Asaro Clan Info + Early Castellammarese Mafia

[thekiduknow]

I found this about Gaspar DiGregorio's second wife Vita La Sala, her mother was Mary Asaro.

Forgot the attachment lol

[B.]

I found this about Gaspar DiGregorio's second wife Vita La Sala, her mother was Mary Asaro.

Forgot the attachment lol

Nice find.

Another modern made member of the Bonannos who is related to the Asaros is Thomas "Tommy Las Vegas" Ferreri. It came out in the Asaro trial that he is a cousin of Vincent Asaro and Gary Valenti. Their cousin Gasper "Gary" Ferreri Sr. was also associated with the family, so probably a brother or another cousin of him given the surname.

[B.]

Not directly related to the Asaro story, but I noticed Philadelphia member Biagio Passanante lived in Boston for a period of time by the mid-1910s before returning to Philly.

- Passanante was in his mid-30s, a seasoned age for the mafia in the 1910s, and is among the earliest confirmed Philly members, so it's possible he was already connected if not a made member during his time in Boston.

- Passanante was from Campobello di Mazara in Trapani. Between Girolamo Asaro from Castellammare and Gaspare Messina + other early figures from Salemi, and now Passanante from Campobello, there is evidence that Boston in the 1910s was a destination for mafiosi from Trapani province.

- Looking at the original post, the elder Stefano Magaddino's letter to Asaro mentions an apparent mafioso from Mazara del Vallo who is in the US and asks Asaro to give him his regards. As the name suggests, Mazara del Vallo is close to Passanante's hometown Campobello di Mazara. While Passanante was not in NYC, this suggests that men from Mazara area were part of the Castellammarese / Trapanese network.

- Girolamo Asaro may have died before Passanante moved to Boston, but what's important is they both moved to Boston during the same period as other prominent figures from Trapani connected to the same network. While the Castellammarese dominated the Trapani network and we tend to think of the Castellammarese as their own village-specific network, they were actually part of a larger provincial network similar to Agrigento and Palermo.

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- Mafia figures from Salemi, Partanna, Santa Ninfa, San Vito Lo Capo, Monte San Giuliano, Alcamo, Salaparuta and Vita were all part of this network and various combinations of these villages are often found together in the same US families, with Castellammare producing a leadership class. You could call this the "Castellammarese" network in the same way you'd call the Agrigento relationships the "Schiacchitani" network. It's not that these networks are exclusively from Castellammare and Sciacca, it's that these villages were dominant in their given network.

- Philadelphia had an interrelated faction from Campobello di Mazara but aside from incidentally serving under Castellammarese boss Salvatore Sabella, I haven't previously seen evidence that the men from Campobello were closely connected to the Trapani network. This info about Passanante living in Boston could be an indication that mafiosi from Campobello were in fact tapped into the Trapani network which would make them part of Salvatore Sabella's base in Philly.

- Philly was known to have a small but influential Castellammarese faction early on, with Toto Sabella having strong relations/ties to the Schiro/Bonanno and Buffalo families. We only know of the Galantes and one or two other mystery figures as possible Castellammarese Philly members, but it would make sense that the other Trapanese mafiosi from Campobello would side with the Castellammarese group and in turn make Sabella less of a lone wolf boss. This is how it worked in most other US cities influenced by this network, so Philadelphia probably operated similarly.

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- It seems that mafiosi from Trapani had an understanding that the Castellammarese, when available, are meant to hold leadership positions in the US. This could have come from Castellammare's proximity and ties to Camporeale, a Palermo-Trapani border village that provided early leadership over this network, and/or it could be an indication that Castellammare was seen as a leadership class similar to how a midwest informant described mafiosi from Terrasini.

- I mentioned in the original post that Girolamo Asaro appears to have been a leading figure. He supervised the Costa murder and was said to have a group of men under him in Sicily; whether these are what we'd call associates in the US or actual members, there is no way to know. When Asaro was in NYC, he was receiving letters from the elder Stefano Magaddino (described by nephew Bonanno as the Castellammare boss at some point) discussing mafia protocol and affairs. You get the impression Girolamo Asaro may have been a significant member in both Castellammare and NYC.

- We will never know, but with Asaro being an important mafia figure from Castellammare, you have to wonder if he had a leadership position in Boston. So many of his descendants have risen to the position of capodecina, it almost feels like this is simply what Asaros do. Given its connections to the Trapani network, it would fit the trend to see a well-known Castellammarese mafioso like Asaro take leadership over other Trapanese figures in Boston. Obviously pure speculation, but something to consider in the absence of other evidence.

[B.]

We could include John Morale in this clan, sort of. His wife's mother was Brigida Asaro, who married Joe Bonanno's uncle Vito Bonventre. Brigida was the daughter of Girolamo Asaro, sister of Vincenzo and Giuseppe.

Never seen any indication Morale was close to the Asaros, though. The Asaros joined the DiGregorio faction while Morale stayed loyal to Bonanno.

[SonnyBlackstein]

B. I'll never get tired of stating youre a damn fine credit to this board.

[Antiliar]

Not directly related to the Asaro story, but I noticed Philadelphia member Biagio Passanante lived in Boston for a period of time by the mid-1910s before returning to Philly.

- Passanante was in his mid-30s, a seasoned age for the mafia in the 1910s, and is among the earliest confirmed Philly members, so it's possible he was already connected if not a made member during his time in Boston.

- Passanante was from Campobello di Mazara in Trapani. Between Girolamo Asaro from Castellammare and Gaspare Messina + other early figures from Salemi, and now Passanante from Campobello, there is evidence that Boston in the 1910s was a destination for mafiosi from Trapani province.

- Looking at the original post, the elder Stefano Magaddino's letter to Asaro mentions an apparent mafioso from Mazara del Vallo who is in the US and asks Asaro to give him his regards. As the name suggests, Mazara del Vallo is close to Passanante's hometown Campobello di Mazara. While Passanante was not in NYC, this suggests that men from Mazara area were part of the Castellammarese / Trapanese network.

- Girolamo Asaro may have died before Passanante moved to Boston, but what's important is they both moved to Boston during the same period as other prominent figures from Trapani connected to the same network. While the Castellammarese dominated the Trapani network and we tend to think of the Castellammarese as their own village-specific network, they were actually part of a larger provincial network similar to Agrigento and Palermo.

Wonder if he was related to Antonio Passanante. The alleged "murder twins" of the first decade of the 1900s were Passanante and his friend Carlo Costantino. They were suspects in the murder of Joe Petrosino in 1909, and were linked to the pre-Bonanno Family.

[B.]

Another modern made member of the Bonannos who is related to the Asaros is Thomas "Tommy Las Vegas" Ferreri. It came out in the Asaro trial that he is a cousin of Vincent Asaro and Gary Valenti. Their cousin Gasper "Gary" Ferreri Sr. was also associated with the family, so probably a brother or another cousin of him given the surname.

Nothing too interesting, but just wanted to confirm that Bonanno member Tommy Ferreri is the brother of associate Gary Ferreri Sr.

[jimmyb]

I find it all extremely interesting and confusing in equal measures. I'm currently 'mapping out' a family tree of them all.

Something i forgot to mention was that Vincenzo Asaro (b.1860)'s daughter Giuseppa married Nicolo Buccellato, son of Giovanni b.1845 mentioned earlier in the thread.

That makes Nicolo Buccellato the brother of future Castellammare boss Felice Buccellato as well as Girolamo Asaro's close associate Martino. Martino Buccellato was supervised by Asaro in the Costa murder and Martino's brother was the son-in-law of Asaro's brother. The tapestry gets woven even tighter with each find, great job.

It's looking like Girolamo Asaro's brother Vincenzo Asaro is a candidate for the early Orlando/Schiro family given his marital ties to important mafia names and his brother's mafia status.

I was away from the Black Hand for a couple of yrs, so I'm trying to catch up on the CDG and Buccellato posts.

I'm looking at the family tree for Giovanni Buccellato now. This is the Giovanni mentioned in the Asaro extradition case. Don Felice Buccellato was definitely his son. There was a son before him, but looks like he died at child birth. According to this tree, Felice had four other brothers:

Vito: (I don't know anything about him).
Martino: (the brother also mentioned in the Asaro court document---btw the tree is hand written so I can't make out the exact year, but it definitely says he died in the 1800s).
Giuseppe: (Nino Buccellato's father).
Salvatore: (I don't know much about him either, but looks like he lived for a while and had a big family).

But the bigger point here is: no "Nicola" or "Nicolo." Don Felice named his son "Nicola," so it definitely seems plausible he named him after a brother. I'm just not seeing anything here. The family gave me copies of the official family tree when I was in CDG. It's pretty comprehensive and I trust it, but with such a large family, it's not inconceivable someone was left off one of the trees. You'd have to go into the birth records I suppose.

[B.]

I 100% defer to you when it comes to the Buccellato family tree haha.

There was a Nicola Buccellato born 1861 in CDG who came to the US in 1921 at 60-years-old. He had a son named Nicola already living in Manhattan. Don't know if he connects. On the same ship listed next to his group of Castellammarese were Tarantolas from Camporeale heading to a Luciano LaBruzzo -- there were Tarantolas from Camporeale with the Bonanno Family and LaBruzzo could be a relative of JB's wife.

[Antiliar]

Looking back on Giuseppe Palermo, who was convicted in the counterfeiting scam with Morello and Lupo in 1910, there's some interesting connections. According to the U.S. government's case against his petition for clemency in 1914, he was really Salvatore Saracina and was convicted of a double murder and kidnapping by the Court at Palermo and sentenced to 31 years. He fled Sicily and claimed his named Palermo and that he was from Partanna (a Giuseppe Palermo did emigrate from Partanna in 1904). The Secret Service noted that he was Salvatore Saracino and he was born in 1867 to Giuseppe Saracino and Giacoma Domingo. He was convicted by the Court of Assize of two murders.

Salvatore Saracena (his spelling) applied for naturalization and wrote that he was born in Trapani on April 15, 1863, and arrived around April 10, 1902, traveling on the Sicilian Prince (I couldn't find anyone with that name or similar in 1902, and the Sicilian Prince made no arrivals to Ellis Island in April; he probably used an alias, but I don't know if he was the Giuseppe Palermo who arrived in 1904 or if he stole his identity). He was a cigar dealer who lived at 237 Elizabeth Street in Little Italy. Joe Bonanno in his autobiography under a photo taken in New York in 1910 calls his father Salvatore Bonanno and Turi Saracina the two most important men of his tradition from Castellammare in the New World, so likely he was ranked high in the organization headed by Sebastiano DiGaetano.

Some of his correspondence from prison included Frank Minore, his nephew, who lived at 234 Elizabeth Street. His wife was Giacoma Saracena. They were both from Castellammare. Another nephew, Joseph Saraceno, also lived at that address in 1911. Cousin Francesco (?) Asaro lived in Brooklyn (no address beyond that), and had a brother named Francesco who lived in New York. There wasn't enough information to determine the specifics on Joseph Saraceno or Asaro.

[B.]

Great info, buddy. When I tried to look into him I was under the impression the Domingos he was related to were relatives of Buster, Antonino, etc. As we all know it can get confusing with the same first names etc, though.

The Partanna pseudonym is interesting given that town does show up in the Bonanno Family along with neighboring towns. The presence of important early Bonanno guys from Santa Ninfa / Salemi like Gallo and Messina in Williamsburg suggest that in addition to Camporeale, Castellammare, and Partinico/Borgetto, those southern inland Trapani towns fed into the Bonanno Family near the beginning. The later Partanna guys (i.e. the Restivos) were very close to the Santa Ninfa / Salemi element. Castelvetrano is conspicuously absent but we know their network took them mainly to Birmingham, Chicago, and Kansas City. Kidunknow did find at leasts some of the later Messinas who show up in the Bonannos were from Castelvetrano, though

Last time I read Comito's testimony with your Informer article in mind it stood out to me that Saracino's presence with Lupo and Morello (bosses of two separate Families), as well as Comito's description of his dress/demeanor, indicate he was one of the most important members of the early Bonanno Family. This was a partnership between what may have been the only three NYC Families at the time and he was representing his Family alongside two bosses as something of a peer. Combined with Bonanno's description of him as one of the most important Castellammarese in NYC I think it's a fair assumption that he was an admin member or at least capodecina. It's also one of those CDG surnames that continually shows up in family trees and among CDG members past and present.

Going back to the Asaros, as I'm sure I said earlier in this thread there are strong indications Girolamo Asaro is another who held some kind of rank in Castellammare and continued to hold rank in NYC. The uncle Stefano Magaddino's letter to him suggests Asaro not only sponsored or presided over Magaddino's induction in CDG ("that oath you had me take"), but he was a high-level point of contact in NYC for the CDG Family. The letter is much like Morello's letter to Dispenza in some ways, where they discuss verifying the hometown credentials of a member/associate and allude to some kind of violence or murder inflicted on the father of Vito Bonventre (the 1930 murdered one) in Castellammare and the political implications w/ Vito in NYC.

[blackhander]

Looking back on Giuseppe Palermo, who was convicted in the counterfeiting scam with Morello and Lupo in 1910...

I presume this was the same guy who was part of the incorporation the CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY OF SICILY. They traded with the IGNATZ FLORIO CO-OP and the ROME CO-OPERATIVE OF BROOKLYN run by Costantino.

https://imgur.com/a/Hem8Obh

[Antiliar]

Looking back on Giuseppe Palermo, who was convicted in the counterfeiting scam with Morello and Lupo in 1910...

I presume this was the same guy who was part of the incorporation the CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY OF SICILY. They traded with the IGNATZ FLORIO CO-OP and the ROME CO-OPERATIVE OF BROOKLYN run by Costantino.

https://imgur.com/a/Hem8Obh

Same guy

[Antiliar]

According to Joe Bonanno, his rival for boss was Frank Italiano, who he said probably liked him the least. In Bill Bonanno's Last Testament, Italiano was the first consigliere, but he only lasted until 1932. Other than that, there's nothing else to identify him. Italiano was a common name. In 1930 a Frank Italiano was shot with Patsy Dauria. The police reported that Italiano was really Mayno Sebastiano, 41, of 225 54th Street in Brooklyn. Other sources gave his name as Mano Sabastino, alias Frank the Wop.

In 1935 another Frank Italiano made the papers. This Frank Italiano was reportedly 32 and lived at 1364 75th Street, which is near Bay Ridge. He operated the Amaro Siciliano Distributing Company, a real estate firm, at 60 Graham Avenue. His death certificate, however, says that he was 38 years old. He lived in the U.S. for 10 years, was married to Vincenza, and his parents were Joseph Italiano and Anna Esposito. I could not find any census records that would lead me to immigration records on Ancestry.com, but I did find his son, Joseph F. Italiano, and wife. The wife was the daughter of Gaetano Mule and Vincenza Lentini. Vincenza Mule married Francesco Italiano in Brooklyn on June 24, 1925.

Gaetano Mule was a merchant and later an undertaker who lived at 1365 75th Street (the address the death certificate gave for Frank Italiano), who was born in Alcamo in 1885. The Mules arrived in 1920 and their contact was Francesco Puma of 504 East 12th Street in Manhattan. Puma was one of the Good Killers arrested in 1921. So while I couldn't determine where Italiano himself originated, I was able to determine the origins and Mafia connections of his in-laws.

[Antiliar]

The next consigliere was Filippo Rappa, who held his position from 1932 to 1939, according to The Last Testament of Bill Bonanno. The only person with a death certificate who matches this name died in Queens in 1944. According to his naturalization docs, he was born in Borgetto in 1887 and resided in the U.S. since 1923. As of 1934 he and his family lived in Jackson Heights, at 3411 71st Street. His witnesses were Giuseppe De Lisi and Giovanni Petruso, living on 66th and 63rd streets in Manhattan, respectively. In the late 1930s Rappa moved to Havana, then returned to New York, where he lived at 105 East 15th Street in Manhattan (Gramercy Park area). According to his 1923 manifest, he had a cousin named Pietro Callega who lived at 403 E. 63rd Street, NYC. (There was a Pietro Caleca who married a Giovannina Rappa in Manhattan in 1917, born 10 Aug 1880 in Castellammare - he could be the same Pietro Caleca who a construction partner with Gaspare Asaro in the 1940 census). Per his WW2 draft card, a person who would always know him was Vincente Pasquale of the Morgan Coat Company, 109 Ingraham Street, Brooklyn (located in East Williamsburg near Flushing and Roebling - old time Schiro territory). Rappa was a partner in the coat company. On November 4, 1944, his body was found in the mud in a sewer with a gash on his head. The coroner doubted it was due to foul play since he had high blood pressure, but there was an investigation that lasted several weeks. Police leaned toward murder. He was described as a wealthy clothing manufacturer. He had over $300 and a gun on him.

Regarding Vincente Pasquale, he could be a match for Jim DePasquale mentioned as Bill's uncle on page 40 of Last Testament. He was born Vincenzo DePasquale on Jan 28, 1891 or 1894 in Marsala. He first lived with his brother Biagio at 12 Montrose Ave. in Williamsburg.