1907 Article Mafia Appears Present in Rockford

[cavita]

April 28, 1907 article in the Rockford Morning Star on how there were Mafia and Blackhand activities in Rockford. While real organized Italian crime didn't really appear until the mid 1920s there were Blackhand activities that included bombings, threatening letters and beatings.

[B.]

Good info.

"Black Hand" was carried out by organized Cosa Nostra groups back then but depended on who did it. A few thought on that...

- Paraphrasing CC, calling someone a Black Hand organization is similar to saying someone is part of a counterfeiting, bootlegging, gambling, or bid rigging "organization"... we know that's not the org itself, just the activity the org is involved in. As he's said, if the color pink was illegal we'd hear about early mafia groups being "pinklegging" orgs.

- "Black Hand" extortion was done by organized mafia Families, mainland groups, or even independents like any illegal activity. Sometimes mafiosi themselves were the victims of BH extortion, which might compare today to when a low-level guy robs a mafia member's house or card game. There's reason to believe the mafiosi themselves staged Black Hand extortion against themselves to game authorities, maybe similar to insurance arson, etc.

- If the participants can be linked to the mafia later or they came from a hometown that produced members in that area, there's a decent chance it was connected to organized mafia activity.

[cavita]

Good info.

"Black Hand" was carried out by organized Cosa Nostra groups back then but depended on who did it. A few thought on that...

- Paraphrasing CC, calling someone a Black Hand organization is similar to saying someone is part of a counterfeiting, bootlegging, gambling, or bid rigging "organization"... we know that's not the org itself, just the activity the org is involved in. As he's said, if the color pink was illegal we'd hear about early mafia groups being "pinklegging" orgs.

- "Black Hand" extortion was done by organized mafia Families, mainland groups, or even independents like any illegal activity. Sometimes mafiosi themselves were the victims of BH extortion, which might compare today to when a low-level guy robs a mafia member's house or card game. There's reason to believe the mafiosi themselves staged Black Hand extortion against themselves to game authorities, maybe similar to insurance arson, etc.

- If the participants can be linked to the mafia later or they came from a hometown that produced members in that area, there's a decent chance it was connected to organized mafia activity.

@B

I've only recently tried to research Blackhand activities or any Italian crimes in Rockford pre-1926 or before the time Tony Musso came to Rockford and became the acknowledged head of the LCN. I haven't found one clear leader of the Italians in Rockford before that time and as of right now they all seemed to be loose knit criminals or Italians pretending to be Blackhanders using that veil to make money. I did find a Vito Turiciano from Castellamare del Golfo who in 1922 was sentenced to 1-20 years for Blackhand activities. I do seem to remember there is a Vito Turiciano in CDG who still is involved today in Mafia activities there. As of yet I'm still trying to research early Rockford LCN activity but it remains difficult.

[PolackTony]

Good info on Turiciano. From what I’ve seen, we don’t seem to have other examples of potential mafiosi in the general Chicago region from CDG apart from the Domingos. I imagine that there was a couple of them we haven’t documented. There of course were immigrants from CDG in Chicago itself, though my impression is that they weren’t numerous.

Any names associated with the above noted Blackhand attempt? I’d imagine that the mafia was already implanted in Rockford by about 1900, though the available documents will likely only appear to be loose networks of criminals engaged in specific crimes or enterprises like extortion. When were the first settlers from Aragona in Rockford?

[cavita]

The above referenced incident in 1922 had Turiciano and his cousin Sam DiLorenzo extorting $2,000 from Tony Tangorra. Tangorra's grocery store was bombed three times from November 1931-March 1932 and those responsible were never caught. As for Aragona immigrants they started arriving in Rockford around 1902 or so.