by PolackTony » Wed Sep 18, 2024 7:18 pm
B. wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 5:31 pm
Ah yeah, I do remember that coming up with the Inserros and Manocchio. They were well-connected like Tony said. The "Saint" nickname comes from the brother's original nickname "St. Louis" and "Little Saint Louis", where they came from. There is also an FBI report where an informant said the older brother Mariano "Joe Weasel" Inserro originally brought Vincent "into" the outfit which suggests he may have been made too. He worked as a trucker and as we know there were quite a few sleeper members who flew under the radar, especially among the Sicilians.
Their mother was from Caccamo and when I looked into them the father may have been from Termini, I'm sure Tony could say for sure. 100% Sicilian which fits them originally being connected in STL.
Mariano Inserro died in 1970 in Lake Forest. As you note, he was officially employed as a truck driver in the years prior to to his death, this was a hell of a place for a “truck driver” to be living (for those unfamiliar with Chicagoland, it would be like a truck driver owning a house in Beverly Hills). Also very interesting to note that as of 1940, Mariano Inserro was an employee of the Roma Macaroni Co., which I’ve brought up a number of times in various posts as it was owned by the Prestigiacomos of Bagheria and had a number of mafiiosi in its employ (not least of which, Totò LoVerde). Also interesting to note that Mariano Inserro’s first wife was Marianna Marsala (she died in 1937). She was born in Chicago to Francesco Marsala and Maria BonGiovanni, Little Sicily residents from Ficarazzi. I’ve mentioned before that there were mafia-connected BonGiovannis in Little Sicily from Ficarazzi.
And yes, I’m pretty certain that Giuseppe Inserra, the Inserro brothers’ father, was from Termini. While their mother, Grazia Peri, was from Cáccamo and legally married him in Joliet, when she arrived in the US she stated that her last residence was in Términi, so I would assume that the couple were already together before immigrating.
Grazia Peri was naturalized in Chicago in 1940. At this time, the Inserros were living at Chicago Ave and Hamilton in the Italian section of Humboldt Park. Notably, one of Grazia’s witnesses was Carmella Drago. No apparent relation to the Carlisis, she was born in Chicago to Antonino Drago and Rosa Taormina of Ribera. The Dragos lived at Beach and Spaulding in Humboldt Park. While in later decades this intersection became known as the “motherland” of the Almighty Latin Kings (founded in Humboldt Park in the 1950s, and which, according to old heads I knew as a kid, included a number of Italian members alongside the newly arrived Puerto Ricans in its first generation), more relevant here, it was also home at this time to the Dragos’ paesano, Jim DeGeorge. Carmella, who subsequently married Ugo Stefanelli, a “second wave” arrival after WW2 from Palazzo Adriano, had an older brother named Carlo Drago. Carlo married Isabella Monteleone, who was born in Chicago to parents from Sambuca. Her father, Salvatore Monteleone, may well have been related to the family of fellow Sambuca native Johnny Apes Monteleone.
Snakes wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2024 5:53 pm
Vince Inserro got made in the big '56 ceremony. Was also listed by the FBI as one of the two primary suspects in the Cain killing (other being Joe Lombardo).
Even by Chicago standards, Vincent Inserro had a very nasty reputation that belied his diminutive stature. I would imagine he got his hands dirty in a number of other murders that we don’t know about as well. B and I have discussed before how, apart from violently abusing his wife, he stabbed a construction worker to death in front of his home because he thought the guy had whistled at her.
[quote=B. post_id=283803 time=1726705897 user_id=127]
Ah yeah, I do remember that coming up with the Inserros and Manocchio. They were well-connected like Tony said. The "Saint" nickname comes from the brother's original nickname "St. Louis" and "Little Saint Louis", where they came from. There is also an FBI report where an informant said the older brother Mariano "Joe Weasel" Inserro originally brought Vincent "into" the outfit which suggests he may have been made too. He worked as a trucker and as we know there were quite a few sleeper members who flew under the radar, especially among the Sicilians.
Their mother was from Caccamo and when I looked into them the father may have been from Termini, I'm sure Tony could say for sure. 100% Sicilian which fits them originally being connected in STL.
[/quote]
Mariano Inserro died in 1970 in Lake Forest. As you note, he was officially employed as a truck driver in the years prior to to his death, this was a hell of a place for a “truck driver” to be living (for those unfamiliar with Chicagoland, it would be like a truck driver owning a house in Beverly Hills). Also very interesting to note that as of 1940, Mariano Inserro was an employee of the Roma Macaroni Co., which I’ve brought up a number of times in various posts as it was owned by the Prestigiacomos of Bagheria and had a number of mafiiosi in its employ (not least of which, Totò LoVerde). Also interesting to note that Mariano Inserro’s first wife was Marianna Marsala (she died in 1937). She was born in Chicago to Francesco Marsala and Maria BonGiovanni, Little Sicily residents from Ficarazzi. I’ve mentioned before that there were mafia-connected BonGiovannis in Little Sicily from Ficarazzi.
And yes, I’m pretty certain that Giuseppe Inserra, the Inserro brothers’ father, was from Termini. While their mother, Grazia Peri, was from Cáccamo and legally married him in Joliet, when she arrived in the US she stated that her last residence was in Términi, so I would assume that the couple were already together before immigrating.
Grazia Peri was naturalized in Chicago in 1940. At this time, the Inserros were living at Chicago Ave and Hamilton in the Italian section of Humboldt Park. Notably, one of Grazia’s witnesses was Carmella Drago. No apparent relation to the Carlisis, she was born in Chicago to Antonino Drago and Rosa Taormina of Ribera. The Dragos lived at Beach and Spaulding in Humboldt Park. While in later decades this intersection became known as the “motherland” of the Almighty Latin Kings (founded in Humboldt Park in the 1950s, and which, according to old heads I knew as a kid, included a number of Italian members alongside the newly arrived Puerto Ricans in its first generation), more relevant here, it was also home at this time to the Dragos’ paesano, Jim DeGeorge. Carmella, who subsequently married Ugo Stefanelli, a “second wave” arrival after WW2 from Palazzo Adriano, had an older brother named Carlo Drago. Carlo married Isabella Monteleone, who was born in Chicago to parents from Sambuca. Her father, Salvatore Monteleone, may well have been related to the family of fellow Sambuca native Johnny Apes Monteleone.
[quote=Snakes post_id=283805 time=1726707218 user_id=66]
Vince Inserro got made in the big '56 ceremony. Was also listed by the FBI as one of the two primary suspects in the Cain killing (other being Joe Lombardo).
[/quote]
Even by Chicago standards, Vincent Inserro had a very nasty reputation that belied his diminutive stature. I would imagine he got his hands dirty in a number of other murders that we don’t know about as well. B and I have discussed before how, apart from violently abusing his wife, he stabbed a construction worker to death in front of his home because he thought the guy had whistled at her.