THE BLACK HAND FORUM

B. wrote: ↑Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:28 pm

johnny_scootch wrote: ↑Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:38 pm Utica has a huge feast for Saints Cosmas & Damian every year for over 100 years. It's one of the biggest in the country, bus loads of people come down from Canada and all over surrounding area for this one.

Good info -- thanks man. Utica's operations seem to be overwhelmingly Italian in their heyday, moreso than other "small" cities.

MFalconeUticaNY wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2024 9:14 pm

bronx wrote: ↑Thu Jul 12, 2018 7:53 pm B. great work..can you get manifest of whom he may have traveled with to italy?

I have photographs of my great grandfather, Salvatore Falcone in Rome.
There is a photo of Big Papa (as we called him) having breakfast in a hotel room in Rome with an unidentified gentleman.
I haven't figured this message board enough to upload the pictures. I might need some instruction.

Mike Falcone

Rob wrote: ↑Sat Jul 14, 2018 6:37 pm Great thread and again you have to look at what was considered a part of another family or possibly their own. Been a debate on these boards for years Rochester, Rockford etc. Always great for conversation in my opinion.

bronx wrote: ↑Thu Jul 12, 2018 7:53 pm B. great work..can you get manifest of whom he may have traveled with to italy?

B. wrote: ↑Mon Oct 14, 2019 2:41 pm

lennert wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2019 9:22 am Just reviving this interesting topic with a question. Was Falcone the real name of the brothers, or was it Projetto?

I know Projetto is not an uncommon surname in Sciacca, and the Falcone family came to the US under this name. It is also given as an alias both Joseph and Salvatore in the FBN Mafia book.

Attached the manifest showing the arrival of the Falcones/Projettos, as well as a document proving this is indeed the Utica Falcone family.

B, not sure if you know already, but note the father of the Falcone brothers gives his intended destination as his brother-in-law Vincenzo Sabella from 167 Mott Street in New York City. Maybe this was New York City based Falcone soldier Joseph's father?

Hello Lennert, thanks for the reply.

Vincenzo Sabella of Mott Street was definitely Joseph Sabella's father and married to the Falcone brothers' maternal aunt. Here are a couple notes on that from an earlier post in the thread:

- NYC-based Utica soldier Joe Sabella was born in Manhattan in 1913, lived in Brooklyn, and died in Staten Island, 1996. Sabella was the son of Salvatore Falcone's mother's sister. Joseph's father, Vincenzo Sabella, came from Sciacca and was a grocer like the Falcone brothers and their father Antonio Falcone, Vincenzo's brother-in-law.

- Joseph Sabella is unique in that he lived his entire life in NYC but was a made member of a family outside of NYC and NJ, officially belonging to the Magaddino family. His blood relation to the Falcone brothers would account for this, but doesn't quite explain it. It's especially strange because of the many connections between the Falcones/Sabellas and Gambinos, including relation to the Indelicatos and his Sciacca background, which should have made the Gambino family Brooklyn faction an obvious home for Joe Sabella. Maybe it's a testament to Salvatore Falcone's influence/respect that he was allowed to induct a member who lived full-time in NYC.

There was also a Vincenzo "James" Sabella (b.1900) who lived in Brooklyn and, I believe, was a member of an NYC family but I can't recall if his affiliation has ever been officially confirmed. He was was involved in the garment industry and I don't know of any connections to the other Sabellas or if he was from Sciacca like other Sabellas. His associates listed in the FBN book don't make his affiliation obvious.

What I'm particularly curious about is whether the well-known Mike Sabella of the Bonanno family might be connected to the Falcone-related Sabellas, as they all came from Sciacca. Sabella is a common surname in Sciacca, so there may be no connection. I haven't come across much if any connections between the Falcones and the Bonannos, however, as the Utica group didn't share the rest of the Buffalo family's connections to the Bonannos.

--

I read something about Projetto being a surname that was historically given to orphans in Sicily and it's my understanding that the elder Falcone was an orphan. If this is true, neither Falcone nor Projetto would have been their true name, as their true name was unknown, and the elder Falcone may have been legally named Projetto and took on the name Falcone. This might explain why the family continued to use both names in the US.

Pogo The Clown wrote: ↑Thu Jul 12, 2018 12:28 pm

In 1936, Salvatore Falcone visited Italy and made some kind of financial contribution to the fascist government and was praised by Mussolini.

Just occasionally these guys act in a socially conscious way.


Pogo

lennert wrote: ↑Sat Aug 17, 2019 9:22 am Just reviving this interesting topic with a question. Was Falcone the real name of the brothers, or was it Projetto?

I know Projetto is not an uncommon surname in Sciacca, and the Falcone family came to the US under this name. It is also given as an alias both Joseph and Salvatore in the FBN Mafia book.

Attached the manifest showing the arrival of the Falcones/Projettos, as well as a document proving this is indeed the Utica Falcone family.

B, not sure if you know already, but note the father of the Falcone brothers gives his intended destination as his brother-in-law Vincenzo Sabella from 167 Mott Street in New York City. Maybe this was New York City based Falcone soldier Joseph's father?

- NYC-based Utica soldier Joe Sabella was born in Manhattan in 1913, lived in Brooklyn, and died in Staten Island, 1996. Sabella was the son of Salvatore Falcone's mother's sister. Joseph's father, Vincenzo Sabella, came from Sciacca and was a grocer like the Falcone brothers and their father Antonio Falcone, Vincenzo's brother-in-law.

- Joseph Sabella is unique in that he lived his entire life in NYC but was a made member of a family outside of NYC and NJ, officially belonging to the Magaddino family. His blood relation to the Falcone brothers would account for this, but doesn't quite explain it. It's especially strange because of the many connections between the Falcones/Sabellas and Gambinos, including relation to the Indelicatos and his Sciacca background, which should have made the Gambino family Brooklyn faction an obvious home for Joe Sabella. Maybe it's a testament to Salvatore Falcone's influence/respect that he was allowed to induct a member who lived full-time in NYC.

B. wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:22 pm This is a few years prior to Salvatore Falcone's own travel to Italy, where he's alleged to have donated to the fascists.