Ciro Gallo (Bonanno)

[Pogo The Clown]

We could write a sequel to Man of Honor with the things Bonanno knew but left out for various reasons. Gallo is a minor detail to leave out when you consider he left out Italiano and Rappa.

He briefly mentioned Italiano. After Maranzano was killed he said the family held an election with all of the members present. He said he didn't want to be drafted into the spot so he put up Italiano (who he said was probably the member who liked him the least) as a candidate against him. He said Italiano got about 7 votes while he got "about 300".


Pogo

[JCB1977]

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78548485/

Frank Adrana listed at 90 Washington St

Mike Bua listed at 208 South Atlantic Ave

Mike Russo listed at 1220 Fifth Ave

Carlo Spallino- listed on Pennsylvania Ave

[PolackTony]

Apologies in advance, as I imagine that this has already been discussed elsewhere at some point. I was just going through “Man of Honor” after reading this thread. When Bonanno discusses becoming a member, he doesn’t mention a ceremony. He states that they held a dinner, and he then was considered a member of the Schirò/Castellammarese family. This could just be Bonanno intentionally neglecting to discuss the ceremony (perhaps in the interest of playing up the basis of the mafia as rooted in his account of “traditional” Sicilian cultural values as opposed to a defined, initiatory fraternal society), and thus might count under “things that Bonanno left out”. But given that the Bonannos dispensed with the ceremony in later decades, it makes me wonder if this was already happening under Schirò or Maranzano? Valachi was of course inducted in a ceremony under Maranzano.

[thekiduknow]

Apologies in advance, as I imagine that this has already been discussed elsewhere at some point. I was just going through “Man of Honor” after reading this thread. When Bonanno discusses becoming a member, he doesn’t mention a ceremony. He states that they held a dinner, and he then was considered a member of the Schirò/Castellammarese family. This could just be Bonanno intentionally neglecting to discuss the ceremony (perhaps in the interest of playing up the basis of the mafia as rooted in his account of “traditional” Sicilian cultural values as opposed to a defined, initiatory fraternal society), and thus might count under “things that Bonanno left out”. But given that the Bonannos dispensed with the ceremony in later decades, it makes me wonder if this was already happening under Schirò or Maranzano? Valachi was of course inducted in a ceremony under Maranzano.

I’ve wondered this too. Bill claims to have gone through go the traditional ceremony in his book, with the knife and the gun and all that. I would agree with what you said about him just not wanting to discuss it, and maybe to sort of distance himself further form Valachi and his ceremony?

Bonanno himself says that there some in Bonanno family he never met, meaning he didn’t personally induct them. So maybe the kind of phasing out of the “traditional ceremony” was because of other admin/captains making guys and it became the norm.

[PolackTony]

Apologies in advance, as I imagine that this has already been discussed elsewhere at some point. I was just going through “Man of Honor” after reading this thread. When Bonanno discusses becoming a member, he doesn’t mention a ceremony. He states that they held a dinner, and he then was considered a member of the Schirò/Castellammarese family. This could just be Bonanno intentionally neglecting to discuss the ceremony (perhaps in the interest of playing up the basis of the mafia as rooted in his account of “traditional” Sicilian cultural values as opposed to a defined, initiatory fraternal society), and thus might count under “things that Bonanno left out”. But given that the Bonannos dispensed with the ceremony in later decades, it makes me wonder if this was already happening under Schirò or Maranzano? Valachi was of course inducted in a ceremony under Maranzano.

I’ve wondered this too. Bill claims to have gone through go the traditional ceremony in his book, with the knife and the gun and all that. I would agree with what you said about him just not wanting to discuss it, and maybe to sort of distance himself further form Valachi and his ceremony?

Bonanno himself says that there some in Bonanno family he never met, meaning he didn’t personally induct them. So maybe the kind of phasing out of the “traditional ceremony” was because of other admin/captains making guys and it became the norm.

It could have also been the case that they used the ceremony at times and then at other times didn’t, of course. If it were the case that Bonanno was actually inducted in 1930, they might’ve dispensed with the ceremony due to being on a “wartime” footing, or something like that (though of course that wouldn’t fit with Valachi undergoing a ceremony). Or, again, it could just be one of Bonanno’s convenient omissions from his account.

[B.]

Thanks to JCB for sending me some info that confirms Michael Russo is the same Russo from NJ who attended the 1928 Cleveland meeting. He not only spent time in Pittsburgh, but also Boston. He also had earlier connections to Cleveland years before the 1928 Cleveland bust, so he got around.

So he was a major figure in different families between 1928-1932 at least, and if Sam DeCavalcante's comment relates to him, it sounds like Russo lost standing at some point and tried to receive Commission representation/protection (not unlike Gaspare DiGregorio, Carmine Persico, etc. did during their own conflicts). This could be why we hear very little of him later on. Given Russo's place in NJ, the Newark family conflict of the mid-late 1930s could relate to the issue described by DeCavalcante unless it was an incident specific to Russo.

Should be noted Russo is not related to the suspected Newark member Luigi Russo who was killed with underboss Monaco. That Russo was from Maddaloni, Caserta, like possible Newark family figure Aniello Santagata (whose nickname was "O'Maddalonese"). Mike Russo was from Cerda, Sicily.

--

Re: Bonanno induction.

I used to think Bonanno didn't go into the details about his induction because it was still "sacred" to him (ala what Bob Luisi is doing now), but when it came out that the Bonannos had verbal-only ceremonies between the 1940s-2000s it changed my view. Not that I'm convinced Bonanno's induction was exactly as he described it, only that it is believable in light of what we know now.

I was surprised by the early 1970s Bonanno member CI (likely Frank Fauney D'Angelo) who was inducted in a full-on traditional ceremony officiated by Joe Bonanno at Natale Evola's house. The ceremony included a celebratory dinner (like Bonanno's own induction) but it did include the gun, knife, and rituals we all know and love.

This ceremony would have been in the 1940s or 1950s. During the same period other Bonanno members were initiated without the traditional ceremony, which makes it stand out. D'Angelo and his sponsor were both Castellammarese, as were all of the other participants ID'd by the CI, so I wonder if special emphasis was placed on this ceremony for reasons of heritage or if the family was just inconsistent in how they handled inductions and some of it dependeded on circumstance.

He briefly mentioned Italiano. After Maranzano was killed he said the family held an election with all of the members present. He said he didn't want to be drafted into the spot so he put up Italiano (who he said was probably the member who liked him the least) as a candidate against him. He said Italiano got about 7 votes while he got "about 300".

Great reminder. It plays into my take that Rappa and Italiano were elected consiglieri to represent elements of the family that weren't directly aligned with the Castellammarese. After their murders we see the entire administration become Castellammarese for the first time. What I'm mainly referring to though is that he completely omitted the murders of two former administration members, so Benny Gallo isn't too egregious with that in mind, the difference being that Bonanno likely ordered the Rappa and Italiano murders while he likely had no part in the Gallo murder.

Though he must have been aware of Gallo, Gallo's death may not have been a significant event to Bonanno at the time (November 1930) when the Castellammarese War was in full bloom. It's also possible newspapers made Gallo out to be more important than he was.

[B.]

On the subject of obscure Bonanno connections...

- Consigliere Frank Italiano was from Belmonte Mezzagno, same town as Joe Traina and other figures connected to the Gambinos and Philly.

- The FBN identified Tampa figure Salvatore Italiano as being from Belmonte, too. However, early Tampa boss Ignazio Italiano was from Agrigento, like most of the Tampa members.

- The FBN was occasionally mistaken in identifying hometowns (they confused Joe Traina for another Giuseppe Traina involved with the mafia in San Giuseppe Iato, for example), but immigration records do show a Salvatore Italiano of the right age coming from Belmonte to NYC.

- Following his 1928 Cleveland arrest, Joe Profaci told LE his father was a friend of Ignazio Italiano in Sicily, so the Italianos were close to mafiosi from Villabate (very close to Belmonte Mezzagno).

I'm sure Scott D could help clear this up, but if Salvatore Italiano was in fact from Belmonte, you have to wonder if he was related to Frank Italiano of the Bonannos. We know Salvatore Italiano had close ties to NYC.

[PolackTony]

We could write a sequel to Man of Honor with the things Bonanno knew but left out for various reasons. Gallo is a minor detail to leave out when you consider he left out Italiano and Rappa.

He briefly mentioned Italiano. After Maranzano was killed he said the family held an election with all of the members present. He said he didn't want to be drafted into the spot so he put up Italiano (who he said was probably the member who liked him the least) as a candidate against him. He said Italiano got about 7 votes while he got "about 300".


Pogo

Yes, and Bonnano stated that he proposed Italiano so that a vote could be held in order for Bonanno to see if anyone in the family would oppose him.

[Antiliar]

Apologies in advance, as I imagine that this has already been discussed elsewhere at some point. I was just going through “Man of Honor” after reading this thread. When Bonanno discusses becoming a member, he doesn’t mention a ceremony. He states that they held a dinner, and he then was considered a member of the Schirò/Castellammarese family. This could just be Bonanno intentionally neglecting to discuss the ceremony (perhaps in the interest of playing up the basis of the mafia as rooted in his account of “traditional” Sicilian cultural values as opposed to a defined, initiatory fraternal society), and thus might count under “things that Bonanno left out”. But given that the Bonannos dispensed with the ceremony in later decades, it makes me wonder if this was already happening under Schirò or Maranzano? Valachi was of course inducted in a ceremony under Maranzano.

Along with the books, the TV series "Man of Honor" ought to be considered part of the Joe Bonanno canon. Bill said he conduct several days worth of interviews before writing the script. He claimed everything in the TV series is accurate, although it does have some mistakes. It does show that Joe was inducted with a traditional ceremony.

[B.]

Good observation. Wonder if Joe told Bill more detail about his induction or if they did it that way for the movie because the traditional ceremony is a well-known part of pop culture. Audiences would have known about the traditional ceremony and might have been confused seeing the boss himself take a verbal oath over dinner with nothing more.

The traditional ceremony highlights the violent nature of the organization... gun, knife, pricking the trigger finger, smearing blood on a burning saint card. If JB did omit those details, it could be part of the pattern in the book of distancing himself from the criminal/violent element.

[Antiliar]

Oops. I meant "Bonanno: A Godfather's Story."

[B.]

Need to watch those again... you make a great point about those little details.

[B.]

Couple points:

- Ciro Gallo transferred back to the Bonannos in the 1950s with approval from SF boss James Lanza.

- The Frank Adragna involved in the Bazzano meeting in NYC was indeed the brother of the San Jose/Brooklyn/Pittsburgh Adragna brothers.

Our Chicago guys pointed out something interesting in another thread, can't remember if it came up earlier here. They said influential early Chicago member Vincenzo Benevento was a relative of the DeJohns (DiGiovanni), who were from Palazzo Adriano, Palermo, and connected to paesano Ciro Gallo in the Bay Area. Benevento however was from Partanna, Trapani. As mentioned earlier, Gallo married a woman from Alcamo and was a Bonanno member. Then you have Tony Canzoneri, who was from Palazzo and a Bonanno member.

Seems like there is an undercurrent of Trapani connections with all of these known Palazzo guys.

[nash143]

Photo i'd previous posted in a different thread of the Bazzano murder suspects. Hide to identify who is who except for Volpe (large forehead in centre).

[Raven]

The_Pittsburgh_Press_Thu__Aug_18__1932_Bazzano.jpg