Visiting the West Side 1963

[Angelo Santino]

Interesting finds

Palermitan Brookulinu Gaetano Martino would fit the mold for being Gambino but the same could be said for Aniello Ercole fitting the mold to be a Gen. I think the overlap in membership in terms of origin and location is interesting. Marino is listed as part of the Alo Crew and looking up his crews info, they were scattered all over the city with one member in FL and another who was deported to Italy.

[Angelo Santino]

I keep thinking back to Vito whose both sides might have been from Alia, Sicily. His father at the very least was 100% Sicilian making Vito half if it's just the paternal side. He had to have been aware of his lineage but it doesn't seem to have been well known. You would think it would have come up in dialogue with other members or bosses. Not that it would change anything but just small talk but every source from Gentile to Valachi to Bonanno regarded him as Napolitan.

[B.]

Gaetano Martino was a Gambino member. Confirmed by Michael DiLeonardo, as they came from the same decina.

Martino as a Genovese was a mistake made by the FBI and Valachi confirmed he had no idea who he was in a follow-up interview.

[Antiliar]

I keep thinking back to Vito whose both sides might have been from Alia, Sicily. His father at the very least was 100% Sicilian making Vito half if it's just the paternal side. He had to have been aware of his lineage but it doesn't seem to have been well known. You would think it would have come up in dialogue with other members or bosses. Not that it would change anything but just small talk but every source from Gentile to Valachi to Bonanno regarded him as Napolitan.

Vito Genovese's parents, Felice and Nunziella/Nunziata (Nancy) Genovese, are both from Campania. Felice came from Tufino, Napoli, Campania, and his wife from Ricigliano, Salerno, Campania.

According to a family tree on Ancestry.com, Felice Genovese's parents were Guglielmo Genovese and Maria Grazia Anna Dislafani [probably Sclafani], and they were from Alia, not far from Lercara Friddi in the province of Palermo (the sources cited confirm this). Nunziella Genovese's parents (her maiden name was also Genovese, so they may have been related to her husband's parents) were Vito Genovese and Giovanina Saroppa (?). So the New York boss Vito Genovese did have at least 50% Sicilian ancestry.

[B.]

Plays into our conversation about Schiro, i.e. at what point did his family become "Sicilian" opposed to "Albanian".

Joe Bonanno believed his family came from Pisa way back when but saw himself as the ultimate Sicilian.

[Antiliar]

Two members to add:

Settimo Accardo AKA Accardi - often mistakenly labeled a Lucchese capo. There's no evidence that he was ever a capo. Born Vita, Sicily, Oct 23, 1902 - Bloomfield, NJ, Dec 3, 1977. According to a 1938 passenger manifest his father was also named Settimo Accardo. According to the Mafia book his parents were Salvatore Accardo and Francesca Avila, and he was married to Teresa Menio. His legitimate occupations were real estate and building construction. Don't know which crew he was in, but he was associated with Lucky Luciano, Tom and Charles Campisi, Joe Adonis, Tony Bender Strollo, and Cristoforo Robino.
https://books.google.com/books?id=yxJMa ... se&f=false

Paul John Carbo AKA Frankie Carbo - his name was in a list of deceased Genovese members found in Junior Gotti's house. An older source confirms: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 20genovese
This Wikipedia article wrongly places him with the Lucchese Family (and has other misinformation): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Carbo
According to the Florida death index he died in Miami on Nov 9, 1976. Married Viola Masters. Born in Manhattan as Paolo Corbo on Aug 10,1904. Father was Angelo Corbo and mother was Clementina Petrone. They arrived in New York in the late 1800s and the docs that I found only said they came from "Italy." Carbo was a boxing promoter.

[PolackTony]

Good info on Paul Carbo. Ancestry family trees have Angelo Corbo’s family as hailing from Sacco, Salerno, which is plausible as the Corbo surname is well-recorded there. The Corbos lived in the South Bronx, in 1910 at Southern Blvd and Prospect.

[funkster]

Two members to add:

Settimo Accardo AKA Accardi - often mistakenly labeled a Lucchese capo. There's no evidence that he was ever a capo. Born Vita, Sicily, Oct 23, 1902 - Bloomfield, NJ, Dec 3, 1977. According to a 1938 passenger manifest his father was also named Settimo Accardo. According to the Mafia book his parents were Salvatore Accardo and Francesca Avila, and he was married to Teresa Menio. His legitimate occupations were real estate and building construction. Don't know which crew he was in, but he was associated with Lucky Luciano, Tom and Charles Campisi, Joe Adonis, Tony Bender Strollo, and Cristoforo Robino.
https://books.google.com/books?id=yxJMa ... se&f=false

Paul John Carbo AKA Frankie Carbo - his name was in a list of deceased Genovese members found in Junior Gotti's house. An older source confirms: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 20genovese
This Wikipedia article wrongly places him with the Lucchese Family (and has other misinformation): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Carbo
According to the Florida death index he died in Miami on Nov 9, 1976. Married Viola Masters. Born in Manhattan as Paolo Corbo on Aug 10,1904. Father was Angelo Corbo and mother was Clementina Petrone. They arrived in New York in the late 1800s and the docs that I found only said they came from "Italy." Carbo was a boxing promoter.

Thanks for posting that, I always thought he was a Lucchese too...probably because of wiki.

[Antiliar]

Found this from a CIA document. It says the Campisis, associated with the Genoveses, were part of Settimo Accardo's group. Also says the Buias, but I don't know anything about them.

Accardo, Settimo - CIA Fight Against OC (1967).jpg

[JoelTurner]

Two members to add:

Settimo Accardo AKA Accardi - often mistakenly labeled a Lucchese capo. There's no evidence that he was ever a capo. Born Vita, Sicily, Oct 23, 1902 - Bloomfield, NJ, Dec 3, 1977. According to a 1938 passenger manifest his father was also named Settimo Accardo. According to the Mafia book his parents were Salvatore Accardo and Francesca Avila, and he was married to Teresa Menio. His legitimate occupations were real estate and building construction. Don't know which crew he was in, but he was associated with Lucky Luciano, Tom and Charles Campisi, Joe Adonis, Tony Bender Strollo, and Cristoforo Robino.
https://books.google.com/books?id=yxJMa ... se&f=false

Mr. Bergin, who’s being interviewed, also names Anthony Riello as a mafia member in Essex as being in this group. He meant Anthony Riela, the Bonanno member, who lived in West Orange, NJ. Maybe he meant that they were all involved in businesses together rather than that they were one group.

Plus, if Big Sam wasn’t a Lucchese capo, who was their capo? Wasn’t his son a member of that family too?

[Antiliar]

Two members to add:

Settimo Accardo AKA Accardi - often mistakenly labeled a Lucchese capo. There's no evidence that he was ever a capo. Born Vita, Sicily, Oct 23, 1902 - Bloomfield, NJ, Dec 3, 1977. According to a 1938 passenger manifest his father was also named Settimo Accardo. According to the Mafia book his parents were Salvatore Accardo and Francesca Avila, and he was married to Teresa Menio. His legitimate occupations were real estate and building construction. Don't know which crew he was in, but he was associated with Lucky Luciano, Tom and Charles Campisi, Joe Adonis, Tony Bender Strollo, and Cristoforo Robino.
https://books.google.com/books?id=yxJMa ... se&f=false

Mr. Bergin, who’s being interviewed, also names Anthony Riello as a mafia member in Essex as being in this group. He meant Anthony Riela, the Bonanno member, who lived in West Orange, NJ. Maybe he meant that they were all involved in businesses together rather than that they were one group.

Plus, if Big Sam wasn’t a Lucchese capo, who was their capo? Wasn’t his son a member of that family too?

Accardo, Riela, and others were members of the old Newark Family that was split up in the mid-1930s. Riela was actually Accardo's brother-in-law, having married Accardo's sister.

As to where to place Accardo, I'm not sure. I don't have his FBI file and there isn't much in what's available online. All of the written documentation that I've seen has him as a Genovese member, but as B wrote, it's possible that those documents are wrong. If he was a Genovese member then it's likely that he was under Willie Moretti and then Gerry Catena.

It's also worth pointing out that we've seen brothers and sons join different Families before. It wouldn't be a first.

[JoelTurner]

Accardo, Riela, and others were members of the old Newark Family that was split up in the mid-1930s. Riela was actually Accardo's brother-in-law, having married Accardo's sister.

There’s so much of confusion that came out the old Newark Family mess. I had no idea that Riela was his BIL.

As to where to place Accardo, I'm not sure. I don't have his FBI file and there isn't much in what's available online. All of the written documentation that I've seen has him as a Genovese member, but as B wrote, it's possible that those documents are wrong. If he was a Genovese member then it's likely that he was under Willie Moretti and then Gerry Catena.

I’m not sure either, especially considering the documentation that you pulled out. My gut feel says that he was too big to be “just a soldier” under Moretti/Catena.

[B.]

Haven't seen that about Riela.

Onofrio Abate was Accardi's brother-in-law from Vita / Tunis and Abate's naturalization was witnessed by Tony Riela's son Andrea, so def a strong connection.

Onofrio has been confused in the past with Giuseppe Abate, who was later the Lucchese NJ captain and came from Marsala but was allegedly a cousin of both Accardi and Onofrio Abate. Carmine Accardi was probably made in the Lucchese Family when Joe Abate was captain.

[Gelis]

With Accardi being one of those "The Boot" was warring with in the 1930's while Accardi was in the Newark Family, according to Valachi, is it likely he would join the Genovese ?
Particularly as he was said to be close with Lucchese

[JoelTurner]

With Accardi being one of those "The Boot" was warring with in the 1930's while Accardi was in the Newark Family, according to Valachi, is it likely he would join the Genovese ?
Particularly as he was said to be close with Lucchese

If we accept the idea that Big Sam joined the Genovese family, he would have joined in 1937 when Newark broke up.

Richie the Boot joined in the late 40s around a decade later, he couldn’t have influenced this decision. Plus, other people from the old Newark Family joined them anyways.

Either ways, I think that he was with the Luccheses