Chicago Outfit Places of Origin

[cavita]

Chicago rappresentante Antonino Lombardo's younger brother Giuseppe Lombardo was born in 1894 in Galati Mamertino, Messina province, to Salvatore Lombardo and Rosaria Sutera. I'm not certain exactly when Giuseppe arrived in the US, but in 1915 he married Anna Fulvia Tempera, born 1897 in San Benedetto del Tronto, Ascoli Piceno, Marche, in Lake County, IN, just outside of Chicago. The marriage in NW IN may be significant, as immigrants from San Benedetto del Tronto formed the single largest contingent of Italian paesani in nearby Chicago Heights (as noted above, Heights crew affiliates Nick Neroni, the Luzis, and Guido Fidanzi were all from San Benedetto del Tronto ancestry).

Giuseppe was killed in March of 1926 when a still exploded in a building located at 451 N Elizabeth, near the corner of Grand and Ogden in the Grand Ave Patch. This address was a couple of doors down from where Grand Ave's more recent Joe Lombardo grew up and was also in the near vicinity of Pasquale Spilotro's restaurant where three years later Tony Domingo of CDG would meet his fate, as as well as Tony Accardo's childhood home at Grand and May. The building's owner, Joseph Cullotta of 815 S California, was arrested for manslaughter, and Lombardo's charred corpse was identified to authorities by Giuseppe Coniglio of 3204 W Polk. From what I have, the Joe Cullotta living at 815 S California was born in Lascari in 1895 and later moved up to Fullerton Ave. There were a bunch of Giuseppe Conigligos in Chicago (one guy from Canicatti may be a candidate), but I wasn't able to narrow it down to one at that Polk St address. Lombardo's involvement and the addresses of the other men point to the Taylor St guys having operations in the Grand Ave Patch at this time.

Giuseppe's more famous older brother Antonino Lombardo was, of course, born 1891 in Galati Mamertino. He first entered the US at NYC in 1906, bound for the town of Bellaire, OH, across the Ohio River from Wheeling WV, south of Steubensville, where he stated that his brother-in-law Francesco Monachino was living. Monachino was also from Galati and married to Antonino and Giuseppe's sister Nunzia Lombardo; by 1909, this couple was living in Cleveland, where they remained for the rest of their lives. At some point, Antonino returned to Sicily, and re-entered the US in 1909, bound again for Bellaire, OH (this time stating that he had no contact there); this was the entry recorded on his later naturalization in Chicago. Worth noting here that Antonino and Calogero Vicario of Galati Mamertino as arrestees in the 1909 bust of Trabese Salvatore Lima's Society of the Banana in Ohio; Lombardo was traveling with a Vicario from Galati who was bound for NY when he returned to the US in 1909. The possibility that Lombardo could've had some relation to the "Society of the Banana", which was led by men from Trabia and Termini, could be very significant given his later membership in a family with a strong foundation of Termitani.

It's unclear to me exactly when Antonino arrived in Chicago, though as noted above his brother Giuseppe was already in the area as late as 1915. In November of 1920, he married Camille Prio, born 1903 in New Orleans to Vincenzo Piro of Monreale and Ann Tumminello. Earlier that year, Camille was living on Palmyra street with her brother John Piro, his wife Frances, and father Vincenzo. After their first child, Salvatore Lombardo, was born in 1921 in Chicago, Antonino and Camille had him baptized at St Phillip Benizi, with their address noted as 1015 N Larrabee (Oak St) in Little Sicily; Salvatore's godparents were Marco and Concetta Dioguardi. On the parish entry just above Salvatore, Giovanni and Francesca Piro of Palmyra St in NOLA also had their son Vincenzo baptized on the same day; his godparents were Antonino and Camille Lombardo.

Marco Dioguardi and his wife Concetta Caliva were from Cefala Diana and married in Chicago in 1915. In December of 1923, Dioguardi was shot and killed at a cigar store at 814 W Taylor St (the Tribune erroneously gave his name as "Michael Deovardi"). Police arrested two men who arrived at the scene after the shooting; Lorenzo Mannino (could be a guy from Nicosia, Enna, but that guy lived in Chinatown. I wonder if this was actually Dago Lawrence Mangano, who of course was also Messinese) and Salvatore Franno [sic] (could be Pranno, Farino, Piraino, or the Salvatore Frenna born in Palermo in 1873). Both men gave addresses on Ashland in the Taylor St Patch (near where D'Andrea had lived), and "Franno" was armed. Dioguardi had been issued a license to carry a revolver by the Justice of the Peace [sic] of Cicero and was stated as living at 1153 w Ohio, near May St in the Grand Ave Patch (around the corner from the Accardos and a couple of blocks from where Giuseppe Lombardo was later killed). With Dioguardi, we again see links between the Lombardos and both Taylor St and Grand Ave.

After Orazio Tropea was murdered in February of 1926, police recovered his address book. One of the listed names, along with several entries for Tony Lombardo, was a Vincenzo Piro of Los Angeles. This should be the same guy as Lombardo's father-in-law, as by 1930 the widowed Vincenzo was living in LA (722 Hoover St) with his son John and daughter-in-law Frances. Vincenzo Piro died in LA in 1931 (his grandson Vincenzo Piro who was baptized in Chicago in 1922 was the Vincent Piro who died in Salinas in 2005). After Tony Lombardo was killed in September of 1928, his widow Camille, with children Salvatore and Rose Marie, decamped for LA where she died in 1993.

With Rockford's Tony Musso getting arrested in Los Angeles on a federal warrant in July 1930 it is most likely he was there visiting his father-in-law Vincenzo Piro.

[PolackTony]

Tropea's address book also had Saverio Pollaccia of the Genovese Family, from Cefala Diana like the Dioguardi you mentioned. Pollaccia was known to visit Chicago in the 1920s, maybe there were paesans there he knew. Never seen Cefala Diana mentioned outside of Pollaccia.

And wow, amazing find about Lombardo and Ohio + possible Banana Society connections.

Thanks for the reminder on Pollaccia being from Cefala Diana. Given both Dioguardi and Tropea's association with Taylor St, I think it goes to suggest that the Genna faction may have had some close ties to the Masseria family, something that I've wondered about also given the Marsala connection.

With Rockford's Tony Musso getting arrested in Los Angeles on a federal warrant in July 1930 it is most likely he was there visiting his father-in-law Vincenzo Piro.

That's a good bet. The Piros do seem to have been an important family, as two men who would go on to be rappresentanti married them. I believe that Vincenzo Piro was very likely the "Piro" mentioned as a NOLA member to Vincenzo Moreci in his letter to Morello. Since Moreci was Termitano, easy to assume that he had close ties to Chicago himself (and may very well have been a relative of the Termitani Moricis in Chicago). Justin Cascio has linked the "Banana Society" to a wider network of Termitani produce merchants stretching from PA/OH to Chicago and down to NOLA. Given his marriage to the Piros and sojourn/relatives in OH, one could imagine potential connections for Tony Lombardo across that entire network.

I've seen it stated before that John Piro was also a significant member in NOLA, not sure how substantive that claim is. Not only did Lombardo marry one of his sisters, but they were also cumpari and John Piro apparently brought his son up to Chicago to have him baptized alongside his cousin. With Musso in the mix, this was quite the extended family.

[cavita]

Joseph F. Inglima was born December 6, 1924 in Madison, Wisconsin to Francesco Inglima and Giuseppa Licari of San Giuseppe Iato, Sicily. By 1927 he had moved to Rockford with his family. In March 1953 Inglima was arrested for gambling at the PDG Club and he, along with all the others arrested, were represented in court by Sam Cannariato who was the attorney for many Rockford LCN members and associates. Inglima owned and operated Joe’s Garage for many years, but he was involved in something far worse with the Rockford LCN family. In January 1975 Inglima was arrested for his involvement in a teenage sex ring along with Rockford LCN associate Nick Vince, Jimmy Capicotte and Frank Sparacino. This ring had operated since September 1974 and involved girls from the Rockford Children’s Home. Yet again in September 1976 he was arrested again along with John Parrovecchio, Sharon King and Paul Johson for trying to recruit prostitutes, allegedly for Rockford LCN controlled taverns. Inglima died November 29, 2007 in Rockford, Illinois.

[PolackTony]

To follow up on the raids that were conducted in March 1926. This happened in the context of fierce fighting underway at that time in the Chicago underworld, on the heels of the slayings of Orazio Tropea and Vito Bascone. The Tribune reported that there were approximately 300 Sicilian gunmen in Chicago and that Taylor St Trapanese mafioso Angelo "Il Cavaliero" Spano (aka "Giuseppe Nerone") had fled the city and had a force of 50 men under his command in Chicago Heights (take those figures with a grain of salt). On March 4th, the IL States Attorney's office and Cook County Sheriff conducted a series of a dozen raids in Cicero and Chicago Heights after receiving intelligence that "many Sicilian gangsters" had taken refuge in the suburbs. 5 individuals were arrested in Chicago Heights with the intent to deport them due to their citizenship status, with Giuseppe Accardi, Carlo Canfaro [sic], and Vincenzo Scarfaro [sic] specifically named.

One of the raids hit a saloon and reputed gambling den at 233 East 16th St in Chicago Heights, owned by Frank Corradati [sic]. Arrestees there included Benny Cornelli [sic], designated by the Trib as "a Sicilian" (if his surname was actually Cornelli, or Carnelli, which was present in Chicago Heights, then he was almost certainly not Sicilian, and possibly a Northerner), Sylvester Ricordi [sic], Tony Dieli, and Louis Tvanitta [sic]. A poolroom at 105 East 17th St in the Heights was also hit, where Carl Ciroscione [sic] was arrested. Cornelli and Ciroscione were found carrying pistols.

"Ciroscione" should be Cirrinscione, and, unsurprisingly, there were Cirrinsciones from Caccamo in the Chicago Heights, though I haven't found a match for a Carlo/Carlo/Calogero Cirrinscione. Frank "Corradati" was Francesco Corradetti, born 1898 in Monteprandone, Ascoli Piceno, March. There was a large Marchegiano community in Chicago Heights and intermarriages between them and Sicilians. "Ricordi" was probably Riccardi, which was a surname present in Chicago Heights and may have been from Marche as well. Not sure what to make of "Tvnitta".

Tony Dieli, however, was Antonino Dieli, born 1889 in Bivona, Agrigento. He arrived in NYC from Bivona in 1907, bound for Chicago (may have been Chicago Heights, passenger manifests generally refer to the entire Chicago area as "Chicago") where his brother-in-law Salvatore Oliveri (probably not that Salvatore Oliveri) was already living. On his WW1 draft card, Dieli was living at 244 East 16th St in the Heights, a few doors down from where Corradeti's saloon later was. Dieti also had a naturalization document that was denied (year not listed), perhaps indicating a criminal background and evidently leading to his arrest at the 1926 raid. I can't find any record for Dieti later, suggesting that he may have indeed been deported.

The raid on Corradetti's bar could've just been the authorities running amok scapegoating regular guys with vowels at the end of their names, but it's also possible that they were indeed targeting places that they had reason to believe were mafia-connected hangouts. Interesting to note an Agrigentino in this context apparently hanging out with a bunch of Mainlanders. To me, it again goes to suggest that there was more to the story of what went down in the Heights than we understand. Same with "Il Cavaliero". Whether or not he had anything like 50 guys under him, he was killed in the Heights a few months later, so the extent of his involvement and connections there seems to be a still unresolved question. Matt Luzi linked Spano's murder to Piazza, who was of course killed In June of 1926, A few days after Spano, his alleged henchman Francesco Cappello, also of Marsala, was killed in Chicago Heights. The car that Cappello was driving when he was killed belonged to Dom Ruberto, and Cappello had a phone number for Orazio Tropea's common-law wife on him. The police also recovered Spano's bank book, which showed that Spano had recently paid $4000 to Joseph Pavia and Peter Maggiore. Matt Luzi claimed that these two were well-known Piazza henchmen, though he doesn't otherwise mention them in his book, apart from the Spano thing. I'm personally not sure that these guys were actually part of Piazza's family or crew, as no record for these names seems to exist in the Heights. There was, however, a Pietro Maggiore in Chicago from Marsala. Pavia is also a very typical Marsalese surname, and there were a bunch of Pavias from Marsala in Chicago. A few days later, Antonino Pellegrino De Stefano, another Spano henchman from Marsala, was found strangled and torched in Chicago Heights (the papers and Luzi had him as "Antonio DeStefano Pelledrino", but his mother's surname was Pellegrino).

Another question about Spano is why he chose to go by the alias "Giuseppe Nerone". Worth noting that Nicola "Nick" Neroni, from San Benedetto del Tronto, Ascoli Piceno, Marche, was an important affiliate of the Chicago Heights group. Neroni was an official of Local 5 of the Hod Carriers Union; worth noting also that Tony Dieli was a Hod Carrier. In 1925, Neroni hosted a picnic for the Bloom Township (which encompasses Chicago Heights) Italian Republican Club, with the event including Piazza, Charles Costello, Dom Ruberto, and Jimmy Emery. Neroni also, of course, hosted the 1927 picnic where the famous photo including the Rubertos, Emery, the LaPortes, the Costellos, the Zerantis, Sam DiGiovanni, Sam Geraci, Joe Arrigo, John Piazza, and Joe Guzzino was taken. Arrigo is an interesting guy about whom not much seems to be known either. Louis Corsino stated that Arrigo was hired by Torrio to oversee the latter's interests in Chicago Heights, which may be significant given that I'm pretty sure that Arrigo was from Termini. John Piazza should be Phil Piazza's brother Giovanni Piazza, who was born in 1884 in Caccamo and arrived in in NYC in 1910 bound for Chicago Heights where Phil already was living. John Piazza died in Cook County in 1984. Looking at the names present at the event, and what we can see regarding intertwining Sicilian/Mainlander connections in Chicago Heights, I don't believe that the 1926 murder of Phil Piazza and Dom Ruberto's subsequent takeover as apparent capo of the Heights was as much of a rupture with the past as it otherwise might seem at face value.

Following Spano's murder, the Daily News reported that police were contending with several theories. As a 9-year old boy, Nunzio Scardina, told the police that Tony Aiello was the shooter, they wondered if Aiello and Spano had a "Sicilian feud" going back to Sicily. Another was that Spano may have gotten greedy and betrayed his former partners the Gennas by attempting to take over their bootlegging racket. Yet another referred to reports that Spano had been named by someone as the actual shooter in the Dion O'Bannion hit, further claiming that Spano had arrived in the US in 1922 as a gunman for the Gennas and leader of a group of "knockoff guys" imported from Sicily (but they also thought at this time that Tony Aiello had arrived in the same year as a gunman for the Gennas).

The Daily News also reported that police had info that Spano was the nephew of Heights boss Phil Piazza. While that is extremely unlikely to be true, it may point to a close relationship between the two (Matt Luzi, as noted above, believed that the killings of Spano and his men Cappello and DeStafno were linked to the murders of Piazza and Lamberta). It was further reported that Spano and his men had been operating in both Taylor St and Cicero before decamping for the Heights. When police raided Spano's home at Taylor and Ashland following the death of Mike Genna in 1925, they found a number of interesting documents, including correspondence with Al Capone and receipts indicating that Spano had been collecting from a number of men and in turn giving payments to the Gennas. Names that Spano had collected from included Capone, Tony Lombardo ("a leader in the Sicilian secret society", as the News put it), Orazio Tropea, Amatuna, Frank Rio, Henry Spingola, and Mops Volpe, with payments to Sam and James Genna on the other end.


From a 12/1927 Daily News article attributing the following murders to struggle over "dominance in the Unione Siciliana" over roughly the past year:


The murder of "Michael Blando" occurred in August of 1926, immediately following the murder of Spano. "Blando" was noted as a cafe owner in the Taylor St area who was gunned down at Taylor and Ogden. Police subsequently discovered that "Michael Blando" was an alias used by Giuseppe DelBuono, who had arrived in Chicago from Missouri in 1924 following a murder involving him and his brothers near Kansas City. Their father Giuseppe Del Buono Sr was a sulfur miner from Calascibetta who arrived in Kansas in 1906, but their mother Arcangela Faragia (who died in Chicago in 1961) seems to have been from Palermo, where her kids were most likely born. While there was a John Blando in the KC family, there were also a bunch of Blandos from Ricigliano, Salerno, in the Taylor St area (later connected to the Catenas of the Genovese family, who were, like Genovese himself, also Riciglianesi), which may be a clue as to why DelBuono adopted that moniker. Police were unsure whether DelBuono's murder was connected to his earlier incident in MO, but they also strongly suspected that his killing was tied to the Spano murder.

Joe DelBuono's younger brother Salvatore "Sam" DelBuono (who in adulthood went his mother's surname as Sam Faragia) was born in 1900 in Palermo. In 1935, he married Mary Annette Giancana, younger sister of Sam Giancana, in Chicago. Their daughter Carol, born in 1936, married Nick Celozzi, Sr, who Chicagoans will need no introduction to ("The Number 1 Chevy Dealer in America!"). It was reported in 2019 that son Nick Celozzi, Jr was shopping a film about Tony Spilotro, who he describes as his mentor (https://www.thechicagosyndicate.com/201 ... e.html?m=0). After Mike Magnafichi began appearing on ANP in 2011, Joe Fosco reported that he began to receive threatening text messages from Nick Jr's brother Joe Celozzi, which apparently urged Fosco to remove the Magnafichi articles from the ANP website.

[cavita]

Philip F. Graceffa was born January 21, 1922 in Rockford, Illinois to Antonio Graceffa and Maria Cufaro of Aragona, Sicily and he married Maria Ruvolo on May 21, 1944 in Algiers, Louisiana. Ruvlolo’s family was from Sambuca, Sicily. Graceffa was a Rockford LCN associate and was involved and arrested often on gambling charges. In 1959 he was questioned in the gambling inquiry and murders of Joseph Greco and Donald Burton. Graceffa was co-owner of a tavern with Sebastian “Knobby” Gulotta which was described by the mayor as a “disgrace and moral threat.” Graceffa was later a partner with LCN associate Nick Vince in North Main Liquors and was employed at the North Town Manor which was secretly controlled by LCN boss Joe Zammuto. Graceffa eventually retired from the Illinois State Highway Department and he died December 23, 2010 in Rockford, Illinois.

[Antiliar]

To follow up on the raids that were conducted in March 1926. This happened in the context of fierce fighting underway at that time in the Chicago underworld, on the heels of the slayings of Orazio Tropea and Vito Bascone. The Tribune reported that there were approximately 300 Sicilian gunmen in Chicago and that Taylor St Trapanese mafioso Angelo "Il Cavaliero" Spano (aka "Giuseppe Nerone") had fled the city and had a force of 50 men under his command in Chicago Heights (take those figures with a grain of salt). On March 4th, the IL States Attorney's office and Cook County Sheriff conducted a series of a dozen raids in Cicero and Chicago Heights after receiving intelligence that "many Sicilian gangsters" had taken refuge in the suburbs. 5 individuals were arrested in Chicago Heights with the intent to deport them due to their citizenship status, with Giuseppe Accardi, Carlo Canfaro [sic], and Vincenzo Scarfaro [sic] specifically named.

One of the raids hit a saloon and reputed gambling den at 233 East 16th St in Chicago Heights, owned by Frank Corradati [sic]. Arrestees there included Benny Cornelli [sic], designated by the Trib as "a Sicilian" (if his surname was actually Cornelli, or Carnelli, which was present in Chicago Heights, then he was almost certainly not Sicilian, and possibly a Northerner), Sylvester Ricordi [sic], Tony Dieli, and Louis Tvanitta [sic]. A poolroom at 105 East 17th St in the Heights was also hit, where Carl Ciroscione [sic] was arrested. Cornelli and Ciroscione were found carrying pistols.

"Ciroscione" should be Cirrinscione, and, unsurprisingly, there were Cirrinsciones from Caccamo in the Chicago Heights, though I haven't found a match for a Carlo/Carlo/Calogero Cirrinscione. Frank "Corradati" was Francesco Corradetti, born 1898 in Monteprandone, Ascoli Piceno, March. There was a large Marchegiano community in Chicago Heights and intermarriages between them and Sicilians. "Ricordi" was probably Riccardi, which was a surname present in Chicago Heights and may have been from Marche as well. Not sure what to make of "Tvnitta".

Tony Dieli, however, was Antonino Dieli, born 1889 in Bivona, Agrigento. He arrived in NYC from Bivona in 1907, bound for Chicago (may have been Chicago Heights, passenger manifests generally refer to the entire Chicago area as "Chicago") where his brother-in-law Salvatore Oliveri (probably not that Salvatore Oliveri) was already living. On his WW1 draft card, Dieli was living at 244 East 16th St in the Heights, a few doors down from where Corradeti's saloon later was. Dieti also had a naturalization document that was denied (year not listed), perhaps indicating a criminal background and evidently leading to his arrest at the 1926 raid. I can't find any record for Dieti later, suggesting that he may have indeed been deported.

The raid on Corradetti's bar could've just been the authorities running amok scapegoating regular guys with vowels at the end of their names, but it's also possible that they were indeed targeting places that they had reason to believe were mafia-connected hangouts. Interesting to note an Agrigentino in this context apparently hanging out with a bunch of Mainlanders. To me, it again goes to suggest that there was more to the story of what went down in the Heights than we understand. Same with "Il Cavaliero". Whether or not he had anything like 50 guys under him, he was killed in the Heights a few months later, so the extent of his involvement and connections there seems to be a still unresolved question. Matt Luzi linked Spano's murder to Piazza, who was of course killed In June of 1926, A few days after Spano, his alleged henchman Francesco Cappello, also of Marsala, was killed in Chicago Heights. The car that Cappello was driving when he was killed belonged to Dom Ruberto, and Cappello had a phone number for Orazio Tropea's common-law wife on him. The police also recovered Spano's bank book, which showed that Spano had recently paid $4000 to Joseph Pavia and Peter Maggiore. Matt Luzi claimed that these two were well-known Piazza henchmen, though he doesn't otherwise mention them in his book, apart from the Spano thing. I'm personally not sure that these guys were actually part of Piazza's family or crew, as no record for these names seems to exist in the Heights. There was, however, a Pietro Maggiore in Chicago from Marsala. Pavia is also a very typical Marsalese surname, and there were a bunch of Pavias from Marsala in Chicago. A few days later, Antonino Pellegrino De Stefano, another Spano henchman from Marsala, was found strangled and torched in Chicago Heights (the papers and Luzi had him as "Antonio DeStefano Pelledrino", but his mother's surname was Pellegrino).

Another question about Spano is why he chose to go by the alias "Giuseppe Nerone". Worth noting that Nicola "Nick" Neroni, from San Benedetto del Tronto, Ascoli Piceno, Marche, was an important affiliate of the Chicago Heights group. Neroni was an official of Local 5 of the Hod Carriers Union; worth noting also that Tony Dieli was a Hod Carrier. In 1925, Neroni hosted a picnic for the Bloom Township (which encompasses Chicago Heights) Italian Republican Club, with the event including Piazza, Charles Costello, Dom Ruberto, and Jimmy Emery. Neroni also, of course, hosted the 1927 picnic where the famous photo including the Rubertos, Emery, the LaPortes, the Costellos, the Zerantis, Sam DiGiovanni, Sam Geraci, Joe Arrigo, John Piazza, and Joe Guzzino was taken. Arrigo is an interesting guy about whom not much seems to be known either. Louis Corsino stated that Arrigo was hired by Torrio to oversee the latter's interests in Chicago Heights, which may be significant given that I'm pretty sure that Arrigo was from Termini. John Piazza should be Phil Piazza's brother Giovanni Piazza, who was born in 1884 in Caccamo and arrived in in NYC in 1910 bound for Chicago Heights where Phil already was living. John Piazza died in Cook County in 1984. Looking at the names present at the event, and what we can see regarding intertwining Sicilian/Mainlander connections in Chicago Heights, I don't believe that the 1926 murder of Phil Piazza and Dom Ruberto's subsequent takeover as apparent capo of the Heights was as much of a rupture with the past as it otherwise might seem at face value.

Following Spano's murder, the Daily News reported that police were contending with several theories. As a 9-year old boy, Nunzio Scardina, told the police that Tony Aiello was the shooter, they wondered if Aiello and Spano had a "Sicilian feud" going back to Sicily. Another was that Spano may have gotten greedy and betrayed his former partners the Gennas by attempting to take over their bootlegging racket. Yet another referred to reports that Spano had been named by someone as the actual shooter in the Dion O'Bannion hit, further claiming that Spano had arrived in the US in 1922 as a gunman for the Gennas and leader of a group of "knockoff guys" imported from Sicily (but they also thought at this time that Tony Aiello had arrived in the same year as a gunman for the Gennas).

The Daily News also reported that police had info that Spano was the nephew of Heights boss Phil Piazza. While that is extremely unlikely to be true, it may point to a close relationship between the two (Matt Luzi, as noted above, believed that the killings of Spano and his men Cappello and DeStafno were linked to the murders of Piazza and Lamberta). It was further reported that Spano and his men had been operating in both Taylor St and Cicero before decamping for the Heights. When police raided Spano's home at Taylor and Ashland following the death of Mike Genna in 1925, they found a number of interesting documents, including correspondence with Al Capone and receipts indicating that Spano had been collecting from a number of men and in turn giving payments to the Gennas. Names that Spano had collected from included Capone, Tony Lombardo ("a leader in the Sicilian secret society", as the News put it), Orazio Tropea, Amatuna, Frank Rio, Henry Spingola, and Mops Volpe, with payments to Sam and James Genna on the other end.


From a 12/1927 Daily News article attributing the following murders to struggle over "dominance in the Unione Siciliana" over roughly the past year:


The murder of "Michael Blando" occurred in August of 1926, immediately following the murder of Spano. "Blando" was noted as a cafe owner in the Taylor St area who was gunned down at Taylor and Ogden. Police subsequently discovered that "Michael Blando" was an alias used by Giuseppe DelBuono, who had arrived in Chicago from Missouri in 1924 following a murder involving him and his brothers near Kansas City. Their father Giuseppe Del Buono Sr was a sulfur miner from Calascibetta who arrived in Kansas in 1906, but their mother Arcangela Faragia (who died in Chicago in 1961) seems to have been from Palermo, where her kids were most likely born. While there was a John Blando in the KC family, there were also a bunch of Blandos from Ricigliano, Salerno, in the Taylor St area (later connected to the Catenas of the Genovese family, who were, like Genovese himself, also Riciglianesi), which may be a clue as to why DelBuono adopted that moniker. Police were unsure whether DelBuono's murder was connected to his earlier incident in MO, but they also strongly suspected that his killing was tied to the Spano murder.

Joe DelBuono's younger brother Salvatore "Sam" DelBuono (who in adulthood went his mother's surname as Sam Faragia) was born in 1900 in Palermo. In 1935, he married Mary Annette Giancana, younger sister of Sam Giancana, in Chicago. Their daughter Carol, born in 1936, married Nick Celozzi, Sr, who Chicagoans will need no introduction to ("The Number 1 Chevy Dealer in America!"). It was reported in 2019 that son Nick Celozzi, Jr was shopping a film about Tony Spilotro, who he describes as his mentor (https://www.thechicagosyndicate.com/201 ... e.html?m=0). After Mike Magnafichi began appearing on ANP in 2011, Joe Fosco reported that he began to receive threatening text messages from Nick Jr's brother Joe Celozzi, which apparently urged Fosco to remove the Magnafichi articles from the ANP website.

Really good detective work, and I like how put a bow on it by bringing it up to the present. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the names. BTW, I notice it looks like you got GenealogyBank subscription.

[B.]

Looking at the names present at the event, and what we can see regarding intertwining Sicilian/Mainlander connections in Chicago Heights, I don't believe that the 1926 murder of Phil Piazza and Dom Ruberto's subsequent takeover as apparent capo of the Heights was as much of a rupture with the past as it otherwise might seem at face value.

Some great perspective on Chicago Heights.

Why I find the Heights so interesting:

- It's one of the few examples we have of a Family being disbanded and reassigned to another Family. In Newark 10 years later, the Family was formally disbanded and assigned to various NYC Families. We know other Families who disbanded went through a similarly formal process. I think there's an assumption that the Chicago Family under Capone just overpowered and claimed Chicago Heights as their own, putting their own men in place. Even if this was the practical explanation for what happened, Chicago Heights disbanding had national implications and would have required a formal process.

- We don't know exactly when Chicago Heights was disbanded and merged with Chicago. This could have happened years before Capone was even a made member and happened under one of the Sicilian bosses in the mid-to-late 1920s. There may well have been internal Sicilian politics influencing the decision as well as what we see on the surface.

- Like you said, the Sicilians in Chicago Heights had already been building relationships with the non-Sicilians and there was crossover. They posed for photos together. Beyond Gentile identifying a Chicago Heights Family with its own membership and hierarchy, we don't know what the Family consisted of. Most coverage of early Chicago Heights is based on criminal association and we don't know if the heights was like other Families who began to diversify their formal membership under Sicilian leaders (all bosses/underbosses across the US pre-1930 were Sicilians but the members were not).

- Even later coverage of the Heights crew is fairly limited when it comes to inner-workings. The Costello/Giancana tape and alleged reference to DiGiovanni as the "old time capro" (ph) show more was going on than meets the eye.

[cavita]

Vito Turiciano was born March 19, 1898 in Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily to Angelo Turiciano and Giuseppa Gioia and in 1913 he immigrated to Rockford, Illinois. In January 1922 Turiciano along with his cousin Salvatore DiLorenzo were arrested for trying to extort $2,000 from Antonino Tangorra through “Blackhand” letters. Turiciano pled guilty and was sentenced to 1-20 years in the penitentiary. In January 1933 Turiciano was found guilty along with Joe Maffei and Joe Bonavia on concealed weapons charges after a wild chase through downtown Rockford in which he was the driver. Turiciano was sentenced to six months in prison and he was using the alias Joe Bella. On June 17, 1934 Turiciano was arrested along with George Welte and Anthony Vince for robbing the A&P Grocery store and he again was using the alias Joe Bella. Apparently Turiciano went straight after this and he died in Rockford on May 29, 1984 but he was listed as a Winter Haven, Florida resident.

[Antiliar]

Vito Turiciano was born March 19, 1898 in Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily to Angelo Turiciano and Giuseppa Gioia and in 1913 he immigrated to Rockford, Illinois. In January 1922 Turiciano along with his cousin Salvatore DiLorenzo were arrested for trying to extort $2,000 from Antonino Tangorra through “Blackhand” letters. Turiciano pled guilty and was sentenced to 1-20 years in the penitentiary. In January 1933 Turiciano was found guilty along with Joe Maffei and Joe Bonavia on concealed weapons charges after a wild chase through downtown Rockford in which he was the driver. Turiciano was sentenced to six months in prison and he was using the alias Joe Bella. On June 17, 1934 Turiciano was arrested along with George Welte and Anthony Vince for robbing the A&P Grocery store and he again was using the alias Joe Bella. Apparently Turiciano went straight after this and he died in Rockford on May 29, 1984 but he was listed as a Winter Haven, Florida resident.

First one I've seen from Castellammare.

[cavita]

Vito Turiciano was born March 19, 1898 in Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily to Angelo Turiciano and Giuseppa Gioia and in 1913 he immigrated to Rockford, Illinois. In January 1922 Turiciano along with his cousin Salvatore DiLorenzo were arrested for trying to extort $2,000 from Antonino Tangorra through “Blackhand” letters. Turiciano pled guilty and was sentenced to 1-20 years in the penitentiary. In January 1933 Turiciano was found guilty along with Joe Maffei and Joe Bonavia on concealed weapons charges after a wild chase through downtown Rockford in which he was the driver. Turiciano was sentenced to six months in prison and he was using the alias Joe Bella. On June 17, 1934 Turiciano was arrested along with George Welte and Anthony Vince for robbing the A&P Grocery store and he again was using the alias Joe Bella. Apparently Turiciano went straight after this and he died in Rockford on May 29, 1984 but he was listed as a Winter Haven, Florida resident.

First one I've seen from Castellammare.

Yes, I believe he has been the only one I've seen in Rockford from CDG.

[cavita]

Frank P. Vella was born June 20, 1922 in Rockford, Illinois to Filippo Vella and Giovanna Calacurcio of Siculiana, Sicily and Santo Stefano del Sole, Italy, respectively. Vella was the secretary-treasurer of the Neapolitan Club which had been the location of gambling incidents. In 1965/1966 Vella was arrested for failing to purchase a wagering stamp and not registering with the IRS as a bookmaker. At the time, Vella was working under Rockford LCN street gambling boss Phil Emordeno. In 1967 he was the owner of Philippo’s Restaurant which after only one week being open, had a suspicious fire sweep through and do extensive damage. In 1977 another suspicious fire destroyed a house Vella owned at 7103 E. State Street. An extensive newspaper article on gambling in Rockford in 1980 alluded to Vella being involved in a huge gambling ring which reached south to LaSalle-Peru, Illinois to Freeport and into the surrounding Rockford area. In FBI files from 1992 Vella was identified and put under surveillance as working for the Rockford LCN and was a trusted Rockford LCN associate who was responsible for collecting gambling proceeds through parlay cards in Rochelle and DeKalb, Illinois taverns. Vella died in Rockford on February 3, 2007.

[B.]

Current Castellammarese mafiosi in the US and Sicily are named Turriciano. This Rockford guy is the only other one I've seen in the US.

[cavita]

Frank Rumore was born November 24, 1898 in Contessa Entellina, Sicily to Mr. and Mrs. Melchiore Rumore and in 1906 he immigrated to Rockford with his family. In 1922 in Rockford, Rumore married Margaret Vincer from Bryan, Texas. In June 1924 he was arrested in Madison, Wisconsin on a charge of car theft and being the ringleader of an auto theft group. May 1925 saw Rumore arrested for transporting high grade whiskey from Rockford into Freeport, Illinois. In 1930 Rumore was arrested in the huge liquor conspiracy case in Rockfod and he was sentenced to a year and a day in Leavenworth Penitentiary and was released in 1932. In 1934 he was again arrested for a large liquor ring that reached from Rockford to Belvidere to Savanna, Illinois and involved Frank Zammuto, Salvatore “Toto” Galluzzo, and Antonio Catalano among others. Rumore died September 3, 1954 in Rockford.

[cavita]

Gaetano “The Wolf” Acci was born in Calascibetta, Sicily in 1878 and although it is unknown when he arrived in the United States his WWI draft card had him living in Portland, Oregon and listed a sister, Filomena and her spouse Enrico Castellano, living in Chicago as his next of kin. By February 1927 Acci was arrested in Kenosha, Wisconsin for possession of an alcohol still and was given five months in jail and a $1000 fine. On May 13, 1928 Acci was found shot to death on the side of a road five miles north of Harvard, Illinois. Authorities stated a Rockford man had given Acci the “okay” to enter a gambling and liquor resort in Loves Park, Illinois the day before he was murdered and he was seen in the company of four Rockford men. The newspapers said he was a Chicago gangster and extortionist who was known to Chicago police as “The Wolf” and “King of the Blackhanders” and that he lived at 1066 Polk Street in Chicago.

[B.]

Early San Jose member Giuseppe Lima and some relatives lived in Portland for a time. Tony Lima said Giuseppe was inducted in Sicily (Trabia), meaning he was a made member while living in Portland. Based on Acci's age, seems he would have ties to the mafia already while living in PDX.