These stories don't really fit with larger projects I have in mind and the only audience I care about is on the board anyway. I also prefer sharing them with the board because they have been influenced by other people's research on here and I like that people can add/discuss if they like. I might create a blog to archive some of these more "article" style posts because it can be hard to find them through search.
As always, the only goal is to expand our understanding/knowledge of Cosa Nostra.
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An Illegitimate Bonanno
- FBI files from the 1960s show that future DeCavalcante captain Rudy Farone worked at a fish market owned by Carlo Silinonte, where the two men ran gambling operations. Also involved in these operations was Stephen Silinonte, older brother of Carlo. The FBI interviewed Stephen and learned that their father Giuseppe Silinonte had been very close to Joe Bonanno, though the FBI would come to learn this was an understatement. It turns out the Silinontes were far more than ordinary "run of the mill" mafia associates.
- Further investigation by the FBI revealed that Carlo and Stephen's father Giuseppe Silinonte (1885-1964) was from Castellammare Del Golfo and a biological first cousin of Joe Bonanno. Joe Silinonte was the illegitimate child of Joe Bonanno's father's brother and had been disowned but remained close to Joe Bonanno in New York City. Silinonte's father could be Giuseppe "Pepe" Bonanno, identified as a key Castesellammarese mafia figure in an 1896 Castellammare murder investigation as well as in Joe Bonanno's autobiography. Pepe Bonanno was murdered by the mafia in the late 1890s when Giuseppe Silinonte was in his teens.
- Having arrived in the US in 1903, Giuseppe Silinonte was arrested in New York for Grand Larceny in 1915 after purchasing a stolen horse, wagon, and harness. After being found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison, Silinonte was released on good behavior after ten months. The Silinontes lived in Brooklyn through 1920 but moved to Endicott in SW New York by 1925, where there was a faction of Castellammarese mafia members later identified as Pittston members. Joe Bonnano's future in-law Joe Genovese would be among the Castellammarese mafiosi in the Endicott/Pittston area prior to moving west where he worked for Joe Barbara's bottling company.
- Giuseppe Silinonte was arrested in 1930 after his "giant" illegal alcohol still caught fire in Endicott. He was living in the front of the plant and told police it had only been open five days. It's unclear what became of the charges though he does not appear to have served significant jail time, if any at all, beyond the initial arrest. His young son Russell would also be arrested for bootlegging in 1935.
- Giuseppe Silinonte visited Canada in the early 1930s and upon trying to re-enter the US in 1933 he experienced difficulty due to lack of identification confirming his immigration status in the United States. Silinonte was alowed back in the United States but he would undergo seven years of deportation hearings due to his previous larceny conviction and the accusation that he entered the US illegally.
- At a 1941 deportation hearing, Silinonte confirmed he was an orphan born in Castellammare and said the Silinonte surname was given to him by municipal authorities in Sicily. Silinonte is a variation of Selinunte, an ancient Greek city whose ruins are in Castelvetrano, so the name must have cultural significance in Trapani.
- Giuseppe claimed he didn't know his official surname was Silinonte until applying for his Italian passport before heading to the US. Up to that point he had used the name Giuseppe DiGirolamo his entire life, the name of his foster parents. In 1945 Silinonte was pardoned and had his earlier larceny conviction cleared from his record. Proof of his original legal entry into the US was also found which stopped the deportation proceedings.
- Though his relation to the Bonannos was not mentioned in the deportation hearings, the relation appears to have been known to him given his son knew him to be close to Joe Bonanno and the FBI was able to easily learn of the blood relation through their own investigation. The deportation proceedings made reference to two other surnames used by Giuseppe Silinonte in addition to DiGirolamo and multiple spellings of Silinonte.
- Interestingly, Giuseppe Silinonte's wife Angela Ciaravino (also from Castellammare) was originally listed on the same ship manifest as future Bonanno captain Giuseppe Grimaldi, then only an infant coming from Santa Ninfa, but Ciaravino's name is crossed out suggesting she didn't board at the time. She was also listed as single, suggesting she married Silinonte in America. It may be a coincidence that Joe Bonanno's cousin's future wife almost boarded the same ship an eventual Bonanno captain arrived on as a baby, but it shows the Trapanese Bonanno figures followed similar immigration paths if nothing else.
- Silinonte's wife may have more significance when considering his blood relation to Joe Bonanno, as her surname of Ciaravino was also the surname of Stefano Magaddino's mother. Joe Bonanno was a biological first cousin of both Silinonte and Magaddino, making the latter two men relatives as well. It's significant that despite his orphan upbringing it appears Silinonte married a woman connected to the Bonanno-Magaddino clan as was typical of clan members.
- There were also Ciaravinos from Castellammare active in the 1920s Illinois-Michigan mafia war, where these Ciaravinos and their relatives the Domingos fought local rivals in a bloody conflict. This included Sebastiano "Buster" Domingo of Castellammare War fame, who would become an early captain under Joe Bonanno and serve in Bonanno's wedding party before his 1933 murder. The Domingos were also related to murdered Bonanno captain Vito Bonventre, an extended relative of Joe Bonanno. Though lesser known than other Castellammarese mafia surnames, Silinonte's wife's surname of Ciaravino is evidently well-connected to the dominant clans.
- Giuseppe Silinonte's involvement with Castellammarese mafiosi was not limited to circumstantial and familial connections. Though no associates were arrested or named in Giuseppe and son Russell Silinonte's respective bootlegging charges in the 1930s, the Silinontes were no strangers to the SWNY mafia faction. This is evidenced by a widely-publicized double murder case that dominated the lives of the Silinontes in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Van Cise Murders
- In 1936, Giuseppe Silinonte and his son Anthony were charged with the 1932 double murder of the elderly Van Cise brothers on a remote farm outside of Elmira, NY. Allegedly a robbery gone wrong, 25-year-old Anthony Silinonte was initially arrested in 1934, released, then brought back in for questioning. Police interrupted Anthony Silinonte's wedding procession to bring him in for his second interrogation, tuxedo and all. Anthony was later re-arrested in 1936 and convicted in 1937, being sentenced to death.
(Anthony Silinonte)
- Also arrested with Silinonte for the Van Cise murders in 1936 were Endicott mafia figure Bartolo Guccia and the Elmira-based Antonino Mistretta. A non-Italian from New York City named Constantine "Gus Alexis" Alexopolis and another SWNY Italian named Onofrio "James Ross" Coraci were also charged in the plot. Alexis was Greek while Coraci was said to be from Sicily, the latter having lived in SWNY for many years before eventually moving to Rochester.
- Both Bartolo Guccia and Antonino Mistretta were from Castellammare del Golfo like the Silinontes and the Mistretta surname shows up twice later on in the Bonanno family, including another Antonino Mistretta from Castellammare who is active today. Guccia was a close associate of SWNY Pittston mafia leader Joe Barbara, another Castellammarese, and attended the 1957 Apalachin meeting at Barbara's estate. Under cross-examination, Guccia said he knew Mistretta "back in the old country" and that Mistretta was the only co-defendant he knew aside from the Silinontes. Bartolo's brother Antonio Guccia also testified that he knew Mistretta in Sicily and worked for him in an operation that sold illegal alcohol in SWNY.
- Bartolo Guccia's attorney stated that Guccia came to the US at age 17 in 1908, first living in Endicott then New York City and Philadelphia, ultimately returning to Endicott where he became a business partner in a speakeasy with Giuseppe Silinonte. It was also revealed that Guccia was arrested on a gun charge in Brooklyn in 1915. The attorney claimed Guccia and Silinonte had a falling out over their speakeasy business in 1928 and their friendship fell apart. Nonetheless, he admitted Guccia and the Silinontes had been living on different floors of the same house for several years leading up to the trial. It was also mentioned that Bartolo Guccia lived in Niagara Falls sometime between 1928 and 1932 where he ran a restaurant before returning to Endicott. Note that all of the areas Guccia was said to live (Endicott, NYC, Philadelphia, Niagara Falls) had influential Castellammarese mafia colonies.
(Bartolo Guccia)
- Anthony's father Giuseppe Silinonte was named as a participant in the double murder/robbery and charged alongside his son and associates, but Giuseppe became a fugitive when the other men were arrested in 1936. Anthony Silinonte allegedly confessed following his 1936 arrest, telling authorities that his father recruited him for the robbery and that Bartolo Guccia impulsively shot one of the Van Cise brothers when they attempted to fend off the robbery, ultimately killing the second Van Cise brother as well before escaping. He said the men had gone through the pockets of the dead men and taken money from the murder scene which was then split between the participants. Anthony also identified his father Giuseppe as having fired a gun during the murders. Anthony later recanted his confession but it contributed to his own conviction. A separate trial was held for the other men, not including the fugitive Giuseppe Silinonte.
(Scene of the Van Cise double murder)
- A prosecution witness during one of the trials, Joseph Spagnolio, ran a nightclub where he knew Silinonte, Guccia, and Mistretta to hang out. He said the three men were involved in alcohol trafficking and supplied the club but he told them not to hang around due to their reputations. He said the men nonetheless went to the club after the Van Cise murders and told him it was the non-Italian Gus Alexis from NYC who tipped them off that the elderly Van Cise brothers kept a large amount of cash in their farmhouse.
- Spagnolio also quoted Giuseppe Silinonte as saying the Van Cise brothers were killed when the two victims tried to physically attack his son Anthony during the robbery. The witness Spagnolio was serving a prison sentence in the 1920s where he assaulted two inmates with an iron bar and received an additional ten years; he tried to.petition Antonino Mistretta for help in getting him out of prison.
- Charges were dismissed against Alexis and the trial for the other three defendants resulted in a hung jury. Guccia, Mistretta, and Coraci were retried which resulted in acquittals for all three men. Following the trial, the still-incarcerated witness Joe Spagnolio was able to escape from a county jail during a jailbreak.
- The trial revealed that Antonino Mistretta (b. 1898) was a figure of some importance in the Endicott area. Mistretta was the only defendant that most of the co-defendants and witnesses all claimed to know, with the Guccias claiming to know him in Castellamamare and both worked under his bootlegging operations. It also became evident during the trial that the Van Cise murder/robbery was organized under Mistretta's direction or supervision. As mentioned, prosecution witness Joe Spagnolio sought out Mistretta to help him get out of jail in the 1920s and also testified that it was Mistretta he contacted about keeping underworld figures away from the night club. Mistretta also provided bond for a female witness who committed perjury. His name has never come up elsewhere but he has the markings of a significant mafia figure in Endicott. Antonino Mistretta died in SWNY in 1947 before the age of 50.
(Antonino Mistretta)
- Giuseppe Silinonte was a fugitive for four years and was finally detained hiding in Brooklyn in 1940. A hat found at the Van Cise murder scene was linked to Giuseppe Silinonte, the size of the hat and hairs found inside of it matching Silinonte, and he was put to trial in 1941. However, a decision was made soon thereafter to indefinitely suspend the elder Silinonte's first degree murder charge as authorities were confident he would be deported as a result of his ongoing deportation proceedings that ran simultaneous to the murder case.
- During the deportation hearings, US authorities learned that Italy would refuse to receive Giuseppe Silinonte so the US planned to keep him in a detention camp in the interrim. As mentioned these proceedings were dropped when they found documentation of Silinonte's legal entry to the US. It doesn't appear authorities pursued the Van Cise murder charge after it was suspended. The erroneous deportation proceedings were an unexpectedly lucky break for Silinonte despite causing him seven years of grief.
- Though Giuseppe's son Anthony Silinonte filed for appeal immediately following his 1937 conviction and was sentenced to die at Sing Sing later the same year, he was declared legally insane in late 1937 and transferred to Dannemora. The 1940 census shows he was still serving in Dannemora by that time. Like Sing Sing, Dannemora also carried out executions. He is recorded as dying in Dannemora in 1944 at age 33, perhaps indicating his execution was eventually carried out.
(Anthony Silinonte)
Return to New York City and Bonanno Affiliation
- The drawn out Van Cise murder trial and the death sentence of Anthony Silinonte likely contributed to the Silinonte family's decision to permanently return to New York City. They had also been the subject of widespread media attention in the SWNY area for years due to the Van Cise case. A record shows Giuseppe Silinonte living back in Brooklyn by 1942, near the Gowanus / Park Slope area. Silinonte had been staying in Brooklyn on the lam until 1940, but with Silinonte's murder trial being dropped the year previous this no doubt gave him greater freedom.
- Giuseppe Silinonte traveled abroad in 1951, presumably to Italy, though his destination can't be confirmed. Though Silinonte was involved with Castellammarese mafia figures in Endicott and was a first cousin of Joe Bonanno (with son Stephen noting their closeness), Silinonte has never been mentioned as a Bonanno member. That is not true for two of his sons, however.
- In addition to the involvement of Giuseppe's sons Carlo and Stephen Silinonte in gambling activities with a future DeCavalcante member, Stephen and another brother, Russell, were identified as Bonanno members in early 1960s FBI reports. Carried as Russell and Steven "Silononti", records confirm that Giuseppe Silinonte had a son named Russell (1917-1999) in addition to the elder Stephen (1908-1975). The younger brother Carlo Silinonte (1927-1997) has never been carried as a Bonanno member/associate to my knowledge despite his mafia association with brother Stephen. Russell Silinonte's underworld activities go back to Endicott, where he was arrested in 1935 on a bootlegging charge in his late teens. It can be assumed that Stephen was also active in illegal activity in Endicott given the documented criminal activity of his father and two younger brothers.
- Beyond the FBI reports identifying Russell and Stephen Silinonte as Bonanno members, nothing is known about their involvement in the Bonanno family. Though Stephen Silinonte agreed to an FBI interview, he did not reveal anything incriminating about himself or his relatives beyond a social connection to Joe Bonanno. The alleged Bonanno membership of two sons, his blood relation to Joe Bonanno, and his own mafia activities with the Castellammarese in Endicott make it likely Giuseppe Silinonte was also a Bonanno member after returning to NYC. His 1885 birth places him before the cusp of most known Bonanno members and his advanced age would have made him easy to overlook.
- The Bonanno affiliation of the Silinonte sons opens up a question related to their brother Anthony's death sentence and presumed execution in 1944. Joe Massino is alleged to have told new Bonanno members that a Bonanno member had been sentenced to death and executed at some point earlier in the organization's history but researchers have had difficulty confirming this story. It's worth considering that Massino's story is a reference to Anthony Silinonte. He was the brother of two alleged Bonanno members and his father was a first cousin of Joe Bonanno (and likely a member himself), plus Anthony was Castellammarese. This story could have easily evolved via verbal storytelling into a "Bonanno member" being executed, especially if it originated from within the Castellammarese element who would have seen Anthony as one of their own. Though the Silinontes were likely affiliated with the Pittston group during their time in Endicott, we can't rule Anthony Silinonte out as a made member there prior to his 1936 arrest especially given he participated in a 1932 double murder.
- Stephen Silinonte would live in East Farmingdale, Long Island, before his 1975 death while Carlo lived in Brooklyn and died in 1997. Russell Silinonte is buried in Brooklyn, suggesting he lived there as well prior to his own 1999 death. Though Stephen's death would predate most of the later Bonanno cooperators' knowledge, they should have been aware of Russell Silinonte given he was alive until 1999. Russell has not been mentioned by modern sources as a member or associate, though naturally our public view into the Bonanno family is not comprehensive nor do CWs know or recall every member who was alive during their time.
Final Thoughts
Whether or not Russell and Stephen Silinonte were made members as the 1960s FBI reports allege, the above information makes it obvious they were not randomly thrown on a list of Bonanno members. The Silinonte brothers were Joe Bonanno's first cousins once removed and their father was involved in murder, robbery, larceny, and bootlegging, recruiting their brother Anthony into violent crime in collaboration with other Castellammarese mafia figures in SWNY.
I'm not surprised most Bonanno CIs and witnesses make no mention of the obscure Silinontes but it's surprising Joe and Bill Bonanno make no mention of the Silinontes in any of their books, especially given Stephen Silinonte's admission of their close relationship. This is true for Joe Bonanno especially, as he made numerous references to his relatives from Castellammare and gushes over Pepe Bonanno, the likely biological father of Giuseppe Silinonte.
The Bonannos however go to great lengths to distance themselves from the "dishonorable" aspects of their life. Giuseppe Silinonte was the illegitimate child of Joe Bonanno's uncle, being abandoned at birth, and may have been an inconvenient figure in Bonanno's story. Silinonte obviously didn't fit into Joe Bonanno's narrative about the Bonanno clan's devotion to family, honor, and responsibility. Joe Bonanno similarly omits (or wasn't aware of) his uncle Pepe's involvement in goat theft and the murder of an innocent estate guard in 1896, talking up Pepe Bonanno as a "man of honor" and leader of the Bonanno clan. In addition, the Bonannos may have wanted to distance themselves from the Silinontes due to the media attention given to Anthony Silinonte's double murder conviction and death sentence.
A question I can't answer is how Giuseppe Silinonte managed to find his blood relatives and become involved with key Castellammarese mafia figures despite being abandoned immediately after birth. He testified at his deportation hearing that his biological parents gave him up three days after his birth and he feigned ignorance of them yet he seems to have followed the exact same path he would have followed had they raised him within the Bonanno clan as a legitimate son.
Silinonte was nearly twenty years older than his cousin Joe Bonanno, so his involvement with the mafia could well predate Bonanno's own, too. Giuseppe Silinonte was living in New York City when Joe's father Salvatore Bonanno lived there, opening up the possibility that he had contact with his biological father's brother during his formative years in New York. It's not a question of "if" but "how" Silinonte originally connected with the Bonanno mafia clan.
The most likely story is that the tightknit mafia community in Castellammare del Golfo was well-aware of Giuseppe Silinonte's true origins and maintained ties to him even if the true nature of their blood relationship was avoided. This type of arrangement isn't uncommon outside of the mafia either, it just happens that this occurred in a very specific environment and subculture. Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo didn't know who Giuseppe Silinonte was when they wrote the Godfather III, where the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone becomes involved in the mafia under his uncle Michael, but the story of Giuseppe Silinonte proves that illegitimacy and adoption isn't necessarily a barrier when it comes to real mafia blood clans.
Giuseppe Silinonte also represents one of countless "unknown unknowns" in mafia history who would otherwise never come up for discussion. The pieces were available to connect Silinonte to the mafia and Joe Bonanno, but it all began with one small lead that on its own seemed inconsequential. It turns out this lead opened up a whole other side of the Bonanno clan that we otherwise wouldn't have known about.
