc. You do have me wondering if a solid source ever identified him as the capomafia or rappresentante of Bisacquino. I didn't see any Allegra reference him but Allegra mainly talked about upper Palermo and Trapani.

Curious how many examples there are of Sicilian families disbanding... we know Tunis disbanded because of the Tunisian government and Allegra said the Castelvetrano family disbanded at one point, but we know they came back in a significant way. If Bisacquino disbanded, you'd think small comunes in that area like Roccamena wouldn't make it either, but they still had a boss in recent times.

Bagheria was closely aligned with Villabate and I'd put them all with Lupo in the absence of other info. What's weird is we see those important Bagheresi in early NYC, but after those early figures there is almost nobody from Bagheria in NYC. Meanwhile early Chicago and both Wisconsin families were made up heavily of men from the Bagheria area, plus some early San Jose and Kansas City figures were from there. Early Utica also had leaders and a colony from Bagheria, including Aiellos/Ajellos (they used both spellings), and Utica's ties seem to have been to the D'Aquila/Gambino family and the midwest. Bagheria is 100% part of that "leadership class" we talk about.

Bagheria was closely aligned with Corleone in the 1980s/90s, as Nino Giuffre said Bernardo Provenzano held court in Bagheria. The Corleonesi were dominating Palermo, though, so I don't think this was necessarily a sign of a deeper political affiliation. Could be more to it, though, as usual.

[Antiliar]

In the bio of Petrosino, Tedeschi was described as the head of the Mafia in Villafrati, Mezzojuso and Baucina. In the 1920s he was the mayor of Villafrati. He was also a friend of Cascio Ferro. He died in or around 1950.

In 1912, Guarino, Cascioferro's nephew, told Clement that Cascioferro, who lived in Bisaquino and managed an estate owned by a Tortorici, was the "head of the Mafia" in Sicily. We understand that to mean head of the Bisaquino borgata, but maybe he became a provincial boss. Tommaso Buscetta claimed that Cascioferro was never a "man of honor," but maybe he meant Cascioferro didn't act according to the Mafia code and didn't seem to him to be a man of honor.

As for Bagheria, Giovanni Zarcone was very likely with Lupo. (Tom Hunt makes a good case for this.) Aiello (Ajello) and Pecoraro, not certain about them. I don't think there was any requirement that Bagheresi had to join the Palermo-based borgata in New York.

[B.]

Is there any evidence Santa Flavia and/or Porticello had their own family?

The US members from those places were part of the larger Bagheresi contingent but given we're seeing nearby villages with a heavy concentration of mafiosi like Borgetto/Partinico and San Giuseppe Iato/San Cipirello having separate families right on top of each other, I'm wondering about Bagheria/Santa Flavia.

Many of the US mafiosi were specifically from Santa Flavia so it was a mafia hotbed.

[B.]

Here's some things regarding the background of the Zito family

Are these names familiar to you?

Among the most active exponents of the group of abigeatari of the area there
were the brothers Calogero and Pietro Zito of S. Giuseppe Jato, who
they enjoyed an excellent economic position consisting of an armaments industry and a large farm.
"They really could have been outside and above this evil association, were it not for the instinct to
overwhelm and an inordinate thirst for earnings had not pushed them to do badly and above all to join the association
criminal that we deal with and which soon became governing bodies, created within the Mafia, composed
almost all of them from broken elements to every crime, a clientele of individuals willing to do anything to please their masters.
With these methods they managed to dominate all of S.Giuseppe Jato. Of the Zito brothers, he only arrested Pietro, the other became untraceable.

Looks like this was circa 1930s. Hard to tell exact date ranges from some of these old reports but that appears to have been when the investigation took place.

What I find interesting is the statement that these Zitos were successful in their own right and investigators felt they could be "outside and above" the mafia, yet they were nonetheless prominent mafiosi. Again, consistent with what we see from the leadership class of the mafia -- these were not desperate peasants.

Abigeatari = cattle thieves. This was one of the main "rackets" controlled by the San Giuseppe Iato family, as evidenced by Vincenzo Troia's own involvement supervising abigeatari activity under the guise of pseudo-legitimacy ("helping" the animals).