Vancouver "mafia" under Joe Gentile

[antimafia]

^^^^
Although some posters may have a hard time believing me because of how much I post about only a limited number of subjects, mafia groups, and individuals, I have always been astounded by the depth and breadth of Paolo Violi's connections. To whom is he not connected? is the question that the producers of Connections probably asked themselves, as they discovered that Violi seemed to be the hub of a wheel with many spokes.

At Violi's funeral in 1978, some of the numerous floral wreaths had been sent from people in Vancouver.

Tom Blickman's "The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba" 1997 paper, although a bit dated, still offers good information and conjectures about various individuals, groups, and events. Blickman thinks Nicola Gentile introduced the Caruana-Cuntrera clan to people in the US. Blickman wrote:

When and how the Cuntrera-Caruana clan became involved in drug trafficking is unknown. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) the family was part of heroin-smuggling networks to the US the 1940s onwards. Their names appeared at investigations in such famous cases as the French Connection in the 1970s and the Pizza Connection in the 1980s. (24)

A good guess would be that they were introduced by the notorious Sicilian-American gangster and associate of Lucky Luciano, Nicola Gentile. 'Zu Cola' had also been born in Siculiana, but moved to the US at the turn of the century. In 1937 he was caught red-handed trafficking in narcotics, but – on the order of his American bosses – had jumped bail and returned to Sicily. (25)

If anyone wants me to reproduce footnotes 24 and 25 (see numbers in parentheses above), let me know.

In the same article, Blickman wrote the following in footnote 43:

Cattolica Eraclea lies a dozen miles north of Siculiana. Many affiliated mafiosi of the Cuntrera-Caruana clan were born there: Nick Rizzuto and his son Vito, the Mongiovì's and Gerlando Sciascia. For a while Cattolica Eraclea was also the home town of Nick Gentile (see: Michele Pantaleone, "Mafia e politica", Einaudi editore: Turin 1962, p.214.) One of the Mongiovì's is married with a Gentile.

So perhaps Nicola Gentile's ties to Montreal, including to people operating in Montreal, led to Violi being introduced to Joe Gentile and others in the Gentile group in Vancouver?

[johnny_scootch]

For comparisons sake its worth noting that Violi's children had godfathers the likes of Joe Gentile, John Papalia and Vic Cotroni. It's clear Paolo used that godfather role to strengthen his criminal ties with top guys because they certainly aren't foot soldiers.

[B.]

For comparisons sake its worth noting that Violi's children had godfathers the likes of Joe Gentile, John Papalia and Vic Cotroni. It's clear Paolo used that godfather role to strengthen his criminal ties with top guys because they certainly aren't foot soldiers.

A great point, though we see examples in smaller US families where soldiers represented towns outside of the family's normal base but who were hardly "just soldiers", so if Gentile was a soldier in another group it isn't necessarily a sign that he lacked power/influence in his area. Personally I love the idea of an obscure Cosa Nostra family that managed to remain unidentified (just look at the Birmingham family), but I could see any number of possibilities here. Hoping we can piece more of the story together...!

[B.]

I saw that Buffalo-Hamilton member Dante "Daniel" Gasbarrini was arrested in Vancouver in the late 1940s for drug trafficking along with Carmen Chiovitti. The heroin was believed to have been brought into the US from Mexico, then taken to Hamilton via Buffalo, then from Hamilton to Vancouver via these two men. The operation was believed to have been supervised by Gasbarrini's father-/brother-in-law Tony Sylvestro.

From a 1950 RCMP report:

During January 1949, information was received to the effect that two men,
Carmen Chiovitti and Dan Gasberini, were registered at a hotel in Vancouver
and there was reason to suspect that they had some connection with the traffic
in illicit drugs. Members of our Drug Squad obtained an adjoining room from
which they were able to overhear conversations carried on in the next room and
to observe persons entering and leaving.
It soon became évident that a syndicate controlled from Eastern Canada
and employing local peddlers was planning the systematic sale of narcotics in
Vancouver. Chiovitti and Gasberini returned to Eastern Canada presumably to
arrange for the supply of drugs, and following their departure persistent observation over the movements of the others made it possible to locate certain caches
of drugs, to extract samples of same and to photograph an addict removing a
cache from its hiding place. Additional evidence in the form of code notes,
attempts by Bohach to purchase quantities of soluble capsules (for preparing the
heroin for sale) and proof that he had transmitted large sums of money to Dan
Gasberini in Hamilton, Ont., via telegraph, were also obtained.
On May 28, 1949, warrants were issued and the following persons accused
in the conspiracy were taken into custody; in Vancouver—John Smokler, Mike
Cushman, Steve Bohach, Jake Goldhar, Irving Hess, Nick Agostino, Benny Ugar;
in Toronto—Carmen Chiovitti, Frank Smoklet; in Hamilton—Dan Gasberini,
and on July 12, 1949, all were committed for trial.

I believe Chiovitti died in 1954.

The only Italian in the Vancouver group was Nick Agostino. This may be the same Nicholas Agostino of Vancouver b. 1921 who died in 1982.

[B.]

So Gerlando DiSalvo was close in age to his uncle Joe Gentile and born in Agrigento himself.

Also interesting that it mentions a connection to the Gambino family. Barese was of a Neapolitan background. Nicola Gentile of course ended up with the future Gambino family by the time his relatives look to have settled in Vancouver.

[B.]

Since we have been able to connect Joe Gentile as the nephew of Nicola Gentile, I thought I'd include the info I've found on Nicola and Gerlando's brother Vincenzo, who appears to have been the first relative in North America. Maybe something in his story will provide a lead on the Vancouver relatives, maybe not.

Their brother Vincenzo Gentile was born in 1881. He looks to have first come to the US in 1902 or 1903. Sometime after his brothers visited him in Kansas City and St. Louis in 1903 and 1905 respectively, he traveled back to Sicily and returned in 1906, with his arrival contact being listed as a cousin in NYC, Domenico Taormina. Taormina is the same man that Nicola Gentile identifies in his memoirs as his compaesano who he met with after arriving to the US in 1903 and claims Taormina was involved in helping illegal immigrants. So Taormina was the NYC contact for both Gentile brothers over these years.

By 1914, it looks like Vincenzo was living or staying in New York where he met Nicola following Nicola's stay in Quebec. The Gentile brothers then went to San Francisco to sell burlap. In Pueblo, CO the brothers split up and Vincenzo went to NYC with plans of returning to Sicily. He doesn't say whether or not Vincenzo was a mafioso, but Nicola was an established mafioso by this point and as we can see, the brothers visited cities with established mafia families in San Francisco and Pueblo. I should point out again that Vincenzo Gentile looks to have run in mafia circles on his own in Kansas City before Nicola visited him (and Nicola wasn't yet a mafioso), then moved on his own to St. Louis which was another mafia city (with its own influential Agrigento faction).

Vincenzo Gentile went back to Sicily sometime after 1915 and returned in early 1921, where he cites "Nicolo" Gentile as his departure contact in Siculiana; we know Nicola returned to Sicily on occasion so it could have been him, though it looks like there was also an uncle to Vincenzo, Nicola, and Gerlando named Nicolo Gentile in Siculiana so could be him.

Vincenzo was arriving in 1921 to a cousin, Silvestre Cordaro, on the Lower East Side. It looks like Cordaro was from Casteltermini, Agrigento. Limey has Cordaro listed as an "unconfirmed member" of no specified family -- not sure if he got his name from this immigration record or has some other reason to list him as a possible member. Would be curious if Cordaro shows up elsewhere. Given his Agrigento roots, apparent relation to the Gentiles, and residence in the LES and possibly later Brooklyn, this would make Cordaro a likely Gambino member if he was indeed a mafioso.

Vincenzo Gentile would die two years later in 1923 in NYC and was living at the same Lower East Side address Cordaro was listed at in 1921 at the time of his death. His cause of death is unknown to me and he was only 42, with his wife said to be already deceased. He was listed as a silk manufacturer at the time of his death, so his professional trajectory went from laborer in the midwest in the early 1900s, to traveling burlap salesman with Nicola, to silk manufacturer in NYC. Because Nicola never confirms nor denies his brother's membership, I would be comfortable seeing Vincenzo Gentile as a possible mafioso.

Another possible Gentile cousin was an Angelo Navaca/Novaco (unsure the actual last name) who shows up on an immigration record but I can't confirm his last name or find any other info.

[antimafia]

^^^^
These are the dates of birth and death -- incomplete -- I have for Joe Gentile and Gerry Di Salvo:

- Gentile b. February 9, 1925 (Siculiana); d. January 27, 1995 (Vancouver).
- Di Salvo d. Jun 13, 1995, Vancouver (see https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2557346 ... ouver_sun/). Approx. year of birth: 1933 or 1934 (likely born in Siculiana).

[B.]

In 1963, the latest information the FBI had on Nicolo Gentile had him residing in Cattolica Eraclea. Obviously he had fallen from grace but it shows the Gentiles of Siculiana were connected to Cattolica Eraclea, which isn't a surprise, but could point to Gentile's nephew in Vancouver being connected to the Cattolica Eraclea and Siculiana element in Montreal and Toronto.

[antimafia]

In 1963, the latest information the FBI had on Nicolo Gentile had him residing in Cattolica Eraclea. Obviously he had fallen from grace but it shows the Gentiles of Siculiana were connected to Cattolica Eraclea, which isn't a surprise, but could point to Gentile's nephew in Vancouver being connected to the Cattolica Eraclea and Siculiana element in Montreal and Toronto.

In Sicilian journalist Michele Pantaleone's 1962 book, he had written about Gentile's living in Cattolica Eraclea at the time. If you go to https://books.google.ca/books/about/Maf ... edir_esc=y, you can search inside the digitized edition of Mafia e politica: 1943-1962 -- see pp. 214 and 217. I wonder if the FBI's information about Gentile came, in part or in whole, from the book.

[B.]

In 1963, the latest information the FBI had on Nicolo Gentile had him residing in Cattolica Eraclea. Obviously he had fallen from grace but it shows the Gentiles of Siculiana were connected to Cattolica Eraclea, which isn't a surprise, but could point to Gentile's nephew in Vancouver being connected to the Cattolica Eraclea and Siculiana element in Montreal and Toronto.

In Sicilian journalist Michele Pantaleone's 1962 book, he had written about Gentile's living in Cattolica Eraclea at the time. If you go to https://books.google.ca/books/about/Maf ... edir_esc=y, you can search inside the digitized edition of Mafia e politica: 1943-1962 -- see pp. 214 and 217. I wonder if the FBI's information about Gentile came, in part or in whole, from the book.

It's very possible they took it from the book or from the same source the book got it from. Thanks for sharing,

The FBI was trying to determine if Gentile was still living in Cattolica Eraclea so that they could set up an interview.

[B.]

^^^^
Although some posters may have a hard time believing me because of how much I post about only a limited number of subjects, mafia groups, and individuals, I have always been astounded by the depth and breadth of Paolo Violi's connections. To whom is he not connected? is the question that the producers of Connections probably asked themselves, as they discovered that Violi seemed to be the hub of a wheel with many spokes.

At Violi's funeral in 1978, some of the numerous floral wreaths had been sent from people in Vancouver.

Tom Blickman's "The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba" 1997 paper, although a bit dated, still offers good information and conjectures about various individuals, groups, and events. Blickman thinks Nicola Gentile introduced the Caruana-Cuntrera clan to people in the US. Blickman wrote:

When and how the Cuntrera-Caruana clan became involved in drug trafficking is unknown. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) the family was part of heroin-smuggling networks to the US the 1940s onwards. Their names appeared at investigations in such famous cases as the French Connection in the 1970s and the Pizza Connection in the 1980s. (24)

A good guess would be that they were introduced by the notorious Sicilian-American gangster and associate of Lucky Luciano, Nicola Gentile. 'Zu Cola' had also been born in Siculiana, but moved to the US at the turn of the century. In 1937 he was caught red-handed trafficking in narcotics, but – on the order of his American bosses – had jumped bail and returned to Sicily. (25)

If anyone wants me to reproduce footnotes 24 and 25 (see numbers in parentheses above), let me know.

In the same article, Blickman wrote the following in footnote 43:

Cattolica Eraclea lies a dozen miles north of Siculiana. Many affiliated mafiosi of the Cuntrera-Caruana clan were born there: Nick Rizzuto and his son Vito, the Mongiovì's and Gerlando Sciascia. For a while Cattolica Eraclea was also the home town of Nick Gentile (see: Michele Pantaleone, "Mafia e politica", Einaudi editore: Turin 1962, p.214.) One of the Mongiovì's is married with a Gentile.

So perhaps Nicola Gentile's ties to Montreal, including to people operating in Montreal, led to Violi being introduced to Joe Gentile and others in the Gentile group in Vancouver?

I glossed over this post at the time, but it's an incredible post worth bringing up again.

It would make complete sense that Nick Gentile, as one of the most prominent US mafia figures from Siculiana for decades and a heroin trafficker with ties to Canada, would have helped directly or indirectly pave the way for the Caruana-Cuntreras in North America. Siculiana isn't a large town and its mafia would have been close knit like every other Sicilian mafia village, so it isn't a reach to believe that if nothing else Gentile's relatives knew the Caruana and Cuntrera relatives. Because Gentile's relatives in Vancouver are suspected mafia members, we can follow the network back to the Siculiana network that is now called the "Caruana-Cuntrera group", though as discussed in a recent Montreal thread, simply being part of the Caruana-Cuntrera group doesn't confirm affiliation as some of them are in different families.

Also your comment on Violi at the start has the ring of truth to it the more I find out. Seeing those docs about Violi being a Cotroni representative to the US as early as the 1960s and other information from the period points to him already having importance in Canada back then, so who knows what connections he was making. The baptismal relationship between Violi and Gentile indicates that Violi was well-connected to this Agrigento network in addition to the Cattolicensi joining his crew in Montreal. I'd be curious too who made the introduction between Violi and Settecasi.

[B.]

Lennert mentioned that a Giuseppe Celona may have been an earlier leader in Vancouver. It appears he was a prominent bootlegger and racketeer in the area, with his real name being Giuseppe Fiorenza. If I have the right one, he officially used the name Celona in Canada and was b.1897 and d.1958. Given his DOB and that an article claims he immigrated into the US in 1913, it looks like he came from Catania province in Sicily. If this is correct, unfortunately it isn't too helpful given that very few early mafiosi were from Catania (one being Antonio Paterno, Mangano/Anastasia capodecina and probable Newark member, father of Joseph) and it's hard to know if Fiorenza/Celona was actually a mafioso or simply a prominent Italian criminal. Catania doesn't easily fit in with the more well-known Sicilian mafia networks that were running in the US at this time.

It also appears that Giuseppe Celona was a very common name in Palma, Agrigento, in the 1800s, though I can't find a record of any Giuseppe Celonas from Palma or Agrigento who match the Vancouver one and given his true surname of Fiorenza this seems unlikely though it would be nice and convenient re: Gentile for there to be an Agrigento connection.

[Antiliar]

Good stuff

[CornerBoy]

where can one find good stuff on KO konigsberg?

Thanks a million

[B.]

New find:

Vincenzo was arriving in 1921 to a cousin, Silvestre Cordaro, on the Lower East Side. It looks like Cordaro was from Casteltermini, Agrigento. Limey has Cordaro listed as an "unconfirmed member" of no specified family -- not sure if he got his name from this immigration record or has some other reason to list him as a possible member. Would be curious if Cordaro shows up elsewhere. Given his Agrigento roots, apparent relation to the Gentiles, and residence in the LES and possibly later Brooklyn, this would make Cordaro a likely Gambino member if he was indeed a mafioso.

Early Cleveland member Antonino Mangione, identified by Nicola Gentile, also arrived to Silvestre Cordaro in NYC when he came from Siculiana. So Cordaro can be connected to both Vincenzo Gentile and Mangione, listed as a "cousin" of both.

Nicola Gentile said Mangione opposed Al Polizzi becoming a Cleveland member because his father was an informant in Sicily which fits because Polizzi was from Siculiana also. Polizzi was sponsored by the non-Sicilians John Angersola and Charles Coletta.