cavita wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 5:51 am
This is really good info as to the SGI and Cinisi immigrants and especially the info on Anthony Riela who if he arrived in the U.S. around 1926 or so he most likely was already a made member. I've been trying to dig into the Cinisi a little bit in relation to the Pizza Connection and their appearance in Illinois and surrounding areas starting in the late 1960s and there are a few Cinisi that immigrated during that time that opened pizzerias- now I'm not saying all these men were involved in the Pizza Connection but their appearance and the fact they're countrymen and had pizzerias are suspect:
Pietro Alfano pizzeria in Oregon, Illinois PIZZA CONNECTION
Giuseppe Cucinella pizzeria in Robinson, Illinois
Giuseppe Trupiano pizzeria in Olney, Illinois PIZZA CONNECTION
Giuseppe Vitale pizzeria in Paris, Illinois PIZZA CONNECTION
Nazareno “Joe” Vitale pizzeria in Aledo, Illinois
Salvatore Vitale pizzeria in Gillespie, Illinois
Reno Vitale pizzeria in Carlinville, Illinois
Benedetto Vitale pizzeria in Beardstown, Illinois
Salvatore Evola pizzeria in Temperance, Michigan PIZZA CONNECTION
Emmanuele Palazzolo pizzeria in Milton, Wisconsin PIZZA CONNECTION
Carmelo Alfano pizzeria in Delavan, Wisconsin
Again, great info. As you're already well aware, the FBI in the early 1990s stated that the Cinisi-Terrasini group connected to the Pizza Connection case was linked to a network of paesani-owned pizzerias and other businesses across Northern IL/Southern WI into Eastern IA. At least based on the Pizza Connection electronic surveillance, the FBI stated that there was no evidence that this network was operating in concert with local LCN, whether Chicago or Rockford. I've suspected that there may have been more to that story, however, given the large and highly active Cinisensi community in Chicago (e.g., the Santa Fara Society and Feast, Addison Ave as honorary "Via Cinisi", likely Outfit-connected families like the Salamones and Buteras). The close connections between the Manzellas and Impastatos and local LCN families also suggest to me that there may indeed have been links later, but so far as we know there is no direct evidence linking the Pizza Connection network in the region to local LCN (apart from a redacted statement in an FBI report that clearly seems to link Pietro Alfano to the Rockford Outfit, at least prior to the years of the Pizza Connection surveillance). Could be that this network indeed had links to local LCN, and those were just never captured during the investigation (and we know that during the same period, both Chicago and Rockford had "zips" affiliated with Sicilian Cosa Nostra operating in their territories; while Rockford obviously had guys from Aragona there, it's unclear which families back in Sicily Chicago was working with; I suspect that it could've been more than one, and I also strongly suspect that Cinisi was one of them, with Corleone being another possibility). But then, these guys in the pizzeria network may have been intentionally operating apart from local LCN, for their own reasons. Maybe they didn't want to have to cut in or pay street taxes to the local Outfits. Maybe they wanted to fly under LE radar and thus concentrated in small, rural towns and avoided the heat and scrutiny associated with the Chicago and Rockford areas. Who knows. Unless there was a Sicilian pentito or local CI who provided some insight here, all we can do is speculate about this.
As you also are aware, the FBI had intel on another network of Sicilians moving heroin and operating in the area around South Beloit/Roscoe IL. They categorized this group as separate from both the Pizza Connection Cinisi group as well as the zips operating with both Rockford and Chicago and claimed that this group had ties to Sicilian mafiosi in Buffalo and Hamilton (they also stated separately that Chicago had 'Ndrangheta operations linked to Upstate NY/Ontario, so presumably the Luppino-Violi, Papalia, and/or Musitano groups). I am not aware of who these Sicilians in the South Beloit area may have been. I do note that Bravo Pizza in South Beloit is owned by Giuseppe Ocello, who arrived there in the 1970s from Sicily. I suspect based on some other info that he is from the Ribera/Burgio area, which also sent a good number of immigrants in recent decades to Chicago (where there is still an active Burgio Society). This is not to cast aspersions on the Ocello family, as I have no reason to suspect that they themselves have any ties to the mafia whether local or Sicilian, but just to identify potential source areas in Sicily for the guys who were connected, and how they might intersect with local Chicago/Rockford immigrant communities.
EDIT: To follow up on the Ocellos of South Beloit, worth noting their social network as evidenced by social media. They have lots of ties to the Burgio/Ribera/Sciacca area (including some Bacinos), as well as locally to Rockford (including Intravaias and Gullottas) and Chicago/Chicago suburbs (particularly a number of people tied to Addison, aka "zip central". Their connections include some of the Greco family and some Alfanos living in that part of the Chicago suburbs, amongst a bunch of other people of recent Italian origin). Again, not that these people are necessarily connected to the mafia at all, but goes to show how plugged in the Sicilian immigrant community in South Beloit is with the larger communities in Chicagoland and Rockford.