The Philly Piccolos

[B.]

Nicodemo Piccolo was born in Mammola, named for the town's patron saint San Nicodemo di Ciro, to Domenico Piccolo, who brought his family to Philadelphia, where the rest of the children were born, including Joseph, Mike, Scarfo's mother Catherine, and other siblings. I'm not sure how Nicky Buck got his start (or his nickname) but he likely associated with the Rugnetta brothers and John Scopelleti, who were among the more well-known Calabrian mobsters making a name for themselves in South Philly at the time. Both the Rugnettas and Scopelleti were from Reggio.

Nick was likely made in the late 1940's, which eventually led to his brothers Joe and Mike, cousin/nephew Tony Piccolo, and nephew Nicky Scarfo getting initiated in 1954. The Buck brothers and Tony Buck were mainly involved in bookmaking and card games, while Scarfo, who didn't get along closely with his uncles, gravitated toward Skinny Razor DiTullio, who took Scarfo into his crew. It's not clear which crew the Piccolos were in, but it was likely Joe Rugnetta's, who was a capo then. Nicky Buck's promotion to capo coincides with Rugnetta's promotion to the administration, so it's possible he took over that crew or a part of it. While much of the Calabrian faction was based in Chester, Rugnetta and the Piccolos prominently represented the Calabrians in South Philly.

By the 1960's, the Piccolo brothers owned Piccolo's 500 restaurant, which would become the well-known Cous' Little Italy when they sold it in 1977. I'm not sure what other legitimate ventures the Buck brothers were involved in aside from the restaurant, but Tony Buck ran Baron Maintenance, which was involved in bid rigging and had a government contract doing building maintenance at the docks. He also dabbled in construction and owned the Medford Village Resort and Country Club until 1985, where Shotsie Sparacio and his cousin Blase Salvatore ran a gambling operation. By the mid-80's, Tony Buck was a soldier in Tommy DelGiorno's crew. DelGiorno described a meeting in his testimony where Scarfo informed him that he would be promoting Tony to consigliere (maybe acting).

Tony Buck has always been listed as a first cousin of Nicky Scarfo, but it's not entirely clear what the relation is. Some info incorrectly lists Tony's father as Dominic (not to be confused with Nicky Buck's father Domenico/Dominic), but Dominic was in fact Tony Buck's older brother and his father was named Salvatore. He also had a younger brother, Salvatore Jr., who went by Sammy. I believe Tony's older brother Dominic was the father of Wayne Grande's wife and is the namesake for Dom Grande, who would be his grandson. Dom Grande's uncle, who his father Wayne ratted on, is yet another Salvatore "Sammy" Piccolo.

Tony's father Salvatore is too old to have been a brother of the Buck brothers, so my guess is that he was actually the younger brother of their father Domenico, which would make Tony a younger cousin to the Buck brothers and not their nephew like he's been described. This is still murky to me, though. In Leonetti's book, he describes Tony Buck as Scarfo's uncle, but we know that's not the case and it seems to be a typo. Still, he might be a second cousin.

In the Goodfella tapes, Tony talks about his father (Salvatore) being an old school guy in Brooklyn circa ~1930, and I was able to confirm that they did live there during that time. However, they lived in Philadelphia before that, where most of the children were born, then lived in Brooklyn for a few years where their last kid was born in 1932. Sometime between 1932 and 1940 they moved back to South Philly. It's not clear if Salvatore Piccolo was a wiseguy, but I find it interesting that he took the family from Philly to Brooklyn and then back to Philly. From what Tony said of him, though brief, makes it sound like he was at least an associate. Keep in mind the Scarfos also lived in Brooklyn during the same period.

There isn't a whole lot of info on Joe and Mike Buck, but they were "knockaround guys" around Philly but mostly stayed in the shadow of their brother Nick. When Nicky Scarfo asked Santo Idone for his support in becoming boss, Idone said he would only do it if Scarfo agreed to get along better with his uncles, which Scarfo did agree to and apparently lived up to, as he promoted his uncle to consigliere even though Nick Buck was elderly at that time. Idone had inherited the Calabrian Chester crew and was related to the Sciglitanos.

SCRATCH THIS, as Frank Piccolo was a Sicilian not related to these Piccolos: It's also not clear if Frank Piccolo, believed to be a soldier during the 1930's, was related. He was Calabrian and apparently involved in some kind of infighting within the family which got him killed in 1939. I haven't seen a Francesco or Frank anywhere in the Mammola Piccolos family tree, but that doesn't mean he isn't related somewhere.

Anyway, I am sure I'll be adding to this, but this is just a primer I wanted to get started.

[Pogo The Clown]

Great post. Interesting about Nicky Buck being named Nicodemo. I have always seen it listed as Nicholas. Did he change it or was it just incorrectly reported all these years?


Pogo

[Ivan]

Awesome post Barbarian.

Is Tommy Del's testimony available to read somewhere?

Also, this is the mother of all nitpicking, but anyway I read somewhere that Anthony Piccolo's mob nickname was "Cousin Tony", not "Tony Buck", and that the Bucks were just Nick and his two brothers. Not sure if this is accurate though.

[B.]

I am guessing he used them interchangeably, like a lot of Italian immigrants... i.e. Giovanni Stanfa using "John", etc. Early records have him as Nicodemo but it seems he used Nicholas more later.

I've only seen parts of Tommy's testimony, but I think the part I shared was from the RICO trial that snagged Tony Buck.The Scarfos and Leonetti called him "Cousin Anthony" and maybe other guys called him that a well, but I've definitely seen him referred to as Tony Buck.

Also, I am almost sure that Joe Rugnetta brought Nick Piccolo into the family, as the Piccolos' mother was the sister of Joe Rugnetta's first wife. When Domenico Piccolo died, Rugnetta helped the Piccolos out financially.

[B.]

It's also not clear if Frank Piccolo, believed to be a soldier during the 1930's, was related. He was Calabrian and apparently involved in some kind of infighting within the family which got him killed in 1939. I haven't seen a Francesco or Frank anywhere in the Mammola Piccolos family tree, but that doesn't mean he isn't related somewhere.

I have the Frank Piccolo murdered in 1939 as being born in Milazzo, Sicily. Are you sure he was Calabrian? This Piccolo was one of the guys Sam Scafidi listed as circa 1920 era members.

No, you are probably right. I had him listed as Calabrian for some reason, but I think it was the wrong immigration record. Thanks for the correction, always appreciated.

[Angelo Santino]

It's also not clear if Frank Piccolo, believed to be a soldier during the 1930's, was related. He was Calabrian and apparently involved in some kind of infighting within the family which got him killed in 1939. I haven't seen a Francesco or Frank anywhere in the Mammola Piccolos family tree, but that doesn't mean he isn't related somewhere.

I have the Frank Piccolo murdered in 1939 as being born in Milazzo, Sicily. Are you sure he was Calabrian? This Piccolo was one of the guys Sam Scafidi listed as circa 1920 era members.

No, you are probably right. I had him listed as Calabrian for some reason, but I think it was the wrong immigration record. Thanks for the correction, always appreciated.

There are Sicilian and Calabrian Picciolos and Leonetti's in Philadelphia that are non-related. Same with the DiGregorio family, some from Cast, others from Caccamo.

[B.]

It's also not clear if Frank Piccolo, believed to be a soldier during the 1930's, was related. He was Calabrian and apparently involved in some kind of infighting within the family which got him killed in 1939. I haven't seen a Francesco or Frank anywhere in the Mammola Piccolos family tree, but that doesn't mean he isn't related somewhere.

I have the Frank Piccolo murdered in 1939 as being born in Milazzo, Sicily. Are you sure he was Calabrian? This Piccolo was one of the guys Sam Scafidi listed as circa 1920 era members.

No, you are probably right. I had him listed as Calabrian for some reason, but I think it was the wrong immigration record. Thanks for the correction, always appreciated.

There are Sicilian and Calabrian Picciolos and Leonetti's in Philadelphia that are non-related. Same with the DiGregorio family, some from Cast, others from Caccamo.

Yeah I also feel like Morello might have listed Piccolo as Calabrian but I don't want to shift the blame toward her if it's not true.

I know of the early Leonettis in Philly but I don't think any of them were really mobbed up. Just local hoodlums.

[B.]

That's the only picture I've ever seen of him. Also thanks for the info about him "breaking the rules". I'd be curious if that's in reference to him starting some kind of beef (i.e. the infighting), or if he ratted or something like that.

Some other Piccolo info...

Joe Piccolo and probably Mike as well were listed as being under Faffy Iannarella in the 1980's and still involved in bookmaking under him. Whether there was any distinction between the Iannarella and Delgiorno crews at that point is another question. All of the Piccolo brothers were known for wearing "Jeff caps" (i.e. newsie caps, golf berets) and Joe Piccolo was buried with his.

Seems that Nick and Joe were the most involved in mob affairs, with Mike taking more of a backseat.

Not directly related to this topic, but may be of interest... Joseph Scalleat, Nino Sciglitano, and Santo Romeo were all soldiers under Santo Idone.

[rayray]

The Piccolo's seem to be the epitome of flying under the radar compared to Scarfo, wonder if that had anything to do with the riff between them? On a side note, so many talk about the psychotic behavior of Scarfo yet he followed LCN rules and everything he did or ruled on as boss was all well within reason. Not saying his decisions or actions were the best routes to take though.

[B.]

In 1964, Angelo Bruno had a meeting at Piccolo's 500 with Nicky Scarfo, Chuckie Merlino, and "Chicago Louie" Matteo (who was later murdered in 1972), who had all been at the scene of the longshoreman's murder. Also in attendance were Charles Vilotti and Nick, Joe, and Mike Piccolo. Bruno, Scarfo, and Joe Piccolo then met privately (not sure why it wasn't Nick Piccolo). The purpose of this meeting was to discuss Scarfo's sentence on the manslaughter charges and it sounds like Bruno wasn't happy that a better deal couldn't be arranged for Nicky.

[Pogo The Clown]

Do you have any more info on this Chicago Louie Matteo and why he got clipped? This is the first time I've heard of him. Thanks.


Pogo

[B.]

Do you have any more info on this Chicago Louie Matteo and why he got clipped? This is the first time I've heard of him. Thanks.


Pogo

He was a bookmaker who was close friends with Nicky Scarfo but I don't know much. He was killed on the street a fairly short time after associate Pasquale Procopio aka "Jimmy Ross" was murdered and it's possible there was a connection, as those two were close. About 40-years-old when he died.

[Pogo The Clown]

Thanks for the info. Never heard of Procopio either. So that's two more murders during Brunos' reign. Further putting to bed the whole "Gentle Don" narrative.


Pogo

[B.]

Thanks for the info. Never heard of Procopio either. So that's two more murders during Brunos' reign. Further putting to bed the whole "Gentle Don" narrative.


Pogo

Yeah, I am not positive they were sanctioned hits but both of them were killed "gangland style".

[B.]

There was also an associate named Frank "Frankie Mendel" Matteo who was involved in some gambling operations but no clue if he is related to Chicago Louie.