THE BLACK HAND FORUM

nash143 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:15 pm Post on Philadelphia member Ralph Saraceno - https://asicilianmessage.substack.com/p/ralph-saraceno

B. wrote: ↑Fri Apr 11, 2025 5:16 pm Another good one. Sciortino is normally listed as being Cattolicense but there's so much crossover with Siculiana that fits too.

Note that Joe Valachi did identify Patsy Sciortino as a Buffalo member who Magaddino sent to NYC to assist with the Castellammarese War but Sciortino was only in his mid-teens at the time which indicates Valachi was either confused or this was Pat Sciortino. The others he named are confirmed Buffalo members although he also included Frank Valenti who also would have been very young (although older than Sciortino) and other sources suggest Valenti was first made with Pittsburgh before transferring to Buffalo. Valachi had other ties to the Rochester area through drug trafficking later on but I'm not aware of him mentioning Sciortino any other time, only in reference to him as a Buffalo member circa early 1930s.

The Monachinos were on the same ship as Vincenzo Callea's wife and kids on one return trip from Sicily in the 1920s, the Callea brothers being important (suspected) Buffalo members from Licata, Agrigento, who also had a presence in Ontario at one time and were close to the Porrellos of the Cleveland Family and the Carlisis of Buffalo. The Monachinos were of course close to the Sciacchitan Falcones of the Utica decina as well.

Another Agrigento connection in Pittston is Tampa member Jimmy Longo, whose parents were from Alessandria della Rocca. His father was murdered in the Pittston area in 1912 in what was believed to be a Sicilian vendetta and the family moved to Tampa.

It's really up in the air to me whether the Auburn guys were with Buffalo or Pittston, or perhaps a Rochester or Utica Family earlier on. Its location is right in the centre of Buffalo's sphere of influence that stretched from Buffalo through Rochester and Utica to Albany, most of the known Pittston NYS connections being in the Southern Tier near the PA border, but these things don't always follow obvious logic and sources were often confused about the affiliation and jurisdiction of mafiosi in western NYS.

or this was Pat Sciortino

B. wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2025 11:35 pm Re: Polizzi article, in addition to no doubt knowing each other in Sicily, it looks like the Melis and Polizzis overlapped in Dunmore early on.

Angelo Meli first arrived to the Sancataldese colony in Dunmore when he came to the US in 1913, the same year you noted two of the Polizzi brothers arrived there. By 1918 he's living in Pittsburgh but by the end of the year he's in Detroit. Not sure how long he spent in Dunmore or Pittsburgh but there were strong colonies from Caltanissetta in both places. Though Meli was born in San Cataldo, he said his father was born in Canicatti, Agrigento, which borders Caltanissetta province.

Brother Francesco Meli, also a Detroit member, arrived to Dunmore in 1911 and looks to have returned to Sicily at some point, coming back in 1921 and heading to brother Salvatore in Pittston. By 1923 he's joined his brother Angelo in Detroit but in 1929 he's inexplicably living in Brooklyn, NY. Not only that, he files for naturalization in Brooklyn and his witnesses are two major names:



The address for Charles Dongarra is the same address the FBN used for Rosario "Charlie Brush" Dongarra and though I don't recall Joe Biondo living in Brooklyn (Bath Beach in this case), his close association with Charlie Dongarra all but confirms it is him as well. Very intriguing that Frank Meli, who was possibly already a member by this time, was tapped in with future Gambino heavyweights during his time in New York City. By 1935 he's apparently living in Scranton before eventually winding up back in Detroit by 1940. Very likely Frank Meli transferred between multiple Families much like Angelo Polizzi going between Detroit and Dunmore.

Eline2015 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 17, 2025 12:44 am When Mike Polizzi relocated to Detroit?

B. wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2025 7:19 pm Very quickly this has become one of the best resources.

Excellent article on Casella. I was also unaware of the Traina relation although I knew of the close friendship. This clan made virtually all of their male relatives so whether this Antonino or the murdered one was the one on the deceased member list, it's probable to me they were both members.

The Bryan colony indeed was heavily connected to the mafia and we have speculated before that it was either an early branch of what became the Dallas Family or perhaps its own group in the early days when there were more Families. This is the first I've heard of Belmontesi living there but the Poggioreale connection fits what we know of Texas mafiosi, neighboring Salaparuta playing a big role in the Dallas Family. I knew the Casellas spent time in St. Louis though I'm unaware of any mafiosi from Belmonte Mezzagno in or around the local Family.

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Did you look into the "Manzello" and Badalamenti involved in the incident with Polizzi? Manzella and Badalamenti are of course big Cinesensi names and Cinisi played a big role in Detroit, the Badalamentis there being related to Gaetano Badalamenti and various Manzellas around the US also connecting to the Cinisi Family.

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The DeMarco and Saraceno articles also hit all the notes that interest me.

PolackTony wrote: ↑Wed Dec 11, 2024 12:42 pm

JoelTurner wrote: ↑Fri Nov 01, 2024 3:12 pm

nash143 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 01, 2024 4:19 am Antonino Casella - https://asicilianmessage.substack.com/p ... no-casella

This is actually fantastic!

I hadn’t realized that the Antonio Casella killed in 1926 wasn’t Peter’s father. Also didn’t know that they were related to Joe Traina.

The Bryan, TX part is super intriguing too. I’d heard that Morello lived there for a bit but I thought it was a random place. Both Casellas would have easily been old enough to be members when they were there. I wonder if it was a part of the Dallas family or its own thing

Really really great again

Bryan, TX, was definitely not a random place with respect to this subject. There was a significant, largely agricultural, colony of Sicilians who came via NOLA to the Lower Brazos Valley (Brazos County and adjacent areas), starting in the 1870s and continuing to the early 1900s. By 1910, the Sicilian population of Bryan alone numbered several thousand. These settlers were mainly from Poggioreale, though there was also a contingent of Corleonese in the Lower Brazos. Rural life was hard there, so while a good number of Sicilians stayed there permanently, others wound up moving on after a while, mainly to NOLA, KC, Chicago, CA. This is what happened with Morello. He worked as a farm laborer in Bryan for several years before, presumably, deciding it wasn’t worth it and returning to NYC.

I think it’s a strong assumption that there would have been mafia activity in Brazos County, but whether they formed an early colony Family there (given that Sicilians were already arriving in numbers there by the 1880s) which was later absorbed by the Dallas outfit, or what, I have no idea. It’s like 180 miles to Dallas, and Bryan is actually closer to Houston (about which there are also big question marks, with both Sicilian and Calabrian figures active there but unclear if there was a mafia and/or Camorra organization based there early on). Just using the example of Chicago, there were three smaller, independent Families that formed in the immediate orbit of Chicago (Rockford, Chicago Heights, and Gary), all much closer than Brazos County to Dallas. Given what we’ve seen elsewhere with small, early colony Families around the country that later were absorbed or went defunct, I’d wager that Bryan had one also.