THE BLACK HAND FORUM

by **willychichi** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 7:12 am

johnny_scootch wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 6:50 am
willychichi wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:31 am

Besides Bonanno's revelation in his book is there any is there any other documentation that there was a family in Birmingham AL.
Birmingham not mentioned by either Gentile or Valachi. I believe all we really have are those few lines from Bonanno.

Thanks JS much obliged.

by **johnny_scootch** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 6:50 am

willychichi wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:31 am

Besides Bonanno's revelation in his book is there any is there any other documentation that there was a family in Birmingham AL.

Birmingham not mentioned by either Gentile or Valachi. I believe all we really have are those few lines from Bonanno.

by **willychichi** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:31 am

BeatiPaoli wrote: ↑Tue Mar 13, 2018 11:34 am To Everyone: Just finished reading Bill Bonanno's second book, "The Last Testament of Bill Bonanno." In the book, he states, "By the mid-1930s, 2 of the 26 Families (Birmingham, Al, and Newark, NJ) were disbanded, reducing the total number of Families in the U.S. to 24."

This statement got me thinking about the math. Alan May (and others) have stated at Cosa Nostra's peak during the 60's, the total number of U.S. Families were 28. (Tucson has never been included on that list, as it was never a legitimate or recognized Family) Now, Bonanno never specifically lists the 26 Families in his book outright, but does a fair job at an "overview" (my term) at the very beginning of Chapter 3, "The Beginning of the American Mafia."

So the question I am posing to everyone on this Forum is: what were the 4 Families that evolved after the "mid-1930s"?

Rochester, NY was certainly one of them. That leaves 3 to be determined. Springfield, IL, was not mentioned by Bonanno in his "overview", although Rockford, IL, was mentioned. Elizabeth, NJ, was also mentioned in his "overview" intimating that it was created from the remnants of Newark (which I believe is not true). Plus, wasn't Springfield, Il, and Elizabeth, NJ, in existence prior to 1931? He mentions Madison, WI, so that is not one of the missing 4.

To close, I would like to "put the question out there", what were the 4 Families "created" after the mid-1930s that were not in existence then (according to Bonanno)????

Regards,
BeatiPaoli

P.S. My apologies if this topic/issue has already been discussed elsewhere on this Forum.

Besides Bonanno's revelation in his book is there any is there any other documentation that there was a family in Birmingham AL.

by **Snakes** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:26 am

At that point, they were probably lumped in with Chicago and Milwaukee.

by **johngotti2018** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:31 am

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

Mary Ferrell 1968

1)NY (5 Families)
2)New England (Raymond Patriarca)
3)New Jersey (Samuel Decavalcante)
4)Buffalo,NY (Steve Magaddino)
5)Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania (Sebastian LaRocca)
6)Upstate Pennsylvania (Russell Bufalino)
7)Cleveland,Ohio (John Scalish)
8)Kansas City,Missouri (Nicholas Civella)
9)Detroit,Michigan(Anthony Zerilli)
10)New Orleans,Louisiana (Carlos Marcello)
11)Chicago Outfit (John Cerone)
12)Milwaukee,Wisconsin (Frank Balestrieri)
13)Denver,Colorado (James Coletti)
14)Los Angeles,California (Nick Licata)
15)San Josè,California (Joseph Cerrito)
16)San Francisco,California (Joseph Lanza)
17)Tampa (Trafficante)
18)Dallas (Joseph Civello)
19)St. Louis,Missouri (Anthony Giordano)
20)Springfield,Illinois (Frank Zito)

by **johngotti2018** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:29 am

cavita wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:20 am
Frank wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:31 am
johngotti2018 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 4:31 am https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

Mary Ferrell 1968

1)NY (5 Families)
2)New England (Raymond Patriarca)
3)New Jersey (Samuel Decavalcante)
4)Buffalo,NY (Steve Magaddino)
5)Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania (Sebastian LaRocca)
6)Upstate Pennsylvania (Russell Bufalino)
7)Cleveland,Ohio (John Scalish)
8)Kansas City,Missouri (Nicholas Civella)
9)Detroit,Michigan(Anthony Zerilli)
10)New Orleans,Louisiana (Carlos Marcello)
11)Dallas,Texas (Joseph Civello)
12)Milwaukee,Wisconsin (Frank Balestrieri)
13)Denver,Colorado (James Coletti)
14)Los Angeles,California (Nick Licata)
15)San Josè,California (Joseph Cerrito)
16)San Francisco,California (Joseph Lanza)
17)Tampa (Trafficante)
18)Dallas (Joseph Civello)
19)St. Louis,Missouri (Anthony Giordano)
20)Springfield,Illinois (Frank Zito)
They overlooked the Philadelphia, Rockford and Madison Families.
Chicago must have died out by 1968 as they're not listed either. The FBI can't get everything right I guess.

Sorry for Chicago but in the mary ferrell fbi files there are no rockford or madison.

by **Wiseguy** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:10 am

cavita wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:20 amChicago must have died out by 1968 as they're not listed either. The FBI can't get everything right I guess.

If you click on the link (and scroll through) you'll see Chicago is listed. Anyway, the 1960s were still a time of info gathering for the feds. And the Intel became more consistent as the years went on.

by **cavita** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:20 am

Frank wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:31 am
johngotti2018 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 4:31 am https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

Mary Ferrell 1968

1)NY (5 Families)
2)New England (Raymond Patriarca)
3)New Jersey (Samuel Decavalcante)
4)Buffalo,NY (Steve Magaddino)
5)Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania (Sebastian LaRocca)
6)Upstate Pennsylvania (Russell Bufalino)
7)Cleveland,Ohio (John Scalish)
8)Kansas City,Missouri (Nicholas Civella)
9)Detroit,Michigan(Anthony Zerilli)
10)New Orleans,Louisiana (Carlos Marcello)
11)Dallas,Texas (Joseph Civello)
12)Milwaukee,Wisconsin (Frank Balestrieri)
13)Denver,Colorado (James Coletti)
14)Los Angeles,California (Nick Licata)
15)San Josè,California (Joseph Cerrito)
16)San Francisco,California (Joseph Lanza)
17)Tampa (Trafficante)
18)Dallas (Joseph Civello)
19)St. Louis,Missouri (Anthony Giordano)
20)Springfield,Illinois (Frank Zito)
They overlooked the Philadelphia, Rockford and Madison Families.

Chicago must have died out by 1968 as they're not listed either. The FBI can't get everything right I guess.

by **SILENT PARTNERZ** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:35 am

Frank wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:31 am
johngotti2018 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 4:31 am https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

Mary Ferrell 1968

1)NY (5 Families)
2)New England (Raymond Patriarca)
3)New Jersey (Samuel Decavalcante)
4)Buffalo,NY (Steve Magaddino)
5)Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania (Sebastian LaRocca)
6)Upstate Pennsylvania (Russell Bufalino)
7)Cleveland,Ohio (John Scalish)
8)Kansas City,Missouri (Nicholas Civella)
9)Detroit,Michigan(Anthony Zerilli)
10)New Orleans,Louisiana (Carlos Marcello)
11)Dallas,Texas (Joseph Civello)
12)Milwaukee,Wisconsin (Frank Balestrieri)
13)Denver,Colorado (James Coletti)
14)Los Angeles,California (Nick Licata)
15)San Josè,California (Joseph Cerrito)
16)San Francisco,California (Joseph Lanza)
17)Tampa (Trafficante)
18)Dallas (Joseph Civello)
19)St. Louis,Missouri (Anthony Giordano)
20)Springfield,Illinois (Frank Zito)
They overlooked the Philadelphia, Rockford and Madison Families.

Dallas listed twice

by **Frank** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:31 am

johngotti2018 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 4:31 am https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

Mary Ferrell 1968

1)NY (5 Families)
2)New England (Raymond Patriarca)
3)New Jersey (Samuel Decavalcante)
4)Buffalo,NY (Steve Magaddino)
5)Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania (Sebastian LaRocca)
6)Upstate Pennsylvania (Russell Bufalino)
7)Cleveland,Ohio (John Scalish)
8)Kansas City,Missouri (Nicholas Civella)
9)Detroit,Michigan(Anthony Zerilli)
10)New Orleans,Louisiana (Carlos Marcello)
11)Dallas,Texas (Joseph Civello)
12)Milwaukee,Wisconsin (Frank Balestrieri)
13)Denver,Colorado (James Coletti)
14)Los Angeles,California (Nick Licata)
15)San Josè,California (Joseph Cerrito)
16)San Francisco,California (Joseph Lanza)
17)Tampa (Trafficante)
18)Dallas (Joseph Civello)
19)St. Louis,Missouri (Anthony Giordano)
20)Springfield,Illinois (Frank Zito)

They overlooked the Philadelphia, Rockford and Madison Families.

by **cavita** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 6:24 am

B. wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:34 pm Madison was its own distinct family, with members from the same area of Sicily as the Milwaukee membership. They were very much like small Sicilian coscas pre-1960s. They had their own administration, but seem to have operated under some amount of direction from Milwaukee. They also seem to have only been marginally involved in crime, as most of their leading members were heavily involved in the cheese business, which took up most of their time.

As best as can be ascertained-

Madison, Wisconsin started out as a loose band of Italian bootleggers who organized under Benedetto DiSalvo, who later FBI informants tagged as the first LCN boss in that city. After the murder of Capone rival Giuseppe Aiello in Chicago in 1930, many of Aiello’s supporters fled the city with some settling in Milwaukee. This included the cousin of Giuseppe Aiello, Joe Aiello and Carlo Caputo. Both Aiello and Caputo were said to have been “made” in Milwaukee and then settled in Madison in 1935 and worked under DiSalvo. Sometime in the 1950s DiSalvo handed over the reins to Caputo and Aiello then became Caputo’s underboss.

Rockford, Illinois also started out as a loose band of Italian bootleggers who split into two factions- Musso and Giovingo. A Milwaukee informant stated that Rockford’s first official boss was Tony Musso and that while Musso was in prison, Filippo Caltagerone was “acting boss.” The only time Musso spent in prison was from February 1931 to September 1932 for liquor conspiracy. This means that Musso was designated as boss at least by February 1931. The Giovingo faction would lose Joe Giovingo to murder in August 1930 and head of that faction, Paul Giovingo, would be murdered in February 1933.

Springfield, Illinois also was a wide open bootlegging city in the 1920s and 1930s. Salvatore Zito first came to the United States from San Giuseppe Iato, Sicily in 1907 and stayed briefly in Frankfort, New York before moving to Selma, Alabama for a time. His brother Frank immigrated to Selma in 1910 and then both brothers were in Springfield, Illinois by 1914 when Salvatore was arrested for sending Black Hand extortion letters. In 1915 Frank Zito and John Cavallaro were charged with the murder of Sam Billicci but they were found not guilty. Two other brothers, Anthony and Joe, settled in Springfield around 1923 with Anthony staying and Joe moving to Rockford in 1930 aligning himself with Tony Musso and eventually becoming consigliere. Three other brothers, Carl, Pietro and Filippo remained in San Giuseppe Iato with reports stating that Filippo had been a longtime influential member of the SGI family. Several sources later stated that Frank Zito had organized the Springfield family sometime around 1931 and remained its boss until his death in 1974.

by **johngotti2018** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 4:31 am

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

Mary Ferrell 1968

1)NY (5 Families)
2)New England (Raymond Patriarca)
3)New Jersey (Samuel Decavalcante)
4)Buffalo,NY (Steve Magaddino)
5)Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania (Sebastian LaRocca)
6)Upstate Pennsylvania (Russell Bufalino)
7)Cleveland,Ohio (John Scalish)
8)Kansas City,Missouri (Nicholas Civella)
9)Detroit,Michigan(Anthony Zerilli)
10)New Orleans,Louisiana (Carlos Marcello)
11)Dallas,Texas (Joseph Civello)
12)Milwaukee,Wisconsin (Frank Balestrieri)
13)Denver,Colorado (James Coletti)
14)Los Angeles,California (Nick Licata)
15)San Josè,California (Joseph Cerrito)
16)San Francisco,California (Joseph Lanza)
17)Tampa (Trafficante)
18)Dallas (Joseph Civello)
19)St. Louis,Missouri (Anthony Giordano)
20)Springfield,Illinois (Frank Zito)

by **Confederate** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:02 am

Snakes wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 5:30 am The families listed as still having living members by the FBI's indices in 1997 were:

Bonanno
Buffalo
Chicago
Cleveland
Colombo
DeCavalcante
Denver
Detroit
Gambino
Genovese
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Luchesse
Madison
Milwaukee
New England
New Orleans
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Pittston (Bufalino)
Rochester
Rockford
San Francisco
San Jose
St. Louis
Tampa
Tucson

If you eliminate Tuscon, (which is really part of the Bonnano Family), you have 26 Families. 26 seems to be the magic number that somehow, someway, always gets quoted.

by B. » Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:56 pm

Fratianno also made a comment about Calumet City formerly having its own "boss". Note that the book almost exclusively refers to Chicago crew leaders as "capos", so this is in contrast to that. Could be a reference to Chicago Heights, which was its own family originally.

edit: Inspired by Morello's article that was posted, I'm of the opinion like she is that Philly likely had ~3 distinct mafia groups before Sabella. Chicago area had 2 Sicilian families, I believe, plus possibly a separate Iowa family in that area. The Riberesi had established their club in NJ by the early 1920s and direct descendents of well-known DeCavs were established in Elizabeth shortly after the turn of the century, with those names being likely mafiosi, so it's not unreasonable to think that there were two NJ families, plus the 5 families in NJ/NYC area by the 1910s. When Gentile talks abut assembly meetings, he makes it sound like there were a significantly larger number of family representatives than the normal leader/assistant arrangement we know of would total, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that some of these areas had a few smaller groups that were later consolidated into one family as relatively larger family sizes became the norm in the USA.

by **Stroccos** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:33 pm

SILENT PARTNERZ wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:02 pm
Stroccos wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:56 am
SILENT PARTNERZ wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 10:05 am
Stroccos wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:38 am Interesting that fraitiano said that Steubenville Ohio had its own family , James tripodi was the boss there and reported to Pittsburgh ? and was tied in with Cleveland as well
From yours and JCB's posts, it seems that each town, Akron, Warren, now Steubenville, etc. had their
own leader or semi-autonomous group. Some or all probably answered in some capacity to Cleve; Pitt; Youngstown
bosses. Seems the entire 'rust belt' was covered.
The Cleveland syndicate had interests almost nation wide
Being that faraitiano was from Cleveland and tight delsanter and James licavoli ,I find it interesting that he said Steubenville is its own family , he could of just meant mob activity was there
Agreed, 1st I ever heard of a Steubenville Family. JCB, any thoughts?

James Tripodi I believe was a capo in the larocca crime family , while he “rights” to stubenville and probably ran it as he saw fit , I believed he would answer to pitt. I thought he was with Cleveland because of how close he was with the Milano’s but according to fbi informant he was with Pittsburg

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Number of Families according to Bill Bonanno

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