PolackTony wrote: ↑Tue Nov 09, 2021 8:06 am
Marcello/Marshall Caifano I have as born in Brooklyn, NY to Domenico Caifano from Potenza, Basilicata and Antonia LaViola of Pisticci, Matera, Basilicata.
Just wanted to add a few details. Per his 1914 naturalization papers, Domenico Caifano (original spelling was Caivano) was born in Potenza in 1887. When he first entered NYC in 1906, he listed his most recent residence as Pisticci, Matera province, where his wife Antonia LaViola was from. Domenico then returned to Pisticci and subsequently re-entered NYC in 1909 with Antonia. The passenger manifest states that both Dominic and Antonia were born in Pisticci, but this is almost certainly incorrect as several other documents state that Domenico was born in Potenza (further, the Caivono surname is much more common in Potenza province than in Matera, where it is quite rare). Per his birth certificate, Leonard "Leonardo" Caifano was born in NYC in 1909 (specifically in Brooklyn, per later records in Chicago). Marcello Caifano's wikipedia entry claims that he was born in Sicily in 1911, which is obviously untrue, as he wasn't even Sicilian. I haven't been able to locate Marcello's birth record in NYC (presumably due to some weird spelling error), but several documents (including his WW2 draft card and SSDI) concur that he was born 1911/07/19 in NYC. As kids, Leonardo and Marcello went back to Italy, where younger brother Rocco Caifano was born in 1914 in Pisticci. In 1919, the three boys re-entered the US with their mother Antonia, bound for Chicago, where Domenico had moved. In 1920, the Caifanos lived in the Taylor St Patch, on Sholta (forgot what this street was renamed to) near Taylor. Leonard Caifano was of course killed in 1951/06/19 (death record states that he was born in 1910, contradicted by his birth record), at which time he was living at 2122 W Taylor (near Hamilton Ave, where the VA Hospital is today). Leaonard's wife was Teresa Sciaraffa, who was born in 1910 in Senerchia, Avellino (same comune that Vito Marzullo was from). Worth noting also that their son John Anthony Caifano married a Susan Nappi, while their other son Donald married Carmelita Pope, whose mother was also named Sciaraffa.
On his WW2 draft registration, Marshall Caifano was living on Leavitt at Polk (essentially around the corner from where Lenny lived) with his wife Lena and stated that he was self-employed, with a work address 4500 W Fillmore (near Kostner), in the West Garfield Park neighborhood of the Westside. Marshall Caifano was of course sentenced to 20 years in FL for selling stolen stock certificates and died in FL in 2003 after being released. John Kass, doing his usual Outfit-trolling schtick, attended Caifano's funeral in Chicago.
Domenico Caifano died in Cook County in 1955 while Antonia LaViola died in Cook County in 1983.
Given that Caifano seemed to have had some marital issues (e.g., the story that Giancana raped his wife in retaliation for Caifano having raped another made guy's wife), worth noting that he and his wife "Susan Darlene" separated in 1957. According to a 1959 Tribune article, Susan was represented by famed Outfit lawyer George Bieber in her divorce suit against Marshall. Caifano had married Lena Paul in 1934, not sure when they had divorced.