by PolackTony » Thu Aug 05, 2021 2:07 pm
Almost all of the structural/organizational info that I’ve seen on the ‘Ndrangheta pertains to Reggio province (and some for Crotone as well). I’ve seen very little info regarding the clans in Central/Northern Calabaria (Catanzaro, Vibo Valentia, Cosenza), past or present. Given that the ‘Ndrangheta clans have a lot of independence and are largely free to operate locally as they wish, I wonder how much of the info on baptisms, ranks, protocol etc applies to these other regions or if this is all mostly specific to Reggio and the clans elsewhere are set up very differently.
To give some context to my interest, there were a bunch of guys in the Chicago Outfit over the decades from these areas (Simbario, Vibo Valentia and Lamezia Terme, Catanzaro as well as all over Cosenza province) and some of them seem to have kept ties to criminal organizations or family in Calabria even up until the 80s (Rocky Infelise and the Frattos to the area around Taverna, Catanzaro, specifically). In the 1930s Chicago Heights capo Dom Ruberto was deported back to Italy, where he seems to have remained as a Chicago liaison (possibly involved in decades thereafter in narcotics trafficking to Chicago). He was from Sambiase in the Lamezia Terme area (as was his nephew Frank LaPorte) and there was a photo published of Ruberto and Jim Emery (also Calabrese from Cosenza province) posing with “amici” in Calabria, all looking like serious gangsters (I believe in the 1930s).
I believe that these other regions of Calabria had their own phenomenon of the old “Piccioteria” that emerged locally in parallel to the better documented Piccioterie of Reggio, which developed into the modern ‘Ndrangheta there. These organizations were probably influenced by the old prison “Camorra” groups that spread out into Southern Italy in the late 19th century. Certainly by the turn of the 20th century there was an organized clan in the Lamezia Terme/Nicastro/Sambiase area, as the organization was busted by the police. Interestingly, the boss of this organization at that time was reported to be an Antonio Ruberto.
I have no idea to what degree these local Piccioteria traditions persisted over the 20th century or to what degree they came to influence local clans in the modern era.
Almost all of the structural/organizational info that I’ve seen on the ‘Ndrangheta pertains to Reggio province (and some for Crotone as well). I’ve seen very little info regarding the clans in Central/Northern Calabaria (Catanzaro, Vibo Valentia, Cosenza), past or present. Given that the ‘Ndrangheta clans have a lot of independence and are largely free to operate locally as they wish, I wonder how much of the info on baptisms, ranks, protocol etc applies to these other regions or if this is all mostly specific to Reggio and the clans elsewhere are set up very differently.
To give some context to my interest, there were a bunch of guys in the Chicago Outfit over the decades from these areas (Simbario, Vibo Valentia and Lamezia Terme, Catanzaro as well as all over Cosenza province) and some of them seem to have kept ties to criminal organizations or family in Calabria even up until the 80s (Rocky Infelise and the Frattos to the area around Taverna, Catanzaro, specifically). In the 1930s Chicago Heights capo Dom Ruberto was deported back to Italy, where he seems to have remained as a Chicago liaison (possibly involved in decades thereafter in narcotics trafficking to Chicago). He was from Sambiase in the Lamezia Terme area (as was his nephew Frank LaPorte) and there was a photo published of Ruberto and Jim Emery (also Calabrese from Cosenza province) posing with “amici” in Calabria, all looking like serious gangsters (I believe in the 1930s).
I believe that these other regions of Calabria had their own phenomenon of the old “Piccioteria” that emerged locally in parallel to the better documented Piccioterie of Reggio, which developed into the modern ‘Ndrangheta there. These organizations were probably influenced by the old prison “Camorra” groups that spread out into Southern Italy in the late 19th century. Certainly by the turn of the 20th century there was an organized clan in the Lamezia Terme/Nicastro/Sambiase area, as the organization was busted by the police. Interestingly, the boss of this organization at that time was reported to be an Antonio Ruberto.
I have no idea to what degree these local Piccioteria traditions persisted over the 20th century or to what degree they came to influence local clans in the modern era.