Membership of the Bonanno Crime Family decina in Montreal

[motorfab]

As we have talked about a lot recently here viewtopic.php?f=29&t=1630&start=1185 or here viewtopic.php?f=29&t=1630&start=1350 I thought that doing a thread on the membership of made men in Montreal seemed a good idea. This will also allow the conversation not to get lost in the "Montreal Mafia status" and also to complete this thread viewtopic.php?f=47&t=3592

So with all the information to recover in books (Mafia Inc, Sixth Family, those of Pierre de Champlain, Daniel Renaud, Jean-Pierre Charbonneau, and others) + certain reports like those of the CECO, or various journalistic sources which are from anyway informed by the RCMP or thugs (and also some personal interpretations), I come at this list

Bonanno Montreal Decina 1953-1978

Capo:
-1953-1961 Carmine Galante (deported in 1956)
Acting:
-1957-1958 Salvatore Gigilio (deported)
-1958-1961 Vito DiFlippo (stepped down)

-1961-1985 Vic Cotroni
Acting:
-1970-1972 Luigi Greco (1953-1972)
-1972-1978 Paolo Violi (196?-1978)

Soldiers:

-Romeo Bucci (196?-1997)
-Joseph Vincent Asaro (1950-1964) (NY member on the run)
-Nicola Colio (195?-19??)
-Giuseppe Cotroni (1953-1979)
-Frank Cotroni (195?-2004)
-Frank Dasti (196?-198?)
-Nicola Di Iorio (196?-1997)
-Joseph DiMaulo (197?-2012)
-Calogero Renda (195?-197?)
-Nicolo Rizzuto (196?-2010)
-Gerlando Sciascia (197?-1999)

Possible members :

-Domenico Arcuri (197?-2012)
-Giacinto Arcuri (197?-2000)
-Peter Adamo (195?-19??)
-Giuseppe Cocolicchio (195?-197?)
-Angelo Lanzo (196?-1974)
-Diodato Mastraccio (195?-198?)
-Jimmy Orlando (195?-1992)
-Giuseppe Saputo (B.'s choice, but I tend to agreed whith him about him)
-Vincenzo Soccio (195?-19??)


Bonanno Montreal Decina 1979-2004

Capo :
-1979-1984 Vic Cotroni
Acting :
-1979-1984 : ???

-1984-1999 Gerlando Sciascia
Liaison between Montreal & New York
-198?-1992 Giuseppe LoPresti(198?-1992)
-1992-1999 Valentino Morielli (198?-2014)

Soldiers :

-Romeo Bucci (196?-1997)
-Frank Cotroni (195?-2004)
-Frank Dasti (196?-198?)
-Nicola Di Iorio (196?-1997)
-Joseph DiMaulo (197?-2012)
-Alfonso Gagliano (199?-2020) (according to Frank Lino)
-Giuseppe Renda (19??-2012)
-Paolo Renda (198?-2010)
-Nicolo Rizzuto (196?-2010)
-Vito Rizzuto (198?-2013)

Possible members :

-Francesco Arcadi (199?-still alive)
-Domenico Arcuri (197?-2012)
-Giacinto Arcuri (197?-2000)
-Vincenzo DiMaulo (198?-still alive)
-Moreno Gallo (198?-2013)
-Paolo Gervasi (199?-2004)
-Anthony Mucci (198? or 199?-still alive)
-Emanuele Ragusa (198?-2018)
-Rocco Sollecito (199?-2016)
-Vincenzo Spagnolo (199?-2016)
-Domenico Tozzi (198?-2019)
-Carmine Vannelli (198? or 199?-still alive)
-Antonio Volpato (198?-still alive)

Several Notes :

-Pietro Adamo & Jimmy Orlando are mentionned in this report https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... ic_cotroni The list given is large and probably only a few were members, but Adamo & Orlando were also close of the Cotroni brothers, which makes me think they could have been made men. This obviously only binds me, it's just my opinion

-Angelo Lanzo is proposed because he was the right-arm man of Nicola Di Iorio. However, according to an informant who testified during the CECO, Frank Dasti who was a confirmed member according to several sources, seemed to work for Di Iorio as well as Bucci who was also a confirmed member. As we know, Montreal had its own hierarchy and on the only official Montreal Mafia chart (to my knowledge), Dasti is listed as being under Di Iorio. It therefore seems logical to me that Lanzo is a made man


-Tozzi & Vince Di Maulo in additon to be old timers were also widely involved in money laundering and drug trafficking (see the passage on Operation Compote in Mafia Inc), so for me membership radar is beeping


Other names proposed by antimafia :
-Frank Cotroni Jr
-Agostino Cuntrera
-Antonio Pietrantonio
And another Romeo Bucci (total enigma for me)

According to the Violi Tapes, the Montreal Mafia also consisted of 20 zips. Obviously it will be very complicated to list but we can nevertheless cite these

-Pasquale, Liborio, Paolo & Gaspare Cuntrera during the 60s before they left for Venezuela
-Leonardo Caruana, deported in 72
-Giovanni Caruana, died in 2006
-Pietro Sciarra, killed in 76
-Agostino Cuntrera (which I consider a zip, I doubt he was made with the Bonannos), killed in 2010
-Domenico Manno

Plus all those I forget ...

[chin_gigante]

Almost all the information I have on the transition from Cotroni to Sciascia as capodecina comes from the New York side (so I'm curious if any Canadian sources contradict this) but I was under the impression that Sciascia had taken over the position by 1981.

In the files thekiduknow posted here (viewtopic.php?f=44&t=7390&p=186240&hili ... 81#p186240), Sciascia is identified as a recently promoted captain in 1981.

From Massino's testimony we also know that Sciascia voted in the March 1981 election where Salvatore Ferrugia was installed as acting boss. Then he was present at the façade captains' meeting used to kill Giaccone, Indelicato, and Trinchera in May 1981. Then, right after the murder of the three captains, he was put on the panel with Massino to help Ferrugia run the family.

[motorfab]

Almost all the information I have on the transition from Cotroni to Sciascia as capodecina comes from the New York side (so I'm curious if any Canadian sources contradict this) but I was under the impression that Sciascia had taken over the position by 1981.

In the files thekiduknow posted here (viewtopic.php?f=44&t=7390&p=186240&hili ... 81#p186240), Sciascia is identified as a recently promoted captain in 1981.

From Massino's testimony we also know that Sciascia voted in the March 1981 election where Salvatore Ferrugia was installed as acting boss. Then he was present at the façade captains' meeting used to kill Giaccone, Indelicato, and Trinchera in May 1981. Then, right after the murder of the three captains, he was put on the panel with Massino to help Ferrugia run the family.

Thank you, I had missed this post from our friend thekiduknow, I will consult the doc in the weekend.

I humbly admit that the period 79-84 is a gray area for me. The main things I know is that Vic & Frank were cleaning up those who had quickly turned their backs on Calabria, culminating in the murder of Miche Pozza in 1982. I aslo didnt know Sciascia participate to the election of Sally Fruits, but make sense he was in charge in 1981 since he was present during the 3 capos murder. Thank you

[OcSleeper]

I would throw Tony Callocchia, Gaetano Gosselin ,Guiseppe De Vito in as possible members, at least for the 1979-2004 bracket. Or was there a reason they were left off?

[Pogo The Clown]

Great post. Greco was the Capo/Acting Capo during the mid-1969s according to the DeCavalcante Tapes.


Pogo

[motorfab]

I would throw Tony Callocchia, Gaetano Gosselin ,Guiseppe De Vito in as possible members, at least for the 1979-2004 bracket. Or was there a reason they were left off?

I doubt it for Callochia & De Vito, at least not during the Bonanno era. Maybe when the Rizzutos became an autonomous group after Massino flipped.

Gaëtan Gosselin, like Roger Valiquette or Reynald Desjardins, was a Quebecer so no chance he was made. But like the other two I quote definitely a major player in Montréal's underworld.

Great post. Greco was the Capo/Acting Capo during the mid-1969s according to the DeCavalcante Tapes.


Pogo

Thanks, and thanks for the clarification, I wasn't sure of the date

[aleksandrored]

Amazing post, I always found it confusing about Bonanno and Montreal, are they an individual family or are they part of the Bonannos?

[motorfab]

Amazing post, I always found it confusing about Bonanno and Montreal, are they an individual family or are they part of the Bonannos?

Montreal was under the Bonanno flag from the early 1950s until a certain point: either 99 with the murder of capodecina Gerlando Sciascia or around 2004 when Massino flipped (I'm more inclined to that). Or afterwards, we don't all agree on this, we all have our own opinion on the subject.

What is certain that Montreal with or without the Bonannos has always had a certain autonomy and was/is a gateway between Italy and America. Among other reasons it is for that + the fact that they were with the Bonannos that Montreal interests me so much.

[aleksandrored]

Amazing post, I always found it confusing about Bonanno and Montreal, are they an individual family or are they part of the Bonannos?

Montreal was under the Bonanno flag from the early 1950s until a certain point: either 99 with the murder of capodecina Gerlando Sciascia or around 2004 when Massino flipped (I'm more inclined to that). Or afterwards, we don't all agree on this, we all have our own opinion on the subject.

What is certain that Montreal with or without the Bonannos has always had a certain autonomy and was/is a gateway between Italy and America. Among other reasons it is for that + the fact that they were with the Bonannos that Montreal interests me so much.

I understood, thanks for the explanation.

[chin_gigante]

Domenico Arcuri has interested me for a while. I'm especially curious as Celidot and Noel explicitly identify him as a member of the decina whereas I don't think Renaud has ever described him as a man of honour

[B.]

Great list.

Something that stands out to me is an informant who visited Montreal in 1964 (Bill Bonanno) reported to the FBI that Montreal had around 20 members circa late 1964, then Violi claimed the crew was around the same size a decade later.

Either very few Montreal members died during that period or they were allowing Sicilian transfers while the books were closed to fill empty slots. Bonanno's 1964 estimate was after the Bonanno faction inducted Canadian members without approval, boosting the crew from ten to around twenty, and I don't think there is evidence of Montreal inductions between 1964-1976.

[Extortion]

I knew Galante setup the crew there but for some reason I never affiliated him with being "the boss of Montreal" but he was the first no doubt before Cotroni and Rizzutos

[motorfab]

Great list.

Something that stands out to me is an informant who visited Montreal in 1964 (Bill Bonanno) reported to the FBI that Montreal had around 20 members circa late 1964, then Violi claimed the crew was around the same size a decade later.

Either very few Montreal members died during that period or they were allowing Sicilian transfers while the books were closed to fill empty slots. Bonanno's 1964 estimate was after the Bonanno faction inducted Canadian members without approval, boosting the crew from ten to around twenty, and I don't think there is evidence of Montreal inductions between 1964-1976.

thank you,

IMO, I find it hard to believe that a guy like Joseph Di Maulo was not inducted between 1964-1976. In 1973 he was supposed to replace Frank Cotroni to accompany Violi to the election of Rastelli (finally it is Bucci who will represent the decina later). It seems that Di Maulo was born in 1942, so he would have been 31 years old. If he had been inducted in 1964, he would have been 22, which seems very, very young to me.

Especially if you take into account that I would be surprised if a non-member could attend and participate in the election of a boss.

But to go in your way, I had read that Violi had asked NY if he could induct new members, because half of the decina was aging or inactive (or in prison like Dasti & Frank Cotroni). NY told him no, if memory serves, it was mid-70s

[B.]

It wouldn't be too out of the ordinary for a rising associate to accompany a member to a meeting like that. DiMaulo would have to be a member to participate in the formal discussions but if he was an associate he could accompany a member and sit off to the side or go in another room when they talked member business. Cotroni/Violi may have wanted to familiarize DiMaulo with NYC Bonanno leaders and establish trust given they planned to induct DiMaulo and give him influence in Montreal.

A similar example... for years everyone believed Neil Migliore was a member by the 1950s because he was at Apalachin, but it looks like he may not have been made until the 1980s.

[thekiduknow]

Great breakdown Motorfab.

Is there anymore info on Asaro while he was on the run? Was he an active member in the Montreal decina, or just hiding out?