by PolackTony » Wed Oct 25, 2023 2:06 pm
We discussed this recently, but Luciano Contorno may likely have been related to Loverde as well, as several of LoVerde's relatives from Brancaccio who immigrated to Chicago were intermarried with Contornos.
In summary, LoVerde first immigrated to Chicago, where a number of his relatives had settled around Ohio and Aberdeen in the Grand Ave Patch, when he was 17. He gave his address in Palermo at this time on Via Corso dei Mille, the thoroughfare between the neighboring Brancaccio and Romagnolo districts. It's unclear how long he remained in Chicago, but at some point he returned to Palermo and became an important leader in the mafia in the Brancaccio/Santa Maria di Gesu area, noted by Mori in 1928 as a "capomafia" of the Romagnolo district (whether this was a separate Family or a decina or faction under Brancaccio at the time is unclear). Apart from his in-laws being important leaders in the local mafia, a possible relative of his mother was boss of SMG and another likely relative was listed as the rappresentante of Brancaccio. He also had several LoVerde relatives in Chicago's Grand Ave neighborhood involved in murders during the 1920s, including the cousins that I noted previously who were suspected of having assassinated a CPD officer investigating "syndicate" activities. At some point during the late 1920s, he returns to Chicago. The pentito Gioacchino Pennino recalls that his grandfather "sent" LoVerde to Chicago. Given the timing, during the Fascist assault on the mafia, LoVerde may have been escaping justice, hence his use of the false identity of "Augustus LaVerde" on his documents in Chicago. Pennino also recounts that Antonino "Nene" Passannante (who may have been the Bonanno member) and the father of Pennino's friend and colleague Giovanni Lo Iacono were sent to Chicago by the Partinico mafia to "organize abroad against the [Fascist] regime".
We know that Nick Gentile claimed that LoVerde and Pittsburgh's Siragusa were murdered following Maranzano's death in retaliation for hving secretly colluded with the latter (Gentile, again, served on the "peace commission" tasked with arbitrating the conflict with these two and painted himself as having been the only one who remained faithful to its objectives of impartiality, while the others were beholden to Maranzano, in conversation with Paul Ricca.
Interestingly, however, Pennino addresses this. Pennino said that he befriended Toto Catalano shortly after he had returned to Sicily, where Catalano had set himself up selling Persian rugs in the Adduara district of Palermo. Pennino claimed that Catalano told him of "Nick the Traitor", and how Gentile had, by "reporting falsehoods, caused the murder of my uncle Salvatore Lo Verde [...] during the mafia war [...] between Massaria [sic] and Maranzano". As a reminder, we know that Catalano himself had connections to Chicago, where his paesan' Ross Prio had been a powerful capodecina.
Unfortunately, we only have access to Pennino's book, which is out of print, via Google Books, which only gives a small preview of it and a later page likely containing important information about LoVerde is not accessible.
We discussed this recently, but Luciano Contorno may likely have been related to Loverde as well, as several of LoVerde's relatives from Brancaccio who immigrated to Chicago were intermarried with Contornos.
In summary, LoVerde first immigrated to Chicago, where a number of his relatives had settled around Ohio and Aberdeen in the Grand Ave Patch, when he was 17. He gave his address in Palermo at this time on Via Corso dei Mille, the thoroughfare between the neighboring Brancaccio and Romagnolo districts. It's unclear how long he remained in Chicago, but at some point he returned to Palermo and became an important leader in the mafia in the Brancaccio/Santa Maria di Gesu area, noted by Mori in 1928 as a "capomafia" of the Romagnolo district (whether this was a separate Family or a decina or faction under Brancaccio at the time is unclear). Apart from his in-laws being important leaders in the local mafia, a possible relative of his mother was boss of SMG and another likely relative was listed as the rappresentante of Brancaccio. He also had several LoVerde relatives in Chicago's Grand Ave neighborhood involved in murders during the 1920s, including the cousins that I noted previously who were suspected of having assassinated a CPD officer investigating "syndicate" activities. At some point during the late 1920s, he returns to Chicago. The pentito Gioacchino Pennino recalls that his grandfather "sent" LoVerde to Chicago. Given the timing, during the Fascist assault on the mafia, LoVerde may have been escaping justice, hence his use of the false identity of "Augustus LaVerde" on his documents in Chicago. Pennino also recounts that Antonino "Nene" Passannante (who may have been the Bonanno member) and the father of Pennino's friend and colleague Giovanni Lo Iacono were sent to Chicago by the Partinico mafia to "organize abroad against the [Fascist] regime".
We know that Nick Gentile claimed that LoVerde and Pittsburgh's Siragusa were murdered following Maranzano's death in retaliation for hving secretly colluded with the latter (Gentile, again, served on the "peace commission" tasked with arbitrating the conflict with these two and painted himself as having been the only one who remained faithful to its objectives of impartiality, while the others were beholden to Maranzano, in conversation with Paul Ricca.
Interestingly, however, Pennino addresses this. Pennino said that he befriended Toto Catalano shortly after he had returned to Sicily, where Catalano had set himself up selling Persian rugs in the Adduara district of Palermo. Pennino claimed that Catalano told him of "Nick the Traitor", and how Gentile had, by "reporting falsehoods, caused the murder of my uncle Salvatore Lo Verde [...] during the mafia war [...] between Massaria [sic] and Maranzano". As a reminder, we know that Catalano himself had connections to Chicago, where his paesan' Ross Prio had been a powerful capodecina.
Unfortunately, we only have access to Pennino's book, which is out of print, via Google Books, which only gives a small preview of it and a later page likely containing important information about LoVerde is not accessible.
[img]https://theblackhand.club/forum/ext/dmzx/imageupload/files/02437ab60c3a5a4f0e0829b5e8bfe055.png[/img]