Joseph Benanti / DiPalermos

[B.]

It's well-known that future Bonanno soldier Joe Benanti was close to the DiPalermos and Lucchese Prince Street crew, being arrested early on and badly beaten by police along with Ralph Cuomo, plus a DiPalermo son who was killed during the episode.

Was digging into the DiPalermos a bit and found that Benanti is actually a relative of them, like Cuomo. When the DiPalermos' father arrived to NYC from Marineo, Sicily, his arrival contact was his uncle Giuseppe Benanti, also from Marineo.

Anyone know how Joe Benanti ended up with the Bonannos and who he was first with? He was part of the Halloween 1977 Bonanno ceremony but LCNBios doesn't specify his sponsor. He was close to the Indelicatos and Trinchera, being photographed with them at the Bono wedding. He later ended up with Graziano and was close with Spero.

Not the first time a relative went with a different group, but thought it was interesting as the other DiPalermo relatives, including Joe's two younger brothers, Ralph Cuomo, and John Sorrentino all ended up made members of the Lucchese Prince Street crew, while their cousin Benanti did not. Joe DiPalermo had longstanding ties to Carmine Galante, so maybe there is something there.

Off the top of my head, other mafia figures from Marineo were the LiCastris of the Gambino family and Michael Spinella of the Genovese.

[Southshore88]

Very interesting info B. I’ve always been intrigued by the DiPalermo’s. Joe Beck and Petey Beck were obviously neck deep in the heroin business but never really heard much about them being involved in murder. Only tidbits I remember reading about them is heroin, being degenerate gamblers and having suits/clothing to match the color of their Cadillac for each day of the week.

Any other information about them would be greatly appreciated. When were they made?

[B.]

Joe Beck DiPalermo was a suspect in the Tresca murder along with Galante. Not sure about other murders. I don't know much about their activities except their notorious heroin dealing, but on a whim I was digging into their heritage and sure enough the Benantis popped up as a longstanding relation.

Joe and I believe Pete were members by the 1950s. Maybe the brother Charlie as well. Pogo might be able to clear it up from his notes.

There is a guy who shows up in a couple Ravenite photos with Neil Dellacroce who Bronx thought was "Little Joe Beck." It's not Joe DiPalermo and I don't think it's the Genovese member "Joe Beck," but the guy looks a lot like Charlie DiPalermo and the Little Italy connection might make sense. Wonder if those guys were close and if it's him.

[Pogo The Clown]

Joe and I believe Pete were members by the 1950s. Maybe the brother Charlie as well. Pogo might be able to clear it up from his notes.

Joe and Charlie were listed as Soldiers in the Valachi chart. Joe for sure was made by then since he was a Capo in the early 1970s when the books were still closed.


Pogo

[B.]

Thanks, Pogo.

The father Giovanni DiPalermo (b. 1881) is one I wonder about. Came from inland Palermo province and six of his younger relatives became mafia members, five of which joined the Luccheses, including three of his sons. He was still alive in 1940 but dead by the time of Charlie DiPalermo's published FBN file (report is circa late 1950s or early 1960s). Can anyone find a DOD?

Little is known about the early Lucchese membership in Little Italy and Manhattan. Joe Pinzolo was a Manhattan guy and became boss of this family, but there are few if any other known members from that generation who lived in Manhattan. The Prince Street crew would be the most prominent Lucchese group in Manhattan, but most if not all of the known members were born in the 1900s. If the Reina family did have a deeper history there, it seems Prince Street and this clan could have provided earlier members with Giovanni DiPalermo being a strong candidate.

Couple other points of interest:

- Joe Beck's FBN file says he attended the 1956 Binghamton meeting. This is said by other sources to have been a Commission meeting and we know Commission meetings could include aides, so if it's true he attended he may have been an aide to Tommy Lucchese. "Aides" were sometimes invited to familiarize them with the national leadership, so could be an indication DiPalermo was already being groomed for leadership. Wonder what the source is on his attendance as there is little info on the meeting beyond figures like Joe Bonanno confirming it happened.

- Pete Beck's FBN file lists his first criminal associate as Joe Falcone. This is strange, as the FBN's other NYC associates for Joe Falcone make more sense: Gambino members like Vincent Corrao (family from Sciacca, like Falcone), Sam Ameli (from nearby Porto Empedocle), and Andrew Alberti. The Falcones were with the Brooklyn Agrigento element when they lived in NYC and were related to D'Aquila capodecina Accursio Dimino, so longstanding ties to this faction of the Gambino make sense. No clue what the connection would be to Pete DiPalermo unless it was drug trafficking, but there isn't evidence Falcone was directly involved in that.

[bronx]

TY for great info

[Southshore88]

Thanks, Pogo.

The father Giovanni DiPalermo (b. 1881) is one I wonder about. Came from inland Palermo province and six of his younger relatives became mafia members, five of which joined the Luccheses, including three of his sons. He was still alive in 1940 but dead by the time of Charlie DiPalermo's published FBN file (report is circa late 1950s or early 1960s). Can anyone find a DOD?

Little is known about the early Lucchese membership in Little Italy and Manhattan. Joe Pinzolo was a Manhattan guy and became boss of this family, but there are few if any other known members from that generation who lived in Manhattan. The Prince Street crew would be the most prominent Lucchese group in Manhattan, but most if not all of the known members were born in the 1900s. If the Reina family did have a deeper history there, it seems Prince Street and this clan could have provided earlier members with Giovanni DiPalermo being a strong candidate.

Couple other points of interest:

- Joe Beck's FBN file says he attended the 1956 Binghamton meeting. This is said by other sources to have been a Commission meeting and we know Commission meetings could include aides, so if it's true he attended he may have been an aide to Tommy Lucchese. "Aides" were sometimes invited to familiarize them with the national leadership, so could be an indication DiPalermo was already being groomed for leadership. Wonder what the source is on his attendance as there is little info on the meeting beyond figures like Joe Bonanno confirming it happened.

- Pete Beck's FBN file lists his first criminal associate as Joe Falcone. This is strange, as the FBN's other NYC associates for Joe Falcone make more sense: Gambino members like Vincent Corrao (family from Sciacca, like Falcone), Sam Ameli (from nearby Porto Empedocle), and Andrew Alberti. The Falcones were with the Brooklyn Agrigento element when they lived in NYC and were related to D'Aquila capodecina Accursio Dimino, so longstanding ties to this faction of the Gambino make sense. No clue what the connection would be to Pete DiPalermo unless it was drug trafficking, but there isn't evidence Falcone was directly involved in that.

Great info B. and Pogo. Greatly appreciated

[B.]

No prob.

Some of the Benantis also lived two doors down from the DiPalermos on Elizabeth street, right around the corner from Prince street.

Looking at a couple of the earlier leaders of this crew, Frank Citrano's father was from Palermo and Ciro Giampaolo was born in NYC but had his passport issued in Palermo. Wonder if their families were from metro Palermo or another village in the province. Either way, interesting how many of the prominent figures in this crew were Palermitani.

[B.]

More Palermo connections with this crew and it turns out most earlier known members originally lived on the same exact block of Elizabeth & Prince streets:

- The three Nuccio brothers, all Lucchese members by the 1950s, also had Palermitani heritage and were in this crew. Their father Sebastiano was a barber from Palermo, later a "rent collector," and they lived on Elizabeth street right across the street from the DiPalermos.

- Like Giovanni DiPalermo, Nuccio having three mafiosi sons who joined this crew could make him a candidate for an earlier generation of membership if the crew dates back earlier in some form, though there is no known info indicating he was a member. Sebastiano Nuccio died in 1941.

- Frank Citrano grew up just a couple doors down on Elizabeth street from the DiPalermos. So that's at least 7 members of this crew in the 1950s who have origins on the same block of Elizabeth street off Prince street, all of them Palermitani.

--

Possible explanation of Pinzolo's place in Reina family?

- Joe Pinzolo's close ties to Gambino-connected Palermitani figures like Joe Riccobono, Terenzio Armone, and Marco LiMandri are still suspicious, but it could just be a sign that Pinzolo was close to the entire Manhattan Palermitani element regardless of affiliation given that the Lucchese Manhattan crew was also Palermitani.

- Pinzolo lived only a five minute drive from the Elizabeth & Prince street block where the Luccheses' only known Manhattan crew has its roots. This could indicate that Pinzolo was an early leader of what is now known as the Prince street crew or otherwise bears some responsibiity for creating it. Among known members, Frank Citrano, Ciro Giampaolo, Joseph Lagano, and Joe DiPalermo were all old enough to have been members or associates before Pinzolo became boss, assuming there weren't older members. Lagano was Calabrian and Pinzolo had close ties to Calabrian gangsters from the time he moved to Manhattan, so could be something there.

- While some have speculated that his strong associations with Gambino/D'Aquila figures could mean Pinzolo transferred to take over the Reina family, I'm not so sure. Many figures associate and/or are related to members from one family but turn out to have always been a member of another. Valachi also says nothing about Pinzolo coming from another group and he met Pinzolo personally and was told about him by Dominick Petrilli. Valachi was clueless about Brooklyn and Mineo, but he was sponsored for membership into this family while Pinzolo was boss and heavily knowledgeable about the Lucchese family, so I feel he would have mentioned something about Pinzolo transferring. I'm leaning toward Pinzolo coming from this group within the Lucchese family.

[nash143]

- Joe Beck's FBN file says he attended the 1956 Binghamton meeting. This is said by other sources to have been a Commission meeting and we know Commission meetings could include aides, so if it's true he attended he may have been an aide to Tommy Lucchese. "Aides" were sometimes invited to familiarize them with the national leadership, so could be an indication DiPalermo was already being groomed for leadership. Wonder what the source is on his attendance as there is little info on the meeting beyond figures like Joe Bonanno confirming it happened.

I think Joe DiPalermo's attendance at said 1956 meeting is either false or as far as I have read, not certain. When Carmine Galante was pulled over for speeding in 1956, he gave DiPalermo's license as his own, but from what I've read in files, there is no evidence of him being in the car with Galante. Galante later stated the the two other men in the car were Bonventre and Garofalo.

On another note, when Galante was searched after the speeding incident, he had the business card of Joseph Falcone on him.

[B.]

- Joe Beck's FBN file says he attended the 1956 Binghamton meeting. This is said by other sources to have been a Commission meeting and we know Commission meetings could include aides, so if it's true he attended he may have been an aide to Tommy Lucchese. "Aides" were sometimes invited to familiarize them with the national leadership, so could be an indication DiPalermo was already being groomed for leadership. Wonder what the source is on his attendance as there is little info on the meeting beyond figures like Joe Bonanno confirming it happened.

I think Joe DiPalermo's attendance at said 1956 meeting is either false or as far as I have read, not certain. When Carmine Galante was pulled over for speeding in 1956, he gave DiPalermo's license as his own, but from what I've read in files, there is no evidence of him being in the car with Galante. Galante later stated the the two other men in the car were Bonventre and Garofalo.

On another note, when Galante was searched after the speeding incident, he had the business card of Joseph Falcone on him.

Ok, so the FBN's info may have been confusion over Galante providing DiPalermo's ID. That itself is strange given DiPalermo was a member of another family. Why put heat on a made member of another group like that, especially one like DiPalermo who was always under heavy investigation? The two men were close, but still odd. That could explain the FBN file either way.

Not to get off topic, but I suspect Galante held the "top/senior captain" position that sources later said was held by Nicky Marangello and eventually Dominick Napolitano. One source claimed Galante had been part of a ruling panel before his incarceration, too. I think the "top captain" and constant ruling panels used by the Bonannos later may have been in use even earlier under Joe Bonanno. Some of this explains why Galante was always misidentified as an underboss or consigliere before his arrest -- he was probably assisting the administration. His attendance in Binghampton would fit with that.

Frank Citrano supposedly had ties to Carmine Galante, too, so that's another Prince street Lucchese connection if true. I suspect Citrano brought Joe DiPalermo into the Lucchese family, assuming there wasn't an older relative. Would make sense they were both connected to Galante.

I'm wondering of Joe Falcone was also connected to Mike Sabella of the Bonannos. Falcone's first cousin Joe Sabella was a made Buffalo member who lived in NYC and these Sabellas came from Sciacca, Sicily, like Mike Sabella's family. Mike Sabella also spent a lot of time in Florida where Salvatore Falcone and the Falcone's cousin Joe Indelicato lived (a Gambino member and also a cousin of the Bonanno Indelicatos). Too many possible connections and the mafia is a small world, especially the Sciacchitani of that era.

[Manhattan_]

Frankie Citrano (Chick Wilson) was a Dynamo , not to much out there about him but his political contacts were gold.

[Eld]

Angelo Greco and his brother-in-law Giuseppe LoCascio (died 1940) were probable early members of the Prince st crew.

I agree that Sebastiano Nuccio was also an probable early member, he was decribed as controlling the "Italian lottery" on Mulberry St so he was likely involved in criminal activity on a more senior level.

I can't find it now but I read an FBI doc describing Giovanni DiPalermo as a drunk who died as a result of his drinking. He could have been a mafiosi nevertheless but it wasn't really that impression.

Some murders linked to the Prince street crew:

Carmello Bonomolo killed in front of his home on 1 Prince street in 1937. His step-father was Dominick Legano/Lagano (a name linked ot the Lucchese family).
Willie LoCascio (son of Giusepppe and nephew of Angelo Greco), was aquitted of this murder.

Angelo Greco (1893-1939) killed in his cafe on 10 Prince street in 1939. He had been arrested for bootlegging six months before with his nephew Peter LoCascio.

Peter Simonetti, shot dead on Elisabeth street in 1945. He ran a large (70 players) dice game with among others Joe Frangipane (future Luchese member and nephew of Frank Citrano). Frangipane lived on 8 Prince street.

Vincent Zaccaro, killed on LES in 1944. Peter Simonetti was a suspect.

Also Frank Nuccio was held as a material witness in the Tresca liquidation.

[B.]

Wonderful info, Eld. You do great work here.

- So the Nuccio father is definitely a candidate for membership in this group.

- Carmelo Bonomolo was born in Marineo, where the DiPalermos also came from.

- I see Angelo Greco was born in Palermo as well. No surprise given the pattern already noted in this thread. Living on Prince street at the time of his naturalization but moved to Queens later like his nephews the LoCascios and kept a cafe on Prince street.

- Having trouble confirming Giuseppe LoCascio's DOB and hometown -- most of the possible matches I've found came from Palermo, specifically Baucina, which is near Marineo. Seems likely the LoCascios are Palermitani given the other early figures in this crew and Giuseppe LoCascio's marriage to a Palermitano Greco. Maybe you can confirm.

- Peter Simonetti's family came from San Giuseppe Iato, Palermo. Close to Marineo. It looks like they were living in the West Village at one point yet Simonetti's father's naturalization was witnessed by two men in East Harlem, including an Antonio Capra. The Capra name/location is no stranger to the Lucchese family, but the Simonettis weren't living anywhere close to East Harlem yet clearly maintained ties there. Coincidence?

- Vincent Zaccaro's family was from Cosenza, so non-Sicilian. Interesting Simonetti was connected, though, given a possible relation to other Calabrians.

Should be noted that some of the guys who are listed as simply being from "Palermo" could well be from some of these smaller villages like Marineo. There was definitely a colony from Marineo on that block of Prince and Elizabeth. Oftentimes immigrants from smaller Palermo villages would list their hometown simply as "Palermo" for convenience, so we can't necesarily assume they mean metro Palermo the city.

--

It's very interesting to me that this Palermitani colony at Prince and Elizabeth streets were all with the Reina family. Logic would put them with the D'Aquila family, but something must have connected them to the Reina group. Other early Palermitani like Tommy Lucchese and Steve Rannelli in the Reina family's Bronx/Harlem faction make sense, as the Reinas were actively recruiting all local Italians in the Bronx/Harlem (as evidenced by Valachi). There isn't any obvious point of recruitment for the Manhattan crew unless Pinzolo was responsible, but then the question is who recruited Pinzolo into that family?

It's not unlike the mystery of the Agrigentini-dominated Brooklyn crew, where the earliest known members like Curiale, the Saccos, and D'Anna are all from Agrigento. Like the Manhattan Palermitani, it doesn't make obvious sense from a geographic or compaesani view why these Brooklyn and Manhattan crews joined the Reina family.

Here are the foundations of the Lucchese family's crews/factions:

Mahattan -> Palermitani
Brooklyn -> Agrigentini
Bronx / East Harlem -> Corleonesi
New Jersey -> Trapanesi

Not just one or two members/associates, either, but each faction seems to have had heavy representation from these places.

The NJ crew split off from Newark and would have joined in the mid-late 1930s, so we have an idea of their origin in this family, but still it's kind of crazy we see all of the western Sicilian provinces represented in the Reina/Gagliano group in different geographic areas when we know their powerbase and core of the network was Corleone and East Harlem / Bronx. The more we know, the less we know.

[B.]

As we've talked about before, Valachi said there was only a tiny faction of this family directly opposed to Joe Pinzolo. As far as we can tell, most if not all of this rebel group (which may have included no more than 20 members according to Valachi) were from the Bronx / Harlem faction and led by Tom Gagliano, Tommy Lucchese, and Dominick Petrilli.

So who supported Pinzolo?

This early Prince street crew is a good candidate given it was in Pinzolo's area. It's unlikely the early Prince street crew would have been a sizeable faction in the family, but usually the "diehard" loyalists of a given boss are limited to one or two crews at most anyway. Even after Pinzolo's death, Valachi mentions nothing about Manhattan members of the family supporting the Gagliano leadership or participating in Castellammarese War activities. He may have simply not known enough about them or it could be a sign that they were blowing in the wind after Pinzolo's death.

--

I want to keep this thread focused on Manhattan, but it got me thinking about general Lucchese history...

- Al D'Arco said the Brooklyn Curiale crew dated back to when there was one Brooklyn family. Like his comments about the NJ family, I don't think we can take this as gospel, but unlike NJ, D'Arco was a member of the Brooklyn crew and knew old members. If the Curiale crew split off from another family, their Agrigentini roots would make the D'Aquila family the obvious choice. But why would they break off and join a family centered in Bronx / Harlem? Was the Curiale group aligned with the Sciacchitani in the D'Aquila family who supported Masseria and Mineo, then for political reasons didn't want to continue on under Mangano? This will never be answered.

- Side note, but the most interesting thing about Al D'Arco's meeting with the ancient Paolo D'Anna (103-years-old) was the photo of a man on D'Anna's wall who D'Anna claimed was his original captain in Sicily. I wonder if D'Arco misinterpreted him and D'Anna actually said it was his "capo" -- the term used for boss in Sicily and early US mafia. That term stopped being used to mean boss in the US and came to mean captain, but it might make more sense for D'Anna to hold his original boss in that regard. Naturally D'Arco would hear "capo" and think he meant captain. Obviously this is real nerd stuff...

- D'Anna also lived in Colorado where he participated in the mafia war there, which makes sense given the Pueblo family was dominated by Agrigentini and included other D'Annas. Pueblo was hyper-tapped into the Agrigentini network, so this is a sign that the Curiale crew was tapped into this network as well and it is no coincidence D'Anna ended up in an Agrigentini crew in NYC. Circling back to Manhattan, I wonder if we can find ties to the Palermitani network aside from Joe Pinzolo's marital and naturalization connections to the D'Aquila guys.