Nick Gentile's Book/Castellamarese War

[Etna]

Does anyone know if there are any english versions of Gentile's memoirs or any accurate/updated timeline if the castellamarese war including all known casualties?

[motorfab]

Unfortunately to my knowledge it exists only in Italian

[thekiduknow]

Author David Critchley has written about the Castellarmarese War, and looked into the causalities. The original number, given by Valachi, said that there were around 40-60 deaths of Masseria's side alone. However, after "a careful reading of newspapers and other materials reveals a far lower fatality figure...thirteen confirmed murders". He quotes thirteen, but I believe it was actually fourteen.

According to Critchley, the were:

Gaspare Milazzo and Rosario Parrino, May 31st 1930, Detroit

Vito Bonventre, July 15th, 1930, NY

Giuseppe Morello and Joseph Perriano, August 15th 1930, NY (Critchley doesn't include Perriano in his list, but he was killed alongside Morello)

Two unidentified Masseria Men, September-October 1930, NY

Joseph Aiello, October 23rd 1930, Chicago

Manfredi Mineo and Stefano Ferrigno, November 5 1930, NY

Giuseppe Parrino, January 19th, 1931, NY

Joseph Catania, February 4th 1931, NY

Chester Lamare, February 7th 1931, Detroit

Joseph Masseria, April 15th, 1931

[johnny_scootch]

Does anyone know if there are any english versions of Gentile's memoirs or any accurate/updated timeline if the castellamarese war including all known casualties?

I bought a translation of the book from David Critchley but there are no published translations available.

You should buy Davids book The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931, it's a great book.

[Pogo The Clown]

I believe it was Chris Cristie who translated it for Critchley and he never got any credit for it. Anyway here is a list of possible Maranzano casualties that someone (forgot who, might have been Christie) posted several years back.


Anthony Be[o]nventre [Mar.] Mar. 1930
John Torres [MAR.] March '30
Joseph Pinzolo [Lucc.] Sept. 1930
Pasquale D'Auria killed and Frank Italiano wounded [Mar.] Oct. 1930
Benjamin Gallo [Mar.] Nov. 1930
Joseph Parrino [Traitor - Mass.] Jan. 1931
Frank Marco [Mar.] Feb. 1931.


The killing of Dick Amato [May 1931] and attempt on Joe Rao [Aug. 1931] were part of the Coll-Schultz fued. And finally the attempt to kill Valachi's friends DeBellis, Mione and Casertano in Sept. 1931.


Didn't know Valachi had the Masseia deaths at 40-60. Even if he was off a bit/exaggerated it is hard to believe it was only 14. Perhaps there were other killings that either didn't make the papers or if they did it was not connected to OC. Plus of course there could have been others who simply "disappeared". I'm sure there were more in Chicago between Aiello-Capone.


Pogo

[maxiestern11]

I agree with you Pogo. There were probably other deaths that weren’t publicized.... or disappearances

[MichaelGiovanni]

D’Aquila’s and Mineo’s murders weren’t considered part of the war?

[thekiduknow]

I think Valachi gave the figure during his Senate testimony, and the Valachi Papers book also gives the 60 deaths figure.

I forgot about Pinzolo, he's a definite causality and his absence from Critchley's list is interesting.

I'm glad you bring up DeBellis, Mione and Casteranos deaths, as it bring up an interesting question I've always thought about, when does the war actually end? Is it with the death of Masseria, or with Maranzano only a few months later? Whether we think of the war as a fight between the outcasted Castellemarese and the dominate Mafia groups , or a fight between two bosses over the 'Boss of Bosses' position, it would make sense have the death of Maranzano as an end point in my opinion.

I would love to hear others opinions about the war.

I would also second 'Origin of Organized Crime' by Critchley. It's real dense, and meanders at times with seemingly unnecessary details(although I did love reading about the violent ice and poultry rackets in the 1930s), but it does a good job of digging deeper into the actual history.

[thekiduknow]

D’Aquila’s and Mineo’s murders weren’t considered part of the war?

D'Aquila was killed in 1928, I believe in a war with Masseria/Morello. Mineo was killed with Steve Ferrigno and were definitely part of the war

[thekiduknow]

I agree with you Pogo. There were probably other deaths that weren’t publicized.... or disappearances

Almost certainly there were more, although I do doubt there are any around the original number given of 40-60.

[antimafia]

I think that a poster on here previously posted the following link to the April 11, 1971 New York Times article by Nicholas Gage:

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesm ... eNumber=51

The article mentions that Hank Messick's 1971 book Lansky, which was due to be published soon after Gage's article came out, contains excerpts from Gentile's 1963 memoirs (Vita di capomafia) -- I am fairly certain the excerpts are in English but I have no idea how many there are and how lengthy.

The article also mentions a murder-victims figure of 40 provided by US Attorney General Ramsey Clark in his book Crime in America (which appears to have been published in November 1970); so Clark is another person who repeated the never-confirmed rumoured number of murders during the Night of the Sicilian Vespers.

[aleksandrored]

I thought the war was actually another rebellion against masseria that was being dictator at the time as boss of bosses, actually starting in 1928 with D'aquila's death and ending with Maranzano's death and the creation of the commission, so if that's right i believe 40 is an exaggerated number and 14 would be the most correct.

[Lupara]

Lists complied by forum members have been posted before on this board or its predecessor.

On that list there were 20-25 murders related to the conflict in total.

[thekiduknow]

I thought the war was actually another rebellion against masseria that was being dictator at the time as boss of bosses, actually starting in 1928 with D'aquila's death and ending with Maranzano's death and the creation of the commission, so if that's right i believe 40 is an exaggerated number and 14 would be the most correct.

Well, according to Gentile, Masseria put a death sentence against the Castellamarese faction which lead to the outbreak of the war, not unlike when D'Aquila passed death sentences against Morello and Masseria. Masseria then killed Milazzao, who was from Castellammare, which Maranzano used to rile support for his rebellion, not D'Aquila's. So, I don't think you can count D'Aquila's murder as an official part of the war, given that he wasn't part of the Castellamarese faction.

[thekiduknow]

Lists complied by forum members have been posted before on this board or its predecessor.

On that list there were 20-25 murders related to the conflict in total.

Do you have a link? I searched for "Castellammare/Castellammarese War" in the forum search and not much came up.