Revisiting Philadelphia 1963

[chin_gigante]

That's fascinating about Caponigro's parents, wouldn't have expected that

[Eline2015]

Alfred Iezzi wasn’t a capo of Chester and probably wasn’t a capo yet.

I posted something above indicating he was a captain. I'm just pulling up what I'm finding on Mary Ferral, what makes you think he wasn't?

From Mary Farrel:
The two Captain change overs for the sixties involved Peter Maggio replacing Iezzi before 1967 due to poor health (maybe he resumed his position later?) and Joseph Lanciano replacing Massi due to his sodomy charges at some point after 1963.

1 John Capello
2 Felix John DeTullio
3 Alfred Iezzi
4 Pasquale Massi
5 Dominick Olivetto
6 Nicholas Piccolo
7 Joseph Scafidi
8 John Simone
9 Philip Testa

So I’m really confused about crew succession. I think that Chester crew (calabrian faction) was Scopolletti(?)>Pinnestri(?)>Festa>Rugnetta>Sciglittano bros>Idone
Camden crew Reginelli>Olivetto>Massi>Lanciano. Somewhen Ditullio, member of Camden, was given own crew? According to Leonetti: Ditullio>Iezzi

[Angelo Santino]

Alfred Iezzi wasn’t a capo of Chester and probably wasn’t a capo yet.

I posted something above indicating he was a captain. I'm just pulling up what I'm finding on Mary Ferral, what makes you think he wasn't?

From Mary Farrel:
The two Captain change overs for the sixties involved Peter Maggio replacing Iezzi before 1967 due to poor health (maybe he resumed his position later?) and Joseph Lanciano replacing Massi due to his sodomy charges at some point after 1963.

1 John Capello
2 Felix John DeTullio
3 Alfred Iezzi
4 Pasquale Massi
5 Dominick Olivetto
6 Nicholas Piccolo
7 Joseph Scafidi
8 John Simone
9 Philip Testa

So I’m really confused about crew succession. I think that Chester crew (calabrian faction) was Scopolletti(?)>Pinnestri(?)>Festa>Rugnetta>Sciglittano bros>Idone
Camden crew Reginelli>Olivetto>Massi>Lanciano. Somewhen Ditullio, member of Camden, was given own crew? According to Leonetti: Ditullio>Iezzi

I thought I responded but must not have posted... I said, Grand Master B would be the one to ask. All I'm posting are what the FBI is saying but I'm not beholden to it. They could have gotten things wrong. They suspected Carmine Battaglia of being a Philadelphia caporegime but his name never showed up in the family administration lists that they compiled.

The FBI files do list DeTullio and Iezzi as captains at the same time, they also stated Iezzi was in poor health (in the 1960's) so Lanciano took it over. Iezzi would later be a captain again.


Lastly, Chester and PA aren't very far alot of these so-called "Chester" members have residences, work or connections in Philly proper.

[Angelo Santino]

An informant in the 60's gave the Philly's hierarchy as it stood in 1952- https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... =reginelli

Some of these guys that constituted the "Calabrian Faction" are Messinese Sicilian, Compani and Abruzzesi. There's a cluster of Reggini and some early members go back to Anastasia but it was a minority. Rugnetta was Reggino and I believe he and Bruno kept it amicable for the most part, any differences were political.

[Angelo Santino]

Joseph Lanciano's mother's name was Philomena Lancellotti. Wonder if there's any relation.

[Angelo Santino]

Wasn't Frank Monte supposed to be Sicilian? If this is him- born 6/21/1931-5/13/1982, then his parents were Giovanni and Virginia Mancini / DeMarco. Giovanni is from Serino, Avellino and Virginia DeMarco is from Montella. Does this seem accurate?

[B.]

Monte's father was born in Philly, but his grandfather Francesco Monti came from Belmonte Mezzagno in 1903. Rocco Scafidi also made a recording with Monte where they mention being paesans.



^ Saying someone named Vineland Frank reached out to Monte through Sam Scafidi because Monte's grandfather was a paesan of the Vineland/Rosenhayn faction.

[B.]

Great find about Caponigro.

- George Fresolone said Caponigro was Calabrian in his book when he talks about the problems between Caponigro and Bruno, who he points out was Sicilian.

- Blood and Honor hints at it. Caramandi says Caponigro was close to Joe Rugnetta and became upset when Rugnetta died, then says he believes the Calabrian faction got together and rallied behind Caponigro to make him the new consigliere.

- Fresolone and Licata both said Caponigro started out with Albert Anastasia so maybe that added to it.

Good example of why to give these things a deeper look.

Also Michael Cammarata/Cammarota of Trenton's mom was listed under two names- Maria Simone / Marietta Mastrosimone. Could there be a relation to John Simone? I think they came from Villaba as well.

Mastrosimone was John Simone's original name, so I'd guess there's a relation. Most of his decina came from Villalba and like Simone had ties to PA and WNY.

[B.]

John Cappello told Rocco Scafidi in October 1964 that Iezzi wasn't a captain but direct with Angelo Bruno, as was Pollina:

[Angelo Santino]

John Cappello told Rocco Scafidi in October 1964 that Iezzi wasn't a captain but direct with Angelo Bruno, as was Pollina:

This is from 1967-

[B.]

He may have been promoted sometime between October 1964 and 1967 but I'd go with Scafidi's recording of John Cappello for the period leading up to that, hard to find a better source.

[PolackTony]

Tony Banana's parents- Rocco and Rosina Guerrazza- were from Salerno, settled in Chicago, had Tony and eventually made their way to Philadelphia after Rosina died of the Spanish Flu. Maybe you guys knew he wasn't Calabrese but I didn't, all you ever read about was him heading up the Calabrian wing of the Family. Interesting.

This is great info. This and some of the other stuff that you've posted suggests to me that the "Calabrian faction" in Philadelphia was in fact not a strictly Calabrese thing but rather denoted an "Americanized" faction of guys whose origins (Calabresi, Messidensi, Nauletani, Abruzzesi) did not lie within the original Sicilian compaesani networks that formed the early Philly-area families.

I note that when Rocco Caponigro arrived bound for Chicago in 1911, he was accompanied by a bunch of paesani (from Campagna, Salerno) also bound for Chicago. Chicago of course had a large and highly influential settlement by Salernitan'. Not sure where the Caponigros lived while in Chicago, but a good bet would be in the Near West or Southside neighborhoods where most other Salernitani settled (Taylor St, Chinatown). One would assume that the family retained links to paesani in Chicago later. By 1916, they were living in Logansport in the middle of nowhere in Indiana (apologies in advance to any Hoosiers who may read that), which is where I assume that mother Rosina died. By 1919, they were in Philly, but then decamped for Newark. Newark is also, of course, a place where many immigrants from Campania settled, so Caponigro coming up there and joining that crew makes perfect sense given his background. His association with the Genovese family makes sense also given his Newark location, but also worth keeping in mind that there were Salernitan' in that family (not the least being Vito Genovese himself, who also would've had strong compaesani connections to Chicago). Any indications that Caponigro as a member had connections to Chicago? We know that during the 60s, Giancana was intimately involved in mediating some issues with the Philly family brought to the Commission, and there's also that 1960s CI report that Bruno convened a meeting of the family to warn the members not to talk about problems within the family to any avugad, specifically either NYC or Chicago.

[Angelo Santino]

Tony Banana's parents- Rocco and Rosina Guerrazza- were from Salerno, settled in Chicago, had Tony and eventually made their way to Philadelphia after Rosina died of the Spanish Flu. Maybe you guys knew he wasn't Calabrese but I didn't, all you ever read about was him heading up the Calabrian wing of the Family. Interesting.

This is great info. This and some of the other stuff that you've posted suggests to me that the "Calabrian faction" in Philadelphia was in fact not a strictly Calabrese thing but rather denoted an "Americanized" faction of guys whose origins (Calabresi, Messidensi, Nauletani, Abruzzesi) did not lie within the original Sicilian compaesani networks that formed the early Philly-area families.

I note that when Rocco Caponigro arrived bound for Chicago in 1911, he was accompanied by a bunch of paesani (from Campagna, Salerno) also bound for Chicago. Chicago of course had a large and highly influential settlement by Salernitan'. Not sure where the Caponigros lived while in Chicago, but a good bet would be in the Near West or Southside neighborhoods where most other Salernitani settled (Taylor St, Chinatown). One would assume that the family retained links to paesani in Chicago later. By 1916, they were living in Logansport in the middle of nowhere in Indiana (apologies in advance to any Hoosiers who may read that), which is where I assume that mother Rosina died. By 1919, they were in Philly, but then decamped for Newark. Newark is also, of course, a place where many immigrants from Campania settled, so Caponigro coming up there and joining that crew makes perfect sense given his background. His association with the Genovese family makes sense also given his Newark location, but also worth keeping in mind that there were Salernitan' in that family (not the least being Vito Genovese himself, who also would've had strong compaesani connections to Chicago). Any indications that Caponigro as a member had connections to Chicago? We know that during the 60s, Giancana was intimately involved in mediating some issues with the Philly family brought to the Commission, and there's also that 1960s CI report that Bruno convened a meeting of the family to warn the members not to talk about problems within the family to any avugad, specifically either NYC or Chicago.

According to Morello, the FBN in the 50s noted two distinct groups, the Americans and the Greasers, they made no distinction of Sicilian or Calabrese but they had Rugnetta and others Calabrese as head of the Greaser Gang so these two "factions" do not adhere to the "Sicilian-Calabrian" thing that comes out later. Riccobene, a 3rd generation Mafioso from Enna, describes his younger days as being "apart" from the Sicilians like Sabella and admits to having gotten along with the Lanzetti brothers. Later on we see Riccobene mingling with every faction, including Scarfo (before he became boss).

From what I see-
1 the "Calabrian faction" was more Rugnetta, the Piccolos, Pennestri with their Messinese "cousins" in Quaranta and Caminiti. Most, if not all of them at one time or another were in Philadelphia/Chester, not NJ.

2 the "Sicilian faction" was decentralized, there was no Detroit Terrasinese or Tampa ADR supermajority. There's Caccamo, Belmonte Mazzagno, Villalba and Campobello Di Mazzara. And alot of these members got along and worked with other members.

The Family Makeup today descends from the Calabrese (Scarfo-Piccolo-Grand) and Messinese (Merlino) faction. The "traditionalists" in the sense that those who came from Mafia stock, were Stanfa in the 90's and Pollina in the 50's and neither had very long reigns nor considered successful.

[Angelo Santino]

Do we have enough info to place the members in crews or is that impossible to accurately do? If not, I can divide them by city or by family origin.

Thoughts?

[Angelo Santino]

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