New LCNBios posts

[johnny_scootch]

https://lcnbios.blogspot.com/2022/06/ja ... ovese.html

This was a good one!

[JoeNGallo]

An new excellent piece on Gambino member: Peter Fria https://lcnbios.blogspot.com/2022/06/pe ... mbino.html

[thekiduknow]

Fria stated Gambino appeared familiar and he may have met him at Valentino's Cafe or 'some other place'. He was also shown photographs of Carlo's brothers, Captains Paul and Giuseppi, as well as Acting Underboss Aniello Dellacroce and Captain Vincent 'Jimmy' Corrao, and claimed no knowledge of them.

This was in April of 1967,so was Dellacroce acting underboss for a few years after replacing Biondo?

[B.]

Good one. Fria's ties to Ribera go well with what Michael DiLeonardo has said about his grandfather and Jerry D'Aquila being close to people from there. Seems to be a connection with a few guys in the crew.

[Pogo The Clown]

Updated with some Chicago info.


Pogo

[PolackTony]

Updated with some Chicago info.


Pogo

Good info there about Johnny Varelli. I’ve assumed that they called him “Johnny the Bug” because he was a nut job, and that file provides proof of that. My presumption has been that he legally changed his name to “Varelli” to shield his politically-connected family from his underworld notoriety. His nephews, Pete and Mike Schivarelli have been well-known Outfit associates for years, who parlayed their family and mob connections into wealth and influence. Pete is best known as the longtime manager of the band “Chicago”, and a big shot in the historically Outfit-controlled city Streets and Sanitation department. In the latter capacity, he controlled the city’s snow plow fleet, and snow removal is a very big deal indeed for the City of Chicago (just ask Mike Bilandic). He also was alleged to have used his political clout to protect Frank Schweihs after the German murdered his young girlfriend Eugenia Pappas. The Schivarellis are like straight-out-of-central-casting Chicago guys.

The file claims that Johnny the Bug was afraid to work with Frank DeLegge, Jr, as DeLegge was the son-in-law of Nick Palermo (a member of the Daddono/Amato crew, like Varelli, and a personal buddy of Accardo). This is true, and Varelli was right to keep his distance from DeLegge, Jr, as the latter got himself whacked in the 70s after he was released from a prison bid. DeLegge and his dad were vicious criminals, notorious in the 60s for robbing a bank with Dick Cain/Scalzitti (Man of Mystery) and even robbing an IRS office (I guess they weren’t all bad). In a statement to the FBI, Palermo had stated that he never liked DeLegge, Jr, as the kid was abusive to his daughter and grandkids (many have died gruesome deaths in Chicago for far less); he said that he had hoped that DeLegge would “straighten himself out” after getting out of prison. He got straightened out at the bottom of a 6’ deep hole.

[PolackTony]

Good one. Fria's ties to Ribera go well with what Michael DiLeonardo has said about his grandfather and Jerry D'Aquila being close to people from there. Seems to be a connection with a few guys in the crew.

If someone hasn’t already, would be well worth asking DiLeonardo about Fria, in general and with respect to the Ribera connections.

I wonder what context there was to Fria’s connections to Ribera. Fria was born in Palermo Città, but I’m not sure if his parents were from there. Both surnames, Fria and Aloisa, are not terribly common. Fria (also sometimes given as “Frija”) is recorded in Villabate, at least. Neither surnames I see as connected to Agrigento (maybe I’m wrong, or there were spelling variations, but I tried looking for some possible variants). He married his wife in Palermo, and her surname, Bucca, I don’t connect to the Ribera area either, yet she wound up living there. We’ve seen examples of Ribera back in the day connected to towns as far afield as Partanna, so one would assume there were people that would’ve had connections to the regional capital, for sure.

[cobra]

Good one. Fria's ties to Ribera go well with what Michael DiLeonardo has said about his grandfather and Jerry D'Aquila being close to people from there. Seems to be a connection with a few guys in the crew.

If someone hasn’t already, would be well worth asking DiLeonardo about Fria, in general and with respect to the Ribera connections.

I wonder what context there was to Fria’s connections to Ribera. Fria was born in Palermo Città, but I’m not sure if his parents were from there. Both surnames, Fria and Aloisa, are not terribly common. Fria (also sometimes given as “Frija”) is recorded in Villabate, at least. Neither surnames I see as connected to Agrigento (maybe I’m wrong, or there were spelling variations, but I tried looking for some possible variants). He married his wife in Palermo, and her surname, Bucca, I don’t connect to the Ribera area either, yet she wound up living there. We’ve seen examples of Ribera back in the day connected to towns as far afield as Partanna, so one would assume there were people that would’ve had connections to the regional capital, for sure.

-i am thinking his real name could be pietro maida
-article say informants know him as "pedro meda" and "don patrinu maida"
-peter fria could be some name he used to arrive in usa
-maybe another mafioso he pretend is his uncle

[PolackTony]

Good one. Fria's ties to Ribera go well with what Michael DiLeonardo has said about his grandfather and Jerry D'Aquila being close to people from there. Seems to be a connection with a few guys in the crew.

If someone hasn’t already, would be well worth asking DiLeonardo about Fria, in general and with respect to the Ribera connections.

I wonder what context there was to Fria’s connections to Ribera. Fria was born in Palermo Città, but I’m not sure if his parents were from there. Both surnames, Fria and Aloisa, are not terribly common. Fria (also sometimes given as “Frija”) is recorded in Villabate, at least. Neither surnames I see as connected to Agrigento (maybe I’m wrong, or there were spelling variations, but I tried looking for some possible variants). He married his wife in Palermo, and her surname, Bucca, I don’t connect to the Ribera area either, yet she wound up living there. We’ve seen examples of Ribera back in the day connected to towns as far afield as Partanna, so one would assume there were people that would’ve had connections to the regional capital, for sure.

-i am thinking his real name could be pietro maida
-article say informants know him as "pedro meda" and "don patrinu maida"
-peter fria could be some name he used to arrive in usa
-maybe another mafioso he pretend is his uncle

Yeah, it’s certainly possible that he used the Fria identity to enter the US. We’ve seen other mafiosi use assumed identities like that. While not very common, the Maida surname is at least recorded in Ribera and surrounding comuni in Agrigento.

[axx]

DeCavalcante Family Ceremonies (1970s)
https://lcnbios.blogspot.com/2022/06/de ... 1970s.html

[chin_gigante]

That DeCavalcante post is terrific. This bit piqued my interest because of the "council" mention:

November 3, 1976

- "[CI] stated [John] Riggi is recommending several young 'Turks' as possible LCN members. Frank Majuri was upset [his son] Charles Majuri was turned down by the 'council' as a prospective LCN member."

[Snakes]

That DeCavalcante post is terrific. This bit piqued my interest because of the "council" mention:

November 3, 1976

- "[CI] stated [John] Riggi is recommending several young 'Turks' as possible LCN members. Frank Majuri was upset [his son] Charles Majuri was turned down by the 'council' as a prospective LCN member."

Also the part about them not wanting to make guys older than fifty

[B.]

Glad he's revisiting the DeCavalcantes.

That DeCavalcante post is terrific. This bit piqued my interest because of the "council" mention:

November 3, 1976

- "[CI] stated [John] Riggi is recommending several young 'Turks' as possible LCN members. Frank Majuri was upset [his son] Charles Majuri was turned down by the 'council' as a prospective LCN member."

Fits with this posted in the Consiglio thread:



--

May 14, 1976

- "[CI] advised the ban on introducing newly made members to members of other Families has been lifted."

^ Curious if this was an NYC/NJ edict or specific to the DeCavalcantes, as it would play into what LaRasso told DeCarlo in the 1960s about purposely not introducing most of their members to other Families.

[This was done because when] you have [an] administration meeting or you have a meeting that you're going to straighten somebody out as a wise guy, no one's supposed to know the location but the Consigliere. He sets up the location and meets people elsewhere and brings them there, so no one knows where that spot is until the last minute.

Reminds me of Vitale saying the consigliere had certain ceremonial duties like announcing the candidate(s) during boss elections.

- "[CI] advised Louis LaRasso recently sponsored [Redacted] as a member of the DeCavalcante Family, but this proposal was shot down by [Genovese Boss] Funzi Tieri."

Might be Gaetano Vastola. He had a long history of association with Tieri and his uncle was a Genovese member w/ that faction. He wouldn't be made until a few years after this despite being in with the leadership since the early 1960s.

[Shellackhead]

Great post, I enjoyed the read

[Chaps]

"Palermo, described as John Riggi's 'favorite', is another likely first wave inductee."

This was a comment that caught my eye as other, including Palermo himself, always said John Riggi had it out for him because Jimmy Palermo killed his brother-in-law Zeeny Colicchio in a beating that was ordered by Nick Delmore. The following is from a Gangland column:

"On Sept. 13, 1960, Palermo shot Alphonso (Zeeny) Colicchio to death in his Elizabeth, N.J. bar and grill – Zeeny’s Tavern – when the bar owner tried to defend himself from a “beating” Palermo and a gaggle of other gangsters tried to give him, say the prosecutors.
Colicchio “had disrespected” the then boss of the DeCavalcante gang, Nick Delmore, the prosecutors said. Since then, Palermo had complained that
John Riggi always had it in for him because Colicchio was Riggi’s brother-in-law.
“As recently as 1999,” they said, “Palermo complained to others in the DeCavalcante family that Riggi ….never forgave Palermo for his role in the murder.”

JD was said he had more info about this but never did a writeup. I have found it strange that Riggi later made Palermo his Underboss later on if he hated him so much.