Chicago Outfit Places of Origin

[cavita]

Ok I shouldn't have posted this so quickly but after more research it appears the still was busted in March 1938 when authorities suspected its presence after the accident involving Severino. While in the Rockford hospital, the men were taken by a "private" ambulance to a secret hospital in Chicago where it was said such cases are handled. Larson was an alias for Richard Cramer, who was busted in January 1938 for his involvement in a huge illegal still near Garden Prairie, Illinois that included Sam Giancana and Guido Gentile.

[PolackTony]

Ok I shouldn't have posted this so quickly but after more research it appears the still was busted in March 1938 when authorities suspected its presence after the accident involving Severino. While in the Rockford hospital, the men were taken by a "private" ambulance to a secret hospital in Chicago where it was said such cases are handled. Larson was an alias for Richard Cramer, who was busted in January 1938 for his involvement in a huge illegal still near Garden Prairie, Illinois that included Sam Giancana and Guido Gentile.

Thanks for following up, as well as the correction that the county is named Ogle rather than "Ogden".

Both Giancana and Gentile, like Severino, were Taylor St guys, so I'm thinking that there may have been a broader pattern of operations by those guys out in rural IL during those years.

[PolackTony]

I've previously referenced a list of "mafia suspects" compiled by the FBN and presented at hearings of the Texas Crime Commission in 1950.

In the Illinois section of the list, one of the names was a Paul Lombardino. At first glance, I thought this may have just been a mislabelling of Newark-based Profaci member Paul Lombardino. The Profaci member, was, however, correctly listed in the NJ section, while the IL Paul Lombardino was noted to be connected to Chicago and Cicero, so I don't think this was the same person.

There was a Paolo Lombardino in Chicago. He was born in 1884 in Santa Ninfa, Trapani, to Vincenzo Lombardino and Francesca Biondo. He seems to have first arrived in the US in 1906, bound for NOLA. After returning to Sicily for several years, he re-entered the US at NYC in 1913, bound for KC. He had soon relocated to Chicago's Little Sicily, where by 1917 he was living on the 800 block of N Cambridge and working in a factory. In 1920, his wife Giovanna "Jennie" Biondo joined him in Chicago, where she had previously lived with relatives -- given the surname, she was likely a relative of Paolo's mother.

By the 1930s, the Lombardinos had moved west to Humboldt Park, living at LeMoyne and Saint Louis -- Paolo was working as a shipping clerk for Sears Roebuck Co.

This address could be significant, assuming that I have the right guy and that he was indeed connected to the mafia network, as the FBN apparently believed. Paolo Lombardino was in the vicinity of Nicola Diana, who was living in an apartment at Division and Kedzie in these years, while Diana's Riberese paesan' and friend Jim DeGeorge lived near Beach and Spaulding (this precise section of HP has been infamous in more recent decades as the "motherland" of the Almighty Latin Kings).

Now, as I've previously discussed, Diana was a buddy of Profaci member Nello Cammarata, who was arrested in Wicker Park with Diana in the 1930s when the latter was wanted in connection with murder of a CPD cop. Cammarata was a soldier in the NJ-based Lombardino-Misuraca crew, of course, though frequently traveled to Chicago, per the FBN, and as I've noted previously, may have maintained an apparent business address in Chicago for a number of years (presumably, for his work as an olive oil salesman).

The NJ Lombardinos were from Gibellina, which is a stone's throw from Santa Ninfa, and the two comuni have always been closely linked to each other and to neighboring Partanna (the hometown of Vincenzo Benevento and the Giancanas). Given the relative rarity of the Lombardino surname in that area and the close ties and small populations of the comuni, I think there's a good chance that Paolo Lombardino was related to the Gibellinese Lombardinos (one of whom, of course, was also named Paolo).

Note also that the FBN claimed that Paul Lombardino had some connection to Cicero, while Nicola Diana had previously lived in Cicero before relocating to HP. Further, Diana's co-suspect in the 1931 cop murder was a guy named Thomas Scupino, who also lived in Cicero. While none of Lombardino's public documents demonstrate any personal connection to Cicero, if he were indeed an associate of Diana, he presumably would've had some links to Cicero.

Paolo Lombardino died in Chicago in 1951 of natural causes, while his widow Jennie Biondo later moved to FL where she died in 1983.

This is just speculative. Who knows if Paolo Lombardino was really anybody, but his potential kinship ties and place of residence are at least consistent with a guy who could have been part of the network. If this thread has underscored anything, it should serve to remind us that we know very little about Chicago's membership prior to the Giancana era (and even then, we still have significant gaps in our understanding) and that Chicago had -- both early and later on -- "sleepers" and affiliates who were otherwise little known or unknown to LE and the public.

[JoelTurner]

There was a Paolo Lombardino in Chicago. He was born in 1884 in Santa Ninfa, Trapani, to Vincenzo Lombardino and Francesca Biondo. He seems to have first arrived in the US in 1906, bound for NOLA. After returning to Sicily for several years, he re-entered the US at NYC in 1913, bound for KC. He had soon relocated to Chicago's Little Sicily, where by 1917 he was living on the 800 block of N Cambridge and working in a factory. In 1920, his wife Giovanna "Jennie" Biondo joined him in Chicago, where she had previously lived with relatives -- given the surname, she was likely a relative of Paolo's mother.


The NJ Lombardinos were from Gibellina, which is a stone's throw from Santa Ninfa, and the two comuni have always been closely linked to each other and to neighboring Partanna (the hometown of Vincenzo Benevento and the Giancanas). Given the relative rarity of the Lombardino surname in that area and the close ties and small populations of the comuni, I think there's a good chance that Paolo Lombardino was related to the Gibellinese Lombardinos (one of whom, of course, was also named Paolo).

The Lombardino family of Newark had several members named Paolo. Notably, in addition to the Colombo member that you referenced, there was also Genovese member Paolo Mario Lombardino. His mother Grazia Musso had remarried into the LaPlaca family. I haven’t seen any relatives of theirs being from Santa Ninfa but it wouldn’t be surprising.

On the topic of this Paolo Lombardino, the references to New Orleans & Kansas City are pretty interesting. There was a known criminal in KC named Paul Lombardino. He was born to Vincenzo Lombardino (Aug 25 1886 - Gibellina) & Vincenza Monteleone (Jan 28 1893 - Monroe, LA) Vincenzo’s parents were Paolo Lombardino & Frances Buennetto.

Interestingly, KC is the only place outside of the NYC area which had members from Gibellina afaik. Coincidentally, boss Charles Binaggio’s father Vito lived in NJ at 41 Sussex Ave, Newark, NJ.

When this Paolo immigrated to KC, he went to his brother Francesco who was living at 520 E 5th St, Kansas City, MO. This would have been less than a 10-min walk away from the aforementioned Lombardino family’s home at 617 Charlotte St, Kansas City, MO

His brother Francesco seems to have moved to Chicago pretty early on too. He was there by the time his son Charles was born in 1915. He lived at 1330 N Ridgeway Ave, Chicago, IL. Not involved in crime either from I can tell.

[B.]

Possible Birmingham member Girolamo Messina was from Gibellina -- he was identified as a "Camorra" member by the self-professed member who flipped there. Alabama had a number of ties to KC so that fits.

Frank Calamia of Omaha was from Gibellina but he was likely a KC affiliate. I believe Leonard Calamia of SF had heritage there too but he was also tied to Chicago.

[NorthBuffalo]

Was Leanard Calamia one of the suspects in the Nick DeJohn hit in LA that was likely ordered out of Chicago, correct?

[JoelTurner]

Frank Calamia of Omaha was from Gibellina but he was likely a KC affiliate. I believe Leonard Calamia of SF had heritage there too but he was also tied to Chicago.

Were they related to each other?

Leonard Calamia was also from KC

[PolackTony]

Leonard Calamia was born in January 1911 in KC to Pasquale "Charles Green" Calamia, who was from Salaparuta (so, right in that same Belice Valley area), and Giuseppa "Josephine" Durso, who was born in Campofelice di Fitalia and lived in Louisiana while young (they married in KC in 1909). Pasquale Calamia may well have been a mafioso himself. He was a railroad worker and was 55 years old when he was murdered by assailants armed with a sawed-off shotgun in KC in 1919.

The family seems to have returned to Sicily for a bit, but then a few years after Pasquale's murder, Josephine Durso remarried Francesco "Frank" Terranella, who was her paesan' from Campofelice di Fitalia. After marrying in 1922, he moved her and her five children from Pasquale Calamia to Chicago, where Frank worked as a produce vendor. Leonard Calamia was thus still a kid when he relocated to Chicago. They initially lived on the SW Side, where in 1930 Frank Terranella was busted for operating a still with Andrea Cutaia. This was one of the same Cutaias from Little Sicily that we've discussed before, who were also from CdF. Josephine Durso's mother's maiden name was also Cutaia, so she was quite likely a relative of the Chicago Cutaias. In 1930, Leonard Calamia was also busted during a raid on a still in suburban Arlington Heights.

After the 1930 bust, the Terrenellas moved to Little Sicily. In 1936, Leonard Calamia was living by Milton and Division when he made the Chicago papers on heroin trafficking charges. In 1940, he lived nearby on Cleveland Ave and was employed by the Cook County Dept of Highways (the sort of job that typically went to people in Chicago with connections, of course). The FBN later had Calamia on their list of IL "mafia suspects", noting that he lived on the Northside of Chicago (1119 W Drummond Pl in Lincoln Park) but also frequented both SF and Wisconsin, describing him as a major trafficker of heroin between CA and Chicago.

After the mistrial in the DeJohn case in 1949, Leonard Calamia seems to have fallen off the map. There was a Leonard Calamia who died in LA in 1950, but I don't know that it's the same guy, as the death record states that he was born in October of 1912 and that his mother's name was "Skilling". In 1952, a ship named the "African Enterprise" arrived in NYC on a trip from Mozambique. One of its crew members was listed as "Leonardo Calamia", a US citizen aged 41. I'm guessing that this was him and it would suggest that he may have gotten back into heroin trafficking.

In 1962, the papers reported that Leonard Calamia, a "mafia killer and heroin trafficker", was one of the "musclemen" reporting to Sam Giancana that the Feds in Chicago were keeping an eye on, alongside guys like Alderisio. No address was given, however, and I can find no record for Leonard Calamia after the apparent crew manifest in 1952.

[B.]

Ah, thanks for clarifying he was from Salaparuta. I knew it was that area.

What's interesting about him and DeJohn both ending up in Chicago then SF is that area of Trapani and Palazzo Adriano tend to show up together in immigrant colonies. Colorado is a good example where the local mafia had early members from Salaparuta and Palazzo, Sam DiGiovanni initially living there when he arrived. Palazzo also shows up in Missouri.

[PolackTony]

Ah, thanks for clarifying he was from Salaparuta. I knew it was that area.

What's interesting about him and DeJohn both ending up in Chicago then SF is that area of Trapani and Palazzo Adriano tend to show up together in immigrant colonies. Colorado is a good example where the local mafia had early members from Salaparuta and Palazzo, Sam DiGiovanni initially living there when he arrived. Palazzo also shows up in Missouri.

Yeah, good point, -- we also see these Trapani/Palazzo ties with the Bonannos, of course.

It's not at all incidental that both Calamia and DeJohn had ties to the Bay Area, given DeJohn's paesan' Ciro Gallo was there. Some of these ties could of course go back to Sicily. The Arbereshe in Palazzo were close to their paesani in Contessa Entellina, which is right on the border of the Belice Valley area.

[B.]

Yeah, Ciro Gallo's brother Geraldo "Joe" Gallo initially arrived to Chicago then lived in LA before moving to San Jose and being a member there. He was also the alleged driver in the murder of Pittsburgh boss Giuseppe Siragusa and supposedly passed through NYC on his way to Pittsburgh though unlike his brother I'm not aware of him living in NYC. Ciro in turn was arrested for the murder of Siragusa's successor Bazzano but beyond each brother being involved in the murders of Pittsburgh bosses I haven't linked them to residence there. Their Chicago ties were more tangible although little is known beyond Joe's arrival there and Ciro's relationship to Nick DeJohn. Ciro allegedly lured DeJohn to his murder although he claimed he was with his brother in San Jose having car trouble. There was a third Gallo brother in the Bay but he's never been ID'd as a member.

I have little doubt Joe Gallo knew the DiGiovanni/DeJohns and other mafia paesans in that Palazzese colony when he arrived. An intriguing find with Palazzo and Trapani is that early Bonanno power Baldassare "Benny" Gallo was from Santa Ninfa and Salemi but his father came to the US with a LoBurgio from Palazzo, LoBurgio being the name of Ciro and Joe Gallo's mother. I'm not aware of a relation to Benny Gallo but odd coincidence that may suggest a deeper relation.

Then there is the rumored relation between the DeJohns and Benevento which if at all true would be this same dynamic, Palazzo and Partanna. Palazzo was also heavily linked to Agrigento but the geography makes more sense as it directly borders the towns in question whereas there is slightly more distance to some of the Trapani towns it's linked to although it isn't a great distance overall.

[PolackTony]

Also, for guys from Gibellina, Vincenzo Accardo was Gibellinese. We don’t know if he was ever made, but he was somebody, I think:

Vincenzo Accardo of Gibellina was reported in the papers as an Aiello gunman when he was arrested at the Lisciandrello's address at 826 N Milton in 1930. While he lived quietly after that, working as a painter, he seems to have been a very well-connected guy, as the witnesses on his 1931 naturalization were Sam Gerage, a clerk for the City of Chicago, and Gennaro "Jerry" Alterio, a clerk for the Cook County Board of Review from Baucina.

[JoelTurner]

He was born in Chicago to produce salesman Santo Damiano LaMantia and Giuseppina D'Amico, who lived for decades at Grand and Curtis (today Aberdeen St), the storied block where Vincenzo Benevento was based and where Antonino Genna was killed in 1925. Santo was from Monreale, while per my info, Giuseppina was born in Villabate to Giuseppe D'Amico of Villabate and Angela Maggiore of the nearby Brancaccio district of Palermo. Giuseppina arrived in NYC from Villabate in 1911, bound for Chicago where her brother, Antonino D'Amico, lived at Curtis and Ohio in the Grand Ave Patch, one block up from Grand Ave. As discussed before, Chicago/Brancaccio boss Salvatore LoVerde initially arrived in Chicago in 1911 as well, and his LoVerde relatives from Brancaccio also lived at Ohio and Curtis, so we can presume that they were closely connected to the D'Amicos.

viewtopic.php?p=239073#p239073

As discussed previously here, in 1936 Domenico Scaduto, a recent immigrant from Villabate, was executed by sawed-off shotgun in a poolroom at Grand and Curtis, where he was said to have been living with Santo LaMantia and Giuseppina D'Amico, described as his aunt and uncle. Scaduto's brother Giuseppe Scaduto had been killed in Brooklyn earlier in the year, allegedly by John Misuraca and Salvatore Lombardino, at which point Domenico fled to Chicago. Misuraca and Lombardino were close associates of Profaci cousin Nello Cammarata, who had close ties to Chicago for decades, while Profaci himself had, of course, lived in Chicago before relocating to Brooklyn. The Scaduto brothers' father was Agostino Scaduto, while, per my info, their mother, Francesca D'Amico, was indeed a sister of Antonino and Giuseppina D'Amico in Chicago. We've discussed the Domenico Scaduto incident before, which would appear to have been related to a conflict within the network of Villabatesi, the attack on Newark boss Gaspare D'Amico and his father Domenico in 1937, and the subsequent dissolution of the Newark Family. The Newark D'Amicos were, of course, from Villabate as well, and likely relatives of the D'Amicos discussed here, though an exact relation is not apparent to me as of yet.

viewtopic.php?p=228253#p228253

The D’Amicos were cousins to Colombo member Sebastiano D’Agati.

Sebastiano D’Agati’s mother Giuseppa Terranova (Feb 16 1862 - Villabate) was born to Francesco Terranova & Flavia Pitarresi.

Francesco’s brother Gaetano Terranova married Maddalena D’Amico, a sister to Francesca/Antonino/Giuseppina D’Amico.

—————-

While this wasn’t a direct connection, it’s interesting nonetheless

While his ties to both the Magliocco & Profaci families via marriage are fairly well known, Sebastiano D’Agati did have some other intriguing connections:

1) He immigrated alongside Gaspare D’Amico’s relatives, though he headed to Brooklyn while they went to Gaspare’s father Domenico in Newark.

2) His naturalization was witnessed by Salvatore Fontana, a first cousin to both the Magliocco bros and their sister Nina Profaci. Notably, his murder contract kickstarted the Newark Family’s downfall

[PolackTony]

He was born in Chicago to produce salesman Santo Damiano LaMantia and Giuseppina D'Amico, who lived for decades at Grand and Curtis (today Aberdeen St), the storied block where Vincenzo Benevento was based and where Antonino Genna was killed in 1925. Santo was from Monreale, while per my info, Giuseppina was born in Villabate to Giuseppe D'Amico of Villabate and Angela Maggiore of the nearby Brancaccio district of Palermo. Giuseppina arrived in NYC from Villabate in 1911, bound for Chicago where her brother, Antonino D'Amico, lived at Curtis and Ohio in the Grand Ave Patch, one block up from Grand Ave. As discussed before, Chicago/Brancaccio boss Salvatore LoVerde initially arrived in Chicago in 1911 as well, and his LoVerde relatives from Brancaccio also lived at Ohio and Curtis, so we can presume that they were closely connected to the D'Amicos.

viewtopic.php?p=239073#p239073

As discussed previously here, in 1936 Domenico Scaduto, a recent immigrant from Villabate, was executed by sawed-off shotgun in a poolroom at Grand and Curtis, where he was said to have been living with Santo LaMantia and Giuseppina D'Amico, described as his aunt and uncle. Scaduto's brother Giuseppe Scaduto had been killed in Brooklyn earlier in the year, allegedly by John Misuraca and Salvatore Lombardino, at which point Domenico fled to Chicago. Misuraca and Lombardino were close associates of Profaci cousin Nello Cammarata, who had close ties to Chicago for decades, while Profaci himself had, of course, lived in Chicago before relocating to Brooklyn. The Scaduto brothers' father was Agostino Scaduto, while, per my info, their mother, Francesca D'Amico, was indeed a sister of Antonino and Giuseppina D'Amico in Chicago. We've discussed the Domenico Scaduto incident before, which would appear to have been related to a conflict within the network of Villabatesi, the attack on Newark boss Gaspare D'Amico and his father Domenico in 1937, and the subsequent dissolution of the Newark Family. The Newark D'Amicos were, of course, from Villabate as well, and likely relatives of the D'Amicos discussed here, though an exact relation is not apparent to me as of yet.

viewtopic.php?p=228253#p228253

The D’Amicos were cousins to Colombo member Sebastiano D’Agati.

Sebastiano D’Agati’s mother Giuseppa Terranova (Feb 16 1862 - Villabate) was born to Francesco Terranova & Flavia Pitarresi.

Francesco’s brother Gaetano Terranova married Maddalena D’Amico, a sister to Francesca/Antonino/Giuseppina D’Amico.

—————-

While this wasn’t a direct connection, it’s interesting nonetheless

While his ties to both the Magliocco & Profaci families via marriage are fairly well known, Sebastiano D’Agati did have some other intriguing connections:

1) He immigrated alongside Gaspare D’Amico’s relatives, though he headed to Brooklyn while they went to Gaspare’s father Domenico in Newark.

2) His naturalization was witnessed by Salvatore Fontana, a first cousin to both the Magliocco bros and their sister Nina Profaci. Notably, his murder contract kickstarted the Newark Family’s downfall

Really excellent info here, thanks for posting it.

[PolackTony]

- Among those [Ciro] Gallo associated with in the Bay Area was Sebastiano Nani, a former Profaci member who would return to Sicily. Nani's hometown is listed as Pozzallo, Ragusa, Sicily, which led me to question whether there was a transcription error due to the similarity between Gallo's hometown "Palazzo" and Nani's "Pozzallo" but I couldn't find evidence of a connection. Ragusa province has no known mafia history, which would make Nani one of the only Sicilians in the early Profaci family who didn't come from a Sicilian mafia stronghold.

As has been discussed before on this thread, Chicago member Salvatore Ammatuna was from Pozzallo, as was Corrado Infantino, who was listed as a Chicago "mafia suspect" by the FBN on their 1950 list, and his relative Giovanni Infantino, murdered in 1928 (Giovanni Infantino was in turn closely connected to Salvatore Cataudella, also of Pozzallo and grandfather of current Chicago LCN member Salvatore Cataudella). The papers claimed that Ammatuna was related to the Infantinos, which was very likely factual. Salvatore Ammatuna arrived in the US in 1914 with his father, Orazio Ammatuna. The two were bound for Brooklyn, where Orazio's "nephew" Francesco Infantino was living on Union St. When Corrado Infantino first arrived in the US, he was bound for his "uncle", Giuseppe Infantino, who also lived on Union St in BK. I believe that Giuseppe Infantino was a brother of Francesco Infantino and that the latter was Corrado's father.

Now, we have seen that there were several close ties between the Profaci Family and Chicago. Given that Brooklyn and Chicago were two of the primary colonies of Pozzallesi in the US, and that the Pozzallesi in Chicago were connected to the Taylor St mafia, I have suspected that Profaci/SF member Sebastiano Nani would likely have had some ties to Chicago. This seems to have been the case. In 1914, a Sebastiano Nanì, born around 1900 in Pozzallo, arrived in the US with his father, Antonino Nanì. They were bound for Buffalo, where Antonino's brother Corrado Nanì was living. In 1917, however, Sebastiano Nanì was living in Chicago (the birth year on his WW1 draft card was given as 1890 instead of 1900, but the birthdate of April 22 was the same, and his father's name was given as Antonino Nanì, so I have little doubt this was the same guy). Sebastiano Nanì stated that he was working on ships that plied the Lake Michigan routes between the port of Chicago and the Michigan side of the lake. By 1925, he was living in BKm where he remained until his death in 1958. In 1940, unsurprisingly, he was living on Union St and working as a longshoreman on the Brooklyn piers.

While this was not the same Sebastiano Nanì who was a Profaci and then SF member, but it can be presumed that the two were cousins. The latter Sebastiano was born about 1907 in Pozzallo. Per a failed attempt to enter the US in 1924, when he was deported (he subsequently re-entered the US illegally in the 1920s), his father's name was Pietro Nanì -- this fits Sebastiano Nani's firstborn son having been named Peter. In 1940, Sebastiano Nanì was employed as a manager of a Brooklyn meat market and lived on Terrace Pl in Windsor Terrace. There is no indication that the older Sebastiano Nanì was connected to the mafia in either city, though he had paesani and likely relatives who were.

Later that decade, Sebastiano Nani moved to the Bay Area and transferred membership to the SF Family. He was charged, along with Michele Abati and Chicagoan Leonard Calamia, with taking part in the 1947 murder of rogue Chicago member Nick DeJohn (which Jimmy Fratianno later claimed was ordered by Chicago captain Jimmy Franzone and carried out by Chicago member Hunk Galiano). While that case ended in a mistrial and then were not recharged, Sebastiano Nani was subsequently busted in 1952 on narcotics conspiracy charges and deported back to Italy.