That's where their Buffalo connection comes from for sure. DiCarlo was from Vallelunga and many of the members were from villages around there
- Salvatore Falcone married a Provenzano from New Orleans and they married in Colorado. Falcone never lived in CO and he was a big time part of the Sciacchitani / Agrigento network so maybe she was connected to the Provenzanos you're talking about. There were early Provenzanos in the New Orleans Family but I don't know anything about them -- Antiliar probably knows more.PolackTony wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:18 pm Agreed on Williamson County. Seems that there was almost certainly a mafia presence there, but the question remains whether they ever formed their own family or were just a hinterland decina of one of the established families in the region. Even for a remote outpost, Chicago is a long haul. Springfield is of course a possibility, but I think that Cavita's info about Joe Provenzano et al being involved with Pasquale Miceli in STL is an important signal.
Regarding Merlo, one has to also ask what brought him to Chicago and what network he rose within. There were plenty of Agrigentesi there, of course, but then on top of that if these guys from downstate were also relocating there, perhaps this drove an Agrigentesi bloc rising to power in Chicago. A remaining question I have, given that the two Joe Provenzanos initially went to Kankakee, was if there was an early Agrigentese network there affiliated with Chicago Heights.
Who was the other Chicago Bacino you're referring to?
- St. Louis had an Agrigento group too which Miceli probably joined. The 1928 Cleveland rep Calogero SanFilippo was from there and so was Miceli's underboss / successor Tony LoPiparo. There was a faction during the early wars led by guys from Agrigento too. Pasquale Santino was their leader.
- Tommaso Bacino is the distant cousin from Burgio I mentioned -- he was much older (b. 1882) and arrived to a cousin named Cardinale in NYC. Giuseppe Cardinale was the name of a guy killed by Pellegrino Scaglia's faction (Scaglia is from Burgio) in Colorado. There were apparently Cardinales in Gary connected to Chicago mafia activity.
- The FBI has a Joe Bacino on their Dead List and describes him as Phil Bacino's cousin born in 1893. The only other Bacino they list except for him and Phil is Phil's wife (they commonly include spouses). He came from Burgio and headed to Chicago. No idea why they'd include him and note the relation to Phil Bacino unless he was involved in mafia circles
With Tommaso and Giuseppe Bacino being born in 1882 and 1893, they may have been too old to get properly documented when investigation ramped up. Joe Bacino might have headed to Canada at one point too and the Lolordos had relatives in Montreal with the name Lolordo, plus Nick Gentile went to Quebec around WWI with the Lolordos' cousin.
My impression is all of the guys from coastal Agrigento and the nearby inland villages saw themselves more like one Family spread out across the US, Canada, and Sicily. The Sciacchitani faction in the Gambino Family being autonomous and having their own "sostituto" to mediate their affairs is probably a micro version of the way these guys operated everywhere they went. Probably why the DeCavalcantes were given their own Family apart from Newark and NYC even though the members lived there.
EDIT: Oh yeah, when Pasquale Miceli was St. Louis boss the Family there was said to be under Chicago's influence. When he died Detroit replaced Chicago as the main influence on St. Louis. Coincides with Giordano, etc. gaining power.