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.

Going through this thread again after a couple of years.

Utica, in its heyday, was proportionally one of the most Italian cities in the US. While big cities like NYC, Philly, Boston, and Chicago had much larger populations in absolute terms, Utica was *far more* Italian per capita.

By all accounts, however, Sicilians comprised a rather small proportion of the Italian population of Utica. The Utica Italian colony was founded in the late 19th century by a group of immigrants from Potenza province, Basilicata. In the subsequent decades, large numbers of immigrants from Bari (in particular the comune of Alberobello), Catanzaro, Frosinone (today in Lazio but then in the old Caserta/Terra di Lavoro province of Campania), and Abruzzo joined them. The much smaller Sicilian population was said to mainly have been composed mainly of people from Palermo province. Thus, the Utica mafia network seems to have been much more Sicilian than the actual Utica Italian community, while the status of the Sciacattani Falcones was almost certainly symptomatic of their place within a broader, national network of Agrigentini rather than simply a consequence of the demographics of Utica, where immigrants from Agrigento would seem to have been a quite small element. I find case studies like this — where the dynamics of the mafia organization/network are clearly not a direct and simple consequence of demographics — very interesting to think about.

Related, but given what we have learned since the OP
about the American Camorra, I would imagine that the Utica area was a major regional hub for Camorra activity in the first decades of the 20th century. As in other localities in the US, there is a specific history to how this element wound up becoming absorbed by the Sicilian mafia network in the area, but, unfortunately, we don’t know the parameters of this for the Utica region. We can see that there was a significant component of Calabresi in the later Utica mafia network, and one can imagine that, given the large community from Catanzaro province, there were surely Camorristi there with close ties to their paesani who were so prominent in the Pittsburgh region as well as Western NY. I don’t have the time to check myself right now, but I’d really wonder how many of these reported “Black Hand” acts of violence in early Utica that you cite actually involved Sicilians. I know well from studying Chicago that the English-language press and LE in this era would often indiscriminately and reflexively refer to all southern Italians as “Sicilians”, particularly when a story involved criminal activities.

As an aside, Scootch brought up the Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damiano. This is really a fascinating topic and an emblem of the perseverance of Italian identity in diaspora. Utica is, of course, in the “Rust Belt”, and by the 1970s the collapse of industry and decline of the local economy in the Mohawk Valley region of NY had resulted in a sharp decline in the Italian-American population of Utica. Coupled with assimilation of younger generations, this demographic decline threatened the viability of the Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damiano, a major event in Utica, held at St Anthony of Padua church and dating back to 1912 (I believe founded by immigrants from Bari province). So the people at St Anthony’s, having heard that Toronto (a major center for “second wave” Italian immigration to North America following WW2) had a large and vibrant Italian community, reached out to people there for assistance in keeping the Utica feast going. This wound up evolving into a close relationship between Toronto and Utica and a big revitalization of the tradition of the Utica Feast, which had previously been under threat of disappearing. As Scootch notes, in recent decades the Feast of Saint Cosmas and Damiano has been one of the largest Italian religious festivals in the US, drawing busloads of attendees from across NY, other US states, and Ontario.

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

Scroll to the bottom of the page, go to "Full editor and Preview" Tab then the "Img-upload" (image upload) tab. Then upload from you photo files.

I'm sure the forum members would be interested in seeing these photos.

mike p.m. me ty

hello b there were sclafani's from bisacquino,

Did they ever say the purpose of the Apalachin meeting in Nov 1957?

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.

Hopefully, I can offer some answers to my family's involvement and non-involvement with Upstate, NY operations.

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

I'm just learning the format of this forum. It's still a little confusing for me.

The Falcone name was the name of the family who adopted Antonio in 1855. Antonia Falcone was 27, and before she married she adopted this boy child who was the illegitimate son of a senator and his secretary (from what we were told in the family.)

Mike Falcone

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.

The name Falcone was the name of the Antonia Falcone, the woman who adopted the young baby who was left as a foundling.

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

Hello,

I saw this in a thread on my great grandfather, Salvatore Falcone. I have photographs from those trips to Italy.

Mike Falcone

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.

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?

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.

Just occasionally these guys act in a socially conscious way.


Pogo

- Another Gambino connection: in 1933, future Gambino NJ captain Antonio Paterno traveled to Sicily with Utica-based Buffalo member Joseph Falcone. Michael DiLeonardo has said his grandfather was close to the Falcones, so we have the Falcone brothers being close to at least two Gambino men connected with Empire Yeast. This is a few years prior to Salvatore Falcone's own travel to Italy, where he's alleged to have donated to the fascists.

- Salvatore and Joseph Falcone's sister married the brother of D'Aquila capodecina Accursio Dimino, Antonino. Not clear if Antonino Dimino was a mafioso, but the Diminos came from Sciacca like the Falcones. Not only is this another connection between the Falcones and the Gambino family, it suggests they were involved with the early Sciacchitani crew under Dimino.

- It is interesting to consider the timing of Accursio Dimino's murder with the Falcones' move from NYC to Utica. The murder of arguably the top Sciacchitano mafia leader in New York happens during the period when the Falcones, Sciacca mafiosi related to Dimino, leave the city. Available info suggests it was the Falcones' father Antonio who initiated the move to Utica.

- The Falcones came from a mafia circle in NYC and immediately became involved in mafia activities with establshed Sicilians upon arrival to Utica, suggesting that there was no "recruitment" process and they were already mafia members/associates who were accepted by the local group.

- The Lima/Aiello/Gambino clan who came to lead the Utica mafia group had come from NYC themselves and given their location and Palermo background likely operated in D'Aquila or Mineo circles, so the idea of Palermitani and Sciacchitani mafia members working together in Utica was similar to what all of these men had already experienced in NYC.

- Many decades later, in the 1980s, an Aiello from Bagheria was living in Buffalo as a heroin trafficker with the Pizza Connection case. Aiello is a common name in Bagheria and there is no indication he is related to the Aiellos from Bagheria who settled in the Utica area. I also haven't been able to connect Domenico Aiello to Joe Aiello of Chicago fame even though both were from Bagheria and lived in the Utica area around the same time. Joe Aiello was most likely involved in mafia circles during his stay given his presence in Frankfort, a Sicilian colony with mafia members from San Giuseppe Iato and Bagheria, among others from outside of Palermo.

- In addition to estimating that Utica had 80-100 made members as already mentioned, Valachi claimed to have known Salvatore Falcone since the 1930s. Valachi had a number of connections to the Buffalo family going back to that time so any information he gives, however strange, is worth mentioning.

- 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.

- The Falcone brothers' mother was a Sclafani. Sclafani is a surname that shows up repeatedly in other mafia-linked Sciacchitani family trees, though I'm unaware of any Sclafanis from Sciacca in the US mafia at the time. The surnames Dimino, Sclafani, Sabella, and Indelicato all show up in connection with each other in Sciacca immigrant family trees, both mafia-linked and otherwise. In 1920, Accursio Dimino had a Salvatore Sclafani living with him but no relation specified. Early San Francisco soldier Luciano Sabella also came from Sciacca and common surnames in his family tree indicate possible connections. No doubt these are common surnames in Sciacca but still could be relations given the small world of the early mafia and the tight network among mafia members from Sciacca in particular.

- Salvatore Falcone's wife was a Provenzano, born in New Orleans. Around the time of her birth, the New Orleans mafia leadership included a Giuseppe Provenzano, with these Provenzanos leaving New Orleans soon after. Falcone and his young wife were married in Trinidad, Colorado in 1911, suggesting that her family had left NO as well. I can't confirm a relation between Falcone's wife's family and Giuseppe Provenzano, only that they share a surname and left NO after both spending time there in the early 1890s.

- Given that Salvatore Falcone was surrounded by mafia figures in every respect of his life, his wife very well could have had her own mafia relations and stops in New Orleans and Colorado would lend something to the idea. Nick Gentile, a leader within the national Sciacca/Agrigento network, visited Colorado as a mafia destination and the early Colorado organization had many members from Agrigento, particularly Lucca Sicula. In fact, the family had leading members from Lucca Sicula, near Sciacca, based in Trinidad around the time Falcone was married there. Early Lucchese soldier Paolo D'Anna, who was from Agrigento province and inducted in Sicily, told his captain Al D'Arco that he was involved in an early mafia war in Colorado, giving another indication of the Sciacca/Agrigento influence in Colorado that may have attracted Falcone before settling in Utica. Utica does not appear to have been a significant part of this Sciacca/Agrigento network but the Falcones' stay in NYC in between likely served as a halfway point and impacted the decision to move to Utica.