THE BLACK HAND FORUM

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZWH4g3VHI4

We just recorded a 4-hour podcast on this. What was the Combaneesh? Asked and answered.

Maybe we can get it out tomorrow. If not, soon.

The affiliation of Sicilians with the Calabrian Camorra raises the question of whether any Sicilians from an established mafia clan joined the Camorra or if they only recruited guys outside of that background. If the Banana Society members were truly Camorristi in addition to mafiosi the answer is ...

The Sicilian who was a high-ranking 'ndranghetista is Calogero Marceno, the capo-locale of 'ndrina Zagari in Taurianova, and he came from San Cataldo, Caltanissetta. Gaetano Costa from Messina held similar rank but in Messina proper and what sets Marceno apart is he was from a comune with a mafia h...

This brings to mind Johnstown, PA, where there was not only a distinct Cosa Nostra Family separate from Pittsburgh but also a Calabrian Camorra society under Calabro who partnered in extortion with Sicilian mafiosi throughout Western PA. Still, this is much different from Birmingham given Western P...

Speaking of the Pennsylvania/Ontario/Buffalo area, in 1918 an individual named Giuseppe Mammona (sometime spelled Mammone) was involved in an attempted murder in Lackawanna, a town located south of Buffalo not far from Pennsylvania and the Canadian border (see here details here https://theblackhand...

There was also a Dominick Musolino killed in Buffalo in 1912 and Francesco Rangatore from Trabia was a witness, a likely relative of future Buffalo member Sam Rangatore who was originally from the Trabia colony in Johnstown. So these Trabia / Calabria circles keep overlapping. Yes. Given these inte...

Good stuff Antimafia. The Joe Musolino of Canada was a cousin of the infamous one back in Santo Stefano di Aspromonte, is that right? I suspect Stefano Zoccoli of Pittsburgh (and later head of the San Jose consiglio) was a relative of the infamous one in Calabria as he was from Santo Stefano, his m...

De sgarro wasn't the only one, there was de sangue (good at knife fighting) and presumably there were others. As far as Reno, I don't know. But both the 1910's Navy Streeters and the guys taking in the 60's were Campanian. Also there was one source that said the Genovese had a capo in Seattle or som...

Doti refers to earned merit such as "de sgarro" or "de sangue." Giovinotto, picciotto, camorrista are the grades/classes of membership. A picciotto who has committed enough acts on behalf of the society becomes a picciotto de sgarro after a formal recognition. “Dote” (literally ...

Excellent notes and analysis. I’ve pondered the “Reno” thing and can only conclude that it had to be a mistranstscription. Unclear to me what locality DeCarlo was actually referring to. The “pig language” thing is notable, as the 19th century Camorra in Italy used a coded language/secret language a...

It's confusing stuff, especially given the term society and how that can refer to so many things- the entire society, the local society, classes of the society, the district. Someone who holds camorrista in the Pendino district is A an honored society member B a member of the Naples loggia C a membe...