Salvatore Sam Maceo, Galveston, TX crew

[Kash]

Came across an article about Tilman Fertitta claiming he was 4th generation of a mafia family. It went through a whole timeline alleging all kinds of family connections to the casino skim in Vegas.

https://www.truehoop.com/p/fertitta-family-history

I went down a rabbit hole reading about Galveston, Tx. Seems a crew of Sicilian immigrants led by Sam
Maceo did run the rackets but was wondering if they were considered a real LCN family?

Cpl more article links

https://crimecapsule.com/the-architectu ... galveston/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.texasm ... -shot/amp/

[DPG]

Galveston has been a hotbed of international criminals for centuries.

Thanks for posting this, I’ll be picking this one up to read.

[Antiliar]

We know there was a Mafia Family in Dallas. There may have been others in Houston and Galveston, or maybe Galveston was under Houston. Another possibility is that Houston (and possibly Galveston) was under New Orleans. One document seems to indicate that.

Here are a couple files that show that Anthony Fertitta was a CI in touch with Biaggio Angelica of Houston. Angelica and his group were under Vincent Genna of Louisiana:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

[Kash]

We know there was a Mafia Family in Dallas. There may have been others in Houston and Galveston, or maybe Galveston was under Houston. Another possibility is that Houston (and possibly Galveston) was under New Orleans. One document seems to indicate that.

Here are a couple files that show that Anthony Fertitta was a CI in touch with Biaggio Angelica of Houston. Angelica and his group were under Vincent Genna of Louisiana:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

Great stuff. Thanks

[stubbs]

Came across an article about Tilman Fertitta claiming he was 4th generation of a mafia family. It went through a whole timeline alleging all kinds of family connections to the casino skim in Vegas.

https://www.truehoop.com/p/fertitta-family-history

I went down a rabbit hole reading about Galveston, Tx. Seems a crew of Sicilian immigrants led by Sam
Maceo did run the rackets but was wondering if they were considered a real LCN family?

Cpl more article links

https://crimecapsule.com/the-architectu ... galveston/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.texasm ... -shot/amp/

I’m from Houston and I’ve read tons of info on the Fertittas and Maceos. The truth is they were very smalltime and ran a few small illegal gambling houses, like the Balinese Room.

But that all got shut down in 1957, the same year Tilman was born. The Maceos were already dead by then, and their group fizzled out. One raid and the whole thing was over, that’s how smalltime we’re talking.

There’s zero evidence the Maceos were LCN. They may have been under Dallas or have just been independent, I haven’t seen any documented proof they were actual made members. They’ve also never been considered a separate LCN family according to any serious researcher. But feel free to share any quotes from credible LCN researchers and prove me wrong.

As for Tilman, he’s a 100% legit businessman. He’s worth like $4 billion (at least before covid) and is the richest restauranteur in the world. If he was some criminal mastermind, every DA and federal agent from every agency would have a hard on for arresting him, because a case like that would make their career like Guiliani. But he’s legit.

I know it’s not as fun as thinking he’s the mastermind of some large, secret mafia group that controls all crime along he Gulf Coast, but he’s really just another boring, vapid billionaire who runs a lot of tacky chain restaurants that sell overpriced, unseasoned frozen food to unsuspecting tourists.

If he was a mobster, there’s no way in a million years the NBA would’ve let him in as an owner. Given their issues with gambling and crooked refs like Tim Donaghy (who was in debt to mobbed up bookies), there’s no way the NBA would set themselves up for a scandal like that. It would call into question the integrity of the entire league.

He’s also about as Italian as Chef Boyardee or the Olive Garden.

[stubbs]

We know there was a Mafia Family in Dallas. There may have been others in Houston and Galveston, or maybe Galveston was under Houston. Another possibility is that Houston (and possibly Galveston) was under New Orleans. One document seems to indicate that.

Here are a couple files that show that Anthony Fertitta was a CI in touch with Biaggio Angelica of Houston. Angelica and his group were under Vincent Genna of Louisiana:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

There was never any mafia family in Houston. No more that half a dozen Italian criminals here in our history. Not even enough for a crew.

Marcello sent some guys here in the 60s to setup a wire room out of a hotel, but they got arrested pretty quickly. Texas is a different world than Louisiana.

[Antiliar]

We know there was a Mafia Family in Dallas. There may have been others in Houston and Galveston, or maybe Galveston was under Houston. Another possibility is that Houston (and possibly Galveston) was under New Orleans. One document seems to indicate that.

Here are a couple files that show that Anthony Fertitta was a CI in touch with Biaggio Angelica of Houston. Angelica and his group were under Vincent Genna of Louisiana:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

There was never any mafia family in Houston. No more that half a dozen Italian criminals here in our history. Not even enough for a crew.

Marcello sent some guys here in the 60s to setup a wire room out of a hotel, but they got arrested pretty quickly. Texas is a different world than Louisiana.

I didn't write that there was a Mafia Family in Houston, I wrote that it was a possibility, one of several possibilities. And there were confirmed made Mafia members in Houston and Galveston. Biaggio Angelica of Houston, Vincenzo Vallone of Houston, Alfonso Attardi of Galveston are three names from this list compiled by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics who were confirmed from those areas. They were definitely part of some Family somewhere. The others from this list are suspected members.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20houston

[Villain]

We know there was a Mafia Family in Dallas. There may have been others in Houston and Galveston, or maybe Galveston was under Houston. Another possibility is that Houston (and possibly Galveston) was under New Orleans. One document seems to indicate that.

Here are a couple files that show that Anthony Fertitta was a CI in touch with Biaggio Angelica of Houston. Angelica and his group were under Vincent Genna of Louisiana:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

There was never any mafia family in Houston. No more that half a dozen Italian criminals here in our history. Not even enough for a crew.

Marcello sent some guys here in the 60s to setup a wire room out of a hotel, but they got arrested pretty quickly. Texas is a different world than Louisiana.

I didn't write that there was a Mafia Family in Houston, I wrote that it was a possibility, one of several possibilities. And there were confirmed made Mafia members in Houston and Galveston. Biaggio Angelica of Houston, Vincenzo Vallone of Houston, Alfonso Attardi of Galveston are three names from this list compiled by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics who were confirmed from those areas. They were definitely part of some Family somewhere. The others from this list are suspected members.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20houston

Ever heard of Vito Giordanello? According to the FBN, he was allegedly based in Houston and received narcotics shipments from Chicago, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling. I think this occurred during the early 50s but im not sure....

[stubbs]

We know there was a Mafia Family in Dallas. There may have been others in Houston and Galveston, or maybe Galveston was under Houston. Another possibility is that Houston (and possibly Galveston) was under New Orleans. One document seems to indicate that.

Here are a couple files that show that Anthony Fertitta was a CI in touch with Biaggio Angelica of Houston. Angelica and his group were under Vincent Genna of Louisiana:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=angelica

There was never any mafia family in Houston. No more that half a dozen Italian criminals here in our history. Not even enough for a crew.

Marcello sent some guys here in the 60s to setup a wire room out of a hotel, but they got arrested pretty quickly. Texas is a different world than Louisiana.

I didn't write that there was a Mafia Family in Houston, I wrote that it was a possibility, one of several possibilities. And there were confirmed made Mafia members in Houston and Galveston. Biaggio Angelica of Houston, Vincenzo Vallone of Houston, Alfonso Attardi of Galveston are three names from this list compiled by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics who were confirmed from those areas. They were definitely part of some Family somewhere. The others from this list are suspected members.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20houston

Sorry, I took you saying, “We know there was a Mafia Family in Dallas. There may have been others in Houston and Galveston” to mean there may have been a family in Houston. But, I know you know you’re stuff and have done the research. Either way, thanks for contributing to the discussion!

Some more history:

There were a bunch of Italian families who had farms way back in the day north of downtown Houston. The area was nicknamed Little New York and there’s still a major street there today called Little York. Houston has since grown and sprawled and the farms have been gone for decades.

I think there were also some Italians who had farms where the Galleria mall is located today off of Post Oak Road.

Most of the Italian immigrants here seemed to have come from western-central Sicily, which is also fairly rural and has lots of farms outside of the little towns.

Galveston also had a decent amount of immigration from Italy. Many other Sicilian immigrants to Texas, like my ancestors, came in via New Orleans and made their way west to find work.

[Antiliar]

Ever heard of Vito Giordanello? According to the FBN, he was allegedly based in Houston and received narcotics shipments from Chicago, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling. I think this occurred during the early 50s but im not sure....

I've seen the name but I haven't seen connections to made members.

[Antiliar]

Sorry, I took you saying, “We know there was a Mafia Family in Dallas. There may have been others in Houston and Galveston” to mean there may have been a family in Houston. But, I know you know you’re stuff and have done the research. Either way, thanks for contributing to the discussion!

Some more history:

There were a bunch of Italian families who had farms way back in the day north of downtown Houston. The area was nicknamed Little New York and there’s still a major street there today called Little York. Houston has since grown and sprawled and the farms have been gone for decades.

I think there were also some Italians who had farms where the Galleria mall is located today off of Post Oak Road.

Most of the Italian immigrants here seemed to have come from western-central Sicily, which is also fairly rural and has lots of farms outside of the little towns.

Galveston also had a decent amount of immigration from Italy. Many other Sicilian immigrants to Texas, like my ancestors, came in via New Orleans and made their way west to find work.

Well, I did mean that there may at one time been a Family in Houston, *may* meaning a theoretical possibility. I don't have enough information to rule it out as impossible. Until recently we didn't know there was a Family in Birmingham, Alabama. Maybe you've done more research on Houston than I have so you can rule it out even as a theoretical possibility that some Family existed there let's say from 1920 to 1950, plus or minus 15 years. So just want to be clear on that. Besides that, I enjoy learning about little-researched areas. There's a lot of undiscovered history that exists in old FBI and FBN files and I hope that one day a researcher will request them and write something about the history of Galveston and Houston. BTW, appreciate the local history facts.

[stubbs]

Sorry, I took you saying, “We know there was a Mafia Family in Dallas. There may have been others in Houston and Galveston” to mean there may have been a family in Houston. But, I know you know you’re stuff and have done the research. Either way, thanks for contributing to the discussion!

Some more history:

There were a bunch of Italian families who had farms way back in the day north of downtown Houston. The area was nicknamed Little New York and there’s still a major street there today called Little York. Houston has since grown and sprawled and the farms have been gone for decades.

I think there were also some Italians who had farms where the Galleria mall is located today off of Post Oak Road.

Most of the Italian immigrants here seemed to have come from western-central Sicily, which is also fairly rural and has lots of farms outside of the little towns.

Galveston also had a decent amount of immigration from Italy. Many other Sicilian immigrants to Texas, like my ancestors, came in via New Orleans and made their way west to find work.

Well, I did mean that there may at one time been a Family in Houston, *may* meaning a theoretical possibility. I don't have enough information to rule it out as impossible. Until recently we didn't know there was a Family in Birmingham, Alabama. Maybe you've done more research on Houston than I have so you can rule it out even as a theoretical possibility that some Family existed there let's say from 1920 to 1950, plus or minus 15 years. So just want to be clear on that. Besides that, I enjoy learning about little-researched areas. There's a lot of undiscovered history that exists in old FBI and FBN files and I hope that one day a researcher will request them and write something about the history of Galveston and Houston. BTW, appreciate the local history facts.

Would for sure be an interesting topic for a book from Scott or another researcher!

[B.]

This thread has a ton of information on the historic mafia in Texas:

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=4318

[Chaps]

This thread got me interested in the Maceo's:

Recently received two recent books published on them. Haven't read through but I can gather a few things by skimming:

1). Not an organized "Family" as we would see them.
2). Maybe they paid tribute but not quite sure.
3). Also not sure they were a "crew" connected to any particular family.
4). Made alot of money during Prohibition and then reinvested in nightclubs, restaurants, and prostitution.
5). From what these books state, "the Maceo's arrived in Galveston around 1900. Originally from Sicily, the family immigrated from New Orleans at the turn of the twentieth century."

I have not been able to discern the part or town in Sicily they immigrated from which (B and Pogo and CC and others) may be able to connect some dots.

More later but I've drank too much gin at this point. Gin is "distilled for the eradication of seemingly incurable sadness."

Happy Independence Day!

[B.]

Happy Independence Day, Chaps!

I never saw confirmation that the Maceos were members in my research. They were from Palermo and in particular the two older brothers had the markings of "mafia figures" (a term I use sometimes to refer to non-members as well as members, i.e. anyone in that subculture) and were observed meeting with Dallas mafia members. I personally believe they were under the Dallas family, official members or not.

Houston figure Vincent Vallone's daughter was married into the Ianni family of Dallas, who were influential made members and in turn were related to Genovese capodecina Rocco Pellegrino. Vallone was Calabrian, like in-laws the Iannis and others in Dallas, but his wife was Sicilian. Vallone was murdered by a Calabrian member of the Dallas family. Houston was definitely under Dallas by the Piranio era and I suspect it may have originated as a Camorra group.