THE BLACK HAND FORUM

Interestingly enough, the fellow who was arrested and convicted with Failla, Vincenzo Scampolino, was shot to death in an apparent gangland shooting in 1925. Scampolino was married to a Failla, probably related to Salvatore, but not a sister.

Peter Bova was married to the sister of the Adragnas. So he’s another relative by marriage.

His death certificate lists chronic endocarditis as cause of death, a heart disease. So doesn’t seem to have been murdered.

There was also a Giuseppe Vella, born in Palermo on February 16, 1883, to Antonino and Catarina LiVigni. He was Anthony’s uncle, and was also described as “boss” of a Newark lottery. It was actually his daughter who married Pietro Cicciarella, so she was not Anthony’s sister, but his cousin… He died...

Joel, great work on this subject! In a certain FBI file on Newark, there are a few names listed which might be of interest to you, and who might have been members or at least affiliates of the Newark Family. Wondering if you ever came across them: The file lists a Don Santo, and describes him as a w...

I think this Nick Gentile died from influenza in Vancouver in 1918.

Antimafia - I am familiar with the case. Can not remember the exact details, as it has been some time ago I looked into it. If I remember correctly, this was not the well known Nick Gentile. I want to say his parents were Pasquale and his mother’s maiden name was Zaffino or something. His brother Do...

B - A little late, but some background info on Celona: Joe Celona was born March 7, 1897, as Giuseppe Antonio Celona in Bruzzano Zeffirio, Calabria. Father was Domenico Celona, his mother Maria Teresa Fiorenza. He came to Canada by way of Quebec City, together with his father and some brothers. They...

An older brother of Frank (The only born in Palermo in 1889) was baptized in Monreale, the record stating the parents were from Palermo… So there is some kind of Monreale connection… Where I wrote the only born in Palermo, it should have said the one born in Palermo… As for Frank’s fifth son, Eugen...

An older brother of Frank (The only born in Palermo in 1889) was baptized in Monreale, the record stating the parents were from Palermo… So there is some kind of Monreale connection…

I have been trying to locate Francesco DeCavalcante's birth, but it has been a hassle... How sure are we DeCavalcante was really his last name? Might it have been just a title? Reason I ask is that in some newspaper articles, he is mentioned as Marquis, a title for noblemen. Anyway, going by the ava...

The parents of Filippo Candela were Giovanni and Antonina Cuchiara…

According to the FBI, it was the one who died in 1945… List his aliases as Scacco, Sacco and Accuso. Indeed from Camporeale, father Liborio Accurso (Leo) and mother Vita Giglione. Born January 9, 1901. The same file, by the way, notes Intravia disappeared in 1930, and his wife and children moved bac...

According to his obituary, he was once a suspect innthe shotgun slaying of Akron numbers kingpin “Big Mike” Saviolis, for which he was arrested in 1938 in Brooklyn, NY, were he went with his family after the Saviolis murder. He eventually moved back to Akron, and bought an interest in the Victoria C...