B. wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 9:53 pm
Here's an interesting guy:
- Joseph Romano of Youngstown was described as the Sicilian facton's leader before surviving a 1960 shotgun attack then moved to Chicago. He spent time in Sharon PA after that where he associated with "members" previously involved with Sal Marino who by then was in San Jose.
- It looks like this is a Joseph Romano born in Altavilla Milicia in 1900 and living in Youngstown circa 1950 but died in Chicago in 1969. His wife was the sister of Angelo LaMantia of Chicago, who in turn was married to the sister of Milwaukee member Vito Aiello. The Aiellos' mother was the sister of Milwaukee boss Vito Guardalabene and their father Isidoro Aiello was a likely Milwaukee member.
Anyone familiar with Romano or seen other references to him? He appears to have been a Pittsburgh member but was obviously tied in with the Milwaukee and Chicago Families. He apparently spent the last 9 years of his life in Chicago.
JCB1977 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 26, 2023 9:50 am
Joseph "Stoneface" Romano was very close to Charles "Cadillac Charlie" Cavallaro in Youngstown. Back in the 1960's, there was a war between the Calabrian faction in Youngstown headed by Dominic Mallamo and Paul Romeo and the Sicilians and Neapolitans. Romano was shot in his front yard on June 4, 1960 which was about 2 years prior to the Cavallaro bombing death. By the time this happened, Sal Marino was already in California. Marino's key lieutenants in Sharon-Farrell PA were John Scardina and his brother, Philip, also very close to John LaRocca. They assumed control of Marino's rackets which at the time, was undr New Kensington and Kelly Mannarino. The daily take in the late 50's and early 60's from numbers was $2k per day where John Scardina delivered to Kelly Mannarino weekly on Sundays.
As discussed on the board before, in February of 1931, 30-year-old Frank Aiello of Milwaukee was killed by a blast from a sawed-off shotgun through a window of his home, while he sat and played cards with two of his Polish brothers-in-law. Though mistakenly identified by Chicago and Milwaukee papers as a nephew of Chicago's Joe Aiello, Frank was the son of Milwaukee member Isadoro Aiello, apparently of Santa Flavia, and Antonina Guardalabene, daughter of prior Milwaukee boss Vito Guardalabene, also of Santa Flavia. Frank's brother Vito Aiello was made into the Milwaukee Family as well. An investigation uncovered evidence that Frank Aiello was killed by Angelo LaMantia, the husband of Frank and Vito's sister Josephine Aiello and a notorious Chicago/Milwaukee/Racine mafioso from Altavilla Milicia (the motive was said to have stemmed from Frank arguing with LaMantia after the latter married Josephine at a justice of the peace, instead of a formal wedding officiated by a priest). In the 1960s, a Milwaukee CI told the FBI that LaMantia had ordered the killing of Frank Aiello and that the hit was carried out by Jack Enea, leading to bad blood between Vito Aiello and Enea that later came to a head when Enea was himself murdered in 1955, with one of the shooters reputed to have been John Aiello (a younger brother of Frank and Vito).
LaMantia, at that time known for having fled Chicago during the Capone-Aiello war and surfacing as a major player in the bootlegging racket in Racine, promptly went on the lam for the next several years, as law enforcement searched the US, Canada, and Europe for his whereabouts. In 1939, a man going by the name of "Joseph Rizzo" was identified by police in Philadelphia as Angelo LaMantia, and sent to Milwaukee to face charges for the murder of Frank Aiello. In 1940, a witness in Pittsburgh identified Angelo and his brother Pietro LaMantia as the shooters in the June 1931 murder of Morris Curran, a "yeast and sugar baron" during the bootlegging era in Pittsburgh. It would seem that after Frank Aiello's murder, LaMantia had fled to Pittsburgh, which is significant given that his brother-in-law Joe Romano was a longtime gangster based in Youngstown. Pittsburgh police issued a bench warrant for LaMantia, then being held in Milwaukee County jail, and the press reported that apart from his notoriety during the Capone-Aiello war in Chicago and the Frank Aiello murder, LaMantia and his brother were also suspects in a number of "mafia killings in Italy". That same year, immigration authorities began deportation proceedings against LaMantia in Milwaukee, to face trial in Italy for a 1921 murder that LaManatia had allegedly committed when he was 18 (he arrived in Chicago from Altavilla in 1922).
For whatever reason, the deportation proceedings evidently fell apart and LaMantia seems to have either not been charged, or not convicted, on the Aiello and Curran murders, as Angelo LaMantia was soon back living in Chicago with Josephine and their two sons, John and Isadore LaMantia. In 1944, he filed his petition for naturalization, stating that he had married Josephine in 1940 in Philadelphia and that he and his family lived at Huron and Racine in Chicago. Angelo's naturalization was witnessed by Salvatore Fricano, a Lakeview grocer from Altavilla, and Carlo Canale, born in Chicago to parents from Altavilla and Casteldaccia. Canale was a brother of Salvatore Canale, mentioned above in a recent post, a reputed affiliate of Joe Aiello shot to death in Little Sicily in 1928.
Thus, the infamous Angelo LaMantia was in Chicago during the height of the 1940s "Cheese War" between Benevento and Accardo, and living in the Grand Ave Patch no less. I think it is a very good bet that LaMantia was another "sleeper" Sicilian Chicago member, along the lines of guys like Joe Priola, Sam Aiello, "Little Joe Aiello", and Frank Mulea, who made few headlines and kept a low profile.
Angelo owned and operated the LaMantia Garment Factory, located at 230 S Franklin, though he seems to also have remained involved in illegal rackets. In 1944, Angelo LaMantia was nabbed alongside Joe Gagliano in a police raid on a gambling operation at Chicago Ave and Western said to be headed by Tony Capezio (this intersection was the location of Capezio's floral shop as well). This, coupled with his place of residence, could indicate that LaMantia was a member of the Elmwood Park crew. Also worth noting that Gaspare "Jasper" Trappani, who was also arrested in the 1944 gambling raid with LaMantia and Joe Gags, lived on the 1500 block of N Mohawk. Trappani, who died in 1951, was born in 1905 in Palermo and arrived in Chicago in 1929, where he married Rosa Muscia, born in Chicago to parents from Altavilla.
By 1950, the LaMantias were living on the 1500 block of N Mohawk (at Blackhawk) on the Near Northside, where Gaspare Trappani lived. Son Isadore LaMantia was an army corporal who served in combat during the Korean War and was wounded that year. Isadore, who was born in 1931 in Milwaukee, attended Wells HS along with Joey Lombardo and Johnny DiFronzo.
In 1965, Josephine Aiello LaMantia died in suburban Arlington Heights, where the LaMantias were living at that time. In 1977, Angelo's sister Angela LaMantia Romano, widow of Joe "Stoneface" Romano, died in Chicago. That same year, an immigration document was recorded for Angelo LaMantia in Sao Paolo, Brazil (it gave his parents' surname as Romano, which was the maiden name of his mother, Carmela Romano La Mantia). From my info, Angelo LaMantia died in 1985 in Altavilla Milicia. Sons John and Isadore LaMantia became highly successful real estate agents in the suburbs, running the Arlington Heights-based Lamantia Realty Co.
Assuming that LaMantia was a Chicago member, at least transferring back to Chicago after arriving there again in the early 1940s, his ties to Altavilla could be important. As I've underscored before, Altavilla is a comune with a long and intimate connection to Chicago, going back through over 130 years of chain migration and back-and-forth movement. Angelo LaMantia traveled several times between Chicago and Europe in the 1950s and '60s; presumably, he visited Altavilla during these trips. These connections become all the more salient in light of the fact that the Chicago Family was holding apparent Consiglio meetings in the 1970s in a restaurant owned by the Incandelas, a prominent family of restauranteurs in Altavilla (i.e., the "Last Supper" photo).
