Bellomo family history and connections

[Costigan]

I've often wondered what it is about Bellomo that allowed him so much success in his chosen field so early. Could it just be his connection to Salerno and his father being a made guy? I think it is those "intangibles" as B. mentioned. No doubt there were others from that era similar in age who were just as connected and capable of violence as he was. But yet he was made at 20, a captain in his early 30's and chosen by the chin to be the next in line. Being low key and under the radar had to be a huge reason why he was and is successful.

Right. This is what makes him the most interesting and mysterious mobster since Gigante.

[B.]

If his grandfather was the same Liborio Bellomo born in 1879 and he was a mafioso like I suspect, he died in 1972 which would have made him among the oldest living Genovese members at the time and one of the only links to the family's early Sicilian roots. Even if the Sicilian angle didn't matter because it was the Genovese family, there would have been few third generation members in that family. If that was his grandfather, Barney would have been a teenager at the time of his death and we know Barney was criminally active by his late-teens, so he may have been a budding gangster while his grandfather was still alive.

Would be great if we could find out what Liborio Bellomo's federal conviction was in the 1930s. Him being in the same prison hospital as Carl Civella would have to be little more than a coincidence and who knows what, if anything, would have come from that in terms of mafia business, but the ship manifest in 1926 is more interesting to me. Guastella seems to have retired from criminal activities by the time he moved to San Jose but in the 1920s he worked for Salvatore Maranzano's upstate NY bootlegging operation. If he was traveling with the San Jose Sciortinos and/or they were related to the San Jose mafia Sciortinos, it shows his San Jose connections go way back. Interestingly there was a Liborio Bellomo born in 1891 who lived in San Jose. Not sure if he was from Corleone, but if he was, that would be another interesting angle to the Bellomo/Guastella manifest.

[Lupara]

Great work as usually, B.

Attached.

[Wiseguy]

I'd usually be the last person to post this kind of stuff but I figure it won't do any harm as long as people take it in stride. A poster on the old RD forum posted some things about Bellomo which I summed up below -


* Barney's father was a made guy around Fat Tony. Barney came up under Sammy Santoro.

* Barney hung around a deli on Eastchester Rd. Had his own following since he was 16 years old. He volunteered as a kid to help the old timers with anything they needed and was given responsibility at a young age.

* One of the early jobs he had was managing a 2 table card room and he turned it into a cash cow with blackjack, craps, shy, book, hookers, etc. Barney was always business first. He also said to have a big numbers bank for his age. When Barney got involved with heroin trafficking, he sold by the key and his guys under him bought on credit and sold by the ounce. He was rumored to be a millionaire by the age of 25.

* Barney was rumored to have done his first couple hits (at the request of the older guys) at the age of 18 or 19.

* Guys around Barney included Nicky Auletta, Anthony Fiorino, Patty Falcetti, Lou Dinapoli, Ernie Mucarella and his brother Jimmy, Scop Deluca, Artie Nigro, Jimmy D'elia, Carmine Dellacava, Michael Ragusa, Ralph Coppola, and Barney's cousin of the same name who owned Sigma Builders.

* In addition to his involvement with the Javits Center and Carpenters Union, Barney also owned a sanitation company that cleaned sewers.

* Whereas Barney was always low key, Ralph Coppola was flashy. Barney was godfather to Ralph's first son.

* Barney was always surveillance-conscious and would have meetings in strange places, including in the front of cars with the hood up and the engine running, on medians and traffic islands, and at black clothing stores (where a fed would stand out).

* The last time this guy saw Barney in person was around White Plains Rd and Gleason Ave. Barney was dressed in jogging pants and a fordham hoodie. At the time Barney was still living in his nice place in Pelham Manor.

[Frank]

I'd usually be the last person to post this kind of stuff but I figure it won't do any harm as long as people take it in stride. A poster on the old RD forum posted some things about Bellomo which I summed up below -


* Barney's father was a made guy around Fat Tony. Barney came up under Sammy Santoro.

* Barney hung around a deli on Eastchester Rd. Had his own following since he was 16 years old. He volunteered as a kid to help the old timers with anything they needed and was given responsibility at a young age.

* One of the early jobs he had was managing a 2 table card room and he turned it into a cash cow with blackjack, craps, shy, book, hookers, etc. Barney was always business first. He also said to have a big numbers bank for his age. When Barney got involved with heroin trafficking, he sold by the key and his guys under him bought on credit and sold by the ounce. He was rumored to be a millionaire by the age of 25.

* Barney was rumored to have done his first couple hits (at the request of the older guys) at the age of 18 or 19.

* Guys around Barney included Nicky Auletta, Anthony Fiorino, Patty Falcetti, Lou Dinapoli, Ernie Mucarella and his brother Jimmy, Scop Deluca, Artie Nigro, Jimmy D'elia, Carmine Dellacava, Michael Ragusa, Ralph Coppola, and Barney's cousin of the same name who owned Sigma Builders.

* In addition to his involvement with the Javits Center and Carpenters Union, Barney also owned a sanitation company that cleaned sewers.

* Whereas Barney was always low key, Ralph Coppola was flashy. Barney was godfather to Ralph's first son.

* Barney was always surveillance-conscious and would have meetings in strange places, including in the front of cars with the hood up and the engine running, on medians and traffic islands, and at black clothing stores (where a fed would stand out).

* The last time this guy saw Barney in person was around White Plains Rd and Gleason Ave. Barney was dressed in jogging pants and a fordham hoodie. At the time Barney was still living in his nice place in Pelham Manor.

Very interesting info on Barney. Started young and did his job real good. Made money for himself and the bosses, did some hits, bosses knew his dad and looked out for him after dad died. Didn't have to worry about him being an informant, why not make him at 20.

[MichaelGiovanni]

Great info wiseguy thanks for sharing

[B.]

Nothing too outlandish about that info, but which RD poster shared that?

[Wiseguy]

Nothing too outlandish about that info, but which RD poster shared that?

He went by Nicholas Gallagher or something like that. He was from the area and I remember him saying he was half Irish, half Italian.

[moneyman]

A few years ago Skinny from GBB mentioned that Barney went to Monsignor Scanlan High School and then went to McAllister Mortuary School for one year. He had also mentioned that Saverio "Sammy Black" Santora had more of an influence than anybody else when Barney was coming up. Here is the old thread. Maybe the info is BS I'm not sure, but Skinny was a decent poster on there back in the day.

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... Post854962

[Wiseguy]

A few years ago Skinny from GBB mentioned that Barney went to Monsignor Scanlan High School and then went to McAllister Mortuary School for one year. He had also mentioned that Saverio "Sammy Black" Santora had more of an influence than anybody else when Barney was coming up. Here is the old thread. Maybe the info is BS I'm not sure, but Skinny was a decent poster on there back in the day.

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbth ... Post854962

Yeah, he had some interesting posts. I was always interested in his take on things, though he knew my position about going with the feds if there was conflicting info.

He also had some interesting stuff about Cirillo and some other guys. Though both he and Pizzaboy did end up being mistaken about Barney not being the boss.

[B.]

Added some info to the original post (which is kind of a mess). There is a Bellomo relation to the early Gagliano/Lucchese leadership and the Bellomo/Majuri relation has also been confirmed:

- Giuseppa Catania Bellomo (the elder Liborio's wife) was a first cousin of early Gagliano/Lucchese member Nunzio Pomilla, who was also the brother-in-law of boss Tom Gagliano. Giuseppa's mother's brother was the father of Nunzio Pomilla. Technically, Genovese boss Barney Bellomo is not related to the Pomillas (via this connection at least, as Giuseppa was his father's stepmother), but half-brother Leoluca (father of Liborio T. Bellomo) would be a blood relative of the Pomillas.

- It has been mentioned that Genovese boss Liborio "Barney" Bellomo and Charles Majuri of the DeCavalcante family are first cousins. Thanks to a Corleonese genealogy researcher, we know the exact relation now. The wives of both Salvatore and Leoluca Bellomo were the daughters of Calogero Majuri's wife's sister, making them first cousins of DeCavalcante underboss Frank Majuri. Barney Bellomo and Charles Majuri aren't first cousins, but Barney's mother is a first cousin of Charles' father.

[johnny_scootch]

Added some info to the original post (which is kind of a mess). There is a Bellomo relation to the early Gagliano/Lucchese leadership and the Bellomo/Majuri relation has also been confirmed:

- It has been mentioned that Genovese boss Liborio "Barney" Bellomo and Charles Majuri of the DeCavalcante family are first cousins. Thanks to a Corleonese genealogy researcher, we know the exact relation now. The wives of both Salvatore and Leoluca Bellomo were the daughters of Calogero Majuri's wife's sister, making them first cousins of DeCavalcante underboss Frank Majuri. Barney Bellomo and Charles Majuri aren't first cousins, but Barney's mother is a first cousin of Charles' father.

That is a fairly close relation and way more than it takes for 2 Italians to refer to themselves as 'cousins'. Thanks for the update, well done as usual.

[Lupara]

This thread should be sticky so it shows up for other posters with knowledge who may simply be lurking. As with the info from a GBB poster, you can tell somewhat whether it seems genuine or made up. With a riddle wrapped in an enigma such as Barney we can use all angles to get a better picture of his heritage.

[DMC22]

Added some info to the original post (which is kind of a mess). There is a Bellomo relation to the early Gagliano/Lucchese leadership and the Bellomo/Majuri relation has also been confirmed:

- The mother of Giuseppa Catania Bellomo (the elder Liborio's wife) was a first cousin of early Gagliano/Lucchese member Nunzio Pomilla, who was also the brother-in-law of boss Tom Gagliano. Giuseppa's mother's brother was the father of Nunzio Pomilla. Technically, Genovese boss Barney Bellomo is not related to the Pomillas (via this connection at least, as Giuseppa was his stepmother), but half-brother Leoluca (father of Liborio T. Bellomo) would be a blood relative of the Pomillas.

- It has been mentioned that Genovese boss Liborio "Barney" Bellomo and Charles Majuri of the DeCavalcante family are first cousins. Thanks to a Corleonese genealogy researcher, we know the exact relation now. The wives of both Salvatore and Leoluca Bellomo were the daughters of Calogero Majuri's wife's sister, making them first cousins of DeCavalcante underboss Frank Majuri. Barney Bellomo and Charles Majuri aren't first cousins, but Barney's mother is a first cousin of Charles' father.

Giuseppe was NOT his stepmother. But she was his step grandmother.

[B.]

With Liborio Bellomo's wife being a first cousin of Nunzio Pomilla, therefore related by marriage to Tom Gagliano, we can't rule out that the elder Bellomo was affiliated with the Lucchese family. His son and grandsons' membership in the Genovese family and involvement with the former Terranova crew make it more likely that Liborio was with the Genovese group if he was a mafioso, especially because Salvatore became a member when his father was still alive, but if nothing else we can see how the Lucchese and Genovese Corleonese were still intertwined over decades.

The Bellomo->Gagliano connection also finally gives us some connection between the Majuris and Gaglianos via the Majuri->Bellomo relation, though I suspect there is more we don't know. Frank Majuri used the alias "Frank Gagliano". Fellow NJ Corleonese Stefano Badami came to the US with Gagliano's brother-in-law Salvatore Pennino and Gagliano was their arrival contact, so we can see Badami and the Majuris both have some degree of connection to Tom Gagliano and this is a sign that Badami and Majuri were acquainted.