THE BLACK HAND FORUM

B. wrote: ↑Mon May 26, 2025 7:49 pm

cavita wrote: ↑Mon May 26, 2025 2:06 pm

B. wrote: ↑Mon May 26, 2025 11:50 am Great work. Anything we can learn about earlier Aragonesi is valuable especially when they connect to the mafia in Sicily.

Cannistraro and Galluzzo were Aragonesi but it's interesting that the Frank Longo in the car accident with them was most likely THE Frank Longo that was hooked up with Vincenzo Troia in New Jersey.

Yep, great detail. Shows the various Rockford paesani groups were already closely associating.

Aside from Longo and Immordino are you aware of any other Rockford guys who spent time in Frankfort / Utica? Chicago guys like Joe Aiello and Michele Mineo did but trying to recall if any other Rockford guys were ever there. Immordino's father was there very early on, around the turn of the century, and given Immordino was active in the San Giuseppe Jato Family before coming here I imagine his father associated with the mafia if he wasn't a member himself.

Salvatore Polizzi is relevant to those connections as he was in the Utica area and fled a murder investigation to Wisconsin which fits these networks but I don't remember seeing anything about Illinois with him. When I looked into him many years ago I don't think I confirmed his origins but suspected he was from San Giuseppe Jato given his surname and presence in Jatino-linked areas.

I'm not aware of any other Rockford people that spent time in the Frankfort/Utica area... I can only think of Anthony Basile, Rockford member who was born in Rochester, NY but that is quite a distance from there. I'm not ruling out that some may have spent time there and I haven't found it buried in some FBI files, but maybe some day.

Thanks for confirming the suspicion. I figured he had to be from SGJ. I first found him about 7 or 8 years ago and meant to dig into him more but never followed up. Glad you were able to fill in some other details.

He apparently confessed to the murder of John Aiello in Frankfort in 1912 after having an alleged argument with John's brother Joe. Difficult to untangle the relations between various Aiellos and the ones in Frankfort/Utica used multiple spellings but the infamous Joe Aiello and early Utica member/leader Domenico Aiello lived in the area by then.

Polizzi was then accused of the Frankfort murder of night watchman Albert Dade in 1921, and along with fleeing to Rome, NY, and Windsor, Wisconsin, he also went to California where he was accused of another murder, the victim being an alleged underworld killer himself. He then shows up in New Haven as you said where he was reportedly involved in bootlegging. This is followed by Brooklyn where he was again connected to a murder in some capacity. He was also running gambling operations during his time in Rome, NY. Everywhere he went he appears to have been involved in illegal activity and violence.

The stay in Windsor, WI, makes sense given it is just outside of Madison where Jatini were active in the local Family and he would have found paesans in NYC but I'm not sure where in Brooklyn he stayed. Would be good to know as SGJ / San Cipirello had ongoing links to the Bonannos. There was a Salvatore Polizzi from SGJ of the same age who in 1906 arrived to Brooklyn right where Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Brownsville meet. He apparently had an uncle "John Zucci" in Rome, NY, and Rome being so close to Utica had many links to Utica underworld figures, including the early Calabrians.

I didn't know he returned to Sicily for a time in the 1920s. His return to Sicily would have followed his legal trouble and lamming it around the country so easy to imagine he went back to escape the heat although he'd have quickly found out Mori was dishing even more heat in SGJ. He was described in newspapers as a "Black Hand member" with "Sicilian friends from coast to coast" -- I'm confident he was a member of the Utica Family / decina (likely both since he died in 1954).

I'd say it's a given he knew Troia, Longo, Riela, Immordino, etc. He initially caught my interest too because of the possibility of a relation to Frank Polizzi, himself connected/related to Riela.

Salvatore Polizzi was indeed Jatino; confirmed by birth and marriage records in SGJ. There was a Salvatore Polizzi, born in 1881, who died in 1954 in Frankfort, NY, where he had operated a gas station for years. He had previous addresses in Rome, NY, and a stint in New Haven, which matched the known history of the mafioso Salvatore Polizzi.

Polizzi was born in SGJ in 1881 to Giuseppe Polizzi and Vita Gianniantonio. He married Rosa Davi of SGJ (matches the name of the wife of the guy in Frankfort also) in 1904, before immigrating to the US in 1905. Polizzi also returned to Sicily for a bit in the 1920s before returning to the US in 1929, arriving at NYC bound for Frankfort. Passenger manifest states that he was born in SGJ and gives his FIL, Battista Davi, as his contact back in SGJ.

cavita wrote: ↑Mon May 26, 2025 2:06 pm

B. wrote: ↑Mon May 26, 2025 11:50 am Great work. Anything we can learn about earlier Aragonesi is valuable especially when they connect to the mafia in Sicily.

Cannistraro and Galluzzo were Aragonesi but it's interesting that the Frank Longo in the car accident with them was most likely THE Frank Longo that was hooked up with Vincenzo Troia in New Jersey.

Yep, great detail. Shows the various Rockford paesani groups were already closely associating.

Aside from Longo and Immordino are you aware of any other Rockford guys who spent time in Frankfort / Utica? Chicago guys like Joe Aiello and Michele Mineo did but trying to recall if any other Rockford guys were ever there. Immordino's father was there very early on, around the turn of the century, and given Immordino was active in the San Giuseppe Jato Family before coming here I imagine his father associated with the mafia if he wasn't a member himself.

Salvatore Polizzi is relevant to those connections as he was in the Utica area and fled a murder investigation to Wisconsin which fits these networks but I don't remember seeing anything about Illinois with him. When I looked into him many years ago I don't think I confirmed his origins but suspected he was from San Giuseppe Jato given his surname and presence in Jatino-linked areas.

B. wrote: ↑Mon May 26, 2025 11:50 am Great work. Anything we can learn about earlier Aragonesi is valuable especially when they connect to the mafia in Sicily.

Cannistraro and Galluzzo were Aragonesi but it's interesting that the Frank Longo in the car accident with them was most likely THE Frank Longo that was hooked up with Vincenzo Troia in New Jersey.

Great work. Anything we can learn about earlier Aragonesi is valuable especially when they connect to the mafia in Sicily.

Excellent find.

He did, in fact, enter the US in 1923 at NYC bound for Chicago, under the name Giovanni Cannistraro. If what he later said was true and he used his brother’s passport, this subterfuge would indicate that he was fleeing serious legal trouble in Sicily, consistent with him having been charged with triple homicide back in Aragona.

In 1924, he applied for naturalization as Alfonso Cannistraro, stating that he operated a grocery store in Chicago’s Little Sicily and lived on the 400 block of W Division (Aiello Ground Zero). He subsequently filed his petition for naturalization in 1929, at which time he stated that he was living at Sedgwick and Division in Little Sicily. The petition was witnessed by two paesani from the Southside Aragonese colony, Alfonso Rotolo and Vincenzo Scifo. The former was president of the Società Aragona Sicula (the Southside Aragona Society, whereas the Northside also had its own Aragona Society). Both surnames have connections to figures subsequently involved with Rockford and Chicago LCN, as noted previously in this thread.

I’d agree that he was deported to face trial in Sicily and did not re-enter the US, as no subsequent records appear for either Alfonso or Giovanni Cannistraro.

After some research I may have stumbled across an early Rockford mafia member named Alfonso Cannistraro, who was born around 1885 most likely in Aragona, Sicily as that name is fairly common in that village.

Best I can tell, Cannistraro appears in Rockford as early as March 22, 1926 when he was arrested on Rock Street near Loomis Street for carrying a .32 caliber pistol which he stated he used for protection when he wanders the streets after dark. He was arrested as Alfano Comistros.

By the summer of 1926 he was the proprietor of a small store at 411 Lincoln Avenue, which was alternately owned by Rockford LCN boss Tony Musso and Vincenzo Troia.

July 25, 1926 there was a car accident in which Frank Longo, John Galluzzo and a Ben Cannistraro were injured in Rockford. All three men were listed as living at 922 Ferguson Street. Since Ben Cannistraro never appears again in Rockford records, this was probably an alias for Alfonso.

On December 27, 1926 a fire at the 322 Buckbee Street home of Albert Olzowski was thought to be an outcrop of a booze war and authorities stated that the suspect arsonist was Cannistraro.

In May 1927 the trial was going on into the attempted murder of Alex Dotz, liquor spotter, and his brother David. Phil Caltagerone, George Saladino and Tony DiGiovanni were suspects and were the ones on trial. Cannistraro testified that he owned a REO Speedwagon vehicle that he made sugar deliveries in from his store at 411 Lincoln Avenue and it was not Tony DiGiovanni making deliveries as everyone thought.

April 1929 a real estate transaction of August J. Strandberg and his wife to Alfonso Cannistraro, etal, lot 20, block 4, replat of Grant Park Subdivision was noted in the Rockford newspapers.

On August 22, 1930 Cannistraro was arrested at 1007 South Main Street on charges of murdering three people in Aragona, Sicily and for suspicion of being a leader of a “blackhand” gang that terrorized people in Rockford and Chicago. He was also suspected of being a local booze runner and manufacturer. He was listed as living at 428 Kent Street and was alleged to have a roadhouse at 601 Barnum Road and supposedly entered the country on his brother’s passport. Cannistraro told police he entered the country in 1923 and lost his passport in a rooming house fire in Chicago in 1925 and came to Rockford in 1926.

Nothing more was heard about this case after a hearing on whether Cannistraro was to be deported and it is unknown if he was or not but this most likely happened as nothing more was heard from him in the Rockford area.

June 1936 Cannistraro was named in a foreclosure in the newspapers for lots 17-20, block 4 of the Grant Park Subdivision.

cavita wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 5:34 am Good connections. Too many to ignore that the Alfano family may have been early connected members. I'm not aware, does New Jersey have a large population of Sambuca people in the LCN?

Nope not that I know of. If there were any, I would guess that they would have been with the DeCavs rather than Newark

Good connections. Too many to ignore that the Alfano family may have been early connected members. I'm not aware, does New Jersey have a large population of Sambuca people in the LCN?

cavita wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 8:57 am And here's a little more Rockford/NJ connection- Domenico Alfano had a brother Angelo Alfano born 1881 who was a tavern operator in Newark, NJ and he died in October 1957. His bar was located at 463 5th Street in Newark. Also, there was a Margaret Giovingo who married Jasper Alfano in Sambuca in 1913. They immigrated to NJ from Sambuca in 1913 and lived there a year before coming to Rockford in 1914. Certainly another strong NJ/Rockford tie especially if their families were mafia members in the old country. Jasper was also a brother to Domenico and Angelo Alfano.

Wow that’s a really great find!


John D’Amico & family lived roughly 2 1/2 blocks away at 520 N 7th St, Newark, NJ. Makes a lot more sense that they could have connected.

I didn’t find an exact date for Angelo’s immigration but his 1920 census record says he arrived in 1894. That would make him one of the earliest figures in Newark. He got shot by an in-law in June 1911.

Side note: His bar was at an important location. In the ‘60s, Tony Boiardo’s headquarters Club Fremont was at this address (463 N 5th St, Newark, NJ). There was a major shootout here in 1960 too.

Great updates. We can see that some of these Rockford-NJ ties may well have had a deeper history preceding Riela and Troia even.

And here's a little more Rockford/NJ connection- Domenico Alfano had a brother Angelo Alfano born 1881 who was a tavern operator in Newark, NJ and he died in October 1957. His bar was located at 463 5th Street in Newark. Also, there was a Margaret Giovingo who married Jasper Alfano in Sambuca in 1913. They immigrated to NJ from Sambuca in 1913 and lived there a year before coming to Rockford in 1914. Certainly another strong NJ/Rockford tie especially if their families were mafia members in the old country. Jasper was also a brother to Domenico and Angelo Alfano.

Francesca Alfano D'Amico ended up remarrying a man by the last name DiVito and when her father Domenico Alfano died in 1971 she was living in Bloomfield, NJ. Domenico Alfano came to Rockford from Sambuca in 1915 when he married Vita Bordonaro and byt 1916 was in the grocery and tavern business which I'm certain he passed along to his sons Barney, Frank and Luke.

NorthBuffalo wrote: ↑Wed May 14, 2025 1:43 pm

PolackTony wrote: ↑Wed May 14, 2025 10:33 am

NorthBuffalo wrote: ↑Wed May 14, 2025 9:41 am

cavita wrote: ↑Wed May 14, 2025 8:50 am

NorthBuffalo wrote: ↑Wed May 14, 2025 7:25 am I can't believe this wasn't asked (I'll feel like an ass if I missed it)- was Dominico Alfano a relative of Pietro Alfano from Pizza Connection case decades later?

No....Domenico was from Sambuca and Pietro from Cinisi

Got it - quite a coincidence with the name.

Not really. It’s a relatively common surname in both Palermo and Agrigento provinces.

Hey we are talking about Rockford, IL - name can't be that common. I know Pietro Alfano was from Sicily and was sent to the U.S. by Badalamenti - I just assumed he had some relations in Rockford as it was a random spot to set up operations without some inside connection.

Pietro Alfano did move to Northern IL because he had relatives there. But these people were/are from Cinisi, unrelated to the Alfanos from Sambuca that we were discussing here. The surname happens to be relatively common in both towns, both of which have always had strong ties to IL.