Good points about English, both of you. I don't feel they can be completely ruled out, though there are some cracks in the theory.
I think it's smart to look at the domestic situation, though it's worth considering that the informant wanted to give the FBI the impression that he had a stronger marriage than he did, or at least avoided discussing marital issues. He makes it clear that his wife understood he was part of the mafia and had certain social obligations, if nothing else.
Like Ed said about Cardi/murders, doesn't he talk negatively about Alderisio for murders as well? I need to re-read the documents. He makes a point of saying that Accardo and Ricca are committed to non-violence. All of this could point to a non-violent (or maybe "less violent") personality, or it could be "thou doth protest too much" and he is someone with a murderous past trying to downplay his own involvement in violence. It's like with Greg Scarpa, you'd never know the guy is a mass murderer from looking at his CI reports.
One big factor is motivation to cooperate. We can't be sure that the informant started cooperating in 1971, maybe earlier, but I haven't come across him in the NARA files that go through 1969 (which might not be comprehensive, but there are still a massive amount of files in there), so I do suspect he started cooperating around 1970/1971. Some of the reports seem kind of "introductory", though sometimes the FBI will rehash background info on an informant.
Motivations vary from legal trouble, troubles within the mafia, personal/financial trouble... we even see in a couple cases that someone's cooperation coincides with the death of an older mafia relative, like a spell is broken. Just things to consider about some of these suspects.
PolackTony wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:30 am
As both Antiliar and B. brought up the LoBues, Salvatore and Vincenzo Castelli's sister Giovanna married a Tony LoBue also from Caccamo.
Oh, so the LoBue that Joe A Costello married might be Caccamese, not Corleonese. Shows that "younger" generations intermarried with their paesans.
Villain wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 6:01 am
Another suspect that popped up in my mind is Leonard Gianola/Gianolla...he was closely connected to Giancana, Cesario, Nicoletti and the rest of the guys. Was involved in loan sharking and I also think (not 100% sure) he had long time Mafia ties through the former Mangano organization. Many sources labeled Gianola as former 42 but again im not quite sure about that. So if guys like Gianola, the English bros and Daddono were previously with the Mangano crew, then its quite possible that one of them met Giancana during the mid or late 1940's (like the informant said).
I thought about Gianola, glad you brought him up.
He is the right age, came from Cinisi which had a strong early compaesani group, and his name was changed from Giannola. However, the name change is so minor I don't know that it would fit the informant's description of Sicilian relatives not being able to recognize it.
Cinisi (Palermo)
Francesco "Frank Alo" Abbate (murdered 1944)
Pietro Amato (deported 1953)
Leonard "Needles" Gianola
Giuseppe Giunta (murdered 1929)
Cesare Manzella (murdered 1963, Sicily)
Paolo Palazzolo (murdered 1935)
Onofrio Vitale (murdered 1944)
- Cinisi was part of a tight-knit network connecting Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Springfield, and Indiana. Manzella would be identified as boss of Cinisi after leaving the US and was killed in Sicilian mafia warfare. Manzella gave an address in Springfield, Illinois, prior to his deportation so he may have transferred to that mafia group, where his relatives the Impastatos had a presence.
- Leonard Gianola's mother was a Badalamenti from Cinisi, so she could connect to the infamous mafia Badalamentis of Cinisi and Detroit.
- The question is if Gianola had older relatives involved with the mafia. Most of the above Chicago area surnames are like "Smith" in Cinisi and family trees are filled with these names, so could be any number of relations.