THE BLACK HAND FORUM

Not to derail too much from Moretti / early Genovese, but Valenti and DiMino might be the only example of internal conflict within D'Aquila's Family that we're aware of. DiMino was a confirmed captain, likely over the Sciacchitano element in Little Italy, while Valenti's rank is unconfirmed but by all appearances he seems to have been a captain as well, probably over an earlier incarnation of the Biondo-Riccobono-Dongarra group. According to Gentile they became trusted loyalists of D'Aquila after Valenti, Biondo, and DiMino killed Morello boss Fortunato LoMonte in 1914 but it seems the relationship weakened by 1920.

Valenti's alliance with the Morello-Masseria faction was significant enough that Valenti was condemned to death by D'Aquila alongside Morello, the Terranovas, and Lupo. Gentile specifically named those guys but did say there was a total of 11 or 12 men condemned to die and presumably DiMino was another one although he isn't mentioned by Gentile. I'd guess other unnamed members included Morello Family members but the inclusion of Valenti and likely DiMino is significant given they were from D'Aquila's own Family. (Lupo may have been a member of D'Aquila's family, too, though.)

It's unlikely Valenti or DiMino had a direct relationship to the long-imprisoned Morello before the 1920s but may have sided with the Morello faction through relationships to other Morello-aligned figures. Newspapers reported that Valenti was partners in a gambling operation with suspected high-level Morello members Salvatore Mauro and Angelo Lagattuta, Valenti protege Biondo was very close to Charlie Luciano, and later Biondo was an ally of Masseria during the Castellammarese and was in opposition to the remaining D'Aquila loyalists. DiMino, as Joel found, was possibly the brother of future Genovese captains Jimmy DiMino Generoso and his son Michael so it looks like he can be connected to the Masseria / Genovese group too. I suspect Valenti may have been friendly with John Pecoraro of Little Italy, one of the top Morello leaders still seemingly loyal to Morello, and Pecoraro's son Michael was later made with the Gambinos and can be connected to the Riccobono-Biondo-Dongarra group via cousin/in-law Marco LiMandri.

Gentile said Valenti went to Sicily along with the Lupo-Terranova-Morello guys to petition for help lifting his death sentence and Valenti did return from a trip to Sicily in 1922 (the Informer article says future Genovese consigliere Saverio Pollacchia was with him), arriving to "cousin" Charlie Dongarra. DiMino also traveled overseas a little bit earlier, in 1921, which could have been related to these events as well.

Definitely some intriguing politics going on between D'Aquila, Valenti, and the Morello faction though we never get clarification as to why Valenti was so strongly associated with the Morello guys at the start of the conflict.

The info about Luciano being part of the Valenti hit team is in a Luciano biography but I'm not sure what evidence the author had. Future Lucchese member Stefano Rannelli (under an alias), his brother, and another Palermitano guy Tony Lombardo were arrested as suspects in the murder, as were Valenti's close associates Joe Biondo and Charlie Dongarra though charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. Valenti had been walking with a group of men and witnesses said two of the men started shooting at Valenti. I imagine Biondo and Dongarra were part of the group seen with Valenti and I can see Luciano being with them as well given his close relationship to Biondo and the Armones but who knows who actually carried out the murder.

Valenti was initially sentenced to death by D'Aquila for supporting Morello's coup to retake his Family and we know from Attardi that D'Aquila also issued a contract on Valenti's close friend Accursio DiMino around this time, probably in relation to the same events. Valenti however made peace with D'Aquila by agreeing to kill Masseria. DiMino was killed a short time after the May 1922 attempt on Masseria while Valenti was killed just a few days after the August 1922 attempt. Gentile implied that Valenti was killed by Masseria and I think that's probably true of DiMino too although Valenti and DiMino's friends later surface as Masseria sympathizers during the Castellammarese War.

What's interesting is the only person who died in the first 1922 attempt on Masseria was Silvio Tagliagambe, a probable Bonanno member. Schiro supported LoMonte against D'Aquila in 1913, took a "neutral" stance in the early 1920s conflict but allowed Gentile to join his Family to subvert D'Aquila's plot against Valenti, and the "Good Killers" reportedly participated in the early 1920s war, so Tagliagambe's presence with Masseria during wartime could play into these patterns.

JoelTurner wrote: ↑Tue Jun 03, 2025 7:34 pm
Wasn’t Valenti killed by Masseria? How did the Good Killers get involved in this mess?

The Masseria side is believed to have killed Valenti. Allegedly, Luciano was the shooter. In the Informer article, I put out the theory that the Good Killers carried out a number of hits for Giuseppe Morello when he was trying to retake his old position.

Dutch Schultz really started to be a major player around 1928, from what I've seen, it seems Schultz wouldn't have been operating in Harlem (in a substantial way) before 1927. As Antillar stated, Schultz was still working for/splitting from Joey Noe in 1924. He was still predominately in the Bronx at the time.

FrankWhiteIs9P wrote: ↑Mon Jun 02, 2025 11:47 am Valachi was still less than a nobody in 1924.

The timeline works a lot better if Valachi misremembered the year; Willie Moore was likely still in Buffalo in 1924

Antiliar wrote: ↑Mon Jun 02, 2025 12:54 am

Antiliar wrote: ↑Sun Jun 01, 2025 11:38 pm

JoelTurner wrote: ↑Tue May 06, 2025 2:38 pm Joe Valachi wasn’t close to Willie Moretti but did share some interesting information about him.

In 1924, Valachi’s gang, that he calls the Irish Mob, was in a conflict with the East Harlem crew. Discussing a peace summit, he names him as a mafia member:

VALACHI: I found out through the years, later on, he [MORETTI] was one of the Cosa Nostra members, but at that time we didn't know.

[…]

CHAIRMAN: You didn't know anything about Cosa Nostra?

VALACHI: No; this was 1924.

Moretti was hosting the summit at his Pompeii Restaurant. From the rest of Valachi says, it’s fairly clear that he was a part of the East Harlem crew.

————————-

Valachi’s says something pretty intriguing about Lucky Luciano’s status at the time too, explicitly naming him as a soldier:

All the big shots went over at this restaurant. By big shots I mean Ciro Terranova, Dutch Schultz, and all kind of big shots from out of town, Charlie Lucky used to go there too, even though he was nothing but a soldier. I didn't know anything about soldiers at this time but I found out later.

He’s referring to the end of 1924. I had previously assumed that Luciano was made captain in the early ‘20s though I didn’t know the exact year. Dominick “Terry Burns” DiDato was discussed earlier in this thread; he seems like a good candidate for his capo.

1924 might be a little early for Dutch Schultz to have been friends with Ciro Terranova. At the time, Schultz was a thug working for Joey Noe and was probably an unknown. I'm wondering if Valachi may have compressed events, recalling them forty years later. If this is the case, his 1924 recollection might be 1924 plus or minus 2 or 3 years.

I wondered myself about Dominick Didato being an early capo. Perhaps he was connected to Giovanni Dioguardi, who also came from Baucina. Both of them may have been in Salvatore Mauro's crew (he appears to have been a big shot and was the oldest member from Baucina, so I strongly suspect that he was a capodecina). One article claimed that Umberto Valenti was Mauro's shooter, but that is unproven. Ironically, Luciano was supposedly one of the men who killed Valenti.

Edit: Salvatore Mauro was allegedly a partner of Umberto Valenti. Bartolo Fontana said that the Good Killers were responsible for his death.

Wasn’t Valenti killed by Masseria? How did the Good Killers get involved in this mess?

Valachi was still less than a nobody in 1924.

Antiliar wrote: ↑Sun Jun 01, 2025 11:38 pm

JoelTurner wrote: ↑Tue May 06, 2025 2:38 pm Joe Valachi wasn’t close to Willie Moretti but did share some interesting information about him.

In 1924, Valachi’s gang, that he calls the Irish Mob, was in a conflict with the East Harlem crew. Discussing a peace summit, he names him as a mafia member:

VALACHI: I found out through the years, later on, he [MORETTI] was one of the Cosa Nostra members, but at that time we didn't know.

[…]

CHAIRMAN: You didn't know anything about Cosa Nostra?

VALACHI: No; this was 1924.

Moretti was hosting the summit at his Pompeii Restaurant. From the rest of Valachi says, it’s fairly clear that he was a part of the East Harlem crew.

————————-

Valachi’s says something pretty intriguing about Lucky Luciano’s status at the time too, explicitly naming him as a soldier:

All the big shots went over at this restaurant. By big shots I mean Ciro Terranova, Dutch Schultz, and all kind of big shots from out of town, Charlie Lucky used to go there too, even though he was nothing but a soldier. I didn't know anything about soldiers at this time but I found out later.

He’s referring to the end of 1924. I had previously assumed that Luciano was made captain in the early ‘20s though I didn’t know the exact year. Dominick “Terry Burns” DiDato was discussed earlier in this thread; he seems like a good candidate for his capo.

1924 might be a little early for Dutch Schultz to have been friends with Ciro Terranova. At the time, Schultz was a thug working for Joey Noe and was probably an unknown. I'm wondering if Valachi may have compressed events, recalling them forty years later. If this is the case, his 1924 recollection might be 1924 plus or minus 2 or 3 years.

I wondered myself about Dominick Didato being an early capo. Perhaps he was connected to Giovanni Dioguardi, who also came from Baucina. Both of them may have been in Salvatore Mauro's crew (he appears to have been a big shot and was the oldest member from Baucina, so I strongly suspect that he was a capodecina). One article claimed that Umberto Valenti was Mauro's shooter, but that is unproven. Ironically, Luciano was supposedly one of the men who killed Valenti.

Edit: Salvatore Mauro was allegedly a partner of Umberto Valenti. Bartolo Fontana said that the Good Killers were responsible for his death.

JoelTurner wrote: ↑Tue May 06, 2025 2:38 pm Joe Valachi wasn’t close to Willie Moretti but did share some interesting information about him.

In 1924, Valachi’s gang, that he calls the Irish Mob, was in a conflict with the East Harlem crew. Discussing a peace summit, he names him as a mafia member:

VALACHI: I found out through the years, later on, he [MORETTI] was one of the Cosa Nostra members, but at that time we didn't know.

[…]

CHAIRMAN: You didn't know anything about Cosa Nostra?

VALACHI: No; this was 1924.

Moretti was hosting the summit at his Pompeii Restaurant. From the rest of Valachi says, it’s fairly clear that he was a part of the East Harlem crew.

————————-

Valachi’s says something pretty intriguing about Lucky Luciano’s status at the time too, explicitly naming him as a soldier:

All the big shots went over at this restaurant. By big shots I mean Ciro Terranova, Dutch Schultz, and all kind of big shots from out of town, Charlie Lucky used to go there too, even though he was nothing but a soldier. I didn't know anything about soldiers at this time but I found out later.

He’s referring to the end of 1924. I had previously assumed that Luciano was made captain in the early ‘20s though I didn’t know the exact year. Dominick “Terry Burns” DiDato was discussed earlier in this thread; he seems like a good candidate for his capo.

1924 might be a little early for Dutch Schultz to have been friends with Ciro Terranova. At the time, Schultz was a thug working for Joey Noe and was probably an unknown. I'm wondering if Valachi may have compressed events, recalling them forty years later. If this is the case, his 1924 recollection might be 1924 plus or minus 2 or 3 years.

I wondered myself about Dominick Didato being an early capo. Perhaps he was connected to Giovanni Dioguardi, who also came from Baucina. Both of them may have been in Salvatore Mauro's crew (he appears to have been a big shot and was the oldest member from Baucina, so I strongly suspect that he was a capodecina). One article claimed that Umberto Valenti was Mauro's shooter, but that is unproven. Ironically, Luciano was supposedly one of the men who killed Valenti.

During Willie Moretti’s early years in NJ, his chauffeur was Gero D’Auria

D’Auria was born on Mar 12 1902 in New Haven, CT and boxed in the area under the moniker of Dick Wallace. He was in NJ by ~1931.

Now going by the alias Richard Wallace; he was part of a trio of bodyguards known as The Shadows, alongside Pete LaPlaca and Tony Saita. They got their nickname because they were always right behind Moretti.

Per his wife’s obituary, he returned to New Haven in 1956. A July 1963 report states that he, along with Frank Rulli & Donald Montano, were under Alfred "Pogey" Toriello.



The next April, he was mentioned as a possible replacement for Colombo member Ralph “Whitey” Tropiano:



Rulli & Montano were New Haven gambling figures so it isn’t too likely that they had been with Moretti. However, D’Auria could have been on the record with him switching to Toriello post-1951.

He passed away on June 30 1969

——————-

Sidenote: His wife Rose Cali (Born to Vincenzo Cali & Maria-Grazia Drago) was from Aidone, Enna, Sicily. Her father was a miner. They initially lived in Koehler, Colfax County, New Mexico before crossing state lines into Las Animas County Colorado. They bounced around the incredibly tiny/abandoned towns of Valdez & Terico before moving to Passaic in 1929.

The Colorado family had people in that area, in nearby Trinidad CO

Joe Valachi wasn’t close to Willie Moretti but did share some interesting information about him.

In 1924, Valachi’s gang, that he calls the Irish Mob, was in a conflict with the East Harlem crew. Discussing a peace summit, he names him as a mafia member:

VALACHI: I found out through the years, later on, he [MORETTI] was one of the Cosa Nostra members, but at that time we didn't know.

[…]

CHAIRMAN: You didn't know anything about Cosa Nostra?

VALACHI: No; this was 1924.

Moretti was hosting the summit at his Pompeii Restaurant. From the rest of Valachi says, it’s fairly clear that he was a part of the East Harlem crew.

————————-

Valachi’s says something pretty intriguing about Lucky Luciano’s status at the time too, explicitly naming him as a soldier:

All the big shots went over at this restaurant. By big shots I mean Ciro Terranova, Dutch Schultz, and all kind of big shots from out of town, Charlie Lucky used to go there too, even though he was nothing but a soldier. I didn't know anything about soldiers at this time but I found out later.

He’s referring to the end of 1924. I had previously assumed that Luciano was made captain in the early ‘20s though I didn’t know the exact year. Dominick “Terry Burns” DiDato was discussed earlier in this thread; he seems like a good candidate for his capo.

JoelTurner wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 8:38 pm Official employment: U.S Linen Supply Business (113-137 N 1st, Paterson, NJ)

His partners were Ben & Mark Golden, John “Midgie” Welsh, and Robert Neilley

The Golden bros, led by Ben, were Jew mobsters and had the only policy bank in Passaic County. Known as Gold Bank, they were arrested for this alongside the Moretti bros, Pete LaPlaca, Etc.

Other than numbers, Ben Golden co-owned the Sand and Surf Cabana Club (717 Ocean Ave, Long Branch, NJ) with the Moretti bros and was also involved in political corruption. He was close to NJ Attorney General Theodore Parsons.

Robert Neilley was the Passaic County water commissioner. Additionally, he was a top member of its Democratic Party and involved in doling out patronage jobs. He arranged for US Linen to buy an entire city block for $10K.

The firm’s rival was Noxall Linen Supply. Its president Abraham Frumker had claimed that Moretti’s group was using strong-arm tactics before he “fell of a horse” and died. Noxall merged with US Linen subsequently.

Great to have it confirmed. Their families coming from the same town adds a lot to what we know of the Moretti/Costello relationship.

Thanks for the info Joel

B. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 18, 2023 11:04 am Regarding Moretti's heritage, Joe Bonanno said in his book that Moretti was Calabrian. He says Moretti and Anastasia were "paesani from Calabria" who nonetheless "admired the Sicilian Tradition".
So we have Bonanno believing Moretti to be Calabrian like Anastasia and Moretti himself saying he came from the same part of Italy as Frank Milano, who was as Calabrian as it gets.

motorfab wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2023 9:34 am I also always wondered if he was Calabrian, as he once claimed, or if he was from Puglia...

As a follow up to this earlier discussion, I found where exactly his family was from.

His father, Genaro Moretti, was born on Apr 23 1858 in Cassano, Cosenza, Calabria.

Notably, this was Frank Costello’s hometown too. This could be where the cousin rumor started. Costello clarified during the Kefauver hearings that they were just good friends and not related.