Chicago Outfit Places of Origin

[Antiliar]

I skipped over the Kentucky marriage certificate since it said on their 1900 census record that they married in 1895. I figured that they married as soon as he was discharged from prison. He's definitely the same person who went to Sing Sing for forgery in 1889. Thanks for the added information about the neighborhood. As I wrote earlier, he could very well be from Naples, but he could have also been from another mainland city. I doubt that there's anything to confirm his place of origin considering what we're left with.

Now as to the man who shot and killed him:
Name: Giuseppe Morici
Birth Date: 20 Jun 1855
Birth Place: Termici Imeresi, Italy
Death Date: 17 Mar 1925
Death Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Burial Date: 19 Mar 1925
Cemetery Name: Mt. Carmel
Death Age: 69
Occupation: Wholesale Fruit Merchant
Race: White
Marital status: M
Gender: Male
Street Address: 330 N. Larramie Ave
Residence: Chicago, Cook, Ilinois
Father Name: Joseph Morici
Father Birth Place: Termici Imeresi, Italy
Mother Name: Antonina Ceresi
Mother Birth Place: Termici Imeresi, Italy
Spouse Name: Ignazia Morici
Comments: 5y in this place

[PolackTony]

I skipped over the Kentucky marriage certificate since it said on their 1900 census record that they married in 1895. I figured that they married as soon as he was discharged from prison. He's definitely the same person who went to Sing Sing for forgery in 1889. Thanks for the added information about the neighborhood. As I wrote earlier, he could very well be from Naples, but he could have also been from another mainland city. I doubt that there's anything to confirm his place of origin considering what we're left with.

Now as to the man who shot and killed him:
Name: Giuseppe Morici
Birth Date: 20 Jun 1855
Birth Place: Termici Imeresi, Italy
Death Date: 17 Mar 1925
Death Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Burial Date: 19 Mar 1925
Cemetery Name: Mt. Carmel
Death Age: 69
Occupation: Wholesale Fruit Merchant
Race: White
Marital status: M
Gender: Male
Street Address: 330 N. Larramie Ave
Residence: Chicago, Cook, Ilinois
Father Name: Joseph Morici
Father Birth Place: Termici Imeresi, Italy
Mother Name: Antonina Ceresi
Mother Birth Place: Termici Imeresi, Italy
Spouse Name: Ignazia Morici
Comments: 5y in this place

Good catch on the 1895 original marriage. Yes, he could have been Molisano, or from anywhere else for all we know. Given the forgery background, it is certainly possible that he was a Camorrist'.

One wonders whether there were any direct familial relationships between the Termini and Bagheria Moricis. Another question that we will likely never know the answer to.

[Antiliar]

I just found Victoria DiGiovanni's Declaration of Intention. It says they were married in Kentucky in August 1894 (we know that year is off since Salvatore was still in prison) and that her late husband was in fact born in Naples. That's the confirmation I was looking for. Her maiden name was Vittoria Pupilla.

[PolackTony]

I just found Victoria DiGiovanni's Declaration of Intention. It says they were married in Kentucky in August 1894 (we know that year is off since Salvatore was still in prison) and that her late husband was in fact born in Naples. That's the confirmation I was looking for.

Great find.

[Antiliar]

Notice the edit.

[PolackTony]

Notice the edit.

if it was Pupilla then she was very likely Puglies' (Foggia).

[Antiliar]

The Declaration says she came from Matrice, which is in Campobasso, Molise.

[PolackTony]

The Declaration says she came from Matrice, which is in Campobasso, Molise.

I'd bet the original was Pupilella then.

Great to finally confirm that DiGiovanni was indeed Napilitan'. Superb info Rick.

[PolackTony]

the Outfit, which consisted of forty hardcore members and about 500 men on call.

Despite his other errors, Basile may not have been far off here, in terms of members and associates.

[Antiliar]

The Declaration says she came from Matrice, which is in Campobasso, Molise.

I'd bet the original was Pupilella then.

Great to finally confirm that DiGiovanni was indeed Napilitan'. Superb info Rick.

Thanks. My motto is "trust (with a healthy dose of skepticism) but verify."

[cavita]

Sam J. Sartino was born September 11, 1909 in Rockford, Illinois to Domenico Sartino and Giuseppa Scaturro of Sambuca, Sicily. He married Angelina Fanara of Aragona, Sicily on November 21, 1937 in Rockford, Illinois. Sartino was a front for consigliere Joe Zito in the operation of the Cypress Lounge. On November 28, 1958 Sartino died in a car accident at E. State Street and Calvin Park Boulevard in Rockford, Illinois. His father Domenico was born August 18, 1868 in Sambuca and died May 30, 1924. He came to the U.S. around 1894 living in Chicago until about 1908 and then came to Rockford.

[PolackTony]

Sam J. Sartino was born September 11, 1909 in Rockford, Illinois to Domenico Sartino and Giuseppa Scaturro of Sambuca, Sicily. He married Angelina Fanara of Aragona, Sicily on November 21, 1937 in Rockford, Illinois. Sartino was a front for consigliere Joe Zito in the operation of the Cypress Lounge. On November 28, 1958 Sartino died in a car accident at E. State Street and Calvin Park Boulevard in Rockford, Illinois. His father Domenico was born August 18, 1868 in Sambuca and died May 30, 1924. He came to the U.S. around 1894 living in Chicago until about 1908 and then came to Rockford.

Have you been able to identify when the first Agrigentesi settled in Rockford? I wonder if the earliest foundations for the Rockford family came from the Agrigentesi or the SGJ guys. If the former, one might imagine that the Chicago-Rockford Agrigentesi connections could have been very important.

[Antiliar]

Is Toto LoVerde the only known member from Palermo citta earlier on? LoVerde name shows up a lot in the Arbereshe villages but I see his family was living on Corso dei Mille near Palermo Centro (Corso dei Mille 23 is the address).

He's the only one from Citta that I can think of.

[cavita]

Sam J. Sartino was born September 11, 1909 in Rockford, Illinois to Domenico Sartino and Giuseppa Scaturro of Sambuca, Sicily. He married Angelina Fanara of Aragona, Sicily on November 21, 1937 in Rockford, Illinois. Sartino was a front for consigliere Joe Zito in the operation of the Cypress Lounge. On November 28, 1958 Sartino died in a car accident at E. State Street and Calvin Park Boulevard in Rockford, Illinois. His father Domenico was born August 18, 1868 in Sambuca and died May 30, 1924. He came to the U.S. around 1894 living in Chicago until about 1908 and then came to Rockford.

Have you been able to identify when the first Agrigentesi settled in Rockford? I wonder if the earliest foundations for the Rockford family came from the Agrigentesi or the SGJ guys. If the former, one might imagine that the Chicago-Rockford Agrigentesi connections could have been very important.

The best I can tell they were in Rockford as early as 1915, roughly the same time the SGI came, though the bulk of the SGI seemed to come to Rockford by way of Madison first. There were already immigrants in Rockford from Ferentino, Italy and Naples to start out.

[PolackTony]

To continue with the theme of Trapanesi in the Taylor St Patch. In 1908, Girolamo Salvatore Giancana was born in Chicago to Antonino Giancana and Antonina Di Simone and baptized at Holy Guardian Angel Parish under the name "Momo Salvatore Giangano" ("Momo" of course being the traditional Sicilian diminutive for Girolamo). Momo's godparents were Giovanni Accardi Zito of Campobello di Mazara, Trapani, and Ignazia Pusateri LoCoco of Termini Imerese, who had married in 1909 at Holy Guardian Angel.

The Giancanas arrived in NYC in December 1906 bound for Chicago with their 1-month-old daughter Antonina, born in Castelvetrano. Antonina DiSimone was born in Castelvetrano, while Antonino stated that he was born in Partanna; the family's last residence was Castelvetrano. They were bound for Chicago where Antonino and Antonina stated that their brother-in-law Nicola Sciaccotta lived on Harrison St in the Taylor St Patch. They were accompanied by several other Castelvetranesi bound for either Chicago or Brooklyn (where a different Antonino Giancana from Partanna also lived, very likely a cousin), including Caterina Genovese who stated that her husband Pietro Genovese lived on S Clark St at the far eastern end of the Taylor St colony, and Nicola Pisciotta's niece Caterina "Peronella" [spelling unclear, but Perinello is a Trapanese surname].

It has been stated that Antonino Giancana was from Castelvetrano, but this was almost certainly not the case. Upon arrival in the US, he stated that he was born in Partanna, as he also did on his 1940 naturalization declaration and WW2 draft card. After Antonina died in 1910, Antonino remarried Maria Leonardo (Leonardi), born in Marsala to parents from Partanna, at Holy Guardian Angel. Antonino gave his parents as Momo Giancana and Nina Sammartano, while Maria gave hers as [FNU] Leonardi and Rosaria Falletta. While the marriage document stated that both parties were born in Castelvetrano, given other documents this seems to have been technically erroneous. As noted, Antonino had emigrated to the US from Castelvetrano and was tightly connected to Castevetrani in the Taylor St community. Possible also that migrants from Partanna in Chicago saw themselves as part of a broader "Castelvetranesi" compaesani network there. Further, when Maria Leonardi was struck by a speeding car and died in 1926, her death record stated that she was born in Marsala but her parents were from Partanna, while records for her brother Baldassare Leonardi (parents Calogero Leonardi and Rosaria Falletta; note that both Baldassare and Maria Leonardi had sons named Charles), who died in Chicago in 1928, stated that he was born in Partanna. The surname Falletta is recorded in Partanna, but not in Castevetrano or Marsala. Additionally, the Giancana surname is not common and after reviewing dozens of records for Giancanas in the 19th century, they are almost all in Partanna. A couple of individuals who died in Partanna named Giancana were born in Partanna. In 1913 in NYC, A Giuseppina Giancana, born 1887 in Partanna, married a guy from Catania. she gave her parents as Girolamo Giancana and Antonina Barrese. Antonino Giancana's father was named Girolamo, while his mother ("Nina"; i.e., Antonina) was named Sammartano on his 1910 marriage document, so I think it's a good possibility that Guseppina was Antonino's sister. While I wasn't able to verify the Nicola Pisciotta who was listed as Antonino's "brother-in-law" in 1906, there were Piscotta/Pisciottos in Chicago from Marsala and Campobello di Mazara.

In 1910, Antonino and Mooney (listed as "Jimmy", 2 years old, James being a common Anglicization of Girolamo) with Antonino's brother-in-law, Antonino Sciaccotta (from Castelvetrano), presumably the brother of the Nicola Sciaccotta listed when the Giancanas arrived in the US (there is a record for a Nick Sciaccotta in Chicago as early as 1890) on Vernon Park Pl and Carpenter (on the same block there were Pisciottos, a surname from Castelvetrano that was among those on the same ship as the Giancanas). After Antonino remarried Maria Leonardi, they lived on Morgan St at Polk. These locations are of course in the immediate area where Pietro Montalbano and the Gennas lived. Even if Antonino was not connected to the mafia, he would've presumably been familiar with the Trapanese mafiosi in the neighborhood. In 1928, Antonino's brother-in-law Baldassare "Benny" Leonardi died, Antonino (two times a widower) married Benny's widow, Caterina Caltagirone, from Marsala (there were also Caltagirones from Castelvetrano next to the Giancanas on the 1906 ship).

By 1927, Mooney was already a suspect in two murders. In September of 1928, Antonino's Italian ice business on Taylor by Laflin (it's the parking lot for Rosebud today, which I'm sure the Chicagoans here will really appreciate) was bombed twice. The Tribune reported that When Giancana and his partners Anthony Grimaldi (a Tony Grimaldi lived next door on Morgan St to the Giancanas in 1917; not sure where he was from, but there were plenty of Grimaldis in the area around Castevetrano, and there were Grimaldis from Trapani also living on Morgan St in 1917), and Thomas Russo (stated by the Trib to be an alleged "bootlegger") were in front of the store, a car full of assailants opened fire with a shotgun and hit Grimaldi (who survived), Antonino struggled with the attackers and was beaten with their guns and hospitalized. Hard to say if this could be a clue that Antonino was himself connected, or if he was targeted because of Mooney. In 1929, JB Accardo's dad, Francesco Accardo of Castelvetrano, also had his house bombed. In either or both cases, these men may have been targeted due to their sons, or there could be more to the story. While the Trib noted that Sam Giancana, like Russo, was known as a bootlegger, they didn't link the attack to Mooney.

Apparently, the Giancanas decided that it was time to get out of the Taylor St Patch. In 1930, they were living in Cicero, at 3709 58th Ave near the border of Stickney. Unsurprising that Mooney was later said to have been in charge of a crew based in Cicero before he became boss. By 1940, Antonino was back in the patch, living on Hermitage by Taylor, while Mooney was living in the next neighborhood to the west, at Lexington and California in Homan Square (the "suburbs" of the Taylor St Patch, very near to where Chuckie Nicoletti, who lived a couple blocks up Lexington by Campbell at this same time, and a number of other Outfit-connected figures lived). Mooney had married Angeline DeTolvo, born 1909 in Chicago to parents from Matera province, Basilicata. Both Angeline and Antonino died in 1954.