Historical Genovese Leadership Crews

[Wiseguy]

I know this thread is about the historical Genovese leadership but, in relation to the updated succession chart Pogo posted on page 1 of the thread...

Terranova-Coppola-Lombardo-Bellomo Crew:
Ciro “The Artichoke King” Terranova (1910s-1932) Demoted.
Michael “Trigger Mike” Coppola (1932-1966) Died.
-Benjamin “Benny the Bum” DeMartino (1960s)
-Philip “Benny Squint” Lombardo (1960s-1967/8) Became Official Capo.
Philip “Benny Squint” Lombardo (1966- Early 1970s) Became Boss.
Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno (Early 1970s-1972) Became Consiglieri.
Anthony “Buckaloo" Ferro (1972-1976) Became Consiglieri.
Joseph “Joe Stretch" Stracci (1976-19??)
Ralph “Farby” Serpico (19??-19??)
Saverio “Sammy” Santora (19??-1981) Became UnderBoss.
Benjamin “Benny the Bum” DeMartino (1981-19??)
Liborio “Barney” Bellomo (1980s-Present) Became Acting Boss/Imprisoned.
-Ralph Coppola (1990-1998) Killed.
-Frank “Farby” Serpico (1998-2001) Imprisoned.
-Also served as Acting Boss.
-Ernest Muscarella (1998-2002) Imprisoned.
-Also served as Acting Boss.
-Louis Moscatiello (2002-2003) Imprisoned.
-Arthur "Artie" Nigro (2003-2007) Imprisoned.
-Also served as Acting Boss.

Pasquale "Patty Boy" Falcetti may be the new captain of this crew. Bellomo and Muscarella were reported to be on the rotating panel in 2009. Falcetti, if I'm not mistaken, is from that crew and was indicted as a captain in 2013.

Miranda Crew:
Michele "Mike" Miranda (19??-Late 1950s) Became Consiglieri.
-In 1958 this Crew was split between Frank Celano, Frank “Funzie” Tieri, Anthony “Tony” Carillo, Generoso DelDucca, Peter DeFeo and Salvatore “Little Sal” Celambrino
-Frank Celano (1958-1963) Became Official Capo.
Frank Celano (1963-1973) Died.
John “Buster” Ardito (1970s-2007) Died.
? - Daniel “Danny/The Lion” Leo (2007-Present) Imprisoned.

The recently released FBI notes showed that Pasquale "Scop" DeLuca was a captain at the same time Artie Nigro was in the early 2000's. Different crews. It was when Muscarella, Danny Leo, and Dom Cirillo were on the ruling committee. Nigro had taken over the crew for Muscarella. It's possible DeLuca had taken over the other crew for Leo.

Genoroso Crew:
Vincenzo Genoroso (1960s-1970s)
-Michael "Micky Dimino" Generoso (1960s-1970s) Became Official Capo.
Michael "Micky Dimino" Generoso (1970s-Late 1990s) Stepped Down.
-Charles “Chucky” Tuzzo (Late 1980s)
-Sometime in the 90s Tuzzo took over a portion of this Crew.
-Anthony "Tough Tony/Tony Parkside" Federici (1991-????) Became Official Capo.
Anthony "Tough Tony/Tony Parkside" Federici (1999-2007) Stepped Down.
-Anthony "Rom" Romanello (20??-2007) Became Official Capo.
Anthony "Rom" Romanello (2007-Present)

Anthony Romanello was indicted as a captain in 2012. Chuckie Tuzzo was indicted as a captain in both 2002 and 2014. We know Romanello took over for Federici. And it was recently reported that both Federici and Tuzzo originally were in the Generoso crew. But the close dates Romanello and Tuzzo were charged as captains makes me think they run separate crews.

Salvatore “Charlie/Lucky Luciano” Lucania (1920s-1930) Became UnderBoss.
Thomas “Tommy Palmer” Greco (19230-1970s) Died.
-In the early 60s this Crew was split between Greco and Cosmo Fresca.
-Joseph LaPadura (1960s)
-Rosario “Sally Young” Palmieri (Early 1970s)
-Joseph LaPadura (1970s)
Joseph “Joe Lefty” Loiacono (1970s-1988) Died.
James "Jimmy from 8th Street" Messera (1988-Present?)

It's possible Thomas "Figgy" Ficarotta has taken over this crew. If I'm not mistaken, he was in that crew, and he was reported to be a captain back in October.

[B.]

Speaking of Sandino Pandolfo, is there any concrete reason to believe he was only Tony Bender's personal advisor and not the family's consigliere (acting or otherwise)? I think it's Valachi who refers to "Sandino" as Bender's counselor, but if this was during Bender's time as acting boss it could go either way. Maybe there is more info I haven't seen.

[Angelo Santino]

Page 189: 2 of the 6 crews.

Page 145: Sandino "Family Counsel"

Page 218: Sandino "his counselor"

http://postimg.org/image/jabap5zor/

[Angelo Santino]

And it doesn't give Moretti a rank. Only that Costello "relied on his strength."

I should note that the "2 of the 6 crews" was Maas' narration, not Valachi's own words, so...

Regarding Sandino, appears to have been official, at least from Valachi's perspective. Sounds like he was Tony Bender's "rabbi" to quote future member Pic. Sounds like this guy was counsel during the Costello years and towards the end.

[Angelo Santino]

But perhaps another example of 6 crews in the Costello era...

Page 142:

Such high level wheeling and dealing did not leave Costello much time to administer Cosa Nostra affairs, even if he wanted to. This by default the various lieutenants in the Luciano Family - among them Willie Moore, Anthony Carfano, Joe Adonis, Trigger Mike Coppola, Dominick De Quatro and Antony Bender - enjoyed vastly increased power.

[B.]

I have to agree that six crews, even if we go with conservative estimates for total family membership, seems off. Though we know some of the old crews in various families were pretty large, having between 40 to 75 members in every crew seems like a pretty significant jump from the idea of a "decina" (ten). Also coming after a time of turmoil, it would create some pretty intense factionalism and make it hard to supervise members.

The Masseria family was very alternative from the start, though, and maybe they weren't as influenced by the Sicilian structure, i.e. "capodecina". If you want to split hairs about the terms used, "caporegime" would make a lot more sense when it comes to large crews like that. Which brings out a whole other question... where do the two different terms come from, "capodecina" vs. "caporegime"? I think I'll make another topic about that so I don't muddle this one.

Just throwing it out there, but what if those six captains were more like a committee of some kind and they each had a couple captains of lesser stature reporting to them? It sounds like that's what the Genovese have in place now (and what the Bonannos had under Massino near the end of his reign), but I don't think there is anything to back this up. I just wonder if that family was always much more layered than the other families and their way of doing things goes back much farther than the post-Vito era.

Thanks for the info, re: Pandolfo. I think the only big reason I can think of as far as him not being consigliere would be if the timeline overlapped with Miranda. Otherwise it seems strange that he's referred to multiple times as a counselor of some kind.

[Snakes]

Maybe they operated like the Outfit, where you had a handful of street bosses running a particular area with made guys (running their own crews) reporting to them. Insulates the top guys a little bit.

[Angelo Santino]

Are we sure "Sandino" and Pandolfo are the same guy? Also, I don't believe Maas/Valachi overlapped him with Miranda. If anything I would call Miranda his successor to the position.

Seems like the Genovese crews, more so than other family crews, utilize a lieutenant and messenger, not as being "above" the rank of soldier but as the first among equals. You can find multiple examples of a captain retired to Florida, an acting captain in Jersey or New York with a messenger relying information. It's possible these crews were almost semi-autonomous (within reason) and that may go back to the gambineesh. No one was "forcing" Frank Yale to become a captain, it had to have involved a mutual arrangement. Probably meaning captains weren't demoted as easily as in other families like the Bonannos or Gambinos at the boss' behest. Boiardi was called the boss of Jersey a few times, didn't he even have his own "close circle" inside of his crew?

And also a point to remember, this was before Rico, in the 1940's-1960's it didn't have to be ran "bunker style" to quite Tony Soprano.

[B.]

Maybe they operated like the Outfit, where you had a handful of street bosses running a particular area with made guys (running their own crews) reporting to them. Insulates the top guys a little bit.

There are definite parallels between these two organizations. Interesting too that Capone was a Genovese member who heavily influenced Chicago.

Are we sure "Sandino" and Pandolfo are the same guy?

Seems like the Genovese crews, more so than other family crews, utilize a lieutenant and messenger, not as being "above" the rank of soldier but as the first among equals. You can find multiple examples of a captain retired to Florida, an acting captain in Jersey or New York with a messenger relying information. It's possible these crews were almost semi-autonomous (within reason) and that may go back to the gambineesh. No one was "forcing" Frank Yale to become a captain, it had to have involved a mutual arrangement.

This makes the most sense. A common theme in the post-1930s Genovese family is large semi-autonomous crews that could be called "factions", but you don't see these factions competing for power (Vito Genovese being the exception, but he was a powerhouse earlier on and seemed to want to regain his lost power.. he wasn't an up-and-comer). Each crew has a very high ceiling in their own right, so an admin position is more an obligation than a goal.

[B.]

By the way I only say post-1930s because I don't know enough about it before then. It could be the same sort of arrangement. Did Masseria ever have any threats to his power from within his own family during the 1920s? When his men finally turned on him it was for the greater good of New York more than it was about a power grab, or at least that's what the lore suggests.

[Angelo Santino]

Not that we're aware of.

Gentile ID'd both Luciano and Genovese as captains. I would assume Tony Bender assumed Genovese's crew?

From 1931-1934 Luciano traveled frequently, in his absence, Genovese as Underboss appeared to wield some ferocious power. For a short time- 1936-1937 Genovese was the top man on the street. I still don't know who Chee Gusae is.

We don't know if Genovese ever gave up the "underboss" position while away. There's very little to prove that Moretti was ever in that position officially.

[Antiliar]

I enjoy it when we brainstorm on these topics. It inspires us to re-check the facts.

Assuming that Chris is correct, we have eliminated some gaps in the list of consiglieri:
1. Saverio Pollaccia, ?-1931 (k. 1932)
2. Frank Costello or unknown for a few years
3. Frank Costello, 1930s-1946 (became official boss)
4. Sandino Pandolfo, 1946-1957 (resigned/stepped down for unknown reasons)
5. Michele Miranda, 1957-c1970

Possible early caporegimes:
1. Tommy Licata
2. Vincenzo Generoso
3. Domenico Del Duca
4. Tony Ricci
5. Sandino Pandolfo
6. Joe Adonis
7. Dominick Didato
8. Chee Gusae/Gusage
9. Frank Costello

Confirmed or agreed caporegimes:
10. Ciro Terranova
11. Tony Bender Strollo
12. Michele Miranda
13. Thomas Greco
14. Willie Moretti
15. Rocco Pellegrino
16. Anthony Carfano

So that's 7 confirmed crews and 9 possible additional crews. Maybe if we obtain the FBI files of the possibles there might be some clues that will tell us or provide additional leads.

[Antiliar]

Are we sure "Sandino" and Pandolfo are the same guy? Also, I don't believe Maas/Valachi overlapped him with Miranda. If anything I would call Miranda his successor to the position.

Yes, there was a long discussion about this on RD. Some congressional report from the mid-1960s showed it was the same guy. Also, the document from the New York Municipal Archives called "To Whom It May Concern," which was a letter from an Italian-American restaurant owner who described his experiences being extorted by the Mob, showed Tony Bender being closely associated with Sandino Pandolfo back then.

http://www.oocities.org/nymafia2001/towhom.html

[Angelo Santino]

Is it possible Miranda took over Moretti's interests? Bringing it back down to 6? They both were active in Jersey along with Boiardi.

[Antiliar]

Is it possible Miranda took over Moretti's interests? Bringing it back down to 6? They both were active in Jersey along with Boiardi.

No. We know that Moretti had a large crew and that Catena took it over and Boiardo split off.