by B. » Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:07 pm
Excellent -- thank you so much for the thorough reply. It slipped my mind that we had already discussed / found Rosario's apparent relation to the others.
Yep, Manny Guaragna's father Giovanni was from Cattolica Eraclea and born December 1895, like you said, while Manny Guaragna's mother was from the neighboring village Montallegro, where the Todaros of Buffalo were from. The Cattolicensi are so tight knit even today, it would be shocking if Giovanni Guaragna did not know his mafiosi paesani in the Bronx. If he was involved with Rosario Arcuri, that along with his son's future membership raises some questions about the elder Guaragna.
As I'm sure you remember, JD uncovered info that Vito Rizzuto and Calogero Renda were associated with Nick Alfano during their time in NYC. This isn't surprising given that their contemporary from Cattolica was Nick Buttafuoco who was later identified as an Alfano crew member. Buttafuoco was photographed warmly greeting Calogero Renda along with Nick Alfano decades later (the photos were posted here).
This is from that often-discussed January 1965 transcript between Magaddino and the two Bonanno representatives:
- First, I still suspect "Bill Loffa" (ph) is Nick Alfano. There is no smoking gun, but Paul Sciacca and Nick Alfano were part of a leadership committee who helped DiGregorio transition into power and this meeting between Magaddino, Sciacca, and "Loffa" (ph) was arranged so that the Bonanno representatives could receive counsel / advice on this process. Other FBI reports refer to Sciacca and Alfano being involved in that process. His age, scope of knowledge (NYC and Canada), and other circumstantial info also points me to Alfano. I know others disagree, but I've carefully analyzed this transcript many times over the years and keep coming back to this interpretation.
- While some names are horribly disfigured through phonetic interpretation, the name "Razzuto" seems fairly straightforward -- it is likely Rizzuto. But which Rizzuto?
^ There was Bonanno member Nino Rizzuto of Camporeale heritage and a relative of former boss Nicolo Schiro, but he doesn't appear to have been caught up in mafia politics at this time. Rizzuto's Camporealese paesano Frank LoBruzzo is brought up in the next sentence, but that is Magaddino's doing and doesn't come from "Loffa," and I don't know if there was a close relationship between LoBruzzo and Nino Rizzuto.
^ While "Loffa" refers to "Razzuto" alongside some of the main pro-Bonanno figures, this segment comes after a discussion about Montreal's role in Bonanno family politics. If nothing else it refers to members who haven't come on board with the new leadership. We know the Bill Bonanno group attended Vito Rizzuto's wedding in Canada the following year, so it seems the Rizzutos were friendly with the pro-Bonanno faction (as was most if not all of the Montreal decina) and the Bonanno faction made it a point to attend the Rizzuto wedding, so there could be more to this relationship.
^ The reference isn't to "Razzuto" himself, though. "Loffa" first says the "brother-in-law of Razzuto's brother", but is cut off, and finishes by again saying "Razzuto's brother." Given the stop-and-go nature of the conversation and Magaddino butting in, it's possible whatever "Loffa" was trying to say didn't come out correctly or was transcribed incorrectly. He could have been referring to Calogero Renda, but in this context it seems strange to reference Renda -- or Rizzuto for that matter -- alongside the top pro-Bonanno faction members, unless Renda was somehow important to the Canadian side of the Bonanno war.
^ If "Loffa" is Nick Alfano as I suspect, we at least know he was familiar with Rizzuto and Renda, which could lend itself to him bringing them up.The question would still be why he thought they were relevant in his answer to Magaddino's question. Even if Rizzuto and Renda were Bonanno sympathizers, they would seem to be odd company in this context -- unless we consider there was more to Bill Bonanno and company's attendance at the 1966 Rizzuto wedding, perhaps something of a political nature.
Excellent -- thank you so much for the thorough reply. It slipped my mind that we had already discussed / found Rosario's apparent relation to the others.
Yep, Manny Guaragna's father Giovanni was from Cattolica Eraclea and born December 1895, like you said, while Manny Guaragna's mother was from the neighboring village Montallegro, where the Todaros of Buffalo were from. The Cattolicensi are so tight knit even today, it would be shocking if Giovanni Guaragna did not know his mafiosi paesani in the Bronx. If he was involved with Rosario Arcuri, that along with his son's future membership raises some questions about the elder Guaragna.
As I'm sure you remember, JD uncovered info that Vito Rizzuto and Calogero Renda were associated with Nick Alfano during their time in NYC. This isn't surprising given that their contemporary from Cattolica was Nick Buttafuoco who was later identified as an Alfano crew member. Buttafuoco was photographed warmly greeting Calogero Renda along with Nick Alfano decades later (the photos were posted here).
This is from that often-discussed January 1965 transcript between Magaddino and the two Bonanno representatives:
[img]https://i.ibb.co/PQxNntg/rizzuto.png[/img]
- First, I still suspect "Bill Loffa" (ph) is Nick Alfano. There is no smoking gun, but Paul Sciacca and Nick Alfano were part of a leadership committee who helped DiGregorio transition into power and this meeting between Magaddino, Sciacca, and "Loffa" (ph) was arranged so that the Bonanno representatives could receive counsel / advice on this process. Other FBI reports refer to Sciacca and Alfano being involved in that process. His age, scope of knowledge (NYC and Canada), and other circumstantial info also points me to Alfano. I know others disagree, but I've carefully analyzed this transcript many times over the years and keep coming back to this interpretation.
- While some names are horribly disfigured through phonetic interpretation, the name "Razzuto" seems fairly straightforward -- it is likely Rizzuto. But which Rizzuto?
^ There was Bonanno member Nino Rizzuto of Camporeale heritage and a relative of former boss Nicolo Schiro, but he doesn't appear to have been caught up in mafia politics at this time. Rizzuto's Camporealese paesano Frank LoBruzzo is brought up in the next sentence, but that is Magaddino's doing and doesn't come from "Loffa," and I don't know if there was a close relationship between LoBruzzo and Nino Rizzuto.
^ While "Loffa" refers to "Razzuto" alongside some of the main pro-Bonanno figures, this segment comes after a discussion about Montreal's role in Bonanno family politics. If nothing else it refers to members who haven't come on board with the new leadership. We know the Bill Bonanno group attended Vito Rizzuto's wedding in Canada the following year, so it seems the Rizzutos were friendly with the pro-Bonanno faction (as was most if not all of the Montreal decina) and the Bonanno faction made it a point to attend the Rizzuto wedding, so there could be more to this relationship.
^ The reference isn't to "Razzuto" himself, though. "Loffa" first says the "brother-in-law of Razzuto's brother", but is cut off, and finishes by again saying "Razzuto's brother." Given the stop-and-go nature of the conversation and Magaddino butting in, it's possible whatever "Loffa" was trying to say didn't come out correctly or was transcribed incorrectly. He could have been referring to Calogero Renda, but in this context it seems strange to reference Renda -- or Rizzuto for that matter -- alongside the top pro-Bonanno faction members, unless Renda was somehow important to the Canadian side of the Bonanno war.
^ If "Loffa" is Nick Alfano as I suspect, we at least know he was familiar with Rizzuto and Renda, which could lend itself to him bringing them up.The question would still be why he thought they were relevant in his answer to Magaddino's question. Even if Rizzuto and Renda were Bonanno sympathizers, they would seem to be odd company in this context -- unless we consider there was more to Bill Bonanno and company's attendance at the 1966 Rizzuto wedding, perhaps something of a political nature.