How Many Mafia Families Were There? 20,24,26???

[sdeitche]

I did a search and didn't see a similar thread, But Wiseguys' post on the Buff/Ontario thread got me thinking- based on these:

"Once boasting 26 families nationwide, the mob is down to 11, half of those confined to the New York area. Moreover, the Mafia's influence still extends far beyond New York. There remain active families in Chicago, Detroit, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami." (US News & World Report, 2000)

"Operation Button Down, the codename for the FBI's campaign to crush the Mafia, reduced the number of families operating in the United States from 24 to only nine, FBI officials said. (CNN, 2004)

"The federal government's hit list for the Mafia once included nearly 20 cities...'" (Washington Post, 1992)

What is the correct number of mob families at peak (say late 1950s/early 60s)? I get 26.

Bonanno
Bufalino
Buffalo
Cleveland
Colombo
Dallas
DeCavalcante
Denver
Detroit
Gambino
Genovese
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Luchesse
Madison
Milwaukee
New England
New Orleans
Philly
Pittsburgh
Rockford
San Fracisco
San Jose
Springfield
St. Louis
Tampa

[Homerthedog]

I always thought that the Madison bunch was a Milwaukee crew headed by a capo named Caputo.

[Wiseguy]

I did a search and didn't see a similar thread, But Wiseguys' post on the Buff/Ontario thread got me thinking- based on these:

"Once boasting 26 families nationwide, the mob is down to 11, half of those confined to the New York area. Moreover, the Mafia's influence still extends far beyond New York. There remain active families in Chicago, Detroit, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami." (US News & World Report, 2000)

"Operation Button Down, the codename for the FBI's campaign to crush the Mafia, reduced the number of families operating in the United States from 24 to only nine, FBI officials said. (CNN, 2004)

"The federal government's hit list for the Mafia once included nearly 20 cities...'" (Washington Post, 1992)

What is the correct number of mob families at peak (say late 1950s/early 60s)? I get 26.

Bonanno
Bufalino
Buffalo
Cleveland
Colombo
Dallas
DeCavalcante
Denver
Detroit
Gambino
Genovese
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Luchesse
Madison
Milwaukee
New England
New Orleans
Philly
Pittsburgh
Rockford
San Fracisco
San Jose
Springfield
St. Louis
Tampa

This, of course, has also been much debated over the years. At least 24 most seem to agree on - all of which you listed above.

Ones in question are below.


1. Rochester, NY - broke off from Buffalo in the late-1960's, mentioned by FBI in 1980
2. Utica, NY - mentioned by Valachi in 1963
3. Unnamed Connecticut city - mentioned by Frattiano in 1980
4. Newark, NJ - absorbed by New York families in 1930's
5. Birmingham, AL - cited by Bill Bonanno, defunct since 1938
6. Steubenville, OH - mentioned by Fratianno in 1980
7. Rockford, IL - listed by FBI in 1980, 17 listed members in 1967 report
8. Springfield, IL - listed by FBI in 1980, 3 listed members in 1967 report
9. Madison, WI - listed by FBI and NYPD detective Ralph Salerno in 1980, 10 listed members in 1967 report
10. Pueblo, CO - didn't last past 1930's
11. Tucson, AZ - broke off from Bonannos in mid-1960's, listed by FBI in 1963, 1980, and 1988
12. San Diego, CA - cited by Bonanno, absorbed by Los Angeles in 1930's

[Frank]

I did a search and didn't see a similar thread, But Wiseguys' post on the Buff/Ontario thread got me thinking- based on these:

"Once boasting 26 families nationwide, the mob is down to 11, half of those confined to the New York area. Moreover, the Mafia's influence still extends far beyond New York. There remain active families in Chicago, Detroit, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami." (US News & World Report, 2000)

"Operation Button Down, the codename for the FBI's campaign to crush the Mafia, reduced the number of families operating in the United States from 24 to only nine, FBI officials said. (CNN, 2004)

"The federal government's hit list for the Mafia once included nearly 20 cities...'" (Washington Post, 1992)

What is the correct number of mob families at peak (say late 1950s/early 60s)? I get 26.

Bonanno
Bufalino
Buffalo
Cleveland
Colombo
Dallas
DeCavalcante
Denver
Detroit
Gambino
Genovese
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Luchesse
Madison
Milwaukee
New England
New Orleans
Philly
Pittsburgh
Rockford
San Fracisco
San Jose
Springfield
St. Louis
Tampa

You forgot Chicago.

[BeatiPaoli]

To SDeitche and Everyone: For the 1960s, I would subscribe to the number 28, which was written up in an old column from Allan May. Scott, I would include Chicago and Rochester on that list (even though there may be some speculation at what point in the 1960s Rochester became an independent Family),

Newark and Birmingham bring the U.S. grand total (during the 20th Century) to 30.

Youngstown, from what I have gathered here on this Forum and elsewhere, had crews/members from Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Baltimore had a crew from the Gambinos under Frankie Carbo.

San Diego had a crew from Detroit.

Pueblo merged with Denver over time (much like Providence and Boston).

I give no credence to Tucson, that was just law enforcement's attempt to bring attention to Joseph Bonanno.

I very much would like feedback on my aforementioned assessment of the U. S. Families; my only true doubt about what I have written is about San Diego. I know in the latter half of the 20th Century, Detroit had a regime in San Diego. As I read Bill Bonanno's remarks (in his second book) about San Diego (in which I believe he was discussing San Diego in the first half of the 1900s), I understand it to read that "Sicilian groups had gathered in San Diego as early as the 1920s; by the 1930s THEY had branched into Los Angeles...…." I am confused; is he saying there was a Family in San Diego, or that San Diego Sicilians became part of the Los Angeles Family. And Is there any other evidence, from any sources, that San Diego had an independent, active Family???

Comments would be appreciated.

Regards,
BeatiPaoli

[motorfab]

Baltimore had a crew from the Gambinos under Frankie Carbo.

Louis Morci/Frank Corbi. Frankie Carbo was a Lucchese guy

[B.]

- West coast CIs reported that Joe Bonanno considered himself boss of a Tucson family into the late 1970s but also that his 'family' was unrecognized by the Commission. Technically they weren't a family. Bonanno's membership wasn't even recognized.

- Haven't seen any comments from Bompensiero about a San Diego family predating the LA SD crew. The LA underboss lived in SD for a time, but that's the closest thing I can think of. There were strong ties between San Diego and the midwest, specifically Milwaukee and Detroit. A couple of the older Balistrieris retired to Milwaukee and Bompensiero's roots were there. On the other end, Tony Mirabile and the Adamos were from Alcamo and had ties to Detroit, which as you mentioned had a presence in San Diego of their own. If there was an early San Diego family, this could point to it having been made up of members from Bagheria area and/or Alcamo. The San Jose family is believed to have been started by men from Bagheria.

- Paul Palazzola was a leader of some kind in Indiana rackets and his attendance at the 1928 Cleveland meeting shows he had stature within the mafia. Could suggest an Indiana family.

- Chicago Heights was originally its own family according to Chicago researchers.

- Utica's history and vague comments from CIs suggest that they may have been their own small family originally, later becoming a Buffalo crew.


"Outpost" cities/towns associated with larger mafia cities could indicate there was originally a small, separate group there that was absorbed into the larger family. Nick Gentile talks about there being hundreds of bosses at meetings during the Castellammarese War. He must have been referring to not only bosses, but underbosses, captains, and other ranking members or exaggerating/estimating/mistaken, though I believe Joe Bonanno made a remark about a large number of leaders attending meetings during that time -- would have to re-check.

Many Sicilian mafia members and their relatives came from rural backgrounds and initially did what came natural, working in mining, labor, or agriculture they had experience with in Sicily. A significant number of early mafia members in the US traveled between small and developing towns where colonies of Sicilian paesans popped up when work was available and where there were opportunities to exploit. It wasn't always clear back then which towns/cities would continue to grow and which ones would fade away, so Italian/Sicilian colonies didn't necessarily form in "logical" places from today's point of view and as a result not all of them were sustainable, which is why you see many early mafia members moving around before finally settling in a particular city.

There are early references to Black Hand activity in small Italian/Sicilian colonies and some of these could have had small families like Birmingham that came and went as opportunities changed and people moved around. Even looking at New Orleans, if you were to tell mafia members in 1890 that New Orleans was going to be almost extinct in 100 years while NYC would still be thriving with five large families, they'd probably have a hard time believing it. Yet I doubt early New Orleans members would bat an eye at the idea of a small mafia family whose members barely live above poverty and earn a living by working on coal mines and extorting other miners, an idea that is completely foreign to the urban Sopranos gangster.

Sicilian pentito Leonardo Messina testified that 10 members were required to start a new family. With relatives and paesans congregating in the same colonies, it wouldn't be difficult for a number of small families of ~10 to have popped up only to disappear when the mafia was still establishing its presence. This is more along the lines of what they had been used to in Sicily, where outside of the major provincial cities, most Sicilian mafia families were rural small town groups with few members. The mafia became a more urban phenomenon gradually and we now associate mafia families only with medium to large cities, but I think we have to think in more rural and transient terms for the earlier years.

[maxiestern11]

If you are talking Mafia that’s one thing. But if you wanna include all the Camorra groups active in early US history (and the Neopolitan and Calabrian members in them) which were their own entity, aside from Sicilian groups, I think were are talking many many “families” for lack of a better word. Many of these groups across the USA were quite formidable, with solid memberships that would indeed constitute a family..... so before the “merge”, who knows how many actual “Mafia type” groups there were.

[cavita]

Though they ended up being satellites of the Outfit, one could make a case that Des Moines, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska had early LCN families.

[johnny_scootch]

I did a search and didn't see a similar thread, But Wiseguys' post on the Buff/Ontario thread got me thinking- based on these:

"Once boasting 26 families nationwide, the mob is down to 11, half of those confined to the New York area. Moreover, the Mafia's influence still extends far beyond New York. There remain active families in Chicago, Detroit, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami." (US News & World Report, 2000)

"Operation Button Down, the codename for the FBI's campaign to crush the Mafia, reduced the number of families operating in the United States from 24 to only nine, FBI officials said. (CNN, 2004)

"The federal government's hit list for the Mafia once included nearly 20 cities...'" (Washington Post, 1992)

What is the correct number of mob families at peak (say late 1950s/early 60s)? I get 26.

Bonanno
Bufalino
Buffalo
Cleveland
Colombo
Dallas
DeCavalcante
Denver
Detroit
Gambino
Genovese
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Luchesse
Madison
Milwaukee
New England
New Orleans
Philly
Pittsburgh
Rockford
San Fracisco
San Jose
Springfield
St. Louis
Tampa

This, of course, has also been much debated over the years. At least 24 most seem to agree on - all of which you listed above.

Ones in question are below.


1. Rochester, NY - broke off from Buffalo in the late-1960's, mentioned by FBI in 1980
2. Utica, NY - mentioned by Valachi in 1963
3. Unnamed Connecticut city - mentioned by Frattiano in 1980
4. Newark, NJ - absorbed by New York families in 1930's
5. Birmingham, AL - cited by Bill Bonanno, defunct since 1938
6. Steubenville, OH - mentioned by Fratianno in 1980
7. Rockford, IL - listed by FBI in 1980, 17 listed members in 1967 report
8. Springfield, IL - listed by FBI in 1980, 3 listed members in 1967 report
9. Madison, WI - listed by FBI and NYPD detective Ralph Salerno in 1980, 10 listed members in 1967 report
10. Pueblo, CO - didn't last past 1930's
11. Tucson, AZ - broke off from Bonannos in mid-1960's, listed by FBI in 1963, 1980, and 1988
12. San Diego, CA - cited by Bonanno, absorbed by Los Angeles in 1930's

+Chicago
+Patriarca

[Wiseguy]

+Chicago
+Patriarca

Scott did remember the Patriarca family (New England).

[Snakes]

FBI's 1997 index of living made members included the following families (file I had was just a memo, it did not include any actual member lists):

Bonanno
Buffalo
Chicago
Cleveland
Colombo
DeCavalcante
Denver
Detroit
Gambino
Genovese
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Luchesse
Madison
Milwaukee
New England
New Orleans
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Pittston (Bufalino)
Rochester
Rockford
San Francisco
San Jose
St. Louis
Tampa
Tucson

[sdeitche]

Of course I forgot one of the biggest- Chicago.

[sdeitche]

I did a search and didn't see a similar thread, But Wiseguys' post on the Buff/Ontario thread got me thinking- based on these:

"Once boasting 26 families nationwide, the mob is down to 11, half of those confined to the New York area. Moreover, the Mafia's influence still extends far beyond New York. There remain active families in Chicago, Detroit, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami." (US News & World Report, 2000)

"Operation Button Down, the codename for the FBI's campaign to crush the Mafia, reduced the number of families operating in the United States from 24 to only nine, FBI officials said. (CNN, 2004)

"The federal government's hit list for the Mafia once included nearly 20 cities...'" (Washington Post, 1992)

What is the correct number of mob families at peak (say late 1950s/early 60s)? I get 26.

Bonanno
Bufalino
Buffalo
Cleveland
Colombo
Dallas
DeCavalcante
Denver
Detroit
Gambino
Genovese
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Luchesse
Madison
Milwaukee
New England
New Orleans
Philly
Pittsburgh
Rockford
San Fracisco
San Jose
Springfield
St. Louis
Tampa

This, of course, has also been much debated over the years. At least 24 most seem to agree on - all of which you listed above.

Ones in question are below.


1. Rochester, NY - broke off from Buffalo in the late-1960's, mentioned by FBI in 1980
2. Utica, NY - mentioned by Valachi in 1963
3. Unnamed Connecticut city - mentioned by Frattiano in 1980
4. Newark, NJ - absorbed by New York families in 1930's
5. Birmingham, AL - cited by Bill Bonanno, defunct since 1938
6. Steubenville, OH - mentioned by Fratianno in 1980
7. Rockford, IL - listed by FBI in 1980, 17 listed members in 1967 report
8. Springfield, IL - listed by FBI in 1980, 3 listed members in 1967 report
9. Madison, WI - listed by FBI and NYPD detective Ralph Salerno in 1980, 10 listed members in 1967 report
10. Pueblo, CO - didn't last past 1930's
11. Tucson, AZ - broke off from Bonannos in mid-1960's, listed by FBI in 1963, 1980, and 1988
12. San Diego, CA - cited by Bonanno, absorbed by Los Angeles in 1930's

Good additions and questions.

[Pogo The Clown]

I remember reading way back when that Providence and Boston were originally 2 separate families. I don't remember where I read it or if it was even accurate.


Pogo