THE BLACK HAND FORUM

38specialed wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 8:29 am What other members are you aware of involved between 1905 to 1940’s out of Mulberry, Redhook and Coney Island. You hear about the Black Hand and how there were gangs that connected to it, but I get confused as to how an individuals descendants transitioned from a black hand ancestry into modern day LCN. Can anyone explain it?

I highly suggest buying the May 2014 issue of Informer. It will answer A LOT of your questions.

https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2 ... =email&m=1

What other members are you aware of involved between 1905 to 1940’s out of Mulberry, Redhook and Coney Island. You hear about the Black Hand and how there were gangs that connected to it, but I get confused as to how an individuals descendants transitioned from a black hand ancestry into modern day LCN. Can anyone explain it?

Western NY had a lot of migration from the Eastern Palermo / Caltanissetta area. The DiCarlos' paternal line was originally from Valledolmo (like Chicago boss Antonino D'Andrea, who once lived in Buffalo) in Palermo but it is right on the border w/ Caltanissetta where the DiCarlos ended up. The Castelammaresi seem to have been a minority and I suspect the Family was formed by people from Eastern Palermo and Caltanissetta rather than CDG. As this thread may have hit on, there are also references that suggest Buffalo once had multiple Families so that's something to consider.

Silvio Tagliagambe lived in Williamsburg and was the uncle of Bonanno member Dr. Mario Tagliagambe, whose mother was Castellammarese. Silvio was also very close to the Castellammarese, particularly Paolo Palmeri who moved to Buffalo. I'm confident Silvio was a Bonanno member.

I wish Clemente had given info (or the SS had asked/reported it) about the Morello Family's status before Giueppe Morello came into power. Also the exact circumstances of his Chicago transfer as it's not clear he ever lived or stayed there and it raises the question of whether he transferred to Chicago while serving his Canadian prison term as he was a Chicago member when he got out.

Angelo LaGattuta, who was killed while walking along with Pollaccia, was probably a relative of Salvatore LaGattuta. All of the LaGattutas who migrated to the US via Ellis Island were from Mezzojuso, with only one from nearby Baucina and one from the mainland.

Masseria's brother Salvatore was married to Josephine Lagattuta, an interesting surname. Pietro Lagattuta was an accomplice of Masseria, Giuseppe and Salvatore Ruffino in a robbery in 1913. With a high degree of probability, almost all LaGattuta in New York are from Mezzojuso. Masseria could have been connected to the Morello family even then. Alleged members of the Schiro family also took part in the robbery; it is not uncommon for the mafia to involve representatives of other families in crimes, but Masseria's trapanian origins could have influenced the choice of accomplices. The Ruffinos lived in Brooklyn, a stronghold of the Schiro family. Interestingly, there is evidence that Ippolito Greco, the supposed boss of the Morello family (?) was from Castellammare del Golfo.

Given his Cerda roots, Michael Russo, who attended the Cleveland conference, could be a distant member of the Buffalo family. Magaddino mentions the split of the Buffalo family into two factions. And Rousseau was placed under the protection of the commission, isn’t this connected with this split?

Enea and Cascio Ferro performed the LСN initiation ceremonies together. If we know the Enea's LСN Family, we will know the same about Cascio Ferro.

The natives of Caltanisetta tended to settle close to their paesani. Rosario Bufalino is from Caltanisetta. Rosario Bufalino's brother lived in Buffalo, as did Rosario himself at one time. There are many natives of Caltanisetta in Buffalo. Possible Morello family member Tommaso Petto fled to a location near Pittston. Petto may have been a member of the early Pittston family.

It was previously mentioned that Enea may have come from Toretta. Torretta is closer to Carini in Western Palermo, so it is plausible to consider Enea a member of the Palermitani family. But it was to Enea’s house that his relative from Caltanisetta, Giuseppe DiCarlo, came.

I believe it was DiCarlo who contributed greatly to the Caltanissetian/Eastern Palermitani migration to Buffalo. Enea and DiCarlo lived together at 66 Oliver St., New York, on the Lower East Side. On Elizabeth Street on the Lower East Side lived Rosario Bufalino. Loiacano and Vincenzo Generoso also lived in Elizabeth Street, and Cecala kept a store there. Tommaso Petto was also in Elizabeth Street. The LoCascio brothers of the Lucchese family lived on Elizabeth Street. Thomas Pennacchio sold illegal alcohol on Elizabeth Street and was closely associated with Masseria, who lived nearby.

Cascio Ferro was close to the Sciacchitani, and Oliver Street was home to many possible mafiosi from Agrigento. Morello and Cascio Ferro always hung out together on Elizabeth Street. Masseria was able to connect with the East Palermo/Caltanisetta cluster by living together on the Lower East Side.

Interestingly, it is Masseria who is suspected of murdering two other influential figures from the area, Salvatore Mauro and Umberto Valenti. Mauro and Valenti were business partners, and Gentile claims that Valenti came to Sicily with Morello to convince the Palermo bosses to support Morello in the fight against D'Aquila. It is unclear then why Masseria, supposedly an ally of Morello, would kill Valenti. On Gangrule it is stated that D'Aquila reconciled with Valenti and gave him the task of killing Masseria, the source is Gentile's memoirs.

Another supposed D'Aquila captain, Accursio DiMino, was killed by D'Aquila's men. There is another version of who killed Salvatore Mauro, an informant from Good Killers said that the Schiro family did it. This doesn't really contradict the idea that Masseria did it because he could have been part of that family. Biondo and Dongarra were suspected of murdering Umberto Valenti, so it is not certain that he was killed on the orders of Masseria.

Also confusing are the connections between Masseria and the Trapani cluster. He himself is from Trapani, and the Schiro family is considered an ally of LoMonte-Mineo against D'Aquila. This tangle is impossible to unravel. Valenti's bodyguard was allegedly Schiro family member Silvio Tagliagambe. He was either from Agrigento or from Finale, which is located in the east of the province of Palermo. If Tagliagambe was from East Palermo, and was Umberti's bodyguard, this is suggestive, and B. reported that Tagliagambe's parents lived in Caltanisetta.

Members of all the Mafia families lived together on the Lower East Side, so all of the above may not mean anything. However, I wonder how often the Lower East Side comes up when talking about natives of Caltanisetta and East Palermo. It's also interesting how many connections there are between Chicago and the Morello family. My notes mention that Moretti was the messenger between the Chicago and Genovese families. Moretti was everywhere where the natives of East Palermo and Caltanissetta were, he was closely associated with the Buffalo family, was in Philadelphia, where there is a significant Enna faction, was appointed capodecina in New Jersey, where there was a whole crowd of natives of East Palermo and Caltanissetta. And now he's the liaison to Chicago, where a lot of the members are from East Palermo. Maybe it's a coincidence.

Even Morello himself, according to Magaddino's wiretaps, could have been added to the Buffalo family. This didn't happen, but it's interesting that it was planned. If Morello had joined Buffalo, where there were multiple Paesani from East Palermo, it would have been a logical step. Benedetto Madonia of Lercara Friddi also lived in Buffalo, as did many people associated with Morello. It seems that Salvatore Clemente had a lot of dealings with people from Buffalo, and was also in Toronto, Canada, not far from Buffalo. He also seems to have been a member of the Chicago family, which is also closely connected to this network.

A gang of counterfeiters, which included Corleone native Stella Frauto, operated in New York as early as the 1890s. If they were in the Mafia, it would be interesting to know what family they were in. Clemente was subsequently firmly in the Morello family, but was this family actually founded in 1899/1900 by Giuseppe Morello? Previously it was thought that this was mainly a Corleonesi family, but there is increasing evidence that natives of East Palermo and Caltanisetta/Enna formed a significant part. Perhaps the Agrigentines also entered. After all, the Lucchese family had an old crew from Brooklyn, in which there were many Agrigentos, and the Genovese family had Masseria, Vincenzo Generoso with his mysterious crew, and the Masseria-Morello allies were also connected with Agrigento.

A member of the Buffalo was Salvatore Lagattuta, I wonder if there is a connection with Angelo Lagattuta, who was assassinated along with Saverio Pollaccia and with Pietro Lagattuta, who was an accomplice of Masseria in the 1910s.

B. wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 10:56 pm

B. wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 5:29 pm Detroit source said until the late 1920s or early 1930s there were "three separate groups" in the area: the Giannolas (Cinisi), the Zerilli-Tocco-Corrados (Terrasini), and the Ruggirellos (Monte san Giuliano, Trapani). They were later consolidated under Zerilli's leadership.

While the framing is as if these were "gangs", it's really only a debate over whether these were factions of one Family or three separate Families as the "gang" POV is antiquated outsider nonsense. The Ruggirellos later represented Flint for the Detroit Family and as this thread discusses, there was a significant Trapanese group in Flint and Saginaw from Monte San Guliano / San Vito lo Capo who also intersected with Detroit but show evidence of being distinct. Tony Cusenza was the leader until his 1928 murder according to Pete Misuraca, whose relatives were members of this group.

Because Families were originally formed around compaesani identity, it would make sense that the "three separate groups" were divided between Cinisi, Terrasini, and Monte San Giuliano / San Vito. The source linked the Melis (San Cataldo) with the Zerilli group, so the small but powerful Caltanissetta element may have been part of the Terrasini group originally. Coincidentally there is a frazione of Terrasini called San Cataldo but the Melis and Polizzis are confirmed to be from Caltanissetta and were tied to their paesans near Pittston.

The Partinicesi aren't mentioned by this source and neither are important men from towns like Alcamo / Castellammare so there would be question whether they were part of the three groups outlined above or had their own Families. A very interesting Detroit informant later outlined the compaesani factions of the 1960s and was clear that Partinico was a powerful semi-autonomous faction within the Family and also described factions from various other hometowns, which to me indicates these factions always had a strong political distinction that may trace back to multiple Families in the area. It's mainly a question to me of when they were officially consolidated and how many there once were.

Correction... I guess these Giannolas were from Terrasini. Goes against the theory that these groups were separated at all based on hometown.

My impression is that at least with the Giannola group as opposed to the East Side-based Terrasinese group, this was more of a geographic distinction. As you note, the Giannolas were also from Terrasini, but they were based in Wyandotte/Ford City (annexed to Wyandotte in the ‘20s) in the Downriver region of Wayne county south of Detroit itself. LaMare was also from Wyandotte, and my guess is that if this had been its own Family in the past, it was more akin to the geographic distinction between the Chicago Heights/Chicago Families than a paesani-based distinction like early Philly. Downriver had a major concentration of heavy industry, and much like Chicago Heights it thus had its own local economy and immigrant communities that were not simply secondary settlements or bedroom communities of the city. So it would make sense if this area developed its own initial colony Family, distinct from the East Side Detroit group.

B. wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 5:29 pm Detroit source said until the late 1920s or early 1930s there were "three separate groups" in the area: the Giannolas (Cinisi), the Zerilli-Tocco-Corrados (Terrasini), and the Ruggirellos (Monte san Giuliano, Trapani). They were later consolidated under Zerilli's leadership.

While the framing is as if these were "gangs", it's really only a debate over whether these were factions of one Family or three separate Families as the "gang" POV is antiquated outsider nonsense. The Ruggirellos later represented Flint for the Detroit Family and as this thread discusses, there was a significant Trapanese group in Flint and Saginaw from Monte San Guliano / San Vito lo Capo who also intersected with Detroit but show evidence of being distinct. Tony Cusenza was the leader until his 1928 murder according to Pete Misuraca, whose relatives were members of this group.

Because Families were originally formed around compaesani identity, it would make sense that the "three separate groups" were divided between Cinisi, Terrasini, and Monte San Giuliano / San Vito. The source linked the Melis (San Cataldo) with the Zerilli group, so the small but powerful Caltanissetta element may have been part of the Terrasini group originally. Coincidentally there is a frazione of Terrasini called San Cataldo but the Melis and Polizzis are confirmed to be from Caltanissetta and were tied to their paesans near Pittston.

The Partinicesi aren't mentioned by this source and neither are important men from towns like Alcamo / Castellammare so there would be question whether they were part of the three groups outlined above or had their own Families. A very interesting Detroit informant later outlined the compaesani factions of the 1960s and was clear that Partinico was a powerful semi-autonomous faction within the Family and also described factions from various other hometowns, which to me indicates these factions always had a strong political distinction that may trace back to multiple Families in the area. It's mainly a question to me of when they were officially consolidated and how many there once were.

Correction... I guess these Giannolas were from Terrasini. Goes against the theory that these groups were separated at all based on hometown.

Detroit source said until the late 1920s or early 1930s there were "three separate groups" in the area: the Giannolas (Cinisi), the Zerilli-Tocco-Corrados (Terrasini), and the Ruggirellos (Monte san Giuliano, Trapani). They were later consolidated under Zerilli's leadership.

While the framing is as if these were "gangs", it's really only a debate over whether these were factions of one Family or three separate Families as the "gang" POV is antiquated outsider nonsense. The Ruggirellos later represented Flint for the Detroit Family and as this thread discusses, there was a significant Trapanese group in Flint and Saginaw from Monte San Guliano / San Vito lo Capo who also intersected with Detroit but show evidence of being distinct. Tony Cusenza was the leader until his 1928 murder according to Pete Misuraca, whose relatives were members of this group.

Because Families were originally formed around compaesani identity, it would make sense that the "three separate groups" were divided between Cinisi, Terrasini, and Monte San Giuliano / San Vito. The source linked the Melis (San Cataldo) with the Zerilli group, so the small but powerful Caltanissetta element may have been part of the Terrasini group originally. Coincidentally there is a frazione of Terrasini called San Cataldo but the Melis and Polizzis are confirmed to be from Caltanissetta and were tied to their paesans near Pittston.

The Partinicesi aren't mentioned by this source and neither are important men from towns like Alcamo / Castellammare so there would be question whether they were part of the three groups outlined above or had their own Families. A very interesting Detroit informant later outlined the compaesani factions of the 1960s and was clear that Partinico was a powerful semi-autonomous faction within the Family and also described factions from various other hometowns, which to me indicates these factions always had a strong political distinction that may trace back to multiple Families in the area. It's mainly a question to me of when they were officially consolidated and how many there once were.

Angelo Santino wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2023 2:15 pm

Antiliar wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 12:09 pm Lucky grew up in the East Village area on East 10th Street and East 14th Street where Saverio Virzi was the dominant power, and he was friends with Joe Biondo and Steve Armone. So he could have easily gone the Gambinos back when D'Aquila was in charge. But he ended up apparently forming his own crew there under Masseria.

I wonder/speculate if the Gambinos were harder to "get into" at the time. I base that on Palermo being a port city and hence membership from Palermo flowed into the Gambinos, 20 streams into one lake.

The genovese, may have been more open to those without a mafia pedigree- snobs VS the slobs, and as long as rules were followed, personal character (Lucianos involvement w hookers) might have been less of a factor with the newly formed Gens.

Not saying any of this in the definitive, just speculating.

Very possible. After all, Al Capone had a reputation as a pimp.

Antiliar wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 12:09 pm Lucky grew up in the East Village area on East 10th Street and East 14th Street where Saverio Virzi was the dominant power, and he was friends with Joe Biondo and Steve Armone. So he could have easily gone the Gambinos back when D'Aquila was in charge. But he ended up apparently forming his own crew there under Masseria.

I wonder/speculate if the Gambinos were harder to "get into" at the time. I base that on Palermo being a port city and hence membership from Palermo flowed into the Gambinos, 20 streams into one lake.

The genovese, may have been more open to those without a mafia pedigree- snobs VS the slobs, and as long as rules were followed, personal character (Lucianos involvement w hookers) might have been less of a factor with the newly formed Gens.

Not saying any of this in the definitive, just speculating.

Lercara Friddi is one of those cities are connected to both Corleone and Palermo in terms of mafia links. LF was even mentioned in the Sangiorgi report. Benedetto Madonia (from LF) was a member, we don't have any intel on his affiliation. But for some reason, it appeared he had an issue with Lupo and was looking for Morello to mediate, he came in and was killed. Could mean Madonia was a Lupo member and there was some internal friction (this was around the time Lupo became boss, maybe Madonia got "three-capo'd?" Or he was with Morello and involved in some unbeknownst dispute involving Lupo and Morello sided with his future brother in law over his own member? There's simply not enough info either way.

With Luciano, he was very close to Joe Biondo from an early age, I want to say they lived together at one point? Michael DiLeonardo has stories of older members who met Luciano, he was apparently on good terms with the Gambinos.

Something else to consider, Tony raised this point, is the importance of Sicilian transportation routes. For instance, Corleone and Bagheria might have been more easily accessible to each other than other towns in closer proximity. Both Corleone and Bagheria referred to mafia as Fratuzzi, and in America, Morello and Domenico Pecoraro (Bagheria) were in close proximity daily. And there was also a Giovanni Pecoraro from Piana dei Greci who was with Morello. It was rumored that they were cousins but it's never been confirmed. It leads me to suspect that D. Pecoraro was under Morello but I'm not married to it. There's alot to this we don't know and it'd be disingenuous to try and make things fit.

Ah, if Luciano's "origins" referred to his NYC origins I understand but I took it to mean heritage as Masseria's Menfi identity as a "Sciacchitano" via Gentile lends itself to Gambinos.

Lucky grew up in the East Village area on East 10th Street and East 14th Street where Saverio Virzi was the dominant power, and he was friends with Joe Biondo and Steve Armone. So he could have easily gone the Gambinos back when D'Aquila was in charge. But he ended up apparently forming his own crew there under Masseria.

What about Luciano's origins would have pointed him to the Gambinos? Lercara Friddi is part of the Palermo interior that fits the Morello and Genovese and there were other Genovese members from Lercara like the Dolces and Cacciatore.

The best organizational data we have on Cascio Ferro is Giuseppe Morello's letter where he says Cascio Ferro and Pasquale Enea (Palermo) were involved in member inductions together. I don't know what other evidence exists about Enea's associations but he was related to the DiCarlos of Buffalo. If we could find more evidence of his affiliation, it would directly inform Cascio Ferro's as well.

There are Cascio Ferro's Corleonese criminal associations and close relationship with Morello which could point that way, but his origins and other associations have to be considered too. When his house in Sicily was raided after the Petrosino member they found evidence of a relationship to a Riccobono in NYC and the letter from Vincenzo DiLeonardo -- the former was likely Gambino-affiliated and the latter definitely was. His welcome dinner included multiple Palermitani and in a photograph he took with Carlo Costantino (Bonanno) and Morello, there was also a guy from Sciacca named Maniscalco.

His father came from Siculiana and in addition to living in Bisacquino, Vito lived in Sambuca in Agrigento and the family had lived in Villafranca near Burgio in AG. There's his Palermo birth too like you said.

Without hard organizational intel, we have to look at his criminal and social connnections which show ties to both the Morellos and future Gambinos, plus his personal background which lends itself to the Gambinos. Wish we could say for sure.

B. wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2023 8:24 pm There were also mafia-connected Montalbanos in Ribera / Caltabellotta including a boss. One of the Gambino Family's LoCicero sons from Calamonaci married a Montalbano. The name does show up in different places like the early Chicago member Pietro Montalbano from Castelvetrano. There was an early Corleone Family member in Sicily named Saverio Montalbano so Clemente's associate might be Corleonese like him.

You don't see Corleone guys in the US associate that heavily with Agrigento that I can think of. You'd expect there to be more. In early Chicago you likely had members from both but I don't know what is available about specific relationships. Joe Masseria was seen as a Sciacchitano and was close to the Morello-Terranovas though Masseria seems to have been mostly a loner in his own Family as far as Agrigento or Trapani heritage go and his association with a faction of Corleonesi seems like a circumstantial one-off.

Re: LoCicero in Villabate, a possible NYC connection is Profaci captain Calogero LoCicero who came from Villabate in the 1920s and immediately started associating with what he termed mustaches.

Well, arguably, Masseria (and Luciano) became members during the stage where neighborhood recruitment was fully in place. Based off of origins alone, both Masseria and Luciano should have gone Gambino, in fact Masseria's relatives were members in CL under Lonardo who was an ally of D'Aquila. I consider both Luciano and Masseria products of the Lower East Side, which was an area were every group had members living and working, very different than Palermitan Red Hook or Corleonese E 106th up in Harlem.

It's the areas like Elizabeth or E11 up to E13th that I'm curious about, especially during the C-War. I have to wonder how much the members living in that area actually knew? It's not like Maranzano sent out a memo that they were going to start hitting Masseria loyalists. These diverse areas had members of different families who lived and worked next to each other for 20 years. Shame we didn't have wiretaps back then.

--
Not relevant but...

Clemente's "group" in 1898 included people from the interior (mountain men) around Corleone. Among this cluster was Cascio Ferro of Bisacquino, following Clemente's arrest, CF then is seen in Morello's orbit almost daily. But then CF is anything but normal- born in Bisacquino, father from Sciacca, grew up in Palermo. All I can say is that there were other Bisacquinese such as Giuseppe Boscarini who were with the Corleonese. I'm trying to find if anything more clues us to CF's NY's affiliation, regardless of where it points to. From what I see, still points Corleonese and that's not me trying to fit him in. But the "guilt by association" fallacy argument still resonates.

The letter, Salvatore Brancaccio is like Salvatore "Tony" Brancato. He was arrested with Taranto in 1896, served time, got out, became an informant and was still committing crimes, another informant told the SS that Brancato was the "Chief of the black hand" in 1903 or 4. He wasn't boss, the informant wasn't a member so Brancato could have been soldier or capodecina.

As we know, Taranto was Messinese as well Giovanni Bettini, Bettini goes back to the Flaccomio murder, he "knew" the suspects and one person listed him as a suspect himself in the murder. He was also connected to Gaetano Russo, one of the first Mafiosi in New York.

Another connection is that one law enforcement officer stated that both Flaccomio and the Faracis were mafia members, when he and Carmelo Faraci had a problem in 1884, they went to visit a Valerio Lanzerotti to mediate. Lanzerotti was the secretary of the Garibaldi Republican Wide Awake Club, the President was Chares G. LaFata and the VP was Michele Chiaramonti, who was a "brigand" in Palermo and part of a "counterfeiting gang" in New York.