Chicago Outfit Places of Origin

[PolackTony]

If "Vietro" Barone was actually named Pietro Barone, a good bet could be the Pietro Barone born 1893 in Sicily. His parents Salvatore Barone and Marianna Scimeca were from Altavilla Milicia, and in 1910 the family lived on Milton in Little Sicily. This guy died in Chicago in 1921.

Catalanotto's "lieutenant" was called "Vietro Barone" in 2 Tribune articles, but then another article from a bit later claimed that "Vito Barone" was the "chieftain" of Little Sicily who had been marked for death after Catalanotto's hit. While 22 was not too young back then to be a mafioso, it may have been too young to be a guy described as a "chieftain" in the neighborhood and a notorious "Black Hander" with a fearsome reputation (allegedly second only to Catalanotto himself) and well known to the police. A later article stated that Michele and Giovanni Catalanotto (the latter murdered in 1916) were charged along with Vito Barone for the murder of Antonina LoCascio; Barone's charges were dropped.

In 1911, a Vito Barone (address on Hobbie St in Little Sicily) and a Vito Ingraffia were arrested for the attempted "Black Hand" shooting of Joseph Sutero. So I'd put Vito Barone as probably born no later than about 1890. Vito Ingraffia may be the Vito Ingraffia born 1880 in Ciminna (died in Chicago in 1940). In 1917, he was a grocer on the Near North Side.

EDIT: The Tribune reported that Vito Barone was living on Hobbie (W 500 block, at Milton) in 1911. I looked through the 1910 census records for that block. There was no Vito Barone living there, but there was a Giuseppe Barone and his wife Antonina. This was the Giuseppe Barone born ~1884 in Ciminna, who married Antonina Passantino LaSpisa, also from Ciminna, in Chicago in 1906. Looks like this guy died 1932 in Chicago.

So, it could be that "Vito Barone" was actually Giuseppe Barone (as Anti has already stated, doesn't seem to be any record for a Vito/Vittorio/Victor Barone/Baroni/Baron that matches this guy). Or at least he was very likely a relative, as Sicilian compaesani tended to cluster in the same blocks and buildings in Little Sicily. Hobbie and Milton is also where the apparent Ciminnese Vito Ingraffia was reported to have been living in 1911.

Looks like the Bakes-connected Barone was a red herring, though it's telling that the Sicilian Barones we're finding with mafia connections in Chicago were from Palermo province. Interesting Pietro Barone has the same DOB-DOD years as Giuseppe (1884-1932) but his wife was Maria "Mamie". Ciminna for Vito Barone would fit with the recently deceased boss DiSpenza and other important members. Pietro Barone (connected to the mob or not) being tied to the Bakes, who you said were from Termini, could indicate he was from that region as well.

The LaSpisa name stands out -- Gentile said Salvatore LaSpisa was a mafioso who killed D'Andrea and Merlo orderd LaSpisa's own murder in retaliation. Be interesting if Vito Barone (whether he is Giuseppe or a relation) was a marital relative of Salvatore LaSpisa.

Significant to me too that Pietro Catalanotto was from Villafranca, which is close to Merlo's hometown of Sambuca. That Sambuca/Villafranca/Burgio/Ribera element looks to have been powerful back in the mid-1910s well before Merlo became boss.

It's probably a red herring for the guy who seems to most likely have been Vito Barone, but the main indicator apart from the name is also that the Pietro Barone born 1884 was a Taylor st guy and doesn't show any connection to Little Sicily. In 1917, Pete Barone (same birthdate, 1884/08/26, was living with his wife Mamie at Morgan and Polk (I used to sit outside and eat lunch in front of where his place used to be when I was a student at UIC way back when) in the Taylor st Patch, so his connection to Frank Bakes was no surprise. In one of their kid's documents, Pete Barone is listed as born in Palermo and his wife Mamie Cavallaro as born in Brooklyn. One thing also to note is that their son Mariano Barone was born 1912 in Memphis, so not surprising that I don't see a record matching them for 1910.

The LaSpisa thing I also thought was interesting, though I haven't yet looked into any connection to Salvatore LaSpisa (lotta names to follow up on, lol). And I agree that the Agrigentese element does seem to have been quite important, and apparently closely linked to the Termini area element. Maybe it's there and I just haven't seen it yet, but it seems to me that the Agrigentese element was mainly active in the same places that were strongholds for the guys from Termini-Bagheria (the "triangle") -- i.e., Little Sicily and Chinatown. Whereas the Trapanese element formed a major part of the Taylor St group, along with some guys also from the "triangle". The more of these people who we can identify and confirm, the better we can trace out those patterns and fill in some of the blanks.

[PolackTony]

To follow up on LaSpisa. The guy who was D'Andrea's bodyguard, and who was slain the next month after D'Andrea in June 1921, was stated by the Tribune to be Joseph LaSpisa. At the time of his murder, the Tribune described LaSpisa as a "wealthy Italian contractor" and the President of the Societa di Mutuo Soccorso Ventimiglia, so LaSpisa was far more than just a mere bodyguard or lackey. LaSpisa first appeared in the papers in 1913, when him and his wife Ann were arrested for the murder of a Nicholas Cotoni, who was a boarder in their home on Morgan St in the Taylor St Patch. Another suspect in the killing was fellow boarder "Anthony Pogire". After LaSpisa's death, the Trib referred to Pogire as "Anthony Pogtuesa", which I believe should be Portuese (note also that there were some Portueses and Misuracas connected to Chicago who may have been Castellammaresi). LaSpisa and "Pogtuesa" were indicted and acquitted for the Contoni murder. The Contoni killed in 1913 is listed as Nick Contini on his death record (not sure where he was from, but neither Contini nor Contoni are Sicilian surnames). Giuseppe La Spisa was born in Ventimiglia di Sicilia in 1880 and married Antonina "Annie" Guarino in Chicago in 1906 (the farthest I got with her is that she arrived with her parents Vito Guarino and Maria Murillo in the 1890s to Chicago from somewhere in Palermo province). Giuseppe La Spisa's father was named Salvatore, which may account for Gentile stating that a Salvatore La Spisa was killed. Not sure if LaSpisa's father immigrated to Chicago, but his mother Maria Dina Sparaccio (born in Ventimiglia) died in Chicago in 1928.

[Antiliar]

There is a Vito Barone under the Catholic diocese cemetery records in Chicago. This Barone was born in 1872 and died in 1941. Didn't see other records that matched. Vito Barone had a brother named John. There is a passport application for a Giovanni Barone born on Dec 23, 1871, in Caccamo to Salvatore Barone. In 1921 he lived at 773 Forquer Street. In 1930 he lived at 727 North Street.

[B.]

Yeah, Gentile was confused about the names for sure. Hard to say if it was a total mistake or he confused him with another real guy involved with the mafia in Chicago.

Salvatore LaSpisas in Chicago who would have been old enough to be active in the mafia when Joe LaSpisa was:

1871-1947 (father Salvatore, mother Mary/Maria Porcello)
1897-1971 (father Giovanni, mother Giuseppa LaBarbera)

The 1871 one was definitely from Ventimiglia.

[PolackTony]

Yeah, Gentile was confused about the names for sure. Hard to say if it was a total mistake or he confused him with another real guy involved with the mafia in Chicago.

Salvatore LaSpisas in Chicago who would have been old enough to be active in the mafia when Joe LaSpisa was:

1871-1947 (father Salvatore, mother Mary/Maria Porcello)
1897-1971 (father Giovanni, mother Giuseppa LaBarbera)

The 1871 one was definitely from Ventimiglia.

Yes, there were a number of LaSpisas in Chicago from Ventimiglia. Given that Joe LaSpisa was president of the Ventimigliese Society, he clearly would've been a patrone for his compaesani and I'd imagine there were going to be relatives who were also involved in the mafia.

[PolackTony]

There is a Vito Barone under the Catholic diocese cemetery records in Chicago. This Barone was born in 1872 and died in 1941. Didn't see other records that matched. Vito Barone had a brother named John. There is a passport application for a Giovanni Barone born on Dec 23, 1871, in Caccamo to Salvatore Barone. In 1921 he lived at 773 Forquer Street. In 1930 he lived at 727 North Street.

Thanks for this. That address was Forquer (today Arthington) near Halsted in the Taylor St Patch. Another person I was going to bring up was the John Barone who was stated to have been a part of Pietro Montalbano and Joe Novello's group. The Taylor St area location makes me suspect that Giovanni Barone might be him. John Barone was a suspect with Novello in a 1915 attempted murder and was arrested along with Montalbano and Novello for the 1919 alleged extortion case brought by the Gagliardo brothers.

[PolackTony]

And I agree that the Agrigentese element does seem to have been quite important, and apparently closely linked to the Termini area element. Maybe it's there and I just haven't seen it yet, but it seems to me that the Agrigentese element was mainly active in the same places that were strongholds for the guys from Termini-Bagheria (the "triangle") -- i.e., Little Sicily and Chinatown. Whereas the Trapanese element formed a major part of the Taylor St group, along with some guys also from the "triangle". The more of these people who we can identify and confirm, the better we can trace out those patterns and fill in some of the blanks.

To underscore the presence of Agrientesi in Chinatown, in 1916 the Tribune had Mike Merlo living at 25th and Wentworth (a block up from Gus Alex's father's diner, and where Bruno Roti was a longstanding powerhouse as the head of the Simbario Society).

This was reported in a great article where D'Andrea was arrested after being caught with a gun in public. When caught, D'Andrea told the cop "I'm Tony D'Andrea" to which the cop (a black dude at that) told Tony D "I don't care who you are, you're going to jail".

[PolackTony]

Do you guys have Mike Merlo or his father's immigration manifest? Merlo's naturalization says he came to the US around 1890 and lived in New Orleans before Chicago but I can't find the manifest itself so I don't know if he came with his father Calogero or if Calogero Merlo arrived separate. A Calogero Merlo arrived to New Orleans in 1891 with a bunch of names from that same region of Agrigento but it doesn't list hometowns -- one of them was a Triolo and another was a Miceli like the STL boss who lived in Chicago during the 1920s and came from Burgio.

All that I have for Calogero Merlo is the same passenger manifest from NOLA in 1891. That document gives his birth as 1854. Per his birth and christening records from Sambuca, Calogero Merlo was born April 19th, 1850 to Michele Merlo and Rosa Ciaccio. Records in Chicago give his broth year variously as 1850 and 1860. Given that there were not a lot of Calogero Merlos of the right age apparently floating around the US at the time, I think it's safe to conclude that Calogero arrived in 1891 by himself.

On his 1921 passport application, Mike Merlo stated that he arrived in the US in 1890 and lived in Louisiana until 1900. In the 1900 census, Calogero Merlo was living with wife Maria and daughter Rosa in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, where Calogero was working as a plantation hand. In 1902, Calogero died in Chicago. At the time, his address was given near 18th and Clark, in the infamous "Levee" vice district of the near Southside, where Jim Colosimo ruled.

in 1905, Mike Merlo was naturalized and gave his address at 23rd and Wentworth, in the rapidly growing Chinatown Patch Italian community near the Levee district. One of the witnesses was a "Maik Amabili", presumably a Mike/Michele Amabile. Worth noting that Amabile is an overwhelmingly Campanian surname (most common in Salerno province); a potential match is a Michele Amabile from Sala Consilina, Salerno province. The other witness was given as "Joe Sullivano". While it might be tempting to conclude that this was just an Italian guy pronouncing "Sullivan", there was a guy named Giuseppe Sullivano who lived nearby on 20th St with his wife Maria and their kids, who was a saloon-keeper. Several of their children used the spelling "Sylvano" (probably from Silvano) later on, but some also use Lanzalotti, and in 1951 there is a local cemetery record for a "Maria Lanzalotti (Sylvano)". Based on their ages, Joe and Maria "Sullivano" match an 1891 Cook County marriage record for a Giuseppe Lanzalotti and Maria Palermo. In several documents for the Children, the mother appears as Maria Palermo and the Father as either Giuseppe Lanzalotti or Giuseppe Sullivano. While none of the records state an origin beyond "Italy" Lanzalotti is almost solely concentrated in Salerno province (similar names like Lancelotti are also mainlander names), while Silvano is also mainly Campanian/mainlander. The surname Palermo could be from anywhere. In 1908, Giuseppe Sullivano was named in the Tribune as one of the members of an Italian non-profit group, "Circolo Educativo".

Both of the witnesses go to show that from his earliest times in Chicago, Mike Merlo seems to have had strong ties to Napulitani (in this case, probably both Salernitani).

In 1906, Mike Merlo married maria Antonia Pecoraro, born about 1891 in Sicily (presumably Vicari) to Salvatore Pecoraro and Maria LoMonaco. Maria LaMonaco was from Vicari, which was the last residence for the family when they arrived in the US in 1900. In a document for a son Angelo Pecoraro who was born in Chicago in 1904 (died in infancy), however, Salvatore Pecoraro (same birth year, 1864) was listed as born in Termini (as was his wife Maria "LaMonica", though several other documents all agree on her being from Vicari). Salvatore died sometime between 1910 and 1920, but I can't find a record for his death (there were several unnamed Pecoraros buried in Chicago during this interval). The Pecoraros lived in Little Sicily.

[B.]

More than I've seen on Merlo's background, great job.

Another early Chicago connection... KC boss Nick Civella's father Antonino Civello arrived to Chicago in 1903 from Castelvetrano. Don't know how long he stayed but he had relatives there. Nick was part of a faction in KC of guys from Castelvetrano.

[PolackTony]

More than I've seen on Merlo's background, great job.

Another early Chicago connection... KC boss Nick Civella's father Antonino Civello arrived to Chicago in 1903 from Castelvetrano. Don't know how long he stayed but he had relatives there. Nick was part of a faction in KC of guys from Castelvetrano.

I note also that there were Civella/Civellos in Chicago from Poggioreale and Gibellina.

[PolackTony]

Rick has researched and written intensively on the D'Andreas (who the Tribune once poetically described as a "notorious family of feudists"), but I wanted to just post a few notes from my review of documents for the thread.

Antonio D'Andrea was born 1872 in Valledolmo to Giuseppe D'Andrea and Francesca Miceli of Valledolmo (registry records at the time were under the District of Termini, which Valledolmo belonged to). D'Andrea's parents married in 1850 in Valledolmo, and Antonio was the youngest of 10 children.

Antonio arrived in NYC in 1895, on a French ship that sailed from Le Havre, bound for Buffalo. The passenger manifest listed his occupation as "druggist", showing that D'Andrea was an educated man with a professional/middle-class background. Antonio filed his Declaration of Intent for citizenship in 1896 in Buffalo. In 1899, he was naturalized in Chicago. At the time, he lived on S Archer near 22nd St (where the Chinese supermarket stands today) and continued living at that address as late as 1911. Worth noting that this was about a block away from where Mike Merlo lived. While the Chinatown/Armour Square area would soon become dominated by Italian and Chinese immigrants, in 1900 D'Andrea's block was still German, Irish, Croatian, etc.

Salvatore Dugo witnessed D'Andrea's naturalization. This was most likely the Salvatore Dugo (D'Ugo) who was born in 1869 in Termini and died in 1939 in Chicago. In Palermo province, the Dugo/D'Ugo surname is overwhelmingly concentrated between Bagheria and Termini (i.e., the "triangle"). In 1899, Antonio also married Carolina "Lena" Wagner, a Bavarian, in Milwaukee (he must've gotten along well with his German neighbors on Archer before they all decamped when the Italians moved in). By 1917, Antonio had Lena had moved to Ashland and Arthington (formerly Forquer) in the Taylor St Patch (long since demolished for the UIC Medical Center complex), where Antonio was murdered in 1921.

Antonio's older brother Luigi was born in 1866 in Valledolmo and arrived in Buffalo about 1889, where he married fellow Valledolmese Antonina Vella in 1890. They had 7 kids, the oldest of whom was Phillip L "Filippo" D'Andrea, born in Buffalo around 1890 (I wasn't able to confirm his actual birth record. While records for him as a kid state ~1890-1892, his later records as an adult state 1889 or 1891. 1889 would seem to contradict his parents having married in 1890, but it's possible that they were common-law spouses prior to that. I have seen instances where a couple from Sicily is stated to be married at arrival but then later underwent a marriage ceremony in the US). In 1900, the family lived in Rochester, but by 1907 had moved to Chicago, where daughter Luisa was born. In 1910, the family lived at 2725 S Archer (several blocks down from where brother Antonio lived). Luigi D'andrea have his occupation in 1910 as macaroni manufacturer. In 1928 Luigi was named in an indictment as part of a bank robbery crew, but not charged. Luigi D'Andrea died in Chicago in 1931.

By 1914, Phil D'Andrea was out of the family home and living at 762 W 26th St (near Emerald, close to Palmisano Park). In 1917, he stated that his occupation was traveling salesman for the Diamond Match Co ("It would be a real shame if an accident were to happen to your current matches"). Around this time he had married Marie Lind, born in Chicago to Swedish parents. In 1920, they lived on W 33rd near Morgan (where the park behind Armour Elementary School is today); Phil was working as a bailiff for the City of Chicago. In 1930, they had moved much farther south and were living in a different apartment in the same building as Phil's parents, at 81st and Paxton in South Shore; Phil stated that he worked as a "weight measurer" for the City at this time. In a 1931 article discussing Phil D'andrea's gun charge at the time (D'Andrea was armed at court during Capone's tax evasion trial), the Tribune noted that D'Andrea was also involved in the cartage business and contracted with the City for the 1st Ward. Phil was sentenced to 6 months, and he and Marie divorced after this. Phil remarried Margaret Torbar, born in IL to parents from "Austria"(surname is Croatian, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Due to shared Catholic heritage, marriages between Italians and Croatians were common in the Bridgeport/Armour Square neighborhood), in Indiana in 1933, with whom he had two kids, Phil Jr and Louis. On his WW2 draft card, Phil was living in St Joseph, MI (where Phillip Jr was born in 1933 as well). St Joseph is in Berrien County, which was where Sebastiano "Buster" Domingo lived before relocating to NYC, where Lefty Campagan had his rural farm/compound, and where Tony Pinelli was pinched on a drunk driving charge in the '50s. Margaret died in 1946. Phil D'Andrea was convicted in 1943 for the Hollywood extortion case and died in 1952 in Riverside, CA; he was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in suburban Alsip, IL. As D'Andrea was already in poor health, he was not re-arrested in 1947 along with Ricca and the other co-defendants following the parole scandal for the original sentences.

Also worth noting that it seems that Antonio and Luigi had two brothers, Rosario and Filippo, who died in their 20s back in Sicily, which if true would be a high suspicion for the family being involved in the mafia back in Valledolmo.

Phil D'Andrea's childhood home at 2725 S Archer in Bridgeport:


The two-flat at 81st and Paxton in South Shore, where Phil and his parents Luigi and Antonina lived in 1930:

[Antiliar]

Outfit underboss Frank "Strongy" Ferraro was born Francesco Sartino in Manhattan, New York, on March 30, 1911, and died of cancer on October 24, 1964. Sartino is probably a typo since every other record - including his father's - has Sortino. One passport application has Giuseppe (Joseph) Sortino, as born in Villa Franca Sicula, Agrigento, Sicily, on August 19, 1872. Giuseppe Sortino arrived in the U.S. on the Spartan Prince on or about August 6, 1900 (there is a record of detention on the Spartan Prince on July 22, 1902, which appears to conflict with the record from the S.S. Liguria), and lived in New York and Chicago uninterruptedly from 1900 to 1907, and his occupation was a tailor. His address in 1907 was 67 Milton Street near "Death Corner."

According to her Petition for Naturalization, Angelina Barone, Strongy's mother, was born on July 30, 1880 in Vittoria, Ragusa, Sicily. She married Joseph Sortino, born April 19, 1870, in Vittoria on June 12, 1902. They arrived in the U.S. on July 9, 1902 on the S.S. Liguria (the passenger manifest confirms that their last residence was Vittoria). Frank was the sixth child born to the couple, and every child except for Helen, their last, was born in New York. Helen was born in Chicago.

Their second child, daughter Concetta (Jenny), married Joseph Ferraro and lived with them in Chicago as of the 1930 census. In 1920 they lived in the rear of 282 West 81st Street in what may have been a then-unincorporated part of Cook County, Ill. In 1930 they lived at 250 W 31st Street, Chicago. In Manhattan their addresses were 21 Batavia Street (1905), 33 Monroe Street (1910 and 1915).

Jenny's husband, Joseph Ferraro, was born in Santa Croce Camerina in Ragusa, Sicily in 1898. In 1940 they lived at 1103 Kostner Ave, Chicago, with their two children, Frank and Raymond. He died in August 1962, and had two sisters, Frances Grasso and Jennie Grieco of Los Angeles. It appears that Strongy "borrowed" his surname.

Giuseppe (Joseph) Sortino died on Feb 13, 1953, and his last address was 1840 Oak Park Avenue. According to his death record, he was born April 19, 1876, and his parents were Samuel Sortino and Angelina Barone (evidently confusing his wife for his mother). (A different Giuseppe Sortino, born Mar 19, 1885, in Villafranca Sicula, and died on Mar 4, 1963, is erroneously attached to his record at findagrave.) Angelina Barone Sortino died in November 1963. According to Joseph Sortino's obit. he had a brother named John in New York City.

[Antiliar]

Follow up on Salvatore Dugo. On Anthony D'Andrea's naturalization he lived at 16 Sheridan Place in Chicago. He is probably identical to the Dugo who married Maria Bordnonaro on April 25, 1897, in Chicago. Salvatore Dugo was 39 (born c1858) and Maria was 40.

On Jan 22, 1903, the body of Joseph Dugo was found in Jackson park. He was stabbed to death by a group of people nine days earlier (Jan 13). Police initially blamed the Mafia. Dugo lived at 112 Milton Ave and was "penniless." Further investigation revealed that Joseph Dugo received several threatening letters after he shielded his brother, Salvatore Dugo, who shot Mrs. Mary Lambordo [sic] of 157 Larrabee Street in the left eye in Nov 1902. Salvatore Dugo subsequently fled to Italy. In December 1901, Salvatore Dugo was walking home when he was attacked by a crowd of men and shot three times and stabbed. His attackers included Antonio Romanio and John Giovanni. Dugo refused to file a complaint against them. They were also shot during the fight. After Dugo finished his hospitalization he kept quiet until the Lambordo shooting. Her friends vowed they would kill Salvatore Dugo if they could catch him. It was speculated that Joseph Dugo was killed by the crowd thinking he was Salvatore. Joseph (Giuseppe) Dugo was born in 1865. A Giuseppe Dugo of 16 Sheridan Place was naturalized in 1898; the witness was Salvatore Dugo of the same address.

The Chicago Inter Ocean reported that Joseph Dugo left the home of relatives at 112 Milton before he was attacked. Dugo was carrying a mattress and trunk, suggesting he had lived there and was either moving or was kicked out. Tony Dugo, a cousin, was the last person to see Joseph alive. On Dec 18, 1909, Tony Dugo of Milton and Hobbie was shot to death. It was assumed to be a Black Hand killing.

On Mar 14, 1911, Antonio Dugo, a poolroom owner, and "Philipi Maniscalsco" were both shot to death in front of the poolroom at 500 Oak Street (another article has 516 Oak Street). Dugo owned the poolroom at Oak and Milton for several years, and had been friends with Maniscalsco for around as many years. The killer threw the shotgun as he fled. Mrs. Maniscalsco revealed that six months earlier he husband received a letter demanding $1,000.

According to vital records, the Antonino Dugo killed in 1909 was born in 1885 and married. The Antonio Dugo killed in 1911 was born Mar 7, 1872, in Altavilla Milicia. He arrived on Jan 19, 1895, according to his passport application (a passport manifest from Feb 22, 1896, shows a 23-year-old Antonino D'Ugo from Altavilla), and apparently lived in Brooklyn before moving to Chicago. The 1900 census indicates that he lived at 427 Mary (or Marcy) Ave in Brooklyn with his wife Constance and two sisters.

[PolackTony]

Great info. I had suspected that Strongy’s brother-in-law Joseph Ferraro was Sicilian, but interesting that both him and Angelina Barone we’re from Ragusa province. In general, I don’t see many Sicilians in Chicago from there.

The 282 W 81st St address should be at Princeton Ave in the Chatham neighborhood m. This area was annexed by Chicago in 1879, so it was in the city in 1920. Interesting to also note that Luigi and Phil D’Andrea lived on 81st St, though farther east in South Shore.

[PolackTony]

Follow up on Salvatore Dugo. On Anthony D'Andrea's naturalization he lived at 16 Sheridan Place in Chicago. He is probably identical to the Dugo who married Maria Bordnonaro on April 25, 1897, in Chicago. Salvatore Dugo was 39 (born c1858) and Maria was 40.

Fantastic info on the Dugos. There was of course a bunch of Dugo/D'Ugos in Chicago, and even when exact origins are undocumented they were almost all most likely from the area between Bagheria and Termini.

Sheridan Pl was the old name for a stretch of 20th St near Archer/Wentworth (in the immediate vicinity of where D'Andrea lived on Archer). In 1900, the census recorded a Salvatore Dugo (born ~1858) and his wife "Matea" living at 21st and Archer, around the corner from 20th St/Sheridan Pl. This should be the same Salvatore born in Termini who I noted in the above post on the D'Andreas. I had put that he was born in 1869 there as that's what his death record stated when he died in 1939 (wife listed on that record as "Matealda"). Findagrave has a picture of his tombstone, however, that gives 1857-1939, states that his wife was Mattea, and that family records had his birthdate as 1857 though his Cook County death record had it as 1869.

In the images for the records of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (24th St), Salvatore D'Ugo married Mattea Caruso, widow Bordonaro, on April 25th, 1897. Mattea gave her parents as Filippo Caruso and Rosalia Di Novo. Salvatore's parents were Santo D'Ugo and Antonina Arrigo. Both parties were born in Termini Imerese, and the wedding was witnessed by Calogero and Maria Fusco (Spalla). Mattea Caruso Dugo died in 1926. Her tombstone gives her date of birth as 1858. Salvatore and Mattea married late, around 40 years old. Mattea's prior husband was Benedetto Bordonaro, who died in Chicago in 1892. This was the same marriage as the one recorded in the US Marriages Index for Cook County stating that Salvatore Dugo married "Maria Bordonaro" on April 25th, 1897. The Dugos later moved to 22nd (Cermak Rd) and Wentworth (where Mike Merlo was living) and Salvatore was still living there as a widower when he died in 1939. The Calogero Fusco who witnessed Salvatore's marriage was also from Termini, and a daughter of him and Maria Spalla, Mary Fusco, married Cosimo D'Andrea in 1915. This guy, however, was from termini (father Pasquale D'Andrea and mothers Maria Caruso), suggesting that even if the Valledolmo and Termini D'Andreas weren't directly related, they were all in the same social circles in the same neighborhood.

Worth noting that Joe Fusco was Termitani and was stated by the Tribune to have been a business partner of Phil D'Andrea. Joseph Charles Fusco was born in 1902 in Chicago to Calogero Fusco (not the same as the other guy) and Giuseppina Piazza, both from Termini. Calogero and Giuseppe were married in September of 1897 at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Calogero's parents were Giuseppe and Concetta Sansone, while Giuseppa's were Filippo Piazza and Rosalia Schillace. There was a Calogero Fusco naturalized in 1898, living on Sheridan Pl (20th St) like Salvatore D'Ugo, but it's unclear to me which Calogero this one was. In 1900, Calogero and Giuseppina were already living much further south, on 90th St near Houston Ave in the South Chicago/South Works neighborhood (not far at all from where Luigi and Phil D'Andrea later lived on 81st and Paxton). A trend that I'm seeing is that these Chinatown/Bridgeport guys were moving to farther south neighborhoods in the 80s/90s (much like Taylor St, Grand Ave, and Little Sicily guys moved farther west to, what were at the time, much nicer neighborhoods like Humboldt Park and Garfield Park). Later, the Fuscos lived at 70th and Lowe in Englewood (a mainly Irish neighborhood, though there were also some Italians). Given his lifelong association with the further parts of the Southside, one can see why in the 60s Fusco was involved in a beef with Chicago Heights guys.

The Carusos were of course also a Chinatown/Bridgeport family from Termini (as were the LaMantias). Frank "Skids" Caruso was born in 1911 in Chicago, the 4th of 12 kids (between them I'm sure they had at least 20 jobs with the City of Chicago) born to Pietro Francesco Caruso and Francesca D'Andrea of Termini. Pietro and Francesca were married in Termini in 1904 and arrived in Chicago around 1805, where their eldest child Mary was born in 1906. Pietro's parents were Giuseppe Caruso and Maria Geraci. In 1917, they lived at 22nd (Cermak Rd) and Wentworth, where the D'Ugos and Mike Merlo also lived (and a couple of blocks up Wentworth from where Gus Alex's father's diner was at 26th, where Strongy Ferraro supposedly worked as a kid, and where Bruno Roti's powerbase was centered). Pietro Caruso worked as a shoemaker, which is presumably where Frank's older brother Joseph (born 1909) got his nickname "Shoes" Caruso. It should also be noted that there was another Pietro Caruso of the same age, also from Termini, living in the Bridgeport area at this time, and I believe that they were cousins (this other guy's father seems to have been the son of a Salvatore Caruso who was Giuseppe Caruso's brother). In 1930, the Carusos of interest here lived at 24th and Wentworth, and Frank was working in the produce market (probably why they called him "Skids" Caruso, as when I worked in a warehouse as a kid in Chicago everyone called the wooden shipping pallets "skids"). Pietro Caruso died in 1938. In 1934, Frank married Catherine "Nana" Roti, daughter of Bruno Roti and Marianna Bertucci of Simbario, Vibo Valentia, Calabria (I am currently working on a larger project focusing on the Rotis and closely connected families from Simbario). Frank Caruso was thus Fred and Bruno Roti Jr's brother-in-law. Apart from Skids and Shoes, brothers Leo and Bruno Caruso were stated to have been involved with the Outfit.

My assumption is that Skids Caruso succeeded his father-in-law Bruno Roti as the capodecina of the Chinatown crew around the time that the latter died in 1957. A 1958 CI told the FBI that Frank Caruso was in charge of the entire area of the Southside running from Cermak (22nd St) to about 63rd St, that his base of operations was his tavern "The Bowery" located at Cermak and Wentworth (the "downtown" of Chinatown) and that Catuara, Angelo LaPietra, and Tony "Pupi" Maenza were among the men answering to him. Caruso was stated to control the gambling, sportsbook, horse book, and juice loan operations on the Southside. It's still unclear to me exactly if or how Ferraro fit into this succession.