by B. » Sun Apr 29, 2018 8:59 am
Chris Christie wrote: ↑Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:06 pm
Interesting. I was searching around in Chester and encountered quite a bit of Scarfo surnames living there. Not sure the connection if any but I did notice that Scarfo was later "technically" in that crew was he not?
The Chester crew or Piccolo (Philly) crew? We know he was in the Skinny DiTullio/AC crew by the 1960s, but it's not clear to me if he was originally made into that crew. FBI reports have him working in numbers under his uncle Piccolo and asking to quit that job, which is granted and he goes on to bartend in AC while still living in Philly. So he may have originally been under his uncle in the 1950s to early 60s but he definitely wasn't with the Chester crew at any point. After DiTullio's death he was under Iezzi, who had AC interests himself.
The top Calabrian as we stated in Scopelliti but he was out of the picture by 1928 after an attempted murder on his life and moving to Atlantic City. The names we have are Domenico Festa, Joe Sciglitano Snr, Demetrio Pennestri and Giuseppe Perugino of Chester; Angelo Cherico, Frank Piccolo (not sure of/if a relation), Mike Romeo, Joe Rugnetta, Joe Ida and Rocco DiCondina. There's also Marco Reginelli who would have fallen under this faction. Also perhaps Ignazio Amato, Frank Greco and Frank Serno but I can't find records on them. Joe Caro was arrested in 1927 so I don't think the one from Stowe is the same guy. This Joe Caro appears to be involved early on, as do alot of these individuals. Arguably eastern Sicilians fell under this network too: John Avena, Joe Bruno, Eduard Caminiti, Luigi Quaranta. Who Avena made, others made I have no idea.
Frank Piccolo was actually Sicilian, so no relation to other Piccolos. I want to say Messinese, though, so that could still put him with this group if the Messinesi were as closely aligned with the Calabrians as we're thinking. Angelo Cherico was said to have been originally part of the Lanzetti gang, so he wouldn't have been aligned with the formal family until the mid-to-late 1930s. At least a couple future members started out with the Lanzettis. Curious if they convinced them to turn on the Lanzettis or if they were brought in after the conflict was settled. I know Riccobene was suspected of at least one Lanzetti murder.
Did you see the article above about Pennestri being involved in prostitution? That makes Bruno, Ida and Rugnetta.
Yeah, all of that makes it even more questionable that Saverio Rugnetta was killed for being involved in prostitution. These guys who were arguably more involved in the organization (whether made or not at the time) got by seemingly without issue (or at least not being gunned down), so there must be more to the story than Rugnetta being killed for prostitution.
Yes but he faded in 1928 with the attempt on his life. Potentially Sabella and Scopelliti may have been out of power in 1928 if one scenario is correct. I keep coming back to the Zanghi hit because I feel it has more significance than previously suspected. We may never know the true details, but there's something there. If there's any credence to Sabella and Scopelliti suffering reprisals as a result of this hit: it was either due to the heat and exposure, or Zanghi was significant enough and possibly even a member.
What have you found on Scopelliti fading post-1928 aside from his move to AC and his name not showing up? JD posted a photo and little bio on Scopelliti some time back (might have been the last board) and I vaguely recall him mentioning him falling out as well, but I can't remember the details. Just wondering if there is concrete info on Scopelliti losing standing in the organization or if it's just assumed based on circumstance. Is it possible he willingly kept a lower profile because of the Zanghi hit?
If Sabella was deposed as a result of the hit, the question would be... who deposed him and why? Various bosses in different cities have handled hits poorly and while it may have reflected poorly on him, would the membership have been "allowed" to vote to take him down , if it's even possible for the membership to do that for that reason? Did D'Aquila take him down before he died? Did Masseria break him down? We can't answer this, but I don't really buy the idea that he was deposed solely for his handling of the Zanghi hit. I also don't buy that he was taken down as part of the so-called "re-structuring" of 1931, either, obviously. Maybe a little bit of one, a bit of the other. You just have to wonder who exactly would have deposed him if he indeed was deposed.
Which if true means Ida was a member before 1930 (reasonable). Ida followed Bruno to Bristol so the two men were close. It appears under Bruno Reginelli was underboss.
Did you know in 1939 there was another internal Philadelphia mafia war? Anthony Piccarelli, Nicholas Bartilucci, Danny 'Day' Deodato and Frank Piccolo were casualties of this war. Riccobene claims he moved to Bristol with Bruno for safety. He never explains the reasons/background for this war. According to Morello after this war Joe Bruno was pretty much without power, leaving Reginelli and the captains free to do as they'd like until his death. Do you know any more about this?
Where did you see that Reginelli was Bruno's underboss? That seems too early, but maybe you've seen something.
Frank Piccolo's murder was said to be for some sort of infraction or breaking of unspecified rule(s), curious about the other associates you mentioned. This would have been following the war with the Lanzettis, and if this was a war, it looks like the Philly family had three "wars" between the late 1920s through the late 1930s. In line with some of our conversations, though, none of these appear to have been between Sicilians and Calabrians/mainlanders... the first two conflicts involved high-profile Sicilian and Calabrian mafiosi collaborating against independents, and it doesn't seem this issue with Piccolo was ethnically-based either.
Another conflict was based in Camden in the mid-1950s. Soldier Manny Gottobrio was killed, and before this associate Tony "Battles" DiBenedetto and I believe at least one other associate were killed. There had apparently been problems building for some time in that territory, with Gottobrio and possibly the other murdered associates trying to usurp some of the Camden rackets that had formerly been under Reginelli's control. I don't think I've ever seen any suspects ID'd, but it was believed to have been sanctioned by the organization.
[quote="Chris Christie" post_id=75434 time=1524683185 user_id=69]
Interesting. I was searching around in Chester and encountered quite a bit of Scarfo surnames living there. Not sure the connection if any but I did notice that Scarfo was later "technically" in that crew was he not? [/quote]
The Chester crew or Piccolo (Philly) crew? We know he was in the Skinny DiTullio/AC crew by the 1960s, but it's not clear to me if he was originally made into that crew. FBI reports have him working in numbers under his uncle Piccolo and asking to quit that job, which is granted and he goes on to bartend in AC while still living in Philly. So he may have originally been under his uncle in the 1950s to early 60s but he definitely wasn't with the Chester crew at any point. After DiTullio's death he was under Iezzi, who had AC interests himself.
[quote]The top Calabrian as we stated in Scopelliti but he was out of the picture by 1928 after an attempted murder on his life and moving to Atlantic City. The names we have are Domenico Festa, Joe Sciglitano Snr, Demetrio Pennestri and Giuseppe Perugino of Chester; Angelo Cherico, Frank Piccolo (not sure of/if a relation), Mike Romeo, Joe Rugnetta, Joe Ida and Rocco DiCondina. There's also Marco Reginelli who would have fallen under this faction. Also perhaps Ignazio Amato, Frank Greco and Frank Serno but I can't find records on them. Joe Caro was arrested in 1927 so I don't think the one from Stowe is the same guy. This Joe Caro appears to be involved early on, as do alot of these individuals. Arguably eastern Sicilians fell under this network too: John Avena, Joe Bruno, Eduard Caminiti, Luigi Quaranta. Who Avena made, others made I have no idea. [/quote]
Frank Piccolo was actually Sicilian, so no relation to other Piccolos. I want to say Messinese, though, so that could still put him with this group if the Messinesi were as closely aligned with the Calabrians as we're thinking. Angelo Cherico was said to have been originally part of the Lanzetti gang, so he wouldn't have been aligned with the formal family until the mid-to-late 1930s. At least a couple future members started out with the Lanzettis. Curious if they convinced them to turn on the Lanzettis or if they were brought in after the conflict was settled. I know Riccobene was suspected of at least one Lanzetti murder.
[quote]
Did you see the article above about Pennestri being involved in prostitution? That makes Bruno, Ida and Rugnetta.[/quote]
Yeah, all of that makes it even more questionable that Saverio Rugnetta was killed for being involved in prostitution. These guys who were arguably more involved in the organization (whether made or not at the time) got by seemingly without issue (or at least not being gunned down), so there must be more to the story than Rugnetta being killed for prostitution.
[quote]Yes but he faded in 1928 with the attempt on his life. Potentially Sabella and Scopelliti may have been out of power in 1928 if one scenario is correct. I keep coming back to the Zanghi hit because I feel it has more significance than previously suspected. We may never know the true details, but there's something there. If there's any credence to Sabella and Scopelliti suffering reprisals as a result of this hit: it was either due to the heat and exposure, or Zanghi was significant enough and possibly even a member. [/quote]
What have you found on Scopelliti fading post-1928 aside from his move to AC and his name not showing up? JD posted a photo and little bio on Scopelliti some time back (might have been the last board) and I vaguely recall him mentioning him falling out as well, but I can't remember the details. Just wondering if there is concrete info on Scopelliti losing standing in the organization or if it's just assumed based on circumstance. Is it possible he willingly kept a lower profile because of the Zanghi hit?
If Sabella was deposed as a result of the hit, the question would be... who deposed him and why? Various bosses in different cities have handled hits poorly and while it may have reflected poorly on him, would the membership have been "allowed" to vote to take him down , if it's even possible for the membership to do that for that reason? Did D'Aquila take him down before he died? Did Masseria break him down? We can't answer this, but I don't really buy the idea that he was deposed solely for his handling of the Zanghi hit. I also don't buy that he was taken down as part of the so-called "re-structuring" of 1931, either, obviously. Maybe a little bit of one, a bit of the other. You just have to wonder who exactly would have deposed him if he indeed was deposed.
[quote]Which if true means Ida was a member before 1930 (reasonable). Ida followed Bruno to Bristol so the two men were close. It appears under Bruno Reginelli was underboss.
Did you know in 1939 there was another internal Philadelphia mafia war? Anthony Piccarelli, Nicholas Bartilucci, Danny 'Day' Deodato and Frank Piccolo were casualties of this war. Riccobene claims he moved to Bristol with Bruno for safety. He never explains the reasons/background for this war. According to Morello after this war Joe Bruno was pretty much without power, leaving Reginelli and the captains free to do as they'd like until his death. Do you know any more about this?[/quote]
Where did you see that Reginelli was Bruno's underboss? That seems too early, but maybe you've seen something.
Frank Piccolo's murder was said to be for some sort of infraction or breaking of unspecified rule(s), curious about the other associates you mentioned. This would have been following the war with the Lanzettis, and if this was a war, it looks like the Philly family had three "wars" between the late 1920s through the late 1930s. In line with some of our conversations, though, none of these appear to have been between Sicilians and Calabrians/mainlanders... the first two conflicts involved high-profile Sicilian and Calabrian mafiosi collaborating against independents, and it doesn't seem this issue with Piccolo was ethnically-based either.
Another conflict was based in Camden in the mid-1950s. Soldier Manny Gottobrio was killed, and before this associate Tony "Battles" DiBenedetto and I believe at least one other associate were killed. There had apparently been problems building for some time in that territory, with Gottobrio and possibly the other murdered associates trying to usurp some of the Camden rackets that had formerly been under Reginelli's control. I don't think I've ever seen any suspects ID'd, but it was believed to have been sanctioned by the organization.