by PolackTony » Tue Mar 08, 2022 4:30 pm
B. wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 8:46 pm
On an old list I made a few years ago I had a Giuseppe Morici coming from Castelbuono, then Agostino, Antonio, and Filippo Morici being from Bagheria. Alberto Speciale (murdered 1925) arrived to future Milwaukee underboss Joe Gumino when he came to the US and was close to the Bagheria Morici brothers -- Speciale and Gumino were from Bagheria too. Not sure where I got Giuseppe's name but it was just a quick list of early Chicago mafia figures and I didn't do much verification of who was who.
No idea about Luigi but the name shows up all along the eastern Palermo coast.
Yes, there were a bunch of Moricis in Chicago from across Eastern Palermo province. Tom Hunt had Joe Morici as "a native of the Castelbuno-Termini area", which of course encompasses a number of comuni. My feeling after looking into the Moricis was that the Giuseppe Morici who was probably rappresentante ~1900 was the Giuseppe Morici born ~1855 in Termini, who was a "wholesale fruit merchant" (high suspicion job description there) at the time of his death in Chicago in 1925. I believe that this Giuseppe Morici may have arrived in the US at NOLA in 1883. Per his 1925 death record, his father was Joseph Morici and mother Antonina "Ceresi". In an account that I found on the internet written by a Morici descendant in Chicago, Michael Morici, these were Giuseppe Morici and Antonina Geraci. They had three sons -- Joseph, Frank, and Salvatore (Michael's grandfather), who came to Chicago.
It should be noted that at the time of the Salvatore DiGiovanni murder, Joe Morici was stated to have had a brother named Frank who was a saloon-keeper. In the 1900 census, there is a Joseph Morici (occupation "commission man", i.e., wholesaler) living on N Union in the eastern end of what was developing into the Grand Ave Patch, right by the corner of Grand and Milwaukee Ave where the Morici brothers were said to have operated and DiGiovanni was murdered. Living with Joseph was his younger brother, Frank Morici, occupation saloon-keeper, and their elderly parents "Joseph" and "Minnie". The son Joseph was listed as having arrived in the US in 1894, and his wife was listed as "Helen"; Giuseppe Morici's wife was Ignazia Mercurio (almost certainly from Termini herself as there were other Mercurios from there in Chicago. When she died in 1927 her obit stated that her husband Joseph was already deceased). In an 1897 birth record for a daughter who died in childhood, Salvatore Morici (died 1910 in Chicago) and his wife Antonina Demma (both from Termini; Antonina's mother was a Battaglia) were listed as living on the same block of N Union. Their daughter Josephine Morici subsequently married Vincenzo "Jimmy" Vinci, of the notorious Calabres' Vinci brothers operating in the Southside/Chinatown during the wars of the 1920s. Frank Morici I believe was the Francesco Morici who married Giuseppa Schillaci (there were Schillacis in Chicago from Termini) in 1902 and then died in 1906 (not sure if natural or homicide, not mentioned in the papers so far as I know). Father Giuseppe Morici I believe died in 1902.
In 1910 Giuseppe and Ignazio Morici were living a couple of blocks away at Halsted and Ohio (in the immediate vicinity of where several decades later Nick DeJohn was based), with Giuseppe's mother Antonina (father Giuseppe and brother Frank having died by then). Their children were also grown and out of the home. In 1900, their daughter Minnie Morici was about 16; she subsequently married Joseph Minardi, and under the name "Minnie Minardo" was the informant for Giuseppe Morici's 1925 death record (listing his wife as Ignazia Morici and his birthplace as Termini).
In the 1910 census, Giuseppe Morici gave his occupation as "liquor-store", and in 1911 the Tribune reported that a huge explosion from a bombing leveled several buildings at Grand Ave and Green St, one of which housed the business of Joseph Morici, liquor wholesaler. The Tribune reported that the bomb was placed in the doorway of Morici's store, as a warning to others to pay up to "the Camorra". In a subsequent article, however, the Tribune reported that Morici and partner Pietro "Misuraci" had been arrested for arson on suspicion that they had committed the bombing themselves. The article describes Morici as "one of the wealthy Italians of the northwest side" and states that he was the same Morici previously acquitted of murder (the DiGiovanni thing). "Misuraci" they stated had previously collected insurance for a fire at his Chicago business, then relocated to downstate Danville, IL, where he operated a fruit business with brothers named "Mascari", which was also bombed. "Misuraci" here would correspond to a Pietro Misuraca, who was born about 1871 and died in Chicago in 1918. In 1910 he was living as a lodger in a boarding house at Grand and Ohio (dead in the middle of Morici territory) and gave his occupation as "liquor merchant". No info on where he was born that I found, but given the surname, Terrasini/Cinisi could be a possibility (though there were also Misuracas in Chicago from Camporeale [some of whom later moved to Rockford] and Vicari as well). A possible clue, however, comes from a 1913 Tribune article discussing the murder of Gaspare Portuese on N Milton in Little Sicily. Apparently, "Casper" and his brother Antonio were hired by their brother-in-law Vincenzo Misuraca (married to their sister) to torch his building in Danville, but Gaspare allegedly told the authorities about it afterward and fled to Chicago where he was killed. In 1930, a Vincenzo Misuraca (born about 1869 in Castellammare), returned to Racine, WI after a trip to Sicily, and listed a Portuese as his relative back in Castellammare.
From the 1911 Trib article regarding the Morici/Misuraca bombing affair:
In a 1908 Tribune article regarding the "Black Hand" murder of Joseph Concello, the police raided the home of a "George Morici", stated to be a partner of Giovanni "Scardini" (there were Scardenos in Chicago from both Trabia, Bagheria, and Trapani province). I haven't been able to identify any records for a George or Giorgio Morici that might match this person, but there was a Girolamo Morici (who seems to have possibly gone by both "James" and "George"), born ~1882 in Campofelice di Roccella (where a number of Outfit figures trace their ancestry) and who died in 1933 in Chicago. His wife Giuseppa was a DiBella (sometimes given as Di Bella, other times as Lo Bello) from Trabia, it seems.
Another 1908 article identified Scardina's partner as a "Phillip Morici", alleged "Black Hand" leader. Unclear whether they had conflated "George" and Phillip" Morici, or if these were separate guys both affiliated with Scardina, but Filippo Morici matches the brother of Agostino and Antonino Morici. As B. noted, these Moricis were from Bagheria. Antonino and Agostino were major businessmen who operated grocery wholesaling and pasta manufacturing interests. In 1917, the Morici Bros Co purchased valuable land in the Near Westside industrial/commercial area from John Shedd (as in the Shedd Aquarium), head of Marshall Field & Co (Shedd was like a Rockefeller-tier magnate in Chicago) Then, in 1919, the Morici brothers were embroiled in a series of violent incidents involving the Gagliardo brothers (John and Michael, who ran a grocery wholesale business on W Randolph) and Pietro Montalbano (the Gagliardo's brother-in-law). All of these individuals were stated to have been "friends" and business partners, but then according to the Tribune, Montalbano and his buddy Joe Novello (aka, Sam Criminello, a highly appropriate name), began extorting the Gagliardos and Moricis, and the Gagliardos pressed charges, sending Novello/Criminello to prison. In September 1919, a car of gunmen opened fire on Agostino Morici and his wife's brother, Tony Culicchia, in the Westside West Garfield Park neighborhood where Morici lived. Several days after, John Gagliardo and Charles "Ramondy" (Raimondi, stated to have been one of the Gagliardos' salesmen, but listed on his 1919 death record as a "chauffeur", so likely Gagliardo's driver/bodyguard) were gunned down at the store of Peter Raineria on N Milton in Little Sicily. On his WW1 draft registration, John Gagliardo had stated that he was born in Bagheria and was employed by the A. Morici Co (and his 1919 death record stated that his mother's maiden name was Scardena). The Trib noted at this time that both Morici and Gagliardo had previously collected insurance when their businesses were bombed (shockingly). In 1911, the Tribune reported that a Joseph Gagliardo (secretary of local 233 of the Hod Carrier's Union) and his brother Frank were "members of the mafia" and leaders of "the Black Hand", suspected in the murder of Domenic Vaco (a delegate of the union local). In 1915, Joe Gagliardo was named business agent of the Hod Carriers when a bunch of union officials were indicted for conspiracy (going to show how far back mafia infiltration of labor unions went in Chicago). In 1929, a Giuseppe Gagliardo was arrested along with Andrea Aiello and Jack Costa, in what the Tribune called the Loop HQ of the "Northside gang" run by Bugs Moran and Joe Aiello (given the national alliances at play in this period, unsurprising that CPD reported that they found photos of Detroit gangsters at this office as well). The 1912 naturalization of a Giuseppe Gagliardo (born 1883), residing in Little Sicily, was witnessed by a Vincenzo Aiello and an Agostino Morici.
Amazingly, Antonino and Agostino managed to survive 7 more years of mafia warfare in Chicago (really, no small feat), before they were gunned down in January 1926 at Ogden and Lincoln in Lincoln Park (near Armitage and Lincoln; the section of Ogden Ave north of North Ave was removed in 1967). At the time of the Morici hit, the Trib noted that they had bailed out Novello/Criminello after he was jailed during the Montalbano/Gagliardo events (maybe this was part of their peace negotiation that kept them alive at that time). Per CPD and the Tribune, the Moricis were hit for refusing to contribute to the Scalise/Anselmi "Genna gang" defense fund (ostensibly the same reason that Harry Spingola had been clipped before them). CPD stated that they were searching for Montalbano and Novello as linked to the murder, but were unable to locate them.
Then there was also the "Joseph Morici, alias Ferrara" who was killed with Tony Lombardo in September 1928. His 1928 death record has him as Guiseppe Ferraro Morici, born 1895 to "Sedora" (Salvatore?) Morici and Teresa Ferraro in Italy and residing in Cicero at the time of his death. Haven't been able to confirm his place of origin. But on the Chicago Origins thread, Anti and I posted some info that supports Trapani province, as a Giuseppe Sanacaore, likely from Castelvetrano (died in Chicago in 1922), was stated to be his uncle by family according to the Tribune. Further, the informant for Giuseppe Sanacore's death record was an "A Montalbano", suggesting a possible link to Pietro Montalbano.
To tie this back into my above discussion centering on strife in the Taylor St Patch. A provisional theory that I'm working with is that by the late 1910s, there were (at least) two rival factions in the Chicago mafia, one centered on the old stronghold of the Little Sicily and Grand Ave neighborhoods (and dominated largely by men from Palermo province, Bagheria, Termini, etc), and a faction that had emerged south of those neighborhoods in the fast-growing Taylor St Patch. I believe that the Taylor St faction had a large component of Trapanese (the Gennas and their associates, Montalbano, Giuseppe Accardi, possibly the Gambinos) but had also strategically allied themselves with the mainlander groups via mafia member and Taylor St bigshot "Joe Diamante". Presuming that Esposito had major pull among the mainlanders, the Taylor St faction would have had a veritable army at their disposal. Given what we see with the violence surrounding the struggle for Alderman of the "Bloody 19th" Ward, it seems to me quite possible that the Genna/Taylor group backed rappresentante D'Andrea for the seat, while an opposition group composed of men from Termini seemed to have been backing longtime incumbent Johnny Powers. When D'Andrea is clipped, Mike Merlo takes the reigns and is able to smooth over some of these conflicts. But then when he dies of cancer, and Lombardo takes over, all hell breaks loose, and years of intense fighting resume. It is my belief now that what became the Capone faction evolved from the Genna/Esposito faction, and of course, the Aiello faction evolved from the group dominated by Bagheresi and Termitani. Not that compaesani networks completely defined or structured these factions (for example, I suspect that Montalbano's apparent henchman Novello/Criminello was probably from Altavilla Milicia), but they may have fed into a geographic/factional split that led to distinct blocs forming within the mafia, vying for control over not just racket operations and territories but also control of political offices and probably the Unione Siciliana (as a key instrument of political influence and patronage). This theory can provide a particular reading for what may have occurred with the Montalbano vs. Morici/Gagliardo conflict. While the Moricis had become major businessmen and thus possibly opened themselves up to extortion by their fellow mafiosi, they and the Gagliardos were Bagheresi who had previously operated businesses on the Near North/NW (Chicago Ave) but then were expanding their base of operations farther down into the Westside (Randolph, Washington), bordering the Taylor St Patch. By 1919, conflict had already erupted around Taylor St, linked by the Tribune and other sources to the D'Andrea/Powers split over political control of the 19th Ward. Montalbano was, of course, part of the Genna/Trapanese-led group.
[quote=B. post_id=222750 time=1646711215 user_id=127]
On an old list I made a few years ago I had a Giuseppe Morici coming from Castelbuono, then Agostino, Antonio, and Filippo Morici being from Bagheria. Alberto Speciale (murdered 1925) arrived to future Milwaukee underboss Joe Gumino when he came to the US and was close to the Bagheria Morici brothers -- Speciale and Gumino were from Bagheria too. Not sure where I got Giuseppe's name but it was just a quick list of early Chicago mafia figures and I didn't do much verification of who was who.
No idea about Luigi but the name shows up all along the eastern Palermo coast.
[/quote]
Yes, there were a bunch of Moricis in Chicago from across Eastern Palermo province. Tom Hunt had Joe Morici as "a native of the Castelbuno-Termini area", which of course encompasses a number of comuni. My feeling after looking into the Moricis was that the Giuseppe Morici who was probably rappresentante ~1900 was the Giuseppe Morici born ~1855 in Termini, who was a "wholesale fruit merchant" (high suspicion job description there) at the time of his death in Chicago in 1925. I believe that this Giuseppe Morici may have arrived in the US at NOLA in 1883. Per his 1925 death record, his father was Joseph Morici and mother Antonina "Ceresi". In an account that I found on the internet written by a Morici descendant in Chicago, Michael Morici, these were Giuseppe Morici and Antonina Geraci. They had three sons -- Joseph, Frank, and Salvatore (Michael's grandfather), who came to Chicago.
It should be noted that at the time of the Salvatore DiGiovanni murder, Joe Morici was stated to have had a brother named Frank who was a saloon-keeper. In the 1900 census, there is a Joseph Morici (occupation "commission man", i.e., wholesaler) living on N Union in the eastern end of what was developing into the Grand Ave Patch, right by the corner of Grand and Milwaukee Ave where the Morici brothers were said to have operated and DiGiovanni was murdered. Living with Joseph was his younger brother, Frank Morici, occupation saloon-keeper, and their elderly parents "Joseph" and "Minnie". The son Joseph was listed as having arrived in the US in 1894, and his wife was listed as "Helen"; Giuseppe Morici's wife was Ignazia Mercurio (almost certainly from Termini herself as there were other Mercurios from there in Chicago. When she died in 1927 her obit stated that her husband Joseph was already deceased). In an 1897 birth record for a daughter who died in childhood, Salvatore Morici (died 1910 in Chicago) and his wife Antonina Demma (both from Termini; Antonina's mother was a Battaglia) were listed as living on the same block of N Union. Their daughter Josephine Morici subsequently married Vincenzo "Jimmy" Vinci, of the notorious Calabres' Vinci brothers operating in the Southside/Chinatown during the wars of the 1920s. Frank Morici I believe was the Francesco Morici who married Giuseppa Schillaci (there were Schillacis in Chicago from Termini) in 1902 and then died in 1906 (not sure if natural or homicide, not mentioned in the papers so far as I know). Father Giuseppe Morici I believe died in 1902.
In 1910 Giuseppe and Ignazio Morici were living a couple of blocks away at Halsted and Ohio (in the immediate vicinity of where several decades later Nick DeJohn was based), with Giuseppe's mother Antonina (father Giuseppe and brother Frank having died by then). Their children were also grown and out of the home. In 1900, their daughter Minnie Morici was about 16; she subsequently married Joseph Minardi, and under the name "Minnie Minardo" was the informant for Giuseppe Morici's 1925 death record (listing his wife as Ignazia Morici and his birthplace as Termini).
In the 1910 census, Giuseppe Morici gave his occupation as "liquor-store", and in 1911 the Tribune reported that a huge explosion from a bombing leveled several buildings at Grand Ave and Green St, one of which housed the business of Joseph Morici, liquor wholesaler. The Tribune reported that the bomb was placed in the doorway of Morici's store, as a warning to others to pay up to "the Camorra". In a subsequent article, however, the Tribune reported that Morici and partner Pietro "Misuraci" had been arrested for arson on suspicion that they had committed the bombing themselves. The article describes Morici as "one of the wealthy Italians of the northwest side" and states that he was the same Morici previously acquitted of murder (the DiGiovanni thing). "Misuraci" they stated had previously collected insurance for a fire at his Chicago business, then relocated to downstate Danville, IL, where he operated a fruit business with brothers named "Mascari", which was also bombed. "Misuraci" here would correspond to a Pietro Misuraca, who was born about 1871 and died in Chicago in 1918. In 1910 he was living as a lodger in a boarding house at Grand and Ohio (dead in the middle of Morici territory) and gave his occupation as "liquor merchant". No info on where he was born that I found, but given the surname, Terrasini/Cinisi could be a possibility (though there were also Misuracas in Chicago from Camporeale [some of whom later moved to Rockford] and Vicari as well). A possible clue, however, comes from a 1913 Tribune article discussing the murder of Gaspare Portuese on N Milton in Little Sicily. Apparently, "Casper" and his brother Antonio were hired by their brother-in-law Vincenzo Misuraca (married to their sister) to torch his building in Danville, but Gaspare allegedly told the authorities about it afterward and fled to Chicago where he was killed. In 1930, a Vincenzo Misuraca (born about 1869 in Castellammare), returned to Racine, WI after a trip to Sicily, and listed a Portuese as his relative back in Castellammare.
From the 1911 Trib article regarding the Morici/Misuraca bombing affair:
[img]http://theblackhand.club/forum/ext/dmzx/imageupload/files/ddc25a6ae1169d00d8e05d9d98bb6df5.jpg[/img]
In a 1908 Tribune article regarding the "Black Hand" murder of Joseph Concello, the police raided the home of a "George Morici", stated to be a partner of Giovanni "Scardini" (there were Scardenos in Chicago from both Trabia, Bagheria, and Trapani province). I haven't been able to identify any records for a George or Giorgio Morici that might match this person, but there was a Girolamo Morici (who seems to have possibly gone by both "James" and "George"), born ~1882 in Campofelice di Roccella (where a number of Outfit figures trace their ancestry) and who died in 1933 in Chicago. His wife Giuseppa was a DiBella (sometimes given as Di Bella, other times as Lo Bello) from Trabia, it seems.
Another 1908 article identified Scardina's partner as a "Phillip Morici", alleged "Black Hand" leader. Unclear whether they had conflated "George" and Phillip" Morici, or if these were separate guys both affiliated with Scardina, but Filippo Morici matches the brother of Agostino and Antonino Morici. As B. noted, these Moricis were from Bagheria. Antonino and Agostino were major businessmen who operated grocery wholesaling and pasta manufacturing interests. In 1917, the Morici Bros Co purchased valuable land in the Near Westside industrial/commercial area from John Shedd (as in the Shedd Aquarium), head of Marshall Field & Co (Shedd was like a Rockefeller-tier magnate in Chicago) Then, in 1919, the Morici brothers were embroiled in a series of violent incidents involving the Gagliardo brothers (John and Michael, who ran a grocery wholesale business on W Randolph) and Pietro Montalbano (the Gagliardo's brother-in-law). All of these individuals were stated to have been "friends" and business partners, but then according to the Tribune, Montalbano and his buddy Joe Novello (aka, Sam Criminello, a highly appropriate name), began extorting the Gagliardos and Moricis, and the Gagliardos pressed charges, sending Novello/Criminello to prison. In September 1919, a car of gunmen opened fire on Agostino Morici and his wife's brother, Tony Culicchia, in the Westside West Garfield Park neighborhood where Morici lived. Several days after, John Gagliardo and Charles "Ramondy" (Raimondi, stated to have been one of the Gagliardos' salesmen, but listed on his 1919 death record as a "chauffeur", so likely Gagliardo's driver/bodyguard) were gunned down at the store of Peter Raineria on N Milton in Little Sicily. On his WW1 draft registration, John Gagliardo had stated that he was born in Bagheria and was employed by the A. Morici Co (and his 1919 death record stated that his mother's maiden name was Scardena). The Trib noted at this time that both Morici and Gagliardo had previously collected insurance when their businesses were bombed (shockingly). In 1911, the Tribune reported that a Joseph Gagliardo (secretary of local 233 of the Hod Carrier's Union) and his brother Frank were "members of the mafia" and leaders of "the Black Hand", suspected in the murder of Domenic Vaco (a delegate of the union local). In 1915, Joe Gagliardo was named business agent of the Hod Carriers when a bunch of union officials were indicted for conspiracy (going to show how far back mafia infiltration of labor unions went in Chicago). In 1929, a Giuseppe Gagliardo was arrested along with Andrea Aiello and Jack Costa, in what the Tribune called the Loop HQ of the "Northside gang" run by Bugs Moran and Joe Aiello (given the national alliances at play in this period, unsurprising that CPD reported that they found photos of Detroit gangsters at this office as well). The 1912 naturalization of a Giuseppe Gagliardo (born 1883), residing in Little Sicily, was witnessed by a Vincenzo Aiello and an Agostino Morici.
Amazingly, Antonino and Agostino managed to survive 7 more years of mafia warfare in Chicago (really, no small feat), before they were gunned down in January 1926 at Ogden and Lincoln in Lincoln Park (near Armitage and Lincoln; the section of Ogden Ave north of North Ave was removed in 1967). At the time of the Morici hit, the Trib noted that they had bailed out Novello/Criminello after he was jailed during the Montalbano/Gagliardo events (maybe this was part of their peace negotiation that kept them alive at that time). Per CPD and the Tribune, the Moricis were hit for refusing to contribute to the Scalise/Anselmi "Genna gang" defense fund (ostensibly the same reason that Harry Spingola had been clipped before them). CPD stated that they were searching for Montalbano and Novello as linked to the murder, but were unable to locate them.
Then there was also the "Joseph Morici, alias Ferrara" who was killed with Tony Lombardo in September 1928. His 1928 death record has him as Guiseppe Ferraro Morici, born 1895 to "Sedora" (Salvatore?) Morici and Teresa Ferraro in Italy and residing in Cicero at the time of his death. Haven't been able to confirm his place of origin. But on the Chicago Origins thread, Anti and I posted some info that supports Trapani province, as a Giuseppe Sanacaore, likely from Castelvetrano (died in Chicago in 1922), was stated to be his uncle by family according to the Tribune. Further, the informant for Giuseppe Sanacore's death record was an "A Montalbano", suggesting a possible link to Pietro Montalbano.
To tie this back into my above discussion centering on strife in the Taylor St Patch. A provisional theory that I'm working with is that by the late 1910s, there were (at least) two rival factions in the Chicago mafia, one centered on the old stronghold of the Little Sicily and Grand Ave neighborhoods (and dominated largely by men from Palermo province, Bagheria, Termini, etc), and a faction that had emerged south of those neighborhoods in the fast-growing Taylor St Patch. I believe that the Taylor St faction had a large component of Trapanese (the Gennas and their associates, Montalbano, Giuseppe Accardi, possibly the Gambinos) but had also strategically allied themselves with the mainlander groups via mafia member and Taylor St bigshot "Joe Diamante". Presuming that Esposito had major pull among the mainlanders, the Taylor St faction would have had a veritable army at their disposal. Given what we see with the violence surrounding the struggle for Alderman of the "Bloody 19th" Ward, it seems to me quite possible that the Genna/Taylor group backed rappresentante D'Andrea for the seat, while an opposition group composed of men from Termini seemed to have been backing longtime incumbent Johnny Powers. When D'Andrea is clipped, Mike Merlo takes the reigns and is able to smooth over some of these conflicts. But then when he dies of cancer, and Lombardo takes over, all hell breaks loose, and years of intense fighting resume. It is my belief now that what became the Capone faction evolved from the Genna/Esposito faction, and of course, the Aiello faction evolved from the group dominated by Bagheresi and Termitani. Not that compaesani networks completely defined or structured these factions (for example, I suspect that Montalbano's apparent henchman Novello/Criminello was probably from Altavilla Milicia), but they may have fed into a geographic/factional split that led to distinct blocs forming within the mafia, vying for control over not just racket operations and territories but also control of political offices and probably the Unione Siciliana (as a key instrument of political influence and patronage). This theory can provide a particular reading for what may have occurred with the Montalbano vs. Morici/Gagliardo conflict. While the Moricis had become major businessmen and thus possibly opened themselves up to extortion by their fellow mafiosi, they and the Gagliardos were Bagheresi who had previously operated businesses on the Near North/NW (Chicago Ave) but then were expanding their base of operations farther down into the Westside (Randolph, Washington), bordering the Taylor St Patch. By 1919, conflict had already erupted around Taylor St, linked by the Tribune and other sources to the D'Andrea/Powers split over political control of the 19th Ward. Montalbano was, of course, part of the Genna/Trapanese-led group.