Birmingham Mafia Figures + Connections

[B.]

I was joking in another thread about it, but it is worth cataloging here as there might actually be something to it.

Joseph Marcello contacts Birmingham

- In 1966, around the time of the La Stella meeting, New Orleans figure Joseph Marcello is believed to have placed at least two phone calls to Birmingham, Alabama.

- One of the people he contacted was a man named Bernard Lorino, who earlier worked for the Pepsi manufacturing plant and at the time of the phone call was a truck driver. He had previous employment at grocery stores and for an insurance company. He had no criminal history.

- Unsurprisingly, Lorino's heritage is from Bisacquino, Sicily, which supplied much of Birmingham's Italian population and probably some of its early mafia membership given Bisacquino's strong mafia ties, though we have little on that.

- Lorino was not a known criminal and is too young to have been directly connected to the Birmingham family himself, being born in 1933 just a short time before Bill Bonanno alleges they disbanded. If he had ties to New Orleans mafia figures the Marcellos, it could point to him having older relatives who had been involved. His father's name was Paul Lorino.

Joe N Gallo Connection?

- Bernard Lorino's wife Virginia's surname was "Casha", originally Cascio. They were likely from Bisacquino too and the "Cascio" brings to mind Vito Cascio Ferro from Bisacquino, though the Cascio in his name seems to be multiple generations removed as it wasn't his mother's surname, but a name his father used in addition to the Ferro name.

- Here's where things might get interesting. In 1938, Virginia Casha's sister Frances married a Joe Gallo in Alabama, born in 1911. This Joe Gallo's father is listed as Antonio and mother is Maria. He was born in Alabama, moved with his parents to New York City and was living in Brooklyn at the time of the marriage. He returned to Alabama to marry what was most likely a paesano from Bisacquino. The couple appears to have immediately returned to Brooklyn, where they were living in 1940.

- This Joe Gallo claimed to have been born in Brighton, Alabama, which is a small town directly next to Bessemer, where Joe N Gallo was born in January 1912. Along with citing 1911 as his birth year, this Joe Gallo appears to give a different month/day, though the writing is difficult to read.

- Does anyone know if Joe N Gallo's wife's name was Frances? And can they confirm his father's name was Antonio/Anthony, or was it Michele/Michael as some research has shown? I have found conflicting info on Joe N. Gallo's father's name.

- If this was a different Joe Gallo from Joe N Gallo, it's interesting they were born right next to each other in Alabama, moved to NYC, and both look to have Bisacquino heritage. Could be relatives if it's two different people. If nothing else, given Joe N. Gallo's ties to paesani from Bisacquino in Baltimore and NYC, it's hard to believe he wouldn't know paesani with his surname who came from Alabama and went to NYC at the same time as his own family.

La Stella Connection

- What makes the connection more interesting is that Joe N. Gallo attended the La Stella meeting, which was the cause for the investigation that uncovered Joe Marcello's alleged phone calls to Birmingham before or around the time of the meeting.

- Given Joe Marcello allegedly called the home of Bernard Lorino of Alabama, whose brother-in-law was a Joe Gallo born in Alabama who moved to NYC and had Bisacquino heritage, it seems too coincidental that Joe Marcello would meet with Joe N. Gallo in NYC after making this phone call. It would seem even less coincidental if the brother-in-law was in fact Joe N. Gallo.

- If it's not a coincidence and Joe Marcello called someone connected to Joe N. Gallo in Alabama in 1966, where there was no longer a mafia family, what would the purpose be? Was this an elaborate, roundabout way to contact Joe N. Gallo and plan the NYC meeting? Earlier in this thread someone said Joe N. Gallo was the Gambino family's point of contact with New Orleans, so that might make sense if true.

- Maybe it all truly is a coincidence and Joe Marcello had some other reason for contacting these people in Alabama. For all we know New Orleans and/or the Marcellos had ties to Alabama after the local family became defunct. Just seems unlikely it would connect to one of the people Marcello would end up meeting in NYC following the phone call.

[cavita]

B.
This is incredible...this is the type of stuff I love reading- the connections, information, etc. I can't say enough how much I appreciate and enjoy your hard work. If true, I think this would be groundbreaking info. Many thanks for posting up what you find!

[stubbs]

Great stuff B! That was me who mentioned that about Gallo and New Orleans,
this thread contains my source. I’m not sure how accurate the source article is in that thread, but it mentions Gallo representing interests of both New Orleans and Tampa.

[The Greek]

B.
This is incredible...this is the type of stuff I love reading- the connections, information, etc. I can't say enough how much I appreciate and enjoy your hard work. If true, I think this would be groundbreaking info. Many thanks for posting up what you find!

Agreed!

[B.]

Thank you for the kinds words. Always nice to know people are enjoying the info, especially with so many of us still basically locked down.

Stubbs -- thank you for sharing the reference. Given Gallo's presence at the La Stella meeting, Marcello's possible phone call to Gallo relatives in Alabama, and Gallo's own southern roots, plus his early role as the liaison to Baltimore, it isn't difficult to believe Gallo may have been the contact between the Gambinos and NO + Tampa, maybe other families as well.

Joe N. Gallo's son Joseph C. Gallo went to college in Texas for a short time in the mid-1960s. The school was outside of Dallas, so another connection between the Gallos and the southern states. No reason to suspect anything more than that, though it wouldn't be surprising if a high-ranking Gambino member reached out to the Dallas family (who had recently inducted new members and were trying to stay "active") as a local point of contact for his son, who himself would later become part of the Gambino family. The Maceos of Galveston who were part of the Dallas family (associates if not members) were from Palermo and had ties to Baltimore like Gallo, so that's a potential connection. There is info about the Dallas family previously reporting to Albert Anastasia until his murder, at which point they were with the Genovese family, so there may be deeper Gambino ties to Texas.

I should add that the mother-in-law of the man Joseph Marcello allegedly called in Alabama was born in New Orleans. Joe N. Gallo's family would have come to the US via New Orleans though no clue if they stayed there for any period of time.

[Angelo Santino]

Yeah, buddy, amazing work. Salut.

[cavita]

Special thank you to Antiliar and Chris Christie for leads several years ago that greatly helped with this research. This was put together a while back and I was waiting to find more information but I think it's best just to throw it out there now.

Introduction

- Until the Last Testament of Bill Bonanno was published in 2011, few if any researchers were aware of a mafia family in Birmingham, Alabama. Though his last book was not perfect and his track record as an author has some questionable statements, Bill Bonanno spoke to his father at length about US mafia history and was able to provide us with some interesting new details about the US mafia.

- Bill describes a Birmingham mafia family comprised entirely of elderly men by the mid-1930s. He says the family asked the Commission for permission to disband when the youngest living member turned eighty-years-old; he adds that the only "prospect" for membership was seventy-four. He states that the remaining Birmingham members were assigned to Tom Gagliano in the Bronx, though it's unclear if he's suggesting they became remote members of Gagliano's family or if he was simply a point of contact for them. Regardless, Bill says that by 1938 all of the members had died.

- This was the entirety of Bill's statement and leaves more questions than answers. However, some connections have been made and we have at least a small glimpse of several individuals who can be connected to an early Alabama mafia presence, in particular a couple of mafia figures from Ribera, Agrigento, the hometown of many DeCavlacante members as well as several early Chicago mafiosi. We are forced to speculate about the mafia involvement of these men to some degree in order to discuss them, though it is informed speculation.

- Early newspaper reports refer to "Black Hand" and in some cases even "mafia" activity from Sicilians in Birmingham and surrounding labor / farming colonies. Because we have no member sources who could tell us definitively who is a member and who isn't, we have to look at the context and connections certain individuals have in order to determine their candidacy. There are strong indications that the individuals mentioned below were "mafiosi" -- if nothing else a product of the international mafia subculture.

- As for activities, newspapers reported that Alabama's Italian and Sicilian colonies had counterfeiting, gambling, and organized labor, all of which would have been ripe for mafia control or manipulation. A few murders were suspected of having "Black Hand" and "mafia" ties. We have no way of knowing the degree the Birmingham mafia was involved in illegal activities, though most mafia groups were similar in their approach to legitimate and illegitimate activities within their colonies, so we can presume Birmingham was not an exception though they may have run into the same troubles as the Dallas family in that they couldn't gain the traction to dominate rackets on a large scale. Their early disbandment in US mafia history suggests their activity was limited. In terms of legitimate activity, we know that the Riberesi in the Birmingham area were farmers and most Sicilian immigrants in Alabama were hard laborers.

Pasquale Amari



- Prior to emigrating to the US, Pasquale Amari (b.1865) served approximately ten years in prison between 1893 and 1903 for stabbing a man to death at a card game in Ribera. The victim allegedly owed Amari money, indicating Amari was involved in gambling and/or "moneylending" in Sicily, and the murder appeared to be premeditated. Amari was described as having a shortened index finger; the cause of the injury is unknown but he was said to have had it prior to serving his prison sentence.

- Amari shares his surname with fellow Riberesi and early DeCavalcante boss Filippo Amari and future underboss/acting boss Gioacchino Amari, who both maintained ties to Ribera after coming to the US. I can't determine a direct relation between Pasquale and the younger Amaris, though their shared surname, tight-knit Riberesi roots, and mafia connections lend themselves to possible connections. There is another, older Gioacchino Amari alleged to have been involved in the mafia in Ribera also. The Amari name has been listed by historians as one of the first surnames established in the village of Ribera.

- Pasquale Amari's wife, ten years his junior, was Giuseppa Schittone, whose mother was a Giacobbe. Schittone was likely a cousin of Amari, as Amari's mother shared the name Giuseppa Schittone. While an exact relation to the Schittone-Giacobbes can't be determined, the Giacobbe name connects to other Riberesi mafiosi in the US and Sicily. Some examples:

* Chicago mafioso Philip Bacino listed Carmelo Giacobbe of NYC as an "uncle" on immigration records upon his arrival to the US. Side note, but Bacino's older brother Luciano Bacino was a member of the Ribera mafia family identified by Italian investigators.
* Carmelo Giacobbe's younger brother Lorenzo has been identified by LCNBios as an early DeCavalcante member and he was the father of DeCavalcante member Joseph Giacobbe Sr. and grandfather of member Joseph Jr. Carmelo's relationship to Phil Bacino and the mafia membership of his brother, nephew, and great-nephew could indicate Carmelo Giacobbe was a mafioso himself.
* Lorenzo Giacobbe also served as a naturalization witness for the father of Bonanno member Antonio Adamo, from Santa Margherita di Belice, Agrigento.
* The above NYC Giacobbes lived in Connecticut for a time in the 1910s, where the DeCavalcantes would later have strong ties, before returning to NYC.
* Information supplied by Felice referenced Giacobbes who were part of the Ribera mafia family and maintained ties with relatives in the DeCavalcantes.


(Phil Amari and Phil Bacino in Ribera for the opening of the San Giuseppe orphanage)

- In 1913, the 47-year-old Pasquale Amari entered the United States where he listed his arrival contact as Domenico Mule, the son of his sister, living in NYC. Future Chicago boss Pasquale Lolordo from Ribera was living in Manhattan at this time and was married to the daughter of a Domenico Mule (b.1860) who also lived in NYC at the time. It's unlikely Pasquale Amari's nephew Domenico Mule would be older than he was, as Lolordo's father-in-law Domenico Mule was five years Amari's senior, though it can't be ruled out and the commonality of their names could also suggest another connection. If nothing else, we can see that Riberesi mafia figures in both Birmingham and Chicago were connected to men with the name Domenico Mule in NYC.

- Following his arrival in NYC, Amari soon traveled to Alabama where his sister and brother-in-law Giuseppe Caterinicchia were already living as farmers outside of Birmingham. Amari's family would arrive approximately one year after he settled in Alabama and Pasquale would continue to make a living as a farmer, the business of his brother-in-law.

Giuseppe Caterinicchia



- Amari's brother-in-law Giuseppe Cateriniccha (b. 1861) was also from Ribera and came to the US via New Orleans in the late 1890s. Caterinicchia would settle in Alabama area where he established a farm in remote Russellville but maintained a PO Box in Birmingham.

- A 1923 secret service record shows mail communication between Giuseppe Caterinicchia and Boston mafia boss Gaspare Messina, who would later become interrim capo dei capi after Joe Masseria. Messina sent Caterinicchia $77.50, which today would be worth over $1162. Given that Caterinicchia was not from the same hometown as Messina and we have no other reason to connect them, his receiving mail and a not-insignificant amount of money from a mafia boss elsewhere in the US is an indication that Caterinicchia was a mafioso with stature in the Birmingham group.
(Thank you to Chris Christie for this SS record)

- Though Caterinicchia's communication with Gaspare Messina involved a PO Box in the city of Birmingham, available records show that he lived in the rural farming community of Russellville, Alabama. Three of Giuseppe's Caterinicchia's children were born in Russellville, where the future wife of NJ DeCavalcante member Joseph Cocchiaro, Nellie Spinelli, also of Riberese heritage, was born.

- The Spinellis have been listed as relatives of the Caterinicchias and Amaris during their time in Alabama, which is unsurprising given their Riberesi heritage and proximity in a small rural area. The Spinellis, led by father Pasquale Spinelli, later moved to Elizabeth, NJ, where several Riberesi families, including the Merlos and Riggis, had settled around the turn of the 20th century. Like the Riberesi in Alabama, the Merlos ran a farm in New Jersey. Pasquale Spinelli has never been identified as a mafia member, though his close connection to Riberesi mafia figures in Alabama and his daughter's marriage to a mafioso in Elizabeth could make him a candidate for both the early Birmingham and DeCavalcante families.

- Early records for leading NJ DeCavalcante member Salvatore Caterinicchio show that he and his immediate relatives in Manhattan/NJ used the alternate spelling Caterinicchia. To this day, there are both Caterinicchias and Caterinicchios of Riberesi heritage in the Elizabeth area. There were also Caterinicchias from Ribera in Chicago.

Marital Ties

- One of Pasquale Amari's daughters married a Renda, while another married a Sacco. Rendas from Ribera ended up in New Jersey and connect to the DeCavalcante family as well, though I can't determine where the Alabama Rendas were from. Saccos in New Jersey were connected to the DeCavalcantes because of their pork store in Elizabeth, but the NJ Saccos are Calabrian while the Alabama Saccos were Sicilian, so the name is simply a coincidence.

- Another Amari daughter married a Vincenzo Mangiaracina, though they used the modified last name Mangina in all future records. One Amari son married a DeFranco , while another married a non-Italian.

- Pasquale Amari's son-in-law Jake Sacco was a witness at both the Mangiaracina/Amari and Amari/DeFranco marriages and records suggest a connection between the Amaris, Saccos, and Mangiaracinas going back to Sicily. Jake Sacco's mother was an Amari and according to immigration records, Sacco's uncle was Giuseppe Mangiaracina (b.1874), who later used the last name Mangina/Mangino like Amari's son-in-law Vincenzo and was himself married to yet another Amari. Jake Sacco's brother Vincenzo was married to a Mangiaracina/Mangina. This group was very insular and tight-knit.

- The Caterinicchias were also married into the Mangiaracinas. Francesca Caterinicchia, daughter of Giuseppe, married a Baldassare Mangiaracina in Russellville.

- I haven't confirmed the exact hometown, but the Saccos and Mangiaracinas may have come from Castelvetrano or nearby on the southwest Sicilian coast. The Mangiaracinas of the Kansas City mafia family were from Castelvetrano and their grandson/nephew Joe Gurera would hide out in Birmingham for a period of time later on, suggesting he may have had existing ties to the area. However, the Mangiaracinas' ties to the Amari name in Sicily could point to them being Riberesi or from a nearby village as well, though I haven't come across that surname among the usual Riberesi names.

- Within a couple of generations the descendants of the Amari-Caterinicchia clan intermarried with many non-Italians and don't appear to have maintained ties to Riberesi in other parts of the US though it is difficult to know for sure.

Membership Considerations

- Caterinicchia and Amari's sons, sons-in-law, and other younger men associated with this clan were likely not mafia members, as the Birmingham mafia was said by Bill Bonanno to have had only elderly members by the 1930s and chose to disband as a result. However, Bill's info is not completely correct if Caterinicchia and Amari were in fact members, as Bonanno said the youngest member was in his 80s in the 1930s and all died by 1938. Both Amari and Caterinicchia were younger than that and lived past 1938, with Amari dying in 1944 and Caterinicchia making it until 1958.

- If Bill Bonanno was mistaken on this small detail it wouldn't be surprising, as there is little chance that he or even his father would have a perfect memory of a family that was disbanded in the mid-1930s. While Birmingham may have had surviving members past 1938, we can be confident in his account that the family was no longer around.

- The fathers and older relatives of Caterinicchia and Amari's sons-in-law could very well have been mafiosi given the amount of intermarriage between children of Sicilian mafia members in the early US and Sicily. Given Giuseppe "Joe Mangina" Mangiaracina's relation to two of Pasquale Amari's sons-in-law and close relationship with the Amari-Caterinicchia clan, he could be considered a candidate for membership.

Other Potential Members and Connections

- Domenico Giambrone's destination was Birmingham after arriving in New Orleans in 1903 from Palazzo Adriano, Sicily. Giambrone would go on to be an early mafia leader in St. Louis.

- Cigar shop owner Joe Rametta/Ramatta spent time in Birmingham and was in contact with Morello member Salvatore Clemente in connection with the latter's counterfeiting ring. The nature of econtact with mafia figures suggests he was a mafioso himself. A Joe Rametta ended up in Chicago, where Clemente also spent time, but I don't know if it is the same one or someone else as I'm having difficulty finding records for the Birmingham figure. Joe Rametta's wife was from Santo Stefano Quisquina and had relatives in Tampa, where Rametta himself had lived and where boss Ignazio Italiano was from Santo Stefano Quisquina.

- In 1904 a Sicilian named Francesco Cirrincioni (Cirincione?) killed a Salvatore Pompinella, described as the "head" and "leader" of the New Palermo Italian colony near Mobile, Alabama. Pompinella allegedly owed Cirrincioni a debt that he wouldn't or couldn't pay.

- Andrea Pilato was brutally knifed to death in Birmingham in 1907, a murder believed to have been carried out by the "Black Hand". Investigators noted that it was not a robbery. Pilato appears to have been from Burgio, Agrigento, a town with close ties to Ribera. Pilato was dressed well and believed to be a figure of some wealth who had only recently arrived to the US two or three weeks previous. The murder was believed by investigators to have been a "vendetta" with origins in Italy. Three murders had taken place over the previous two years in the same Italian colony under "mysterious circumstances."

- Investigators from New Orleans and the East Coast were sent to Birmingham in 1908 to investigate whether or not a "Black Hand society" existed there. The local Italian colony vehemently denied this and the investigators apparently couldn't find proof of the "Black Hand".

- A local Italian newspaper editor named SR Gurino attempted to bring a large group of Italian laborers into Birmingham this same year and was met with anonymous threats from local non-Italians, including a letter insinuating that the same thing could happen to him that happened to the executed mafiosi in New Orleans. A short time later he was charged with grand larceny in Mississippi. A year later he, along with sixty other Italians, started the "Italian National Club."

- In 1908, Salvatore "Sam" Scannella/Scannello was arrested for "highway robbery" and during his arrest a companion named Luigi Tomasino was killed by police. Figures in the local Italian community stated that Tomasino was a member of the mafia and Scannella was a young man under the mafioso's influence. Tomasino came from Sutera, Caltinissetta, where many Birmingham immigrants came from. Scannella was from Casteltermini, Agrigento. One article refers to the young Scannella himself as a "mafia member."

- Merchant Salvatore Salerno of Pratt City, Birmingham, was killed in 1904, with a man named Francesco Gardino and Salerno's own nephews working together as the prime suspects. Gardino came from Bisacquino, Sicily, having fled to the US after killing thirteen law enforcement officers in Bisacquino along with his brother Andrea, who committed suicide after being detained.

- Future Gambino consigliere Joe N. Gallo was born in Bessemer, Alabama. His father was from Bisacquino, like the above mentioned Gardino. After moving to NYC, Joe N. Gallo had a close relationship with the Rumores, also of Bisacquino heritage. Other Sicilians in Bessemer, Alabama where Joe N. Gallo's family lived were from Bisacquino, including a group of Rumores. The Bisacquino Rumores of NYC would be in the same crew as Gallo. The Gallos appear to have been connected to a couple different branches of the Rumores in both Alabama and NYC which is interesting. As the info about Gardino and the Gallos/Rumores would suggest, Alabama was a landing spot for many Sicilian laborers from Bisacquino.

- He doesn't say it in connection with the Birmingham family, only Sicilian immigration in general, but in Bill Bonanno's book he points out that Birmingham had a high concentration of immigrants from Palermo who worked as laborers. This makes sense and would explain the "New Palermo" name of the Italian colony. Given how many mafia connections there were in Palermo, it is probable that this population of Palermitani provided some of the membership in early Birmingham.

Conclusion?

Not easy to make one, only that we can be sure there was a Birmingham mafia family and it likely included some of the above names among others we will never know. I question Bill Bonanno's highly-specific statement that the youngest member turned eighty in the mid-1930s and they all died by 1938, but we have Bill Bonanno to thank for shedding some light on the existence of this family and clearly they were long gone by the time the FBI began investigating US mafia families.

Along with the Riberesi figures, researching names in newspaper records indicates that some Sicilian criminals in Alabama came from other Agrigento towns. Given the tight-knit Agrigento network that was in place throughout early US mafia, it is not surprising that there would have been a core of Agrigentini mafiosi in Birmingham. Nicola Gentile, who traveled extensively along the Agrigento network in both the US and Sicily, never mentions a Birmingham group. He doesn't mention the Riberesi in New Jersey, either, even though he traveled to Canada with a friend from Ribera. However the information he provided doesn't reflect the extent of his knowledge, only the larger beats of his life in the mafia.

Joe Bonanno didn't mention Birmingham in his book either, but again there is no way he could have included every piece of mafia gossip he ever heard in a single autobiography. He must have told his son Bill about Birmingham which is how it ended up in his Last Testament. At the end of the day, who cares about a small family that broke up in the mid-1930s when all of the other families were hitting their stride? I guess I do. I'm always interested in these footnotes and anomalies in mafia history.

B-

I had a moment of clarity when I was going over my notes and realized something. Frank Zito, the LCN boss of Springfield, Illinois was born February 24, 1893 in San Giuseppe Iato, Sicily. At the time of his immigration to the U.S. on October 14, 1910 he gave his destination to be with his brother Salvatore Zito, already residing in Kellerman, Alabama. At the time in 1910 Salvatore was 22 years old and both men stayed in the Kellerman area until about 1919 when they moved to Springfield. Now, the brothers had left another brother behind in San Giuseppe Iato and that was Filippo Zito and he was already a respected mafioso there. I think it's pretty interesting that Kellerman is only about 45 miles from Birmingham and we have two Zito brothers in that area at a time when Birmingham was forming. Thoughts?

[Antiliar]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but Nick Gentile had two address books that were confiscated on or around the time of his 1937 arrest. One was a green address book, and entry number 47 was "Joe Catarinicchia, R.F.D. Box 298, Birmingham, Ala." His is the only name from Alabama. If I were to make a guess based on the limited evidence we have, I would guess that Giuseppe Caterinicchia was the top man.

(Unrelated, but there are a few names in Newark - possible members of the Newark Family?)

For anyone interested, the address books are transcribed to the new issue of Informer Journal.

[HairyKnuckles]

- Does anyone know if Joe N Gallo's wife's name was Frances? And can they confirm his father's name was Antonio/Anthony, or was it Michele/Michael as some research has shown? I have found conflicting info on Joe N. Gallo's father's name.

B, Joe Gallo´s wife´s name was Gladys. And according to his FBI file, his father´s name was Michael, his mother´s name was Frances (maiden name Giardina).

[B.]

- Does anyone know if Joe N Gallo's wife's name was Frances? And can they confirm his father's name was Antonio/Anthony, or was it Michele/Michael as some research has shown? I have found conflicting info on Joe N. Gallo's father's name.

B, Joe Gallo´s wife´s name was Gladys. And according to his FBI file, his father´s name was Michael, his mother´s name was Frances (maiden name Giardina).

Thanks HK. There is more to the story with Gallo/Birmingham but there is some confusion as well.

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but Nick Gentile had two address books that were confiscated on or around the time of his 1937 arrest. One was a green address book, and entry number 47 was "Joe Catarinicchia, R.F.D. Box 298, Birmingham, Ala." His is the only name from Alabama. If I were to make a guess based on the limited evidence we have, I would guess that Giuseppe Caterinicchia was the top man.

(Unrelated, but there are a few names in Newark - possible members of the Newark Family?)

For anyone interested, the address books are transcribed to the new issue of Informer Journal.

Excellent find. So both Nick Gentile and Gaspare Messina had Joe Caterinicchia as their point of contact in Birmingham. Pretty good indication he was "the man" there.

As I know you've come across, you don't see bosses insulated from communication as much back then. The boss seems to have been known as the point of contact in the area and therefore letters were written direct to him and members (with proper recommendations) would contact him directly upon arrival to receive assistance settling in the area or membership in the local family. When Vito Bruno went to SF for example, he contacted Frank Lanza directly and was helped out by Lanza himself despite Bruno being a relative nobody -- not what we'd expect nowadays, but there are other examples that show this was the norm back then.

If Caterinicchia was the point of contact for both the Boston rappresentante and Nick Gentile (an on-and-off rappresentante/admin member), it's a decent indication he was the rappresentante.

B-
I had a moment of clarity when I was going over my notes and realized something. Frank Zito, the LCN boss of Springfield, Illinois was born February 24, 1893 in San Giuseppe Iato, Sicily. At the time of his immigration to the U.S. on October 14, 1910 he gave his destination to be with his brother Salvatore Zito, already residing in Kellerman, Alabama. At the time in 1910 Salvatore was 22 years old and both men stayed in the Kellerman area until about 1919 when they moved to Springfield. Now, the brothers had left another brother behind in San Giuseppe Iato and that was Filippo Zito and he was already a respected mafioso there. I think it's pretty interesting that Kellerman is only about 45 miles from Birmingham and we have two Zito brothers in that area at a time when Birmingham was forming. Thoughts?

Nice job and a great addition to the thread. I have little doubt the Zitos used the mafia network during their travels. If they came from an existing San Giuseppe Iato mafia family, like you see, they would have made contact with the local family as a matter of protocol. Birmingham was probably one of the first US families after New Orleans, so they would have existed when the Zitos came to Alabama.

We also know from the Riberesi in Birmingham that local mafia figures lived remotely as far away as Russellville (with Caterinicchia having at least a PO Box in Birmingham), so Kellerman isn't a stretch with that in mind. Do you know if there was a colony from San Giuseppe Iato there?

We can only speculate, but I'm confident Birmingham produced few if any recruits through purely local means. These were colonies of Sicilians spread around the outskirts (and further) of Birmingham who relied on existing relationships to move there. The mafiosi in Birmingham were part of a network and the city didn't have the environment needed to recruit local hoodlums into the mafia like we saw in other cities. There was was no centralized "Little Italy" or "South Philly" type neighborhoods so you had different compaesani groups spread out into colonies. The non-Italians were extremely hostile and appear to have deliberately kept the Italians decentralized until Italians became fully Americanized. Those colonies would have been the perfect environment for early immigrant mafiosi, but not an ideal environment for a more Americanized family to grow.

We're more likely to learn about the Birmingham family by looking at relationships to mafiosi from other cities than we would learn by looking at local "organized crime" history (which the Birmingham family seems to have had little of). The news articles about vague mafia activity give us good leads and sure enough the men mentioned correspond to the Sicilian colonies, but it's through connections to figures in Tampa, Elizabeth, Gambino/NYC, and Springfield that we may better understand how Birmingham fit into mafia politics.

[Grouchy Sinatra]

Today I learned that Joe N. Gallo was born in the same town as Bo Jackson.

Small world.

Never knew Birmingham actually had a family. I've read about made guys being there before but not an actual family. I'm assuming they let themselves die out because there just weren't Italians there to recruit. Interesting that they were under Gagliano. Alabama was once Luke turf.

Great read as usual, B.

[cavita]

- Does anyone know if Joe N Gallo's wife's name was Frances? And can they confirm his father's name was Antonio/Anthony, or was it Michele/Michael as some research has shown? I have found conflicting info on Joe N. Gallo's father's name.

B, Joe Gallo´s wife´s name was Gladys. And according to his FBI file, his father´s name was Michael, his mother´s name was Frances (maiden name Giardina).

Thanks HK. There is more to the story with Gallo/Birmingham but there is some confusion as well.

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but Nick Gentile had two address books that were confiscated on or around the time of his 1937 arrest. One was a green address book, and entry number 47 was "Joe Catarinicchia, R.F.D. Box 298, Birmingham, Ala." His is the only name from Alabama. If I were to make a guess based on the limited evidence we have, I would guess that Giuseppe Caterinicchia was the top man.

(Unrelated, but there are a few names in Newark - possible members of the Newark Family?)

For anyone interested, the address books are transcribed to the new issue of Informer Journal.

Excellent find. So both Nick Gentile and Gaspare Messina had Joe Caterinicchia as their point of contact in Birmingham. Pretty good indication he was "the man" there.

As I know you've come across, you don't see bosses insulated from communication as much back then. The boss seems to have been known as the point of contact in the area and therefore letters were written direct to him and members (with proper recommendations) would contact him directly upon arrival to receive assistance settling in the area or membership in the local family. When Vito Bruno went to SF for example, he contacted Frank Lanza directly and was helped out by Lanza himself despite Bruno being a relative nobody -- not what we'd expect nowadays, but there are other examples that show this was the norm back then.

If Caterinicchia was the point of contact for both the Boston rappresentante and Nick Gentile (an on-and-off rappresentante/admin member), it's a decent indication he was the rappresentante.

B-
I had a moment of clarity when I was going over my notes and realized something. Frank Zito, the LCN boss of Springfield, Illinois was born February 24, 1893 in San Giuseppe Iato, Sicily. At the time of his immigration to the U.S. on October 14, 1910 he gave his destination to be with his brother Salvatore Zito, already residing in Kellerman, Alabama. At the time in 1910 Salvatore was 22 years old and both men stayed in the Kellerman area until about 1919 when they moved to Springfield. Now, the brothers had left another brother behind in San Giuseppe Iato and that was Filippo Zito and he was already a respected mafioso there. I think it's pretty interesting that Kellerman is only about 45 miles from Birmingham and we have two Zito brothers in that area at a time when Birmingham was forming. Thoughts?

Nice job and a great addition to the thread. I have little doubt the Zitos used the mafia network during their travels. If they came from an existing San Giuseppe Iato mafia family, like you see, they would have made contact with the local family as a matter of protocol. Birmingham was probably one of the first US families after New Orleans, so they would have existed when the Zitos came to Alabama.

We also know from the Riberesi in Birmingham that local mafia figures lived remotely as far away as Russellville (with Caterinicchia having at least a PO Box in Birmingham), so Kellerman isn't a stretch with that in mind. Do you know if there was a colony from San Giuseppe Iato there?

We can only speculate, but I'm confident Birmingham produced few if any recruits through purely local means. These were colonies of Sicilians spread around the outskirts (and further) of Birmingham who relied on existing relationships to move there. The mafiosi in Birmingham were part of a network and the city didn't have the environment needed to recruit local hoodlums into the mafia like we saw in other cities. There was was no centralized "Little Italy" or "South Philly" type neighborhoods so you had different compaesani groups spread out into colonies. The non-Italians were extremely hostile and appear to have deliberately kept the Italians decentralized until Italians became fully Americanized. Those colonies would have been the perfect environment for early immigrant mafiosi, but not an ideal environment for a more Americanized family to grow.

We're more likely to learn about the Birmingham family by looking at relationships to mafiosi from other cities than we would learn by looking at local "organized crime" history (which the Birmingham family seems to have had little of). The news articles about vague mafia activity give us good leads and sure enough the men mentioned correspond to the Sicilian colonies, but it's through connections to figures in Tampa, Elizabeth, Gambino/NYC, and Springfield that we may better understand how Birmingham fit into mafia politics.

B,

I have no idea if there was already a colony of SGI people in Kellerman but it wouldn't surprise me as I have no idea why the two Zito brothers went there first and in addition, why they ultimately settled on Springfield, Illinois. I was reading some FBI files and happened across the Zito/Kellerman connection and it hit me.

[B.]

Kellerman was a big mining spot, so we can be confident that attracted Sicilians to the area given it's what brought them to Birmingham and countless other cities. The Riberesi in Russellville were farmers, but I'd expect many Alabama mafia figures to have been involved in the mines, as other mafiosi were in other parts of the country with mining communities.

[Ed]

Another Mafia figure connected to Alabama was Charles Crapisi. His father, Giacomo Crapisi, came over from Sicily in the early 1900s and settled in Russellville. Giacomo's wife and kids(including Charles) all crossed the Atlantic. They eventually made their way to Kansas City, Missouri.

Charles Crapisi was a significant player in a heroin ring active throughout the Midwest during the 1930s. Charles' son Joseph supplied the FBI with info about the Clique during the Valachi era.

The Crapisi family came from Castelvetrano, Sicily, and was close to native sons Joseph Cusumano and Joseph Filardo.

Joseph Crapisi survived a shotgun blast in 1960. His brother survived an attempt the following year. I wrote about the incident and what he told investigators over at Rat Trap.

[B.]

Another Mafia figure connected to Alabama was Charles Crapisi. His father, Giacomo Crapisi, came over from Sicily in the early 1900s and settled in Russellville. Giacomo's wife and kids(including Charles) all crossed the Atlantic. They eventually made their way to Kansas City, Missouri.

Charles Crapisi was a significant player in a heroin ring active throughout the Midwest during the 1930s. Charles' son Joseph supplied the FBI with info about the Clique during the Valachi era.

The Crapisi family came from Castelvetrano, Sicily, and was close to native sons Joseph Cusumano and Joseph Filardo.

Joseph Crapisi survived a shotgun blast in 1960. His brother survived an attempt the following year. I wrote about the incident and what he told investigators over at Rat Trap.

Great information.

The Castelvetrano connection makes sense as the Riberesi mafiosi in Russellville (a very remote community) intermarried with the Mangiaracinas from Castelvetrano who lived in Russellville.

As you well know, the Kansas City Family had its own Mangiaracinas from Castelvetrano so there could well be a connection here. In particular, I suspect Giuseppe Mangiaracina (b. 1874) was a Russellville-based mafioso alongside his marital relatives Caterinicchia and Amari from Ribera so it would tighten the web if he was related to the Kansas City members with his surname.