Antiliar wrote: ↑Thu Oct 24, 2019 6:17 pm
As for Lanza, he was associated with Schiro, so probably was a member of his group. The first boss who we are aware of is Rosario Meli, then there's a knowledge gap until Lanza.
One thing Lima said about Francesco Lanza is that during his time as boss he had "strong connections" to NYC. There is a redacted name whose family is said to have lived with Lanza family both in NYC and when they moved to California. Francesco Lanza ran a grocery store on Chrystie Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and sold real estate. When he arrived in the California Bay Area, Lanza invested heavily in real estate.
The FBI mentioned that the spelling used may have been "Pruetta" or "Proetta". Lima said he was once told by Francesco Lanza himself that they also used the name Proetta. Interesting how both the Lanzas and Falcones continued to use both the foundling names and their new names; curious if that was the norm for foundlings or if it was, as we'd expect, it was just a natural alias for them as secretive mafiosi. The name change was officially filed in Italy by Gioacchino Proetta, brother of Francesco, in June 1926. Jimmy Lanza vehemently denied any knowledge of the name Proetta when authorities confronted him with the info despite authorities having found records of the change in Italy.
Lima also said that both Jimmy Lanza's father and grandfather were "powerful people" in the mafia, which is why Jimmy essentially inherited membership "according to custom". So it looks like Francesco's father was a significant mafia member, maybe even a leader of some kind given how Lima referred to him and the fact that his son and grandson became bosses. An informant said that Francesco and his brother Gioacchino owned businesses together in Sicily but that Francesco was an honorable man and not involved in any trouble in Sicily.
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More on the Lanzas:
- In July 1970, Lima was putting pressure on Lanza to step down as boss as he was seen as an incompetent boss, and Lima initially was looking to push underboss Bill Sciortino into the spot, but Sciortino didn't want it and asked Lima if he wanted the spot instead. Lima told the FBI that if Lanza stepped down, they would not have a boss until the Commission approved a new boss, and that Sciortino would be acting boss in the interim. Lima told the FBI that if the family didn't induct new members, they were at risk of dying out completely in ten years and said they had plenty of viable recruits but Lanza was afraid of holding new inductions.
- In August 1970, Lanza agreed to step down and named Lima as the new boss. Lanza asked Lima what steps he should take following this, and Lima told Lanza to send word to the rest of the SF family that Lima was the boss, but there would be no family meetings and the change would not be officially recognized, as protocol required them to send word to Stefano Magaddino, but due to problems Magaddino was having with the authorities he didn't know when this would take place.
- A week later, Lima had Sciortino contact Modesto-based capodecina Vincent Infusino and told him about the change in leadership and that Infusino would be demoted as captain, which Sciortino did. Lima also told Bill Sciortino he wanted to demote him as underboss and start with a fresh regime, which Sciortino agreed to. Both Lanza and Sciortino were said to be happy to step down. However, Lima was disgusted by Lanza, as Lanza wanted nothing to do with mafia activies as a soldier and Lima felt this was the behavior of a coward and not a mafioso. It was said that Lima's promotion to boss was accepted by virtually everyone. A report from over a year later in August 1971 describes Sciortino as underboss, though it's not clear if this was based on updated info or came from a source; however, he was referred to again as the underboss in early 1972 after a source had talked to Sciortino directly.
- SF soldiers the Maita brothers, Phil and Frank, were the only members Lima instructed were not to be told of the leadership change, as they were old and senile. However, a couple of months later Jimmy Lanza met with Phil Maita and said Maita was very alert and in good health despite being in his 80s, so we can presume he was told the news by then.
- Around the time Lima took over, Joe Piazza, an associate and potential proposed member of the San Jose family, expressed dissatisfaction with San Jose and was looking to transfer to San Francisco.
- During an interview with an FBI agent in late September 1970, Jimmy Lanza was fairly open about his relationships to various figures (this is where the Phil Maita visit is mentioned). He told the agent that Anthony Lima did not have a good reputation, as Lima had been in trouble with the law and had a reputation for violence.
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In early 1971, the FBI interviewed several members of both the San Fran and San Jose families to ask them about Lima replacing Lanza as boss.
- One of these members, whose name is redacted, said he was told by Jimmy Lanza in San Francisco that Lima was going to induct ten new members and would not include the older members in this, and that they would also have nothing to do with activities moving forward. Lanza was apparently disturbed by this but did not want to be involved with the organization anyway. Lima would be building the San Francisco family with his own people, according to Lanza. This member also asked Lanza who his point of contact was on the east coast and Lanza said Stefano Magaddino, but that he no longer knew how to contact him. I assume the member who gave this interview with the FBI was one of the CIs given how candid they were about mafia activities.
- During one FBI interview with an unknown informant, the informant told the FBI that when Frank Garafolo was "boss" of the Bonanno family (i.e. underboss), he frequently came to San Francisco and was well-acquainted with the Lanzas. It is not mentioned by the source, but we know Garafolo had an olive oil business in the area so this makes sense. According to the informant, the Lanzas apparently tried to get Garafolo to marry their sister Grace but it never panned out. As Antiliar said, Francesco Lanza may have been a Schiro (Bonanno) member himself before SF, so this relationship with Garafolo is interesting.
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- An informant who is not Lima but was said to have been close to top mafia figures (unsure if member) said that Frank "Cicciu" Lanza had been the boss of the mafia in SF, with Joe Piazza as his underboss, and that Vincenzo LaRocca was one of the most powerful mafia leaders in the area as well when he was alive. Apparently some people who owned a furniture store in North Beach were associates of both Cicciu Lanza and LaRocca. In another report, Lima says that LaRocca's sons were associates on record with Jimmy Lanza and implies they were candidates for membership but never made.
