Early Mafia History Discussion

[Pogo The Clown]

Pogo I have him in the FBN book and the 1940 census as being born in 1904.

Could very well be. JD had him as 63 in his 1965 chart.


Pogo

[B.]

Stefano was definitely Bartolo Ferrigno's older brother. Stefano's death certificate lists Gaetano Ferrigno and Santa Schiro as his mother/father, like Bartolo.

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CC,
Nothing to add or subtract from your thoughts on Cascio Ferro. Your 70% confidence is more than reasonable based on all of the evidence you've laid out and I couldn't possibly nitpick any further by trying to change that number without more definitive evidence. I can't say that I'm more than 30% confident Cascio Ferro belonged elsewhere, either, so we are virtually in agreement -- my main point is that without a confirmation (i.e. Clemente saying "Cascio Ferro is a soldato in the Morello/Corleonesi"), there is reason to question where he belonged and another possible landing place is the Lupo group given some of the other circumstance, relationships, and patterns that would follow.

On the subject of Morello, I'd be curious if he had a "sostituto" who helped run his own family while he was busy as boss of bosses. D'Aquila had one, as we know, and it's possible Morello himself came full circle and filled this role for Masseria given he was underboss and is described as being the power behind the so-called throne. Commission members, whose duties were likely somewhat smaller than the boss of bosses, were caught on tape complaining how little time they had to run their own families given their political obligations and we see many of the Commission members from the 1930s-1960s relying heavily on their underboss to run their individual family. Makes you wonder what the arrangement may have been under Morello in the early 1900s.

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100% on the formation of families being anything but random, though naturally it is affected by circumstance, too. That's one of the reasons why I feel it's appropriate to connect the late 19th century Palermitani mafia group with the Lupo organization, and subsequently the D'Aquila and Mineo branches, as you did in the article. These groups maintain continuity even when they split apart, come into conflict, or face other obstacles that thin their membership/influence or otherwise force them further underground. As long as there were mafiosi in an area (and even sometimes when there aren't), there is almost always continuity in affiliation and this is maintained through longrunning relationships and political factors that often outlive even the members themselves.

Re: Sciacchitani -- Agrigento is truly the wild card of the US mafia in my opinion. Men from certain areas of Agrigento province took over as leaders all over the US (and Canada) and had one of the tightest and most influential networks, yet we don't see this reflected in the NYC leadership despite their political influence. We see powerful Sciacchitani/Agrigentesi factions or at least individuals in the Gambino, Lucchese, and Bonanno families in NYC, with the D'Aquila/Gambino family having the most significant faction and allegedly their own unofficial "consigliere'". Masseria was considered a Sciacchitano and the leader of the so-called "Sciacchitani" faction during the Castellammarese War, yet he didn't have members from there that we know of. I do wonder though if Masseria's downfall factored into the other Sciacchitano never rising above capodecina in the following years, if it even mattered.

Then there are the DeCavalcantes, who it could be argued are an example of a family in NYC/NJ that was something close to a "Sciacchitani" family. They were part of that network and it appears they were always split between NYC and NJ factions, yet weren't considered a significant political force to be thought of as a true "sixth family" in the NY metro area. Early on it appears many of their Riberesi / Agrigentesi members were in Manhattan, where they had a longtime crew close to the Arcuri / Agrigentesi crew of the Gambinos. We also have a Gentile-sourced FBI report describing the Newark family under D'Amico as an NYC / NJ family, indicating the Newark family had NYC members (assuming the DeCavalcante weren't part of the Newark family then), which is interesting too. It's sort of strange DeCavs weren't politically significant enough to be considered a true "sixth family", especially given the prevalence of members from Agrigento and their longtime presence in NYC.

[Angelo Santino]

"Nothing to add or subtract from your thoughts on Cascio Ferro. Your 70% confidence is more than reasonable based on all of the evidence you've laid out and I couldn't possibly nitpick any further by trying to change that number without more definitive evidence. I can't say that I'm more than 30% confident Cascio Ferro belonged elsewhere, either, so we are virtually in agreement -- my main point is that without a confirmation (i.e. Clemente saying "Cascio Ferro is a soldato in the Morello/Corleonesi"), there is reason to question where he belonged and another possible landing place is the Lupo group given some of the other circumstance, relationships, and patterns that would follow."

When I go back through the 1900's stuff, I will make a point to revisit and reevaluate what's on CF and see if I can find any additional things that might point to the Gambinos. My 70% is based on my own estimate but you are right, there's no direct quote so the skepticism is absolutely warranted. I will try to approach it from that angle and email you the parts I come across for your own interpretation. I'm going on memory from 6 years ago so reevaluations are always healthy.

"On the subject of Morello, I'd be curious if he had a "sostituto" who helped run his own family while he was busy as boss of bosses. D'Aquila had one, as we know, and it's possible Morello himself came full circle and filled this role for Masseria given he was underboss and is described as being the power behind the so-called throne. Commission members, whose duties were likely somewhat smaller than the boss of bosses, were caught on tape complaining how little time they had to run their own families given their political obligations and we see many of the Commission members from the 1930s-1960s relying heavily on their underboss to run their individual family. Makes you wonder what the arrangement may have been under Morello in the early 1900s."

Possible. We don't know if "sostituto" was a permanent position or just a one-off representative. In 1890, the Sangiorgi report described the Palermo Mafia groups as each having a 'caporione" and a "sostituto" and described the latter in underboss terms. In 1923 there was one meeting that D'Aquila didn't attend (he attended the others) but at this particular one Traina appeared and Gentile called him that. Was Traina a permanent Substitute in its own position or was he Underboss? Was his being a substutite for D'Aquila the same as when Gentile was a substitute for Mangano in the Sciaccatani crew? I wonder if "sostituto" was thrown around like counselor and how Sandino might have been Bender's personal consig but not the overall one.

Giovanni Pecoraro appeared to be someone in the Morello admin, he was around in the 1900's (when Comito would go meet Morello, GP was there and wouldn't say a thing), in 1911 he accepted Clemente's family transfer from Chicago after Morello went away and in the 1920's he was likely the one who told Loiacano to leave NY and then later on was killed.

Other than that? The powerbases in 1900 were E Harlem and Little Italy. Morello spent alot of time down in LI leading me to wonder who was running things up in EH? The Lomontis perhaps?

You see the buffer system more in the 1920's, like with Schiro who traveled alot. Somebody or some panel had to be in place. Benny Gallo is one contender, from Santa Ninfa.

[B.]

Along with the 1923 Pittsburgh example, another case of Traina filling in for D'Aquila may have been in 1919, when it's reported that Traina participated in the selection of Salvatore Sabella as new boss of Philadelphia. It would also seem he attended the 1928 Cleveland assembly as a senior representative of D'Aquila's former group, maybe briefly continuing his former role under D'Aquila.

Finally, at an assembly meeting in 1930 Traina was appointed to head a commission that would broker peace with Maranzano. He asked the assembly if the other members of the commission should be rappresentanti or simply members, which sort of implies Traina was on the level of a rappresentante; we know he wasn't an official rappresentante, but him asking if the commission should consist only of rappresentanti after he himself had already been appointed to said commission might back up the idea that he was still seen as an acting rappresentante / sostituto.

So there is definitely some basis for the idea that Traina helped administer affairs on behalf of the D'Aquila organization on an ongoing basis from ~1919 to 1928, maybe 1930. However, we know he was a capodecina after that and served as the point of contact between the Philadelphia family and the Commission through the 1960s. In 1940, an informant (Gentile?) told the Treasury Department about the Commission and its membership; along with the usual boss names, the source included Giuseppe Traina in addition to Mangano, which is reinforced by the role he played between Philly and the Commission.

If I remember right, Dr. Allegra completely overlooked the position of underboss and identified only capoprovincia, rappresentante, consigliere, capodecina, and soldato as positions in the Sicilian mafia. He said the consigliere served as "sostituto" for the rappresentante. I'd be curious when the earliest references to sottocapo/underboss show up.

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Going back to Gentile's claim that he served as an unofficial consigliere of some sort for the Sciacchitani factions under Mangano, LCNBios mentioned that early member Giuseppe SanFilippo from Sciacca was described by one informant as a "consigliere of judgment". SanFilippo's age and our knowledge of the admin succession in that family doesn't really mesh with the idea of him being official consigliere of the Gambino family, so given his Sciacca heritage my theory is that he may have been the successor to Gentile as this unofficial consigliere of the Sciacchitani.

[Angelo Santino]

Along with the 1923 Pittsburgh example, another case of Traina filling in for D'Aquila may have been in 1919, when it's reported that Traina participated in the selection of Salvatore Sabella as new boss of Philadelphia. It would also seem he attended the 1928 Cleveland assembly as a senior representative of D'Aquila's former group, maybe briefly continuing his former role under D'Aquila.

He also arrived with D'Aquila in 1911, came over together and between then and 1928 traveled back and forth to Palermo a few times. He was at least a capo but given the proximity, he was more likely Underboss or Consigliere. A mutual friend of ours seems to believe, based on his own stuff, that Traina was Consig, which I can't argue.

(If you wanted to do an article or minidoc on Traina beginning middle and end I'd be down to collaborate. We have an amazing source and whatever they say about it would be new information. Think about it.)

Finally, at an assembly meeting in 1930 Traina was appointed to head a commission that would broker peace with Maranzano. He asked the assembly if the other members of the commission should be rappresentanti or simply members, which sort of implies Traina was on the level of a rappresentante; we know he wasn't an official rappresentante, but him asking if the commission should consist only of rappresentanti after he himself had already been appointed to said commission might back up the idea that he was still seen as an acting rappresentante / sostituto.

It's possible. Mangano was also someone of importance during that period and we have no idea of the relationship they had with Mineo at the time. It appears they were men of stature and D'Aquila's death didn't end their careers, that's for certain.

So there is definitely some basis for the idea that Traina helped administer affairs on behalf of the D'Aquila organization on an ongoing basis from ~1919 to 1928, maybe 1930. However, we know he was a capodecina after that and served as the point of contact between the Philadelphia family and the Commission through the 1960s. In 1940, an informant (Gentile?) told the Treasury Department about the Commission and its membership; along with the usual boss names, the source included Giuseppe Traina in addition to Mangano, which is reinforced by the role he played between Philly and the Commission.

That's interesting. I never knew that. I always hear Phil Mangano as a co-boss which we know isn't true. Speaks to Traina's importance and given that he was not under or consig after 1930 and we can conclude here, in this era post-20's, that "sostituto" wasn't occupied primarily by the under or the consig.

If I remember right, Dr. Allegra completely overlooked the position of underboss and identified only capoprovincia, rappresentante, consigliere, capodecina, and soldato as positions in the Sicilian mafia. He said the consigliere served as "sostituto" for the rappresentante. I'd be curious when the earliest references to sottocapo/underboss show up

.
I don't recall if he did or not, I'm also curious when "underboss" came about. As it stands whoever decided to keep Consigliere but translate sottocapo created a neologism. An Agent either translated it or they were hearing members refer to "under boss." Maybe it came from Valachi? It's an interesting topic.

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Going back to Gentile's claim that he served as an unofficial consigliere of some sort for the Sciacchitani factions under Mangano, LCNBios mentioned that early member Giuseppe SanFilippo from Sciacca was described by one informant as a "consigliere of judgment". SanFilippo's age and our knowledge of the admin succession in that family doesn't really mesh with the idea of him being official consigliere of the Gambino family, so given his Sciacca heritage my theory is that he may have been the successor to Gentile as this unofficial consigliere of the Sciacchitani.

Did he use "unofficial consigliere? I don't remember that he went beyond "becoming sosituto for Mangano" but maybe he did use that. Regardless, whether he said it or not I agree that sostituto or consgliere of judgement was like describing the same position.

The issue with "sostituto" is that it's ambiguous like "boss." Boss can be applied to "crew boss" all the way up to Thee Boss, if a soldier's picked up discussing his immediate superior, it's likely "boss." With Sosituto, it was
1 used in 1890's Palermo being the second position in a Mafia Family. To be clear, San Giorgi who had the provincial leader as an informant, laid out the hierarchy of the Palermo groups as caporione, sostituto and affiliate. He didn't mention capodecina or any equivilant.

2 Giuseppe Traina. This appears to be more of a "delegate" role who spoke on behalf of D'Aquila. He was also a likely admin member. Was this just a case of people describing an under or consig going to speak in place of his boss or was "sostituto" a reserved role like

3 Gentile in Lower Manhattan. While assuming that for Mangano, he served like a backchannel to Mangano, his ear on the streets but was not a capo nor did it appear that he outranked them in the traditional sense.

So in 1890, 1920 and 1930 we see "sostituto" used but in slightly different contexts. It was likely the predecessor to "acting boss."

Re: Sciacchitani -- Agrigento is truly the wild card of the US mafia in my opinion. Men from certain areas of Agrigento province took over as leaders all over the US (and Canada) and had one of the tightest and most influential networks, yet we don't see this reflected in the NYC leadership despite their political influence. We see powerful Sciacchitani/Agrigentesi factions or at least individuals in the Gambino, Lucchese, and Bonanno families in NYC, with the D'Aquila/Gambino family having the most significant faction and allegedly their own unofficial "consigliere'". Masseria was considered a Sciacchitano and the leader of the so-called "Sciacchitani" faction during the Castellammarese War, yet he didn't have members from there that we know of. I do wonder though if Masseria's downfall factored into the other Sciacchitano never rising above capodecina in the following years, if it even mattered.

Yes, and it's interesting that Buschetta claimed that the AM was founded by people from Agrigento, we have D'Arco, Rotundo and Staino claiming the DeCavs (Agrigento) are the oldest group... We've already disproven that this is not accurate, but like Beati Paoli or Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela it has staying power. It falls into The History of the history and while I can disprove it, I don't feel 'threatened' by it and in fact wish learn more of where this idea originated from. I'm trying to see a way for it to fit. We know NO was dominated by the Palermitans in 1850 and that's really the first wave of Southern Ital immigration. Who were the guys north of Philly again? Mafia but non-related to Philly. Where they from Ag? If I'm recalling right and I may not be, this group (demographic) was in the US since the 1870's and gradually shifted out of NY. Maybe the Agrigentese had more of a role in pre-1900's NY than what's documented that we can obtain? I'm throwing out speculations because I'm not trying to be dismissive over the claim, especially with how many members have recited it. (I wonder what our one source thinks on the matter, never asked them.)

[Angelo Santino]

And low and behold I done derailed The Caps thread. My sincerest of apologies. I really try and make a point to avoid doing that as not everyone cares about ancient history. Could we maybe move the last 3 pages of CF/early discussion to a new thread? The Caps topic with modern discussion was good and I'll try and watch it in the future. Again, sorry to everyone.

[johnny_scootch]

Stefano was definitely Bartolo Ferrigno's older brother. Stefano's death certificate lists Gaetano Ferrigno and Santa Schiro as his mother/father, like Bartolo.

Good find. How does this fact help to make the case for the D'Aquila/Mineo split? If at all.

And low and behold I done derailed The Caps thread. My sincerest of apologies. I really try and make a point to avoid doing that as not everyone cares about ancient history. Could we maybe move the last 3 pages of CF/early discussion to a new thread? The Caps topic with modern discussion was good and I'll try and watch it in the future. Again, sorry to everyone.

No apology needed! Sometimes one topic leads into another and that shouldn't stifle the conversation. I agree these last few pages should be put into a new thread but only to encourage more discussion on the topic.

[Angelo Santino]

It just shows more continuity between the Palermitan factions pre and post '31.

We still don't have a definitive on Steve Ferrigno's role. On Valachi charts, without elaboration, he was listed as a co-boss with Mineo. This lead to people naturally assuming he was Mineo's Underboss but there's never been confirmation of that. Gentile referred to the Masseria group as the government of "Masseria-Manfre-Fanuzzo." Manfre is Manfredi Mineo, Fanuzzo is Steve Ferrigno (assumption being he mixed up the last name but I suspect Fanuzzo is a diminutive for Stefanuzzo.)

Ferrigno was either influential enough to be lumped alongside two powerful bosses by different sources or could have been a boss himself? I've seen nothing to indicate that beyond what I speculated above. And that would really cram up 1928-1930. If Mineo was boss of the Colombos and then transferred to boss of the Gambinos, this sets up Salvatore Di Bella and then Joe Profaci later. There's documented evidence that Mineo loomed over the Colombos in some form prior to 1930 by an informant. Maybe his murder along with Ferrigno's lead to DiBella holding it shortly during the war and then stepping down for Profaci? But like I said, there's been no source that ever called Ferrigno his own boss.

[scagghiuni]

If I remember right, Dr. Allegra completely overlooked the position of underboss and identified only capoprovincia, rappresentante, consigliere, capodecina, and soldato as positions in the Sicilian mafia. He said the consigliere served as "sostituto" for the rappresentante. I'd be curious when the earliest references to sottocapo/underboss show up.

i think the sangiorgi report in the late 1890s mentioned it sottocapo/vicerappresentante (the equivalent of underboss)

[Angelo Santino]

If I remember right, Dr. Allegra completely overlooked the position of underboss and identified only capoprovincia, rappresentante, consigliere, capodecina, and soldato as positions in the Sicilian mafia. He said the consigliere served as "sostituto" for the rappresentante. I'd be curious when the earliest references to sottocapo/underboss show up.

i think the sangiorgi report in the late 1890s mentioned it sottocapo/vicerappresentante (the equivalent of underboss)

I do not believe he did, just "sostituto" after "caporione" followed by "affiliati." (No mention of capodecina/consigliere or any equivalent of those ranks.) Calderone and Gentile both used sottocapo and vice-rappresentante however.

[motorfab]

Something intrigues me in the Informer that you wrote (and that I haven't read yet but it will come). In the Castellammaresi chart you made, you put Carlo Constantino & Antonio Passananti and both seem to have been born in Partinico in the province of Palermo (source gangrule.com). What bothers me most is that I have always seen them affiliated with the Gang of Morello & Cascio Ferro. Is it possible to explain?

[scagghiuni]

If I remember right, Dr. Allegra completely overlooked the position of underboss and identified only capoprovincia, rappresentante, consigliere, capodecina, and soldato as positions in the Sicilian mafia. He said the consigliere served as "sostituto" for the rappresentante. I'd be curious when the earliest references to sottocapo/underboss show up.

i think the sangiorgi report in the late 1890s mentioned it sottocapo/vicerappresentante (the equivalent of underboss)

I do not believe he did, just "sostituto" after "caporione" followed by "affiliati." (No mention of capodecina/consigliere or any equivalent of those ranks.) Calderone and Gentile both used sottocapo and vice-rappresentante however.

yes, it mentioned it, but you're right for boss they used the word 'capo' or 'caporione' and not 'rappresentante', but it's the same thing; it's in italian, but you can use the google translate, especially this part that is the most interesting, it even says there is a boss of bosses (capo supremo)

“L’agro palermitano è purtroppo funestato, come altre parti di questa e delle finitime province, da una vasta associazione di malfattori, organizzati in sezioni, divisi in gruppi: ogni gruppo è regolato da un capo, che chiamasi capo-rione, e, secondo il numero dei componenti e la estensione territoriale, su cui debba svolgersi la propria azione, a questo capo-rione viene aggiunto un sottocapo, incaricato di sostituirlo nei casi di assenza o di altro impedimento. E a questa compagine di malviventi è preposto un capo supremo”.
https://www.centroimpastato.com/17921/

[Angelo Santino]

I stand corrected. I seem to recall reading sostituto used in place of sotto capo in every passage. It says as much informally immediately after.

[scagghiuni]

I stand corrected. I seem to recall reading sostituto used in place of sotto capo in every passage. It says as much informally immediately after.

the reports says that each group is headed by a chief (capo) and a sub-chief (sottocapo), who replaces the chief in case of his absence, anyway it uses archaic language so some passages can be misunderstood

[Antiliar]

Something intrigues me in the Informer that you wrote (and that I haven't read yet but it will come). In the Castellammaresi chart you made, you put Carlo Constantino & Antonio Passananti and both seem to have been born in Partinico in the province of Palermo (source gangrule.com). What bothers me most is that I have always seen them affiliated with the Gang of Morello & Cascio Ferro. Is it possible to explain?

Older books usually have one large Mafia gang of Morello/Lupo before 1910. By going over the book The Barrel Mystery by William J. Flynn, old Secret Service reports, and the book Petrosino by Arrigo Petacco, we were able to dig farther into the existence of other old Mafia Families. We followed up with newspaper articles, court records, police reports, and vital records. We sorted out who was related to whom, and discovered that Partinico and Castellammare del Golfo were connected within the Mafia. There was a friendly working relationship of Mafiosi in different New York Families until D'Aquila came along, and older research usually made connections based on association, of "guilt by association." We explain all this in the article.