Historical Bosses of Trapani Province

[Antiliar]

This is a quick writeup to get things started:

Alcamo
Vincenzo Rimi (1949-1975)
Filippo Rimi (19751983?)
Vincenzo Milazzo (1983?-k. 1992)

Castellammare del Golfo
Paolo Valenti (c1883)
Giuseppe Ingaglia? (1890s)
Felice Buccellato (k. 1913)
Salvatore Maranzano (early 1920s)
Nicola “Cola” Buccellato (1980s)
[“Aggregated” to Alcamo by order of Salvatore Riina in 1983]
[Castellammare “reconstituted” in 1993]
Michele Mercadante, Agostino Lentini, Nino Valente (1993)
Francesco Domingo (1993-Present)
Mariano Asaro (or Saracino) (Reggente, 1995-2005)

Castelvetrano
Francesco Messina Denaro (d 1998)
Matteo Messina Denaro (1998-Present)

Mazara del Vallo
N/A

San Vito lo Capo
Vincenzo Gambicchia (c1883)

Trapani
Salvatore Minore (1920s)
Vincenzo Virga (1990s)

[Dwalin2014]

The boss in Mazara del Vallo was Mariano Agate at least since the 1980s, possibly until his death in 2013.
I remember reading Nicola Buccellato was boss of Castellammare for several decades until the 80s, but I don't remember the details, will try to find the source.
Antonio Salvatore Minore was boss of Trapani in the 70s, and was killed in 1982.
There was also Giuseppe Palmeri, the boss of the town of Santa Ninfa, killed in 1981.
Giuseppe Ferro succeeded Vincenzo Milazzo as boss of Alcamo, but turned informant in 1997.
I also remember reading some information about the town of Campobello di Mazara, but it was somehow confusing: one article that I don't find online anymore, but which I remember was written by the journalist Maurizio Macaluso, said that around the 1950s-1960s, the boss was Salvatore Margiotta, who later moved to Palermo, and left Gregorio Gullo (or Gulli) as his acting boss, and in some later period the boss was Leonardo Bonafede, who was then removed by the Toto' Riina and the Corleonesi from the position because he was too close to the Minore group from Trapani, and replaced by Nunzio Spezia. However, other sources describe the conflict between Nunzio Spezia (pro-Corleonesi) and Natale L'Ala (allied to the Rimi group from Alcamo), and I didn't quite understand whether Spezia o L'Ala was boss at the time (in the 1980s; Natale L'Ala was killed in 1990).

In Marsala, the boss was Mariano Licari from at least the 1950s, he was arrested in 1963, and then sentenced to 8 years in 1969, and then to 2 life sentences on appeal in 1972
https://www.tp24.it/2019/12/12/inchiest ... fia/142859
https://www.tp24.it/2019/12/13/inchiest ... nti/142904
(the life sentences aren't mentioned in these 2 articles, since they cover only the period until 1971)

Not sure what happened to him later though; however, according to this article it seems that the sentences were later upheld, although I am not sure when Licari died and whether he was free or in prison at the time:
https://www.progettosanfrancesco.it/ind ... Itemid=229

Sorry I can't provide the links to all the sources at the moment, later will post the ones I manage to find again.

[motorfab]

Salemi
Salvatore Zizzo (19??-1982)
Giuseppe Palmeri (Zizzo sottocapo)

Marsala
Francesco D'Amico (1972-199?)

Trapani
I think Calogero Minore is boss after the murder of Antonio


Castellammare Del Golfo
Nino Buccellato (killed in 1982)
Gioacchino Calabro is possibly sottocapo of Nino but I'm not 100% on that

[Dwalin2014]

In Salemi, after Salvatore Zizzo the boss was Gaspare Casciolo with Ignazio Salvo as underboss:
http://web.tiscali.it/almanaccodeimiste ... otti06.htm

[motorfab]

In Salemi, after Salvatore Zizzo the boss was Gaspare Casciolo with Ignazio Salvo as underboss:
http://web.tiscali.it/almanaccodeimiste ... otti06.htm

Thanks Dwalin. Salvo, no relation with the politician I suppose ?

EDIT : It seems so. Thank you I always thought he was not a made man. Was his cousin Antonio too?

[Dwalin2014]

In Salemi, after Salvatore Zizzo the boss was Gaspare Casciolo with Ignazio Salvo as underboss:
http://web.tiscali.it/almanaccodeimiste ... otti06.htm

Thanks Dwalin. Salvo, no relation with the politician I suppose ?

It was the one killed in 1992, his cousin Nino was a capodecina in the same family. They weren't politicans themselves, but had powerful connections in politics.

[motorfab]

It was the one killed in 1992, his cousin Nino was a capodecina in the same family. They weren't politicans themselves, but had powerful connections in politics.

OK, thanks. For whatever reasons, I got it into my head that they were politicians.

[B.]

Most but not all comes from Dr. Allegra, who did an amazing job identifying the bosses around Trapani. Some also comes from old Italian reports.

Salemi
Santo Rubino (1920s)
Francesco Scimeni (1930s) - described by Dr. Allegra as the "functioning capo", so maybe acting/regent.
Salvatore Zizzo (1950s?-1970s?)

Calatafimi
Vito Musso (1930s?)

Poggioreale
Salvatore Agosta (historic) - described as the founder of the mafia in Poggioreale and a freemason.
Girolamo Tamburello (1920s)

Santa Ninfa
Vito Spina (1920s)

Partanna
Giuseppe Ferro (1920s)

Trapani
Salvatore Laudicina (1920s)
Virgilio Nasi (1940s-19??) - Legislator and senator, identified as capoprovincia and boss of Trapani post-WWII

Marsala
Francesco Figuccia (1920s-19??) - Allegra said for a period in the 1920s the Marsala family refused to meet with other members because Fascist pressure was the most severe in Marsala. He later met Figuccia as the boss.

Campobello di Mazara
Giuseppe Scilabra (1920s)

Mazara del Vallo
Salvo Papa (1920s) - Dr. Allegra knew Papa to be a member and suspected him to be the leader but was never told his rank.

Gibellina / Salaparuta
Francesco Fontana (1920s)
Cangelosi (19??-1930s) - According to Dr. Allegra he was the boss of Gibellina and Salaparuta and retired to "private life," suggesting this was one family.

Castelvetrano
Nunzio Marotta (1930s) - Dr. Allegra said that at Marotta's direction the Castelvetrano family "dissolved" in the early 1930s, leaving only one remaining member (Gaetano DiCarlo) who insisted on continuing criminal activity there. The family must have been reconstituted at some point.

[Angelo Santino]

I can remake it but does it serve a purpose to?



If I chart anything here maybe B.'s early Cast findings? Or a list of American members who descended from here? I'm open.

Also, seen Scopello on a map. In my youngest vaguest of memories I remember taking a trip here. I had to been like 5 or 6. Takes me back to the times with my cousins. I'll contact my sister and see if she has the polaroids from this and if she could scan them. Good times. If I ever raise kids I'll do my best to instill in them to hold onto memories and cherish them in the moment. Scopello, I forgot all about it until I was looking up this shit. Good times back then.

[B.]

If you wanted to chart Trapani with a sort of "theme", I think the 1896 Castellammare case and Dr. Allegra's 1920s travels when he was political campaigning. Allegra identified tons of the bosses in Trapani ands a bunch of prominent members, too.

He didn't mentioned Custonaci, Paceco, or Valderice. I didn't realize there were families there.

[Angelo Santino]

If you wanted to chart Trapani with a sort of "theme", I think the 1896 Castellammare case and Dr. Allegra's 1920s travels when he was political campaigning. Allegra identified tons of the bosses in Trapani ands a bunch of prominent members, too.

He didn't mentioned Custonaci, Paceco, or Valderice. I didn't realize there were families there.

If you got some ideas I'm all ears. It may not be a traditional "chart" but it may map out this early stuff. I have the 1887 stuff with Duke Calvino, we can include that along with your 1896 stuff and the 1920's Allegra stuff you'll have to refresh my memory on. I think I translated it but if I did it was so long ago. I'm getting old.

One thing separate from the above. The early Bonannos were formed from Camporealisi and Cast Del Golfo. Camporeale should have fallen under Corleonese territory as well, not to mention Roccamena. But they didn't. Just like (the maybe later) Bisacquinese fell under the Gams. No explanations or whatever, just something for us to make a note of.

Other early Bonannos like Benny Gallo came from Santa Ninfa in Trapani. Despite Campo/Roccamena in Schiro and several others, this was a primary Trapanese Family. It explains their links to Detroit which had neighboring towns like Alcamo, Partinico, Terrasini etc making them up.

Also, William Balsamo wrote Under the Clock: The Mafia's First Hundred Years in America and made an ass out of himself by putting his grandfather before the Mangano brothers heading the Gambino and credited him as the American Mafia's true founder. This was before D'Aquila's info became more widely known, back in good ole 1988. But his grandfather, Battista Balsamo was from Terrasini or Partinico and likely had relatives in Detroit and lived in Gambino South Brooklyn. Gambino may have also attended his funeral but I have yet to see anything that confirms that.

[B.]

I saw an immigration record for someone that said "Camporeale, Trapani" as their origin and brought this up to you a while back because I was wondering if the provincial boundaries ever changed. It doesn't really make a difference on a practical level as Camporeale bordered Trapani, but I was able to confirm that Camporeaele was in fact part of Trapani province until 1954.

http://sicilia.indettaglio.it/eng/comun ... reale.html

"Until 1954 the commune was dependent by Trapani and only later it turned to Palermo."

There are other references to it on geneaology sites:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/cat ... %20Library

"Nel 1954, il comune di Camporeale fu staccato dalla provincia di Trapani e fu aggregato alla provincia di Palermo."

If you put Camporeale 1954 Trapani into a search engine, you'll see other references to this.

--

So the origins of the Orlando-Schiro-Bonanno family were technically almost entirely Trapani. It's only through revisionism that we can say pre-1954 Camporeale is Palermo.

That still leaves Partinico as a Palermo village that produced early members of the family, as I haven't seen anything about them changing provinces.

This makes things a little less clean when talking about Sicilian mafia history, too. If we're talking about historical bosses of Trapani province pre-1954, this info means Camporeale must be included. If we're talking about them post-1954, they should be moved to Palermo province.

[Angelo Santino]

Well that makes alot of sense re. Camporeale. Good find!

[B.]

Right under our nose the whole time.

This adds even more weight to you and Antiliar's theory about the early development of the Bonanno family. You were more right than you even realized at the time, and you were already right on the money. This helps cross some t's and dot some i's.

[Antiliar]

Camporeale (originally Campo reale, meaning "royal camp" or "royal field") was part of the Distretto di Alcamo. Some of these old administrative districts of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies probably created connections that didn't exist later first after the Bourbons were expelled, then after Mussolini came to power and more changes were made, and then after World War II.

https://books.google.com/books?id=ckBjb ... 22&f=false