Los Angeles/Detroit connections

[Antiliar]

I don't think I would call the San Diego Matrangas a crew since none of them were made (at least until the early 1970s). I think it was more guilt by association than anything.

[PolackTony]

I'm curious if these Canzoneris connect to Tony of the Bonanno family. As mentioned in the Ciro Gallo thread, they were from Palazzo Adriano and there was a colony from Palazzo in Chicago.

It is possible that Chicago's Sammy Canzoneri was also part of the so-called Pizza Connection with Galante and later Catalano...

Good info... this is the first I've heard of the Chicago Canzoneris. Interesting too that the early Chicago Catalano was from Ciminna like Sal.

If Sammy Canzoneri actually was plugged in with the Pizza Connection, a question for me is whether his father Angelo Canzoneri, who of course was from Palazzo Adriano, had any links to Tony Canzoneri, thereby conceivably giving Sammy a connection to the Bonannos.

(Apologies to Fab for diverging from the topic of his really excellent thread)

[PolackTony]

John Canzoneri's ancestry was from Corleone, so probably not related to the others.

Thanks for confirming that, as there was another John Canzoneri in LA whose family was from Prizzi. The John Canzoneri of interest here was then the guy born 1892 (died 1950) in California to parents from Corleone?

[Antiliar]

John Canzoneri's ancestry was from Corleone, so probably not related to the others.

Thanks for confirming that, as there was another John Canzoneri in LA whose family was from Prizzi. The John Canzoneri of interest here was then the guy born 1892 (died 1950) in California to parents from Corleone?

John Canzoneri was born in Los Angeles to Girolamo and Laura Canzoneri (nee Leoluchina Di Carlo), who arrived at New Orleans from Corleone in 1886. They lived at 1402 East 12th Street.

[PolackTony]

John Canzoneri's ancestry was from Corleone, so probably not related to the others.

Thanks for confirming that, as there was another John Canzoneri in LA whose family was from Prizzi. The John Canzoneri of interest here was then the guy born 1892 (died 1950) in California to parents from Corleone?

John Canzoneri was born in Los Angeles to Girolamo and Laura Canzoneri (nee Leoluchina Di Carlo), who arrived at New Orleans from Corleone in 1886. They lived at 1402 East 12th Street.

Thanks for confirming, that was one of the two John Canzoneris that I had identified as potential matches.

[B.]

If Sammy Canzoneri actually was plugged in with the Pizza Connection, a question for me is whether his father Angelo Canzoneri, who of course was from Palazzo Adriano, had any links to Tony Canzoneri, thereby conceivably giving Sammy a connection to the Bonannos.

(Apologies to Fab for diverging from the topic of his really excellent thread)

Tony Canzoneri was dead close to a couple decades before the Pizza Connection was in full swing so it'd be a shock even for me if that was a link. If we could find more about the older generations from Palazzo or even anything about mafia history in Palazzo it might tell us more about who was connected/related.

Crossing streams with the other thread, but Ciro Gallo from Palazzo was still alive until 1975 in the Bonannos and had family ties to Chicago in the 1920s. I don't know that Gallo would have been helping create drug relationships between his Chicago paesano and the Bonanno family right before he died, probably unlikely, but just a few years later the elderly Tony Riela made introductions between the Bonanno family and Rockford members, who then introduced Bonanno members to the Milwaukee leadership, all so a couple new "associates" (FBI agents) could dabble in Milwaukee gambling. Probably wasn't the only time those sorts of introductions were made for various reasons, big and small.

[B.]

Related to this subject, something very curious is there is a 1948 plane manifest that shows Paul and Tony Mirabile, Momo Adamo, and Marco Impastato all visited Italy together at the same time. All of them were from Alcamo and the latter three were made members. Anyone know what was going on in Alcamo at the time?

Back on track, I see Antiliar had Vincenzo Rimi listed taking over as Alcamo boss in 1949. If that's around the time he took over, seems this LA/San Diego group may have been visiting in relation to Rimi's ascension to boss or the events that immediately preceded it.

[Villain]

If Sammy Canzoneri actually was plugged in with the Pizza Connection, a question for me is whether his father Angelo Canzoneri, who of course was from Palazzo Adriano, had any links to Tony Canzoneri, thereby conceivably giving Sammy a connection to the Bonannos.

(Apologies to Fab for diverging from the topic of his really excellent thread)

Tony Canzoneri was dead close to a couple decades before the Pizza Connection was in full swing so it'd be a shock even for me if that was a link. If we could find more about the older generations from Palazzo or even anything about mafia history in Palazzo it might tell us more about who was connected/related.

Sorry for going a little bit off track again but when I created my article years ago regarding the dope trade in Chicago, I learned that pizzerias were already used for dope shipments since the early/mid 1950s. I also believe that Galante visiting Chicago (two meetings, one in Cicero and the other in C City i think) while being on the lam at the time, has to do a lot with the situation.

[motorfab]

Sorry for going a little bit off track again but when I created my article years ago regarding the dope trade in Chicago, I learned that pizzerias were already used for dope shipments since the early/mid 1950s. I also believe that Galante visiting Chicago (two meetings, one in Cicero and the other in C City i think) while being on the lam at the time, has to do a lot with the situation.

Knowing Galante, there is few chance that it was only a tourist visit

(Apologies to Fab for diverging from the topic of his really excellent thread)

Not at all, especially that the Canzoneris (at least John) were involved with the L.A. mob

But since the L.A. borgata has many elements of other families, like Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee or others, we can also make a list of the different relationships with these other families. Just apart from maybe a little Buffalo, my knowledge for these others families is very poor.

Related to this subject, something very curious is there is a 1948 plane manifest that shows Paul and Tony Mirabile, Momo Adamo, and Marco Impastato all visited Italy together at the same time. All of them were from Alcamo and the latter three were made members. Anyone know what was going on in Alcamo at the time?

Back on track, I see Antiliar had Vincenzo Rimi listed taking over as Alcamo boss in 1949. If that's around the time he took over, seems this LA/San Diego group may have been visiting in relation to Rimi's ascension to boss or the events that immediately preceded it.

Make sense, except for Paul Mirabile who wasn't a made guy, but on the contrary of Galante for Chicago, maybe it was to go sightseeing and see his family. Or simply accompanied his brother and his San Diego's pals. Good observation B.

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Back to LA / Detroit, regarding Biaggio "Bill" Bonventre that I mention in the first post, one of the only things I have ever managed to find about him is this Detroit Free Press article dated November 2, 1939.



Other than that I only know that he was in the decina of San Diego and that he was born in 1893 in San Vito Lo Capo (province of Trapani) and died in 1967. I guess he moved to California early 40's.

[Adam]

I don't think I would call the San Diego Matrangas a crew since none of them were made (at least until the early 1970s). I think it was more guilt by association than anything.

Yeah but by 1987 Joe Matranga was identified by the FBI as one of the six Detroit mob captains.

[Adam]

So the San Diego Matranga crew was actually a Detroit crew, and not a LA family crew?

I was listening to the Winter of Frank Machine audiobook a few weeks back, where the main character says, I paraphrase, "first NY used to run us, then Chicago, now Detroit". Not sure what kind of research Don Winslow did before writing the book but that seems to match what I've read here.

Pretty sure Winslow got most of his Detroit info from the old Detroit site Jiggy ran. Thats why Winslow has a character that is obviously a reference to Anthony Starr/Jeffrey Rockman getting murdered even though that was not a mob hit. But Jiggy had it listed in his murder timeline. Stuff like that.

[B.]

Fab--

Here is the thread we had a while back about Bonventre: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=6656

You contributed but just including it for reference. His mother was from Alcamo, like the other San Diego guys.

[Antiliar]

I don't think I would call the San Diego Matrangas a crew since none of them were made (at least until the early 1970s). I think it was more guilt by association than anything.

Yeah but by 1987 Joe Matranga was identified by the FBI as one of the six Detroit mob captains.

Like I wrote, "at least until the early 1970s." I haven't researched later info on the SD Matrangas, so I don't know how reliable that info is. Where did the FBI get this info? Who is the source? How reliable is the source? I'm not saying none of the Matrangas were ever made, just that they weren't made according to the info I have for the period in question. I can't rule out that Joe Matranga was made later. Claims that he was made earlier I believe are guilt by association and not fact.

[B.]

A lot of the Matranga confusion comes from the FBN, who grouped people based on association and assigned status/affiliation accordingly.

Something similar happened with Willie Moretti's relatives in CA.

[Antiliar]

A lot of the Matranga confusion comes from the FBN, who grouped people based on association and assigned status/affiliation accordingly.

Something similar happened with Willie Moretti's relatives in CA.

What happened with Willie's relatives?