by B. » Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:44 pm
Chris Christie wrote: ↑Thu Nov 21, 2019 6:12 am
I reckon it's possible for one boss to conduct things different from the others, especially in that period, however most of the Bonannos came from the same area and affiliation. Even Schiro of Roccamena got his contacts through Camporeale. Perhaps Cast and Campo. did the ceremony differently.
Bill Bonanno described a typical ceremony but added that half of the US bosses cleared their schedules to attend the event. I'm not going to repeat my sentiments on many of his claims.
One thing that I've noticed is that we keep encountering ruling panels/committees. Massino early 2000's, Rastelli 1980's, Bonanno 1960's. We go further back and coincidentally Bonanno boss Seb. Di Gaetano placed Gen member Clemente onto a committee of one to ascertain if a certain member was an informant, 1911.
Schiro and his tenure remain interesting. For starters, he selected in Feb of 1912 to replace Di Gaetano by their own members, which implies he had some clout in the early days. Now what's interesting is that he constantly traveled between the US and Italy, all the while his group was pumping out members who went onto other cities to become boss there. It's never been clearly established who Schiro's underboss was, some speculation fell on Vito Bonventre (right name?) and Benny Gallo but its never been confirmed. Someone or something had to have held things together while Schiro played statesman.
Bonanno narrated the story as Magaddino and others leaving BK and as a result, the power falling on Schiro who relied on Steve. It really seems like the situation would be the other way around. But who Schiro was in 1912 might be very different from who he was and power he commanded in 1930. He lasted awhile, had to have done something right.
Magaddino talked about being a capodecina under a boss who had a mustache and refers to a "Frank" as a fellow capodecina at the time. He could be referring to Schiro, who had a mustache, and from what I remember he (surprise, surprise) talks disparagingly about this boss. Frank might be Garafolo (can't remember if there is a phonetic last name, but I got the impression it could be him) or Italiano (or any number of others). Would make sense that Magaddino had been a captain under Schiro if he was a figure of influence. We also know that Magaddino's rise to boss in Buffalo came much quicker than previously thought, so he may have had rank beyond soldier in Brooklyn as this transcript suggested.
Not really relevant, but speaking of traveling to Italy -- Magaddino traveled to Sicily in the mid-1930s with Joseph and Charles DiBenedetto. Joseph being the same one that served in both the Bonanno and Buffalo families. It's too bad he doesn't make reference to this trip on any of the public transcripts, though it may have been the same trip described by Joe Bonanno in his book, where he says Magaddino traveled to Sicily and offended their elder uncle Stefano Magaddino by joking about his red face.
--
We know Commission members were constantly busy, but the thing is, even though the Commission came later, bosses and their representatives were still traveling frequently both in the US and Italy, like you mentioned with Schiro, and attending assembly meetings. Given travel/communication time was slower, it is reasonable to think that the pre-Commission bosses were every bit as busy in politics as the Commission bosses, if not moreso, even though they were subordinate to the boss of bosses.
The boss of bosses must have been unbelievably busy with matters other than this own family most of the time as well, since he would have had all the commitments of a Commission member and more, especially given the growing/changing national mafia scene in the US and its ties to Sicily. It looks like D'Aquila used Joe Traina as his representative in national meetings when he couldn't attend (or didn't want to), so could be an indication Traina helped run D'Aquila's family as well, but we can't assume anything. Traina's position may have been better suited for intrafamily political meetings, while someone else (i.e. D'Aquila's underboss) may have been better suited to run the internal operations of D'Aquila's family in his absence. D'Aquila's larger commitments and the need for substitutes in his absence could also connect to Mineo somehow, but it's anyone's guess.
One of the only real inside looks we have of the boss of bosses is from Valachi's view into Maranzano's short reign. Maranzano had an underboss (Caruso) and at one point Valachi urged Maranzano to send Caruso to the meeting with Luciano/Genovese in his place, as Valachi correctly feared for Maranzano's life. So Caruso was seen as a suitable representative of Maranzano, which isn't much of a surprise given that he was underboss, but if nothing else it's an indication that even for the boss of bosses the pecking order immediately went from boss of bosses to underboss with no separate "acting boss". I believe Caruso became the Bonanno acting boss for a short period after Maranzano's death until Joe Bonanno was elected official boss, but that was only in the absence of an official boss.
Would be interesting to know exactly how the boss of bosses delegated his leadership and how that played out within his own family. Maranzano's "palace guard" seemed to be more than simply a crew of Bonanno members who reported direct to him, as he pulled some of them from other families and after his death they went to different families, but was that more the result of the post-war arrangement or did the boss of bosses have the authority to command men who were part of other families? Remember that Tommy Lucchese felt that Valachi belonged to Gagliano's group and told Valachi it was a mistake when he chose to remain with Maranzano. Would be interesting if some of the references to D'Aquila's "spies" could be comparable to Maranzano's "palace guard".
[quote="Chris Christie" post_id=129782 time=1574341976 user_id=69]
I reckon it's possible for one boss to conduct things different from the others, especially in that period, however most of the Bonannos came from the same area and affiliation. Even Schiro of Roccamena got his contacts through Camporeale. Perhaps Cast and Campo. did the ceremony differently.
Bill Bonanno described a typical ceremony but added that half of the US bosses cleared their schedules to attend the event. I'm not going to repeat my sentiments on many of his claims.
One thing that I've noticed is that we keep encountering ruling panels/committees. Massino early 2000's, Rastelli 1980's, Bonanno 1960's. We go further back and coincidentally Bonanno boss Seb. Di Gaetano placed Gen member Clemente onto a committee of one to ascertain if a certain member was an informant, 1911.
Schiro and his tenure remain interesting. For starters, he selected in Feb of 1912 to replace Di Gaetano by their own members, which implies he had some clout in the early days. Now what's interesting is that he constantly traveled between the US and Italy, all the while his group was pumping out members who went onto other cities to become boss there. It's never been clearly established who Schiro's underboss was, some speculation fell on Vito Bonventre (right name?) and Benny Gallo but its never been confirmed. Someone or something had to have held things together while Schiro played statesman.
Bonanno narrated the story as Magaddino and others leaving BK and as a result, the power falling on Schiro who relied on Steve. It really seems like the situation would be the other way around. But who Schiro was in 1912 might be very different from who he was and power he commanded in 1930. He lasted awhile, had to have done something right.
[/quote]
Magaddino talked about being a capodecina under a boss who had a mustache and refers to a "Frank" as a fellow capodecina at the time. He could be referring to Schiro, who had a mustache, and from what I remember he (surprise, surprise) talks disparagingly about this boss. Frank might be Garafolo (can't remember if there is a phonetic last name, but I got the impression it could be him) or Italiano (or any number of others). Would make sense that Magaddino had been a captain under Schiro if he was a figure of influence. We also know that Magaddino's rise to boss in Buffalo came much quicker than previously thought, so he may have had rank beyond soldier in Brooklyn as this transcript suggested.
Not really relevant, but speaking of traveling to Italy -- Magaddino traveled to Sicily in the mid-1930s with Joseph and Charles DiBenedetto. Joseph being the same one that served in both the Bonanno and Buffalo families. It's too bad he doesn't make reference to this trip on any of the public transcripts, though it may have been the same trip described by Joe Bonanno in his book, where he says Magaddino traveled to Sicily and offended their elder uncle Stefano Magaddino by joking about his red face.
--
We know Commission members were constantly busy, but the thing is, even though the Commission came later, bosses and their representatives were still traveling frequently both in the US and Italy, like you mentioned with Schiro, and attending assembly meetings. Given travel/communication time was slower, it is reasonable to think that the pre-Commission bosses were every bit as busy in politics as the Commission bosses, if not moreso, even though they were subordinate to the boss of bosses.
The boss of bosses must have been unbelievably busy with matters other than this own family most of the time as well, since he would have had all the commitments of a Commission member and more, especially given the growing/changing national mafia scene in the US and its ties to Sicily. It looks like D'Aquila used Joe Traina as his representative in national meetings when he couldn't attend (or didn't want to), so could be an indication Traina helped run D'Aquila's family as well, but we can't assume anything. Traina's position may have been better suited for intrafamily political meetings, while someone else (i.e. D'Aquila's underboss) may have been better suited to run the internal operations of D'Aquila's family in his absence. D'Aquila's larger commitments and the need for substitutes in his absence could also connect to Mineo somehow, but it's anyone's guess.
One of the only real inside looks we have of the boss of bosses is from Valachi's view into Maranzano's short reign. Maranzano had an underboss (Caruso) and at one point Valachi urged Maranzano to send Caruso to the meeting with Luciano/Genovese in his place, as Valachi correctly feared for Maranzano's life. So Caruso was seen as a suitable representative of Maranzano, which isn't much of a surprise given that he was underboss, but if nothing else it's an indication that even for the boss of bosses the pecking order immediately went from boss of bosses to underboss with no separate "acting boss". I believe Caruso became the Bonanno acting boss for a short period after Maranzano's death until Joe Bonanno was elected official boss, but that was only in the absence of an official boss.
Would be interesting to know exactly how the boss of bosses delegated his leadership and how that played out within his own family. Maranzano's "palace guard" seemed to be more than simply a crew of Bonanno members who reported direct to him, as he pulled some of them from other families and after his death they went to different families, but was that more the result of the post-war arrangement or did the boss of bosses have the authority to command men who were part of other families? Remember that Tommy Lucchese felt that Valachi belonged to Gagliano's group and told Valachi it was a mistake when he chose to remain with Maranzano. Would be interesting if some of the references to D'Aquila's "spies" could be comparable to Maranzano's "palace guard".