Early 1970s Chicago member informant

[Ed]

Gianola.jpg

Here's the obituary I was referring to.

Chicago Tribune July 17, 1974

[funkster]

I wonder how well attended his wake was.

[B.]

More info on Leonard Gianola (thanks to Antiliar for helping get me the info):

- Father Vito Giannola, born Cinisi 12/26/1878, entered US 1900. Not clear when the spelling changed.

- The FBI couldn't determine a relation to the well-known St. Louis mafia figure Vito Giannola murdered 12/29/1927 in St. Louis. They mention a source who said Vito and Alpohonse Palazzola started the St. Louis "outfit"; Palazzolo and its variations is a Cinisi name.

- Leonard Gianola's first wife was Mary Aiello, married 1933.

- Sentenced Feb 5 1935 to three year sentence, served time at Leavenworth, then transferred to Springfield.

- Close to John Mendino and Gianola was in charge of the pallbearers at Mendino's wake. Would Mendino's name fit in with the redacted sponsor name the informant mentions?

- Received passport to Italy 1971 with help from a political figure, Annunziata.

- Circa 1970, Sam Cesario working under Gianola in bookmaking.

- Divorce proceedings 1970? Says he was remarried by December 1971. An informant was in "complete shock" that Gianola had been separated from his wife, implying he and his wife were close. He appears to have been married at last two or three times but appears to have been consistently married.

- Gianola allegedly complaining to a source about a lack of money circa November 1971.

- Attended both nights of Sam Cesario's wake. Also attended Alderisio, Joe Priolo, and Paul Ricca wakes

- FBI report says Gianola was the "only 'outfit' guy" who seemed to be at Cesario's wake. However, they also say there were problems between Cesario and Gianola.

[PolackTony]

Gianola.jpg

Here's the obituary I was referring to.

Chicago Tribune July 17, 1974

Yep. Here's Norma Gianola's obituary:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.digni ... la-4394917

It really doesn't seem likely to me that he remarried before his death. Given that there are no records for a Valerie Gianola I'm thinking that the Valerie thing was a nickname or something. According to her obit she was a performer in the 50s. Maybe it was her stage name or something.

[B.]

Gianola.jpg

Here's the obituary I was referring to.

Chicago Tribune July 17, 1974

Yep. Here's Norma Gianola's obituary:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.digni ... la-4394917

It really doesn't seem likely to me that he remarried before his death. Given that there are no records for a Valerie Gianola I'm thinking that the Valerie thing was a nickname or something. According to her obit she was a performer in the 50s. Maybe it was her stage name or something.

He was involved in divorce proceedings in 1970, said to be separated sometime in 1971 and then said to be remarried by the end of 1971. This is from FBI reports.

You might be onto something about the stage name, as he was seen at one point traveling with a woman believed to be a showgirl.

It's looking to me like the infomant is Gianola. He attended all of the wakes mentioned by the informant, in particular the Sam Cesario wake and another source said Gianola was the only apparent "outfit" guy there. They also said Cesario had been working under Gianola in bookmaking and the informant we are looking at said he had contact with Cesario shortly before his death, which could imply mutual business interests.

[PolackTony]

Gianola.jpg

Here's the obituary I was referring to.

Chicago Tribune July 17, 1974

Yep. Here's Norma Gianola's obituary:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.digni ... la-4394917

It really doesn't seem likely to me that he remarried before his death. Given that there are no records for a Valerie Gianola I'm thinking that the Valerie thing was a nickname or something. According to her obit she was a performer in the 50s. Maybe it was her stage name or something.

He was involved in divorce proceedings in 1970, said to be separated sometime in 1971 and then said to be remarried by the end of 1971. This is from FBI reports.

You might be onto something about the stage name, as he was seen at one point traveling with a woman believed to be a showgirl.

It's looking to me like the infomant is Gianola. He attended all of the wakes mentioned by the informant, in particular the Sam Cesario wake and another source said Gianola was the only apparent "outfit" guy there. They also said Cesario had been working under Gianola in bookmaking and the informant we are looking at said he had contact with Cesario shortly before his death, which could imply mutual business interests.

Well there you go. I stand corrected! So maybe Norma kept the Gianola name for the sake of the kids if he indeed divorced her and remarried.

I agree that the intel on Cesario's wake seems like the closest we've seen thus far to a "clincher".

[PolackTony]

Some interesting facts about the Vito Giannola killed in STL. Like I said, I believe he may have been born in Balestrate, but his father seems to have been a Salvatore Giannola of Cinisi. In 1910 a Vito Giannola arrived in NYC from Balestrate en route to Detroit (again with the Cinisi network...). This seems very likely to be the same guy who then wound up in STL. His wife was listed as a Maria Saputo (in STL his wife was listed as Mary). The parents of the other Vito Giannola (meaning the father of Needles Gianola) were Leonardo Giannola and Margherita Saputo of Cinisi. An interesting obesrvation --- the STL Vito Giannola applied for his US naturalization on 11/03/1923, the same day as an Alfonso Palazzalo of Cinisi (their records appear right next to each other).

So all of this further goes to suggest that Needles Gianola's family may have had some connection to Cinisi area mafia networks. As B. has already stated, his mother was Onorota "Eleanor" Badalamenti of Cinisi. I haven't been succesful thus far in directly tying her to any of the more famous Badalamenti names, but the possibility is pretty interesting.

[PolackTony]

Another thing to strengthen the inference on Gianola further. I believe that the informant stated that at a certain point he became close to Joey DiVarco. While a lot of guys from different crews of course hung out on Rush St, it's worth noting I think that while Gianola was based out of Taylor St, he did acquire interests on the northside, in Lakeview around Diversey. Further, some 60s era intelligence stated that Gianola and Jimmy Allegretti had become "inseparable".

[PolackTony]

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.

Another line of inquiry of course would be the Giannola brothers in Detroit, prior to 1920. From what I've seen they may have been from Terrasini but of course that might was well be Cinisi.

B., I know that you've written before that in Detroit there were members from Balestrate, Alcamo, Marsala. Given that Needles Gianola's family may have had links to Cinisi/Balestrate networks in Chicago, Detroit, and STL perhaps this could be a clue as to how he may have also had some link to the Genna group. I mean, his family settled by Taylor St, of course. But if there was a Cinisi-centered network across the Midwest and in other places, this network was plugged in with some Trapanesi comrades, maybe that informed some of the links in Chicago as well. Just thought I'd throw that out there -- some tentative Western Palermo/Trapani network maybe.

[Antiliar]

Another thing to strengthen the inference on Gianola further. I believe that the informant stated that at a certain point he became close to Joey DiVarco. While a lot of guys from different crews of course hung out on Rush St, it's worth noting I think that while Gianola was based out of Taylor St, he did acquire interests on the northside, in Lakeview around Diversey. Further, some 60s era intelligence stated that Gianola and Jimmy Allegretti had become "inseparable".

A number of Battaglia guys had interests or operated in the Near North Side, from Alderisio to Hunk Galiano, Frank Loverde (who I forgot to mention - his father came from Piana dei Greci in Sicily), Sam Louis, and more recently, Red Wemette, who was associated with Joey Lombardo's crew. Apparently a lot of money to be made in or around Rush Street, and Ross Prio evidently had a smaller crew.

[PolackTony]

Another thing to strengthen the inference on Gianola further. I believe that the informant stated that at a certain point he became close to Joey DiVarco. While a lot of guys from different crews of course hung out on Rush St, it's worth noting I think that while Gianola was based out of Taylor St, he did acquire interests on the northside, in Lakeview around Diversey. Further, some 60s era intelligence stated that Gianola and Jimmy Allegretti had become "inseparable".

A number of Battaglia guys had interests or operated in the Near North Side, from Alderisio to Hunk Galiano, Frank Loverde (who I forgot to mention - his father came from Piana dei Greci in Sicily), Sam Louis, and more recently, Red Wemette, who was associated with Joey Lombardo's crew. Apparently a lot of money to be made in or around Rush Street, and Ross Prio evidently had a smaller crew.

Absolutely. Alone it's not much, just something else to think about in context of the other info. The report that Gianola had become very close to Allegretti in particular stuck out to me as this informant seems to have grown close to DiVarco socially.

[B.]

B., I know that you've written before that in Detroit there were members from Balestrate, Alcamo, Marsala. Given that Needles Gianola's family may have had links to Cinisi/Balestrate networks in Chicago, Detroit, and STL perhaps this could be a clue as to how he may have also had some link to the Genna group. I mean, his family settled by Taylor St, of course. But if there was a Cinisi-centered network across the Midwest and in other places, this network was plugged in with some Trapanesi comrades, maybe that informed some of the links in Chicago as well. Just thought I'd throw that out there -- some tentative Western Palermo/Trapani network maybe.

This didn't even cross my mind, but wow, great point. This is exactly the kind of thing that jumps out to me whenever we dig deep enough.

Cinisi, Terrasini, Partinico, Camporeale, and Balestrate were more involved with the Schiro-led Western Palermo/Trapani network than the main Palermitano network. Like you said, in Detroit they operated alongside Alcamesi and Castellammarese, but even in NYC we see where Partinico/Borgetto and Camporeale members were with the heavily-Trapanesi Schiro/Bonanno family. Montelepre was another nearby Palermo village was connected to the Bonanno family, too.

It would make sense that the Cinisensi in Chicago would have relationships along the same lines, following the same network, which could def put them in with the Genna's Trapanesi faction. So far we know the Genna faction had ties to Marsala, Castelvetrano, and Partanna. I wonder if the Castellammarese Domingos in Benton Harbor also fell in with them.

Remember too that the anti-Masseria group in Chicago were allied with the Castellammarese even before Maranzano got directly involved, with Stefano Magaddino having an alliance with Joe Aiello prior to the war officially starting and the murder of Castellammarese Detroit boss Milazzo being a major spark in the conflict. The Bagheresi weren't a direct part of the network we're talking about (they kind of had their own network there were so many of them around the US), but Aiello may have represented men in that network in Chicago and if so, his alliance with Magaddino and Milazzo would have been an alliance along network lines, which is how most mafia alliances were formed.

I wonder if we can connect Gianola's first wife Mary Aiello to the infamous Bagheresi Aiellos. The name Aiello is extremely common in Bagheria and almost every Bagheresi mafia colony in the early US had Aiellos, some (most?) of which may well have been related.

Speaking of Masseria, that's another odd angle to this. He was from Marsala via Menfi himself, yet by the late 1920s was certainly not part of the above network. He did have an earlier relationship to his compaesani the Gennas but the Gennas appear to have been more involved with their fellow Trapanesi, while Masseria was a lone wolf in that regard in NYC, being the only Trapanese mafioso in his own family and going to war with the Marananzano family which at that point ruled the network we're talking about.

--

The surname Saputo showing up stands out, too, as Giuseppe Saputo of Montreal (who I suspect was a Sicilian mafia member that joined the Bonanno family) was from Montelepre and was originally going to settle in the US with the help of his compaesan, the Wisconsin-based Bonanno member John DiBella from Montelepre, but was barred by authorities from settling in the US. John DiBella was close to the Sicilian element of the Chicago family, including Jim DeGeorge and Ross Prio, and DiBella led the greeting party in Chicago when the group of mafia-connected Sicilians visited the US in the 1960s. I assume if Saputo hadn't been barred from settling in the US he would have lived in the midwest -- maybe there's a record somewhere showing where he intended to settle. Anyway, I wonder if DiBella had deeper ties to Chicago members from this network.

[Antiliar]

FWIW, Masseria was born in Menfi, then he and his family moved to Marsala.

[B.]

FWIW, Masseria was born in Menfi, then he and his family moved to Marsala.

I had it in my head that it was the reverse, that he was born in Marsala and moved to Menfi. Thanks for clearing that up. Could explain why Masseria was independent from the rest of the network.

It actually makes perfect sense when we go with the network idea.

His relatives were part of the Cleveland family, which was dominated by men from Agrigento province. That's what brought Gentile there and it likely brought the Masserias there. Gentile described Masseria's faction during the war as the "Sciacchitani" even though most of them men from Sciacca were in the D'Aquila/Mineo family, but Gentile used it as a catch-all for all men from Agrigento province as well as Masseria's war-time faction. These are signs that Masseria's roots in Menfi outweighed the connection to Trapani.

Menfi is on the Trapani border, so I might be reading into it too much, but when we look at Masseria's relationships and Menfi's proximity to Sciacca, I think there is at least something there.

[Antiliar]

Originally Masseria was associated with the Schiro Family. Then he hooked up with Morello.