by B. » Tue Jun 02, 2020 3:38 pm
JCB1977 wrote: ↑Wed May 27, 2020 6:22 pm
matteogalante38 wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2020 11:27 am
RE: Sam Lima and the Inspector Oldfield & Black Hand Society book, a few excerpts I'd like to dig a little more into...
In 1918, Sam Lima was paroled into the custody of his cousin, Antonio Lima, in Portland (OR)...Salvatore and his family remained in Portland for a decade until his very enterprising nephew, Anthony J. Lima, invited Sam to come to San Francisco. Anthony, who was only twenty-three at the time, was quickly rising up the ranks in the Lanza family, San Francisco’s main organized crime syndicate. Sam jumped at the chance to help his nephew infiltrate the longshoremen on Fisherman’s Warf, strong-arm protection money from various labor unions, and bribe the political establishment in the city.
In 1937, Anthony became the boss of the San Francisco Mafia following the death of founder Francesco Lanza. Nephew and uncle lived large and worked extremely hard building an empire, small by New York standards, but just as brutal and just as calculating. Anthony ran the crime family for approximately sixteen years with his uncle, Sam Lima, by his side. In 1953, when Anthony was tried and convicted of federal tax evasion, he owned car dealerships and several import operations. With his nephew in San Quentin, Sam Lima strengthened his grip on the unions and became a big-time donor to the corrupt San Francisco political machine...Sam Lima died on January 9, 1965. Eighty-seven cars snaked through San Francisco’s narrow streets in the funeral procession, one for every year of his life.
Questions about the bolded sentences:
- What was Sam Lima doing in Portland, OR from 1918 until (1928)? Any documentation on his time there?
- The authors claim that Tony Lima invited his uncle, Sam, to come to San Francisco. According to FBI files, it sounds like Tony Lima's uncle (Sam) and father (Frank) advised Tony to leave Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1929, following the murder of George Cupp, where Lima was a suspect. So, how was Tony Lima already in SF and "moving up the ranks" if he was still in PA? Am I missing something?
- In 1953, Tony Lima was convicted of grand theft (grape fraud; fixing weight scales). I'm not aware of the tax evasion. Did I miss something else here?
- Is there any evidence, anywhere, that Tony Lima (and/or Sam and/or any other Bay Area mob figure) "infiltrated the longshoremen on Fisherman’s Wharf" and "strong-armed protection money from various labor unions" (at least pre-70s) in the Bay Area? I'm having a tough time finding proof of this...
I just realized that Antonio Lima was a cousin of Sam Lima who invited him to Portland, OR and Tony Jr who you are referring to was not in Portland, he was in San Francisco and was Sam Lima's nephew with the same name as his cousin Antonio. Michael Angelo Lima had set up shop in Portland and was running things there. See this article below.
From the Schiro / Lanza thread. This info was supplied by former SF boss Anthony Lima when he cooperated with the FBI:
- Lima described a member named Giuseppe "Peppino" Lima who was a made into the Trabia family in Sicily and became an early San Jose member who died around 1933. Records show that Giuseppe Lima died in 1934. Before living in Santa Clara, CA he lived in Portland, Oregon for several years, so here is a rare example of an early mafia member in Oregon. The San Francisco/Pittsburgh Limas were from Trabia, but no relation is specified.
So it appears that multiple Limas were living in Portland and at least a couple of them were already made members of the Sicilian mafia (Anthony said Sam was made in Sicily, too). Since multiple mafiosi were living in Portland, the question is which family were they affiliated with? Protocol required them to report to a boss. I believe there were small mafia colonies of ~10 members (the required size in order to start a family/cosca according to Sicilian pentito Leonardo Messina), so this could suggest there was a small Portland family that died out.
Also, Tony Lima said that his uncle Sam was already the consigliere of the SF family when he (Tony) moved to SF and transferred his membership there. So Sam Lima was in SF before Tony.
[quote=JCB1977 post_id=153511 time=1590628934 user_id=116]
[quote=matteogalante38 post_id=152573 time=1590085625 user_id=6291]
RE: Sam Lima and the Inspector Oldfield & Black Hand Society book, a few excerpts I'd like to dig a little more into...
[quote]In 1918, Sam Lima was paroled into the custody of his cousin, Antonio Lima, in Portland (OR)...Salvatore and his family remained in Portland for a decade until his very enterprising nephew, [b]Anthony J. Lima, invited Sam to come to San Francisco[/b]. Anthony, who was only twenty-three at the time, was [b]quickly rising up the ranks in the Lanza family[/b], San Francisco’s main organized crime syndicate. [b]Sam jumped at the chance to help his nephew infiltrate the longshoremen on Fisherman’s Warf, strong-arm protection money from various labor unions, and bribe the political establishment in the city[/b].
In 1937, Anthony became the boss of the San Francisco Mafia following the death of founder Francesco Lanza. Nephew and uncle lived large and worked extremely hard building an empire, small by New York standards, but just as brutal and just as calculating. Anthony ran the crime family for approximately sixteen years with his uncle, Sam Lima, by his side. In 1953, when [b]Anthony was tried and convicted of federal tax evasion[/b], he owned car dealerships and several import operations. With his nephew in San Quentin, [b]Sam Lima strengthened his grip on the unions and became a big-time donor to the corrupt San Francisco political machine[/b]...Sam Lima died on January 9, 1965. [b]Eighty-seven cars snaked through San Francisco’s narrow streets in the funeral procession[/b], one for every year of his life.[/quote]
Questions about the bolded sentences:
[list]What was Sam Lima doing in Portland, OR from 1918 until (1928)? Any documentation on his time there?[/list]
[list]The authors claim that Tony Lima invited his uncle, Sam, to come to San Francisco. According to FBI files, it sounds like Tony Lima's uncle (Sam) and father (Frank) advised Tony to leave Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1929, following the murder of George Cupp, where Lima was a suspect. So, how was Tony Lima already in SF and "moving up the ranks" if he was still in PA? Am I missing something?[/list]
[list]In 1953, Tony Lima was convicted of grand theft (grape fraud; fixing weight scales). I'm not aware of the tax evasion. Did I miss something else here?[/list]
[list]Is there any evidence, anywhere, that Tony Lima (and/or Sam and/or any other Bay Area mob figure) "infiltrated the longshoremen on Fisherman’s Wharf" and "strong-armed protection money from various labor unions" (at least pre-70s) in the Bay Area? I'm having a tough time finding proof of this... [/list]
[/quote]
I just realized that Antonio Lima was a cousin of Sam Lima who invited him to Portland, OR and Tony Jr who you are referring to was not in Portland, he was in San Francisco and was Sam Lima's nephew with the same name as his cousin Antonio. Michael Angelo Lima had set up shop in Portland and was running things there. See this article below.
[/quote]
From the Schiro / Lanza thread. This info was supplied by former SF boss Anthony Lima when he cooperated with the FBI:
[i]- Lima described a member named Giuseppe "Peppino" Lima who was a made into the Trabia family in Sicily and became an early San Jose member who died around 1933. Records show that Giuseppe Lima died in 1934. [b]Before living in Santa Clara, CA he lived in Portland, Oregon for several years, so here is a rare example of an early mafia member in Oregon[/b]. The San Francisco/Pittsburgh Limas were from Trabia, but no relation is specified.[/i]
So it appears that multiple Limas were living in Portland and at least a couple of them were already made members of the Sicilian mafia (Anthony said Sam was made in Sicily, too). Since multiple mafiosi were living in Portland, the question is which family were they affiliated with? Protocol required them to report to a boss. I believe there were small mafia colonies of ~10 members (the required size in order to start a family/cosca according to Sicilian pentito Leonardo Messina), so this could suggest there was a small Portland family that died out.
Also, Tony Lima said that his uncle Sam was already the consigliere of the SF family when he (Tony) moved to SF and transferred his membership there. So Sam Lima was in SF before Tony.