Manhattan_ wrote: ↑Sun Sep 13, 2020 5:57 am
Still trying to find out the real name of “Chegusae” !
Many years ago on the Real Deal someone shared a transcript of Valachi's testimony where the transcriber interpreted the name phonetically as "Sheik" instead of the usual "Chee Gusae/Gusage". Maybe someone can find the same testimony transcript -- the person posted a screencap of it, if I remember right.
It led me to try and find info on Tony "the Sheik" Carillo's father, as we know sometimes younger relatives carry the same nickname. His father's name was Domenico but I couldn't confirm if he ever entered the US. I did find a Domenico Carillo whose daughter married a man with a surname written as "Gusatans", which caught my eye obviously haha but it wasn't Tony's father and just a coincidence.
"Sheik" could be as much of a phonetic misinterpretation as "Chee Gusae/Gusage", but that one transcriber heard it that way at least tells us that the first sound could be a "Sh-" not necessarily a 'Ch-" and that the second syllable or last name starts with a hard "G" or "K" sound opposed to a soft "G" (i.e. a "J" sound). It's also nice to have another lead that's not the usual "Francesco Gusae/Gusage" dead end.
Just for comparison, the FBI transcribed Stefano Magaddino's recorded reference to Vincenzo Asaro as "Vincenzo Uase". So Valachi's butchered memory of an Italian name could have been equally off-base (I mention this because "Uase" brings to mind "Gusae").
We shouldn't assume Valachi was necessarily correct on "Chee Gusae's" DOD, either. He says Buster Domingo was killed soon after Maranzano in 1931, but Domingo wasn't killed until 1933. Given that wasn't long before "Gusae" was the Genovese acting boss, Valachi could have made a similar mistake with the DOD of "Gusae".