THE BLACK HAND FORUM

cobra wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2024 11:56 am - you can also try saja

HairyKnuckles wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2024 9:54 am This is a long, long shot but I feel this could possibly have some merit. If we assume that the phonetic "Cheegusae" is a first and a last name combined, then the last name could be Saia. It´s a decently common last name throughout Italy and more common on Sicily than the other areas located in the southern parts of the mainland.


Saia.png


And if we assume that the first part is "Cheech" or a variation of it, this individuals first name must have been Francesco or Francisco. The nickname "Chico" or "Chicko" makes some sense. Chico Saia.

I found a Francesco Saia, born in ca 1872, living in Brooklyn (Gravesend section), a polisher of furniture by trade. Maybe I have not not looked wide enough but I was not able to find a criminal record or any arrests this guy could be tied to. This of course, does not necessarily exclude him from being involved, since we know many members back then actually had no criminal records to their name (if I am on the right track here).

I found a couple of other Frank Saias. One of them was living on the Lower East Side (East Village), was arrested in 1908 after he had attempted to shoot a man. This Frank Saia claimed he was 24 years old when arrested and that he was a tailor by trade. So if he was telling the truth, he was born ca 1884. However, the US Census show, that this man was actually born ca 1892.

The other Frank Saia that I found and who had a record was living in Astoria, Queens. He was born ca 1892 and was a salesman of yeast. According to the 1930 US Census, he was living with his wife, a mother in law (Beatrice Gambino) and a brother in law (Frank Gambino) in same household. The Gambino name may not mean anything but I`m mentioning it anyway. This Frank Saia was arrested in 1930 with three others for illegally cooking alcohol stills, an operation that was based in Ozone Park, Queens. The three others were (names possibly butchered) Frank Colochico (42), Frank Caltabelotta (32) and Paolo Puccio (31).

Like I said, this is a long, long shot in finding out who this "Cheegusae" was. I guess an accurate DOD for these guys (which I have not yet found) could settle the matter. Valachi claimed "Cheegusae" died in 1936. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

chin_gigante wrote: ↑Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:59 pm Any info at all on 'Che Gusage'? All I've heard about him is from Valachi's testimony where he says Gusage was acting boss for a year before Costello (presumably after Genovese fled the country?)

Chris Christie wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 3:42 am

Antiliar wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:51 pm

Chris Christie wrote: ↑Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:16 pm
Morello and Reina actually went into a business together in 1924 so it doesn't seem like there was bad blood on the surface.

A lot can happen in six years.

Indeed it can. Which is why it's worth mentioning that we don't know if Reina's murder in 1930 is in any way retribution for the 1921 debacle. I would argue the evidence points to no simply for the business Morello/Reina entered into together; that he wasn't murdered sooner after D'Aquila's Oct 28 murder; and that there was no attempt on the part of the Gen's reabsorb their former Bronx chapter.

There's always a level of plotting and treachery, perhaps more pronounced between the Gam/Gen in the 1920's but "the sitdown" is a sacred thing, real or imagined. It allowed for D'Aquila to have complete deniability for the LoMonte murder just 6 months after two of his own (presumable) top guys were murdered.

D'Aquila circa 1913 and 1923 may have been two different people in terms of how he handled matters. By all accounts when Morello and Lupo were released they were given a banquet attended by people all across NYC, doesn't seem like they had problems with D'Aquila until after Loiacano was murdered. We really don't know the full details as statements are ambiguous: "they tried to return to power," this means Morello was trying to retake his old position but which one, Boss of the Corleonesi or Boss of Bosses? We don't know. We could theorize either way: that Morello wanted to retake control over the group he founded (and who apparently had the support of the majority of their East Harlem and Lower Manhattan members) so he asked Loiacano to step down and when he refused he was killed. Or the more Machiavellian Shakespearian take would be Morello wanted both positions back and the first task was becoming head of a family again, which if anything happened to the current BOB he would be a candidate with seniority. Either way, D'Aquila didn't take too well to someone else making executive changes in another Family, which is somewhat dictatorial.

It's somewhat ironic that Loiacano was a Little Italy guy since the 1890's and following his murder, the only ones who opted not to follow his murderers were in the Bronx. Every other Gen in lower NY fell in with Morello/Masseria/Yale etc. That's why I dislike the Genovese described as a "new" Family when its foundations date back 25 years. The same could be said for the Luccheses, many of whom went to the Bronx for the same reason people began going to Brooklyn: improved financial status, ability to buy property and no longer pay the miserable rent that Itals so very much detested, this goes back to the 1900's. So the Luccheses didn't appear out of nowhere either. They maintained very close ties to their East Harlem roots and many are related. East Harlem was shared between them and up unto the 1970's the FBI was having a difficult time identifying who was with who, it wouldn't surprise me if there's more than a few so-called Gen or Lucchese members whose memberships were actually vice versa.

Pogo The Clown wrote: ↑Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:10 pm I know he was betrayed but you'd figure he would have smelled a trap a mile away when it was suggested they go to an empty restaurant out in the open in the middle of an all out war.


Pogo