Unlikely Mafia Professions / Trades

[B.]

Not members, but on the subject of schools, George Fresolone talked about how his high school gym teacher was a degenerate gambler connected to the mob.

Also Jim Queli, brother of Genovese soldier Joe Queli, was a high school principal and Genovese associate who was later murdered. He was known to hang out at Tony Caponigro's 311 club.

[HoagieNose]

Isn’t there a supposed made guy in Philly that’s a lawyer ?

[newera_212]

Joseph Saraceno - Bufalino member who worked as a teacher at the Wyoming area school district. His wife was the daughter of Santo Volpe Sr one of the early members of the family.

Great info. Appears teachers weren't necessarily common, but not entirely uncommon in traditional families.

Makes me think of the guy in Buffalo who was recently identified as an associate and possible member but works as a school teacher.

I'd have to say Priest is most unlikely profession for a Mafioso, I believe there were a couple of examples of this phenomenon in Sicily over the years.

Antiliar, CC, and I have had some good conversations about this... we don't have names, but there is evidence in early Italian investigations that priests weren't rare in the early Sicilian mafia. There was a priest in Burgio, Agrigento, who may have been a leader of a mafia group early on in the 1800s and John Dickie talks about a suspected mafioso priest who shot and killed his own cousin in a vendetta. There are other references as well that raise some eyebrows.

A member CI (Carmine Taglialatella if I remember right) said he heard there were even priests made in NYC. No evidence has surfaced to back it up but I believe it could have been true early on.

Then as Pogo said there's Joe Bonanno saying priests were members.

Chicago rappresentante Tony D’Andrea was a priest (in an independent Catholic church), but left the priesthood to marry. I would assume that when he was a priest he was already made, but who knows. D’Andrea apparently worked later as a language teacher and translator.

He covers the whole spectrum. He ran for politics as well, right?

Salvatore Maranzano also studied to become a priest. It's entirely possible he would have become a mafia member regardless of whether he chose the pious route or not.

Hey you think any chance Father Gigante was made? I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe they made him for the negotiation and protection aspect. I mean he swung some big deals and obviously had the family behind him, but I could see him being made, made.

This is interesting. I don't think so though. There's really no need for it. He was plugged into the legit / quasi legit political machine in NY arguably as much as his brother was plugged into underworld. He had connections of his own , and then presumably connections he could tap into through the Genovese. It sounds ridiculous but pound for pound he may have been the most 'powerful' Gigante lmao.

The only time he'd need to be made is if he was working closely and frequently with members of other families, and even if he were it would probably make more sense to use somebody else (i.e. another made member) to represent him as an intermediary, just because of how high profile his position in the church was.

I don't know if there were instances of Andrew Gigante meeting with members of other families, but Chin had no problem not making him and still having him pretty involved with the Genovese at a level higher than a normal associate could ever imagine. Even though he was a stickler for the rules, at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if Chin wasn't above breaking certain LCN protocols and norms just to throw people off the scent and to do the unexpected.

It's interesting. There's a possibility Louis could have been made just because of what I said above...Chin doing the unexpected... but it doesn't make sense. The guy was probably much more useful not being made, just like a lot of important Genovese associates who were titans of their own respective industries

[B.]

The US stopped making most professions at some point, otherwise I bet some of these guys would have been candidates for membership.

There were still a handful made in the 1950s but after that you really don't see professionals getting made in US families. It's in the US that we first see "mafioso" become a profession unto itself.

Allegra doesn't only talk about the politicians, doctors, and noblemen who were made members, he also talks about the dizzying amount of members who were butchers, merchants, and in all kinds of normal trades. Few of these guys were "mafiosi" and nothing more, but mafiosi in addition to their occupation. It's not like the priesthood is a "front job" for a member who is a priest... he's a functioning priest but he has to reconcile that side of his life with the fact that he took a blood oath to a fundamentally corrupt organization and in some cases may have even been the capo/boss, if early Sicilian accounts are true.

You still see successful businessmen get made who have little to no criminal activity, but they are typically commercial businessmen and nothing like the teachers, doctors, artists, lawyers, politicians and others. Honestly guys like Rosatti and Staluppi who pose with George W. Bush are just as impressive to me as any lawyer or doctor from the old mafia, but the difference is they're commercial businessmen and that has a different feel compared to a doctor, lawyer, music teacher, etc.

[JoeCamel]

Rosatti and John staluppi To me are prime examples of the Made LCN members In the recent past/present that I like to fantasize about as the untouchable power players that really have pull in todays society and are more Bond villainish then street criminal. These threads are great because the layman draws from them the thought “how many of those guys are out there?” Cherry Hill Gambinos especially John are another example. So much power in business, politics, and the underworld that they have My respect As leaders in a free world who’s rise to the top signify what America should be and maybe someday will be again.

Yes I aspire to be a Bond Villain

[thekiduknow]

Greg Genovese, San Jose member and Bonanno's son-in-law was a dentist.

[B.]

Mafia Doctors thread: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=7534

Mafia Politicians thread: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=7540

Obviously some crossover between these threads.