THE BLACK HAND FORUM

Another good addition.

Speaking of Baucina, interesting that Vinnie Mauro ended up with the Lapi crew later on alongside other guys mentioned in this thread.

Vincent Pollina (Sep 7 1917 - Feb 23 1990) fits this:

His father Benny was from Baucina, Palermo, Sicily and his mother Josephine Zafarana was from Polizzi Generosa, Palermo, Sicily

He grew up in NYC but was a Connecticut-based member, likely in John “Buster” Ardito’s crew

Tony found a strong cadidate for Salvatore DeMarco that points to the Genovese Family DeMarcos coming from Cefalu and Collesano. If that's them, Collesano shows up yet again this time with a slightly older guy than the ones mentioned in this thread. Cefalu is of course part of this geography as well. The DeMarcos associated with Cacciatore and the Dolces who had heritage in Lercara Friddi.

Random note, but seems pretty clear Frank Sinatra was on record with the Genovese Family and his heritage was in Lercara Friddi. It must be a coincidence but interesting he went with a group that included his paesans and their ancestral neighbors, especially given the NJ faction included elements from this area as this thread highlights.

NJ member Emilio Lazzara's father was from Petralia Sottana and his mother was from Butera, Caltanissetta

[quote=quadtree post_id=273754 time=1706465728 user_id=8091]
Battaglia is interesting and mysterious. Apparently, he was a member of the Genovese family, but was not loved, as if he were a stranger in this family. Pietro Campisi sponsored Battaglia in the LCN. Campisi may have been a member of the Newark family, thus Battaglia may have been a member of that family. But it has not yet been proven that there were other members of the Newark family from Caltanisetta/Enna. This family included a native of Corleone, Stefano Badami, so there could also have been natives of Caltanisetta. There is no evidence that Michael Russo was a member of Newark.
[/quote]

In Jun 1936, Battaglia jointly sponsored flags with Ralph Belvedere. I previously theorized that his connection to Belvedere was how he landed with Genovese after the Newark Family broke up.

Aside from being the only ex-Newark member to land with the Genovese (as far as I can tell), Battaglia's pretty interesting. He had close ties to the Philadelphia family but they seem to have been with top mainland members like Joe Bruno or Anthony Caponigro.

Another Newark Family member from Battaglia's hometown of Gagliano Castelferrato was future Lucchese capo Anthony "Ham" Dolasco. He grew up one house away (196 Bruce St, Newark, NJ) from Battaglia's maternal uncle Matteo Parisi (200 Bruce St, Newark, NJ)

Also present at the murder scene were Buffalo members Paul Palmieri and Sam DiCarlo. Bonasera, he was very close to Buffalo boss Giuseppe DiCarlo, and even married his daughter. It is alleged that Giuseppe DiCarlo was friends with Bonasera's father back in Sicily. So why did Bonasera join the DiBella/Profaci family and not Buffalo, Masseria or Reina?

Interestingly, Cassandros Bonasera originally lived in Manhattan, on [b]Elizabeth Street[/b], a familiar stronghold of the East Palermo/Caltanisetta natives. There are claims that Oddo and Bonasera worked for Yale, this may be a false report since according to the police and newspapers everyone worked for Yale in the 1920s. But if this is true, they could have started with the Masseria family, which is plausible given their origins, and after the murder of Yale, for some reason they transferred to the DiBella family.

It is also interesting that Oddo and Bonasera supposedly killed Carmelo Peraino on the orders of Manfredi Mineo. Why did they kill the son of an influential member of the Colombo family on the orders of the boss of the Gambino family? Despite the fact that at least part of the family (Giuseppe Profaci) was neutral or even opposed to Masseria-Mineo. Could this indicate that they were by then working for the Masseria faction? Or were they even members of this family? Could their origin have influenced this? Everything about Mineo is a complete mystery.

Giuseppe Peraino, Carmelo's father, was allegedly killed on Anastasia's orders. It is alleged that Anastasia ordered Anthony Peraino, Giuseppe's son, to leave New York. Peraino returned to New York only after Anastasia's murder. Why would the Calabrians of the Gambino family kill a member of a supposedly neutral family? Anastasia was also an ally of Masseria. If Anastasia acted on Mineo's orders, Mineo had a grudge against Peraino. Anyone have any thoughts on this mysterious conflict in Brooklyn?

[quote=B. post_id=273752 time=1706462842 user_id=127]
Thanks guys. Great additions.

Another I forgot about was Carmine Battaglia who came from Enna. Can't remember if it was the town of Castrogiovanni/Enna but he's another either way.
[/quote]

Battaglia is interesting and mysterious. Apparently, he was a member of the Genovese family, but was not loved, as if he were a stranger in this family. Pietro Campisi sponsored Battaglia in the LCN. Campisi may have been a member of the Newark family, thus Battaglia may have been a member of that family. But it has not yet been proven that there were other members of the Newark family from Caltanisetta/Enna. This family included a native of Corleone, Stefano Badami, so there could also have been natives of Caltanisetta. There is no evidence that Michael Russo was a member of Newark.

It is an interesting coincidence that Michael Russo was present at the murder of John Bazzano, and the killers were Casandros Bonasera and John Oddo, both from Caltanisetta/Enna. Why were they chosen? It is interesting what two natives of that region are doing in to the Palermitan Profaci family.

[quote=quadtree post_id=273622 time=1706124566 user_id=8091]
Most of the above East Palermo people lived on the Lower East Side. The Lanza brothers lived there, so they may have originally been part of the Lower East Side crews. Michael Russo probably lived there originally.
[/quote]

Russo used to live at 29 Catherine St, NYC, NY this was right near the Lower East Side.

At his 1928 Cleveland meeting arrest, he was living in Iselin, NJ. In his 1932 John Bazzano murder arrest, he was in Pittsburgh, PA. By 1940, he was back in Iselin at 105 Ridgeley Ave, Iselin, NJ

Thanks guys. Great additions.

Another I forgot about was Carmine Battaglia who came from Enna. Can't remember if it was the town of Castrogiovanni/Enna but he's another either way.

LaPadura was the eldest in this group. It was present in New Jersey as early as the 1910s. He could have been a member of the original Morello family. He was even called "Mustache", a typical name for old school Mafia members. Makes you wonder when this Decina came into being.

There's an interesting figure whom I had thought could have been the link between Buffalo, NY and the Genovese crew in Bergen County, NJ: [b]Angelo Alba[/b]. Being from Serradifalco, Caltanissetta, Sicily; he fits in well in this discussion.

Born Sep 9 1903 in Du Bois, PA [near Pittsburgh, PA] to Andrea Alba and Maria Grimaldi. Parents were from Serradifalco and had immigrated on Jul 20 1901. They were in the Buffalo, NY area as early as 1914 per his father's naturalization and Angelo was there in the 1920 census.

In Dec 1927, Alba and his brother Joseph were arrested in the murder of Thomas Di Floramo. This took place in Totowa in Passaic County, NJ. Both brothers are reported as being of Buffalo, NY. A few weeks later, in Jan 1928, Genovese member Joseph “Kid Steech” Bongiorno (from Petralia Sottana, Palermo, Sicily) was also arrested for it.

In Jan 1931, he was involved in killing William Brady in Hackensack, NJ alongside Genovese members Willie Moretti, Joseph “Kid Steech” Bongiorno, and Anthony "Chicago Fat" Sabio. This was Moretti's first arrest in the area, he had moved to NJ in 1930.

In Apr 1932, he was fined by the Passaic, NJ police. In Jun 1933, he was shot alongside Charles “Duke” Brady and was referred to as a subordinate of Bongiorno. After his release from the hospital, he was put on a train to Buffalo, NY by the Passaic police.

His WW2 draft card had him at the Forrest Hotel (225 W 49th St, NYC, NY). Similarly, in a 1944 article about his sister’s wedding, he was in NYC.

He passed away Sep 12 1973

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Living in Buffalo, he could have crossed paths with Willie Moretti and could have been the link between him and the NJ group. Bongiorno and Genovese member Angelo LaPadura had been invalid in a kidnapping in 1929; this group clearly knew each other before Moretti showed up.

Here are some more thought-provoking alleged Jersey crew soldiers:
-Nicholas Delmore may have been a member of the Genovese family before joining the Elizabeth family. He was from Enna.
-Giuseppe Pecora, soldier of the Jersey crew, from Castrogiovanni, Enna.
- Arcangelo LaPadura's accomplice in the 1929 kidnapping is Joseph Bongiorno from Petralia Sottana.
- Frank LoVullo, killed in 1930. LoVullo was probably from Serradifalco. The Buffalo family included Salvatore LoVullo, who was also from Serradifalco.
-LaPadura's business partner is Peter Curatolo of San Cataldo. Curatolo participated in the murder of Frank LoVullo's killers.

Joseph Lanza was apparently from the Altomari crew. He racketeered the Fulton Fish Market. The Mogavero crew traditionally runs rackets there. Lanza's key man and his successor in the waterfront racket was Michelino Clemente. He was listed as a soldier in the crew of Rosario Mogavero. I couldn't find any information about Clemente's origins other than that he was born in Italy.

Most of the above East Palermo people lived on the Lower East Side. The Lanza brothers lived there, so they may have originally been part of the Lower East Side crews. Michael Russo probably lived there originally.

It is possible that the Masseria family crew from New Jersey has roots in the Lower East Side crews. The hometowns of Belvedere, Lapadura (whose brother is in Greco's crew from Manhattan), and Piazza are all close to Michael Russo's hometown. Russo at one time lived in Buffalo, the Buffalo family included many natives of East Palermo/Caltanisetta. Richard Tribunella from Caltavuturo, near Cerda and Polizzi Generosa, Vincent Scro from Marineo, James Salamone and Angelo Rizzo from Serradifalco (Pinzolo's hometown), capodecina Jacomino Russolesi was from Polizzi Generosa.

Russo could join the Buffalo family because his paesani were there. Moretti may also have started with the Buffalo Family, was this where he met the Jersey faction of the Masseria family? I am increasingly inclined to believe that Moretti is not the founder of this crew.

Thanks for the correction. Yes, indeed, it was not 1920, I don’t know why I decided that. In this case, Cecala could have been capodecina for the entire period 1908-1928. In any case, I follow B., who reasonably suggested that Mauro was from the Prince Street crew and may have been an early leader (acting for Cecala while he was in prison?). However, it is not even known which family Cecala was in; some believe that it was the Gambino family.