THE BLACK HAND FORUM

[quote=B. post_id=282905 time=1725481852 user_id=127]
There is a long history of this. Early Pueblo boss Pellegrino Scaglia reportedly led a "White Hand" group to combat the "Black Hand" when he was in NYC but of course we know he was a mafia leader. In Monreale in the 1800s some of us suspect the anti-mafia group was in fact a rival faction within the mafia. A few decades later there was a Judge Balsamo who presided over mafia trials in Sicily and spoke out publicly against them but Dr. Melchiorre Allegra confirmed Judge Balsamo was actually a made member of the Monreale Family, which to me adds to the likelihood that some of these 1800s activities in Monreale involved a similar dynamic.

So definitely a long history and there are other examples.
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The Mano Bianca (White Hand Society) of Chicago was founded in 1907 by Stefano Malato, an attorney from Termini Imerese who was a prominent Chicago alderman and states Attorney in the 1890s and 1900s and was closely linked to mafiosi like Tony D’Andrea (he was also disgraced and
forced to step down as SA for torturing witnesses to protect a Sicilian murder suspect from prosecution). The Mano Bianca was run by bigshots like Malato from the Unione Siciliana and the Trinacria Fratellanza, both institutions that were infiltrated by mafiosi and their buddies. Similar to the Monreale stuff that you note here, I believe that mafia leaders in Chicago in this period used ostensible “anti-Black Hand” activities to both further hob-knob and curry favor with elected officials and to crack down on non-mafia affiliated thugs and extortionists that often posed a serious threat to mafiosi and their allies in the legitimate business and political world. Later, in the 1920s, boss Mike Merlo was similarly known for being a leader against “Black Hand” extortionists via his position on the Consiglio Supremo of the Unione Siciliana, we can assume for the same reasons (the Mano Bianca itself having long since collapsed by then, as I suspect that officers of the Society probably wound up embezzling the funds they had received to support their campaigns from both local and national “prominenti”, including the Italian consulate in Chicago).

There is a long history of this. Early Pueblo boss Pellegrino Scaglia reportedly led a "White Hand" group to combat the "Black Hand" when he was in NYC but of course we know he was a mafia leader. In Monreale in the 1800s some of us suspect the anti-mafia group was in fact a rival faction within the mafia. A few decades later there was a Judge Balsamo who presided over mafia trials in Sicily and spoke out publicly against them but Dr. Melchiorre Allegra confirmed Judge Balsamo was actually a made member of the Monreale Family, which to me adds to the likelihood that some of these 1800s activities in Monreale involved a similar dynamic.

So definitely a long history and there are other examples.

Joe Colombo's organization was a fraternal organization which fought against italian american discrimination in the USA. It wasn't an antimafia organization that is in the U.S. I see what you mean, but not quite the same thing in my opinion. Fascinating though that this guy benefited them but then also used anti-mafia commissions too.

https://youtube.com/shorts/YL-BJCXeYwk?si=MLpHPXOQP3Xm3tsb

Roberto Saviano said something interesting about the Sicilian mafia in an interview.

When Cuffaro[1] was in prison for having benefited Cosa Nostra, he plastered Palermo with posters that read: "the mafia is a mountain of shit".[2]

Almost all of the criminal organizations in Campania, at least the largest ones, have built anti-racket associations.

The Corleonesi reward (then he won't go) Captain Ultimo[3] with an anti-mafia award.
The criminal organizations revel in anti-mafia rhetoric.

[1] Salvatore Cuffaro, former president of the Sicilian Region, became famous for having celebrated his 5-year sentence in 2008 for simple aiding and abetting and not aiding and abetting Cosa Nostra by eating cannoli and refusing to resign after the conviction.

[2] quote from the film I Cento Passi on the story of Peppino Impastato.
[3] Captain Ultimo, aka Sergio De Caprio, the carabiniere who arrested Totò Riina in 1993 but whose superiors ordered him not to search the villa where he was hiding.


Something similar as what did Joe Colombo with the italian-american league.