What do We Know about the Newark Family?

[JoelTurner]

- Bill Bonanno in his posthumous book "The Last Testament of Bill Bonanno" wrote some things on Newark that are confused, but there might be a few grains of truth in them. He wrote that it was formed later than other Families, which makes sense considering when Badami arrived. Of course we don't know if maybe D'Amico was an earlier boss who for unknown reasons stepped down, then retook the throne after Badami was killed. There are other cases where an earlier boss became boss again later, like Tony Accardo. He wrote that Newark later went to Elizabeth, which appears to be false. He wrote that Salvatore D'Aquila was the leader of the Newark group, then after he was killed it went under Al Mineo and then absorbed into the Masseria group. We know that D'Aquila was the head of what is now the Gambino Family, but it's possible that Newark was a puppet of his.

DiLeonardo said when Jerry D'Aquila was demoted and on the outs with the Gambino leadership he ended up getting really close to the DeCavalcantes and hanging around them a lot. Made me think of what Bill B said about D'Aquila / New Jersey. Maybe there were some older relationships there.

Wouldn’t that mean there were links between The DeCavs and D’Aquila family rather than Newark and D’Aquila?

[B.]

It would, and we can all but confirm the D'Aquila Agrigento faction under the LoCiceros were tied to the DeCavalcantes in one way or another (one of their sons was born in Ribera) but I bring it up here because maybe Bill Bonanno heard D'Aquila was connected to New Jersey and assumed it was the Newark Family when it was actually in reference to the DeCavalcantes. Just a possibility.

[B.]

A "Leonardo Cippoli" of Brooklyn was apparently questioned as a suspect in the Troia/Longo murder. LE received a tip linking him to the murders but they couldn't place him at the scene.

- This is probably Leonardo Cipolla (b. 1883) from Camporeale who lived in Williamsburg. He looks to have arrived to the US in 1905 from Partinico (heavily tied to Camporeale), listing a "Vito DiGiorgi" as his brother-in-law / arrival contact in NYC.

- In 1937, just a couple years after the Troia murder, Leonardo Cipolla took a trip to Sicily and returned with former Bonanno boss Nicolo Schiro and Schiro's relatives the Grippis. By this time Schiro was living in Bloomfield, NJ, and like Cipolla part of his heritage came from Camporeale.

- Possible relative Vito Cipolla (b. 1902) was living in East Orange, NJ by the 1950s. He was from Partinico and had a son named Leonard.

- Interestingly, a Leonardo Cipolla was involved with Vito DiGiorgio of Corleone in New Orleans prior to DiGirgio moving to LA and becoming boss there. This Leonardo Cipolla has a WWI card placing him in New Orleans at the same time the other one was in Brooklyn and their age appears to be a couple years apart, though their wives were both named Mary/Maria. A new book "A Lie Will Suffice: A DiGiovanni Family History" talks a lot about the New Orleans Cipolla (not sure what sources they used, only skimmed what's available online) and says this Cipolla was rumored to have been killed in St. Louis in the early 1920s but it was unconfirmed.

^ What's weird is the NYC Cipolla arriving to an in-law in NYC named "Vito DiGiorgi", while the NO Cipolla was closely involved with Vito DiGiorgio. We know these coincidences happen but maybe there's more to the story. Was the Corleonese Vito DiGiorgio living in NYC circa 1905?

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Pretty interesting a Cipolla with ties to Nicola Schiro (by then an NJ resident) was linked to the Troia murder. Also lends itself to some of the FBI files talking about Joe Bonanno's involvement in the Troia affair and Riela's eventual membership with Bonanno.

Seems Cipolla may have been an early Bonanno member based on the Williamsburg/Camporeale/Schiro trifecta, though the Newark Family had ties to Camporeale as well via underboss Saverio Monaco, whose business partner was a Mangiaracina from Camporeale. Bonanno member Salvatore Mangiaracina was from Partinico/Borgetto but like Schiro and Cipolla may have been tied to Camporeale too.

[B.]

^^^ Correction

- Vito DiGiorgio was apparently from Borgetto (essentially Partinico), not Corleone. Justin Cascio also has him in NYC circa 1904/1905, so it does appear he could be Leonardo Cipolla from Partinico's arrival contact / brother-in-law.

[PolackTony]

^^^ Correction

- Vito DiGiorgio was apparently from Borgetto (essentially Partinico), not Corleone. Justin Cascio also has him in NYC circa 1904/1905, so it does appear he could be Leonardo Cipolla from Partinico's arrival contact / brother-in-law.

Good info. Never realized that he spent time in NYC.

You’ll be interested in this article from the NOLA States (05/14/1922). Note the mention of Cipolla:

[Antiliar]

Joseph Cipolla was killed in St. Louis on December 21, 1921. Frank Sicola, who also was connected to DiGiorgio, was killed in St. Louis on July 23, 1922.

[B.]

- The DiGiovanni book mentions that the rumor of Leonardo Cipolla's murder in STL could have come from confusion over Joseph Cipolla's murder in STL around the same time.

- After looking over the documents again, I now think Leonardo Cipolla of New Orleans is the same one who was connected to Schiro in Brooklyn. The New Orleans one lists his birthday as August 23 1881, while the Schiro-connected Brooklyn one has August 23 1883. Both had a wife named Maria/Mary.

- I don't think he was born in Camporeale like I said earlier -- there was another Leonardo Cipolla born in Camporeale I may have confused him with. It was this Cipolla (b. 1890 in Camporeale) that made me erroneously believe there was a conflicting WWI draft card for Cipolla in NYC but this is a different guy.

- The Schiro-connected Leonardo Cipolla looks to have been born in Partinico. However, his wife Maria Saladino lists her birthplace as Camporeale and obviously the Schiro connection places him in that network. He was married in NYC in 1915, in New Orleans by 1917-1918, then back in NYC by 1923 for his naturalization.

- Cipolla died in Brooklyn in 1943.

If he was in fact the Leonardo "Cippoli" linked to the Troia murder in 1935, he's certainly someone with a deeper history given the ties to Vito DiGiorgio and Nicola Schiro. He was said to be quite important in New Orleans, too. Another Schiro-connected New Orleans figure was Jack Rizzuto, a relative of Nicolo Schiro and brother of Bonanno figure Nino Rizzuto.

[PolackTony]

Great info. I hadn’t looked into Cipolla myself, but I was really wondering if the NOLA and BK Cipollas were the same guy. Looks like they were. Very common, as you know, to see the same guy list his birthdate within a range of a couple of years on various documents, so the 08/23 day is a strong bet. I’d suspect that Partinico, Camporeale, and surrounding comuni (SGJ?) could’ve comprised another one of these regional “triangle” areas of close mafia interaction that carried over to paesani dynamics in the diaspora.

[JoelTurner]

A "Leonardo Cippoli" of Brooklyn was apparently questioned as a suspect in the Troia/Longo murder. LE received a tip linking him to the murders but they couldn't place him at the scene.

- This is probably Leonardo Cipolla (b. 1883) from Camporeale who lived in Williamsburg. He looks to have arrived to the US in 1905 from Partinico (heavily tied to Camporeale), listing a "Vito DiGiorgi" as his brother-in-law / arrival contact in NYC.

- In 1937, just a couple years after the Troia murder, Leonardo Cipolla took a trip to Sicily and returned with former Bonanno boss Nicolo Schiro and Schiro's relatives the Grippis. By this time Schiro was living in Bloomfield, NJ, and like Cipolla part of his heritage came from Camporeale.

- Possible relative Vito Cipolla (b. 1902) was living in East Orange, NJ by the 1950s. He was from Partinico and had a son named Leonard.

- Interestingly, a Leonardo Cipolla was involved with Vito DiGiorgio of Corleone in New Orleans prior to DiGirgio moving to LA and becoming boss there. This Leonardo Cipolla has a WWI card placing him in New Orleans at the same time the other one was in Brooklyn and their age appears to be a couple years apart, though their wives were both named Mary/Maria. A new book "A Lie Will Suffice: A DiGiovanni Family History" talks a lot about the New Orleans Cipolla (not sure what sources they used, only skimmed what's available online) and says this Cipolla was rumored to have been killed in St. Louis in the early 1920s but it was unconfirmed.

^ What's weird is the NYC Cipolla arriving to an in-law in NYC named "Vito DiGiorgi", while the NO Cipolla was closely involved with Vito DiGiorgio. We know these coincidences happen but maybe there's more to the story. Was the Corleonese Vito DiGiorgio living in NYC circa 1905?

--

Pretty interesting a Cipolla with ties to Nicola Schiro (by then an NJ resident) was linked to the Troia murder. Also lends itself to some of the FBI files talking about Joe Bonanno's involvement in the Troia affair and Riela's eventual membership with Bonanno.

Seems Cipolla may have been an early Bonanno member based on the Williamsburg/Camporeale/Schiro trifecta, though the Newark Family had ties to Camporeale as well via underboss Saverio Monaco, whose business partner was a Mangiaracina from Camporeale. Bonanno member Salvatore Mangiaracina was from Partinico/Borgetto but like Schiro and Cipolla may have been tied to Camporeale too.

Great find. I’d think that he was an early Bonanno member too. He fits their pattern.

I wonder what was his connection to this Newark crowd. This makes me pretty curious about Schiro’s involvement too.

[B.]

The book "The Spirit of Vengeance: Nativisim and Louisiana Justice, 1921–1924" says Cipolla moved from Brooklyn to New Orleans in 1917. They fled New Orleans in 1921. Interestingly the book says Cipolla was regarded as the "mafia capo" of New Orleans at that time by LE but the books authors weren't convinced.

- Cipolla looks to be a remnant of that early Partinico/Borgetto faction in the Bonanno Family identified by CC/Antiliar/Lennert in their Informer article. It produced Bonanno members Carlo Costantino (possible early 1900s underboss), Filippo Rappa (consigliere 1930s), Salvatore Mangiaracina (peace committee member 1931), and Antonino Passananti. Intersects closely with the Camporeale element that served as early bosses.

- Vito DiGiorgio coming from Borgetto, being listed as a brother-in-law of Leonardo Cipolla (who he continued to associate with in NO), and spending a short period in NYC could mean he fell within the Bonanno network. We know Schiro had strong influence with the Lanzas/SF and Desimones/LA so maybe this influence also played out with DiGiorgio and helped him get elevated to LA boss so quickly. If there's any truth to Cipolla being New Orleans boss for a period, this could have been with Schiro's influence too.

- If it's true Cipolla is the "Leonardo Cippoli of Brooklyn" named as a suspect and the tip was accurate, it suggests the Bonanno Family was involved with the Troia murder much like the Profaci Family intervened in the D'Amico situation a couple years later. There's the report that says Joe Bonanno ordered Tony Riela to collect on Troia's assets, so maybe the Bonanno Family also handled the murder itself.

[Antiliar]

I wrote a lot about Cipolla in my article about DiGiorgio in Informer from 2010. "Spirit of Vengeance" was one of my sources, as well as that author's dissertation. Interestingly, when DiGiorgio was arrested with Vincenzo Chiappetta for a Black Hand bombing in 1908, the two other men arrested with them were the brothers Stabile and Vincenzo Cipolla. I wasn't able to discover if they were related to Leonardo, but there were fewer genealogical resources available before 2010.

I can't rule out that Cipolla was a boss from 1917 to 1921 since we have a knowledge gap after the murder of Vincenzo Moreci in late 1915. Maybe DiGiorgio was an underboss, who knows?

[JoelTurner]

- If it's true Cipolla is the "Leonardo Cippoli of Brooklyn" named as a suspect and the tip was accurate, it suggests the Bonanno Family was involved with the Troia murder much like the Profaci Family intervened in the D'Amico situation a couple years later. There's the report that says Joe Bonanno ordered Tony Riela to collect on Troia's assets, so maybe the Bonanno Family also handled the murder itself.

It did strike me once I started think about what happened. Troia and his guys are sitting in a room when they get shot up. Riela was his close companion, but isn’t there and later “takes account”.

I hadn’t pondered the Bonanno connection until now. I wrote off Riela joining their family as each family took a piece.

It’s interesting that he didn’t mention it in his biography, maybe there were still legal implications. I wonder if told Bill the full story, because he didn’t seem to have a great understanding of the situation in Newark.

[Antiliar]

Following up on the New Orleans Cipollas, the two brothers were Stabillio or Stagillio (per the Daily Picayune) and Joseph, and they lived at 2124 Decatur Street. The Times-Democrat gave their names as John and younger brother Stagellas Cipolla. Another article has Stazullia Cipolla. Stabillio/Stagillio was accused of killing a bakery driver named Purpi (Joseph Purpe, killed March 22, 1908) several months before the Serio bombing in 1908. In 1907 a fruit dealer named Salvatore Pagano who lived at 2124 Decatur paid a bond for Emanuel Rocheri (Roceri?), who was charged with grand theft and fled. Giuseppe Manfre, using the name P. G. Monfre, was mixed up with the bond and was found with a letter that said a Joseph Messina told him that Angelo Albano offered him $400 to kill him (Manfre). Then Albano and a Mr. Giambelluca came to Manfre in the name of Salvatore Patorno (a judge and Sicilian leader in New Orleans) and Francesco Genova (real name Motisi, the New Orleans Mafia boss and later boss of Pagliarelli) begging him to stop searching for the $1,000 bond that Pagano sold off. The letter was found on Manfre when he was arrested by the sheriff of Jefferson County. In 1914, 2124 Decatur was the address of F. Lombardo & Sons, a bakery and macaroni factory.

I couldn't find anything like Stagellas/Stazullia/Stabillio/Stagillio Cipolla in the various vital records of that era. It seems that most of the Cipollas in New Orleans came from Roccamena, the same city Nicola Schiro came from. One possibility for the other brother is a Giovanni Cipolla who arrived at the Port of New Orleans in October 1907. He came from Montevago, Agrigento, and had a relative back in his home country named Stefano Mangiaracina. He later appeared in Chicago, at 732 South Clark Street in 1918. However, Giovanni Cipolla was only 5 feet tall. Both of the brothers were between 5'6" and 5'10" tall.

[B.]

I hadn’t pondered the Bonanno connection until now. I wrote off Riela joining their family as each family took a piece.

Troia was heavily linked to the Bonanno Family, so if the Bonanno Family was involved in his murder/aftermath it might a result of the ongoing relationship.

Breakdown of Troia and Newark's ties to the Bonannos and Trapani network:

- Troia is ID'd circa early 1920s by Melchiorre Allegra as a close associate of Salvatore Maranzano in Palermo.

- During this period Troia is said by investigators to accompany stolen cattle (under the guise of animal welfare) to the port of Trapani, where he then took the cattle to Tunis. At this time Maranzano is the capoprovincia of Trapani and Troia is a high-ranking member of San Giuseppe Jato, so Maranzano was likely aware of this arrangement. Castellammare/Trapani province had a strong presence in Tunis so Troia presumably had contact with Trapani affiliates there.

- Maranzano and Troia both come to the US and seem to quietly operate in their own networks, but by the Castellammarese War both men are top national figures and allies. Troia however upsets Maranzano by pushing for peace with Masseria (his duty as a peace committee member), though there's nothing to suggest their alliance/friendship ended and Troia participated in Maranzano's post-war banquet.

- Newark boss Stefano Badami and underboss Saverio Monaco are Maranzano allies during the war, with Maranzano sending gunmen to assist Badami. Badami was Corleonese but came to the US from Tunis and his wife was from Nicolo Schiro's hometown of Roccamena. Immediately after Maranzano's murder underboss Monaco is killed and this is presumably when Badami steps down or is deposed. From the limited info we have it appears the Badami/Monaco regime was heavily under the influence of Maranzano, though the D'Amico regime was under the influence of Joe Profaci who was a Bonanno ally and alleged Maranzano sympathizer himself.

- Monaco represented a significant faction from Trapani province, particularly Vita, and his business partner was from Camporeale. Settimo Accardi from Vita came to Newark from Tunis where he was accompanied by his cousin, Bonanno member Vincenzo Morsellino. Tunis and Camporeale were pivotal to the foundation of the Bonanno Family so these are interesting connections.

- Troia moves to Newark and allegedly attempts a coup to take over the Family by 1935 so he and top allies are massacred. One of the suspects is possible Bonanno member and ex-New Orleans leader Leonardo Cipolla. Troia's paesan/relative Tony Riela is allegedly tasked by Bonanno with collecting Troia's financial resources.

- The Newark Family disbands around 1937 and Tony Riela surfaces as a Bonanno member. Pietro Licata, who was active with the Sicilian mafia in San Cipirello / San Giuseppe Jato (essentially the same village), eventually comes to the US where he either transfers or is inducted into the Bonanno Family. San Giuseppe Jato capodecina Pino Ganci comes to NYC where he affiliates himself with the Bonannos. However Riela's relative Frank Polizzi also comes to the US but joins the DeCavalcantes instead of the Bonannos.

- An even earlier example of these connections might be Gioacchino DiMartino, who attended Vito Cascio Ferro's welcome dinner with the NYC mafia leadership. He was from San Cipirello and was a cousin of Giovanni Pecoraro but on a 1910 trip he listed Nicolo Schiro as his arrival contact. San Giuseppe Jato / San Cipirello is near Camporeale.

^^^ Note that San Cipirello began as an offshoot comune of San Giuseppe Jato when the latter was damaged in a natural disaster. They have at times shared the same municipal government and though there are or were separate mafia Families in the two villages they worked in tandem and are very much one compaesani group.

Though Troia was not a Bonanno member he was tied to them politically in both Sicily and the US, then important paesani of his later affiliated with the Bonannos. It's not surprising with all of this in mind that the Bonannos may have been tasked by the Commission with carrying out his murder and handling the aftermath, just as Profaci did with D'Amico.

[B.]

The thing is, we have people like Bill Bonanno making Newark out to be a political battleground between figures like D'Aquila and Masseria but the evidence points to the leadership from 1930-1937 being firmly under the influence of the Maranzano-Bonanno-Gagliano-Profaci conservative faction.

We have the Maranzano/Bonanno and Profaci Families intervening in the Newark Family's issues under Badami and D'Amico, nothing about the Gambinos or Genoveses. Willie Moretti was a Masseria member aligned with the Newark Family against Richie Boiardo but there is nothing available that I can think of suggesting he or Masseria had significant influence over the Newark Family. Badami was close to Maranzano and Gagliano (Tom Gagliano was his arrival contact when he came to the US from Tunis), then D'Amico was close to Profaci with Troia's exact position unknown, though his ties again go back to Maranzano/Bonanno.

Maybe the Gambino and Genovese Families had a bigger role with the Newark Family before Badami took over but the Family pre-1930 is a total mystery and from what's available in the 1930s it was the Bonanno, Lucchese, and Profaci Families that played a central role in Newark's politics. These are also the Families where most of the known Newark members ended up post-breakup.