The Mystery of Chicago's "Zips": Potential links to Italian OC?

[cavita]

A couple more

[cavita]

Thanks Cavita. What year was that report from? Wouldn’t be surprised that Buscemi could’ve been the link in Rockford that they followed up on from the BUSICO investigation.

1985-1987. It seems from reading the files that Buscemi's son, Frank Jr. was a major link. I spoke with a retired narcotics agent stationed out of Milwaukee years ago who said he investigated the son through these cases as he was making the contacts with Milwaukee on behalf of the elder Buscemi.

[cavita]

March 1987

[cavita]

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[PolackTony]

1987 and mentions Buffalo. Good bet that this was stemming from the BUSICO stuff. I’m assuming that the link to Boston involved Aragonese Salvatore Galluzzo.

[cavita]

1987 and mentions Buffalo. Good bet that this was stemming from the BUSICO stuff. I’m assuming that the link to Boston involved Aragonese Salvatore Galluzzo.

Yes, the investigation in Rockford started out as "River Bottom" and ended up tied into "Busico." Galluzzo was involved as well as other Aragonese in Rockford. It's dizzying to read these files as the Rockford contingent was calling contacts in Sicily, Belgium, Canada, Australia and in the U.S. the calls were logged all over- Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Boston, Buffalo, Springfield, Bloomington and many other U.S. cities. Many Sicilians in Rockford had ties to Sicily, Belgium and Canada with relatives living there even to this day.

[PolackTony]

1987 and mentions Buffalo. Good bet that this was stemming from the BUSICO stuff. I’m assuming that the link to Boston involved Aragonese Salvatore Galluzzo.

Yes, the investigation in Rockford started out as "River Bottom" and ended up tied into "Busico." Galluzzo was involved as well as other Aragonese in Rockford. It's dizzying to read these files as the Rockford contingent was calling contacts in Sicily, Belgium, Canada, Australia and in the U.S. the calls were logged all over- Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Boston, Buffalo, Springfield, Bloomington and many other U.S. cities. Many Sicilians in Rockford had ties to Sicily, Belgium and Canada with relatives living there even to this day.

Yeah, it seems to me that the Aragonesi had their own narcotics trafficking network going on, linked into or connected with the larger stuff. Lots to learn there. Another thing is all of these pizzerias in the Beloit area that the FBI was aware were also moving drugs, but independent of the Pizza Connection stuff. We’ve communicated about that before, seems like a lot of guys from Burgio, Ribera, maybe a few from Marsala as well? When I looked into the families that run the pizzerias today in that area (which have been in operation since that time), I see that they, unsurprisingly, have strong connections to family and paesani in Chicago and Rockford.

[PolackTony]

Was watching a collection of old news footage on Sicilian Cosa Nostra-related busts in the US on that YouTube channel Hezakaya News. One of the news programs reporting on the Pizza Connection stuff when it first dropped (unclear what network) had an interesting map breakdown of that operation. They had stage 1 as importing the heroin to “5 small Midwestern towns”, with dots indicating Alfano, Trupiano, Palazzolo, etc. Stage 2 was then moving the heroin to NYC, and stage 3 “redistributing it to other major metropolitan areas”. Stages 1 and 2 are not news, of course, but it’s stage 3 that I’m wondering about. I’m posting the map below. It specifically pinpoints NJ, Philly, Detroit, and Chicago:





As they pinpointed the locations of Alfano, et al, on the first map, I’m thinking that the locations on the third map are not incidental. Whoever put the map together must’ve been told something about which cities were being supplied, so I’m thinking that the Feds probably had intel on who in Chicago was on the receiving end.

[PolackTony]

Members of the BHF are familiar with the infamous "Last Supper" photo. The photo shows the admin and capos of the Chicago family meeting at the old Sicily Restuarant, located at 2743 N Harlem, on the border of Chicago and Elmwood Park:



The Sicily Restaurant was owned by Giovanni Incandela, who was born in 1927 in Altavilla Milicia. Giovanni emigrated to Chicago in 1970 and settled in Elmwood Park, a couple of blocks from the restaurant. The connections between Altavilla Milicia in Chicago are very deep and longstanding; beginning over 120 years ago, there is still back-and-forth migration between Chicago and Altavilla, and essentially everyone in Altavilla has relatives in Chicago.

In 1978, WMAQ TV in Chicago produced this piece on the strong ties between Chicago and Altavilla, which at the time were greatly ramping up again due to cheap airfares and a new wave of immigration ("Now, it's hard to tell where Chicago ends and Altavilla Milicia begins..."):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD-aTYuqMLk

Some notes:

The Incandelas owned restaurants in both Chicago and Altavilla (there have also been Incandelas named as tied to the mafia in Altavilla).

The Joe Camarda who they show here is today the President of the Società Maria S.S. Lauretana di Altavilla Milicia in Chicago (there are recent photos of him being treated like a visiting dignitary by business partners in Bagheria).

Also note Gaspare Lombardo, who, I believe, was a cousin of the Francesco "Frank" Lombardo who I discussed above.

The mafia in Altavilla Milicia is intimately tied to Bagheria, Villabate, and Ficarazzi, and in the "Second Mafia War" in the early 1980s, Altavilla formed part of what was locally called "The Triangle of Death", along with Bagheria and Casteldaccia (recall that Domenico Lo Cascio, a restaurant owner in Cicero, also from Altavilla and Frank Lombardo's brother-in-law, was kidnapped and apparently disappeared while on a trip back to Sicily in 1983).

In the last decade, Italian reports have named Francesco Lombardo as the boss of the Altavilla family, though since then both Francesco and his son Andrea Lombardo turned pentiti.

[PolackTony]

With the links that Sal Catalano had to Chicago, the subject of the large Ciminnese community in Chicago has come up already on this thread. Worth noting here that the father-in-law of reputed current Outfit member Massimo LoBue, Salvatore Scimeca, was from Ciminna and emigrated to Chicago in the 1960s. Gambino boss Frank Cali's mother, Agata, was also a Scimeca from Ciminna.

Additionally, there have been a number of immigrants from Ciminna with the surname Calì in Chicago. For example, the President of the Società San Giovanni Bosco di Ciminna in Chicago in the 1970s was Vito Calì (he was succeeded in the 1980s by Antonino "Tony" Napoli, well-known in the Italian community in Chicago for his Italian-language radio program on WEEF Chicago, as well as his longtime leadership in the Sicilian Band of Chicago).

[B.]

Great info.

I know the Calis lived right in the center of Palermo citta before the US so not sure his father was from Ciminna too and they moved to Palermo or if it was just the mother.

[PolackTony]

Great info.

I know the Calis lived right in the center of Palermo citta before the US so not sure his father was from Ciminna too and they moved to Palermo or if it was just the mother.

Yeah, would be interesting to see if he father had any ties to Ciminna. The possibility is there given that he married a Ciminnesa woman and the Calì surname is found there as well.

Calì (and I’ve seen the same people interchange that spelling with Calè) is plenty common in Metro Palermo, but it’s also common in Bagheria/Casteldaccia.

EDIT: I note that Frank Cali’s mother Agata Scimeca (born 1938 in Ciminna) entered NYC in 1961. I haven’t been able to confirm any records for his father, Cesare Augusto Calì, apart from some later property records in BK. Do you know, by any chance, what year he entered the US? I have his birth year as 1936.

[bronx]

fantastic info gentlemen ty

[Antiliar]

There's a family tree at Ancestry (Anselmo Family Tree) that's interesting if any of it is correct.

It begins with Francesco (Frank) Cali, 26 March 1965, New York-13 March 2019, Staten Island, born to:
Augusto Cesare Cali and Agata Scimeca
Augusto Cesare Cali was born in 1916 in Palermo, Palermo, Sicilia (New York public records show that Cesare Augusto Cali was born in March, 1936, and lived at 7306 18th Ave, Brooklyn, the same address as Agata S. Cali) and died in 2012.
His parents were Michele Cali (1873-1958) and Angelica (Angela) Bonventre (1888-1964)
Angelica Bonventre was born around 1888 in Castellammare del Golfo, the daughter of Gaspare Bonventre and Rosa Domingo. She married a Giuseppe DiSalvo Sr (1887-1931), and after her first husband died married Cali. (News sources confirm that Frank Cali was the "great-nephew of Bonanno mobsters Vito Bonventre and Giovanni Bonventre.")

It's possible that Rosa Domingo was related to Giuseppe Domingo, the father of Sebastiano "Buster from Chicago" Domingo. If true, it's another circuitous connection to Chicago, not just with Buster, but his older brother Tony who may have been part of the Joe Aiello faction.

I would have to review the Bonventre genealogy on the family tree since I have doubts about its accuracy. It has the Vito Bonventre who led the "Good Killers" and was killed in 1930 as her older brother. However, it could be correct, I just haven't verified it. According to Vito Bonventre's coroner's report his parents were Gaspare Bonventre and Rosa Domingo, so his parentage is correct.

Agata Scimena Cali, according to her passenger manifest, was born 16 Feb 1938 in Ciminna and gave her U.S. address as 235 Elizabeth Street. Newsday noted that Rosario Morale of 235 Elizabeth Street was one of twelve Bonanno members and associates arrested in 1966.

[B.]

I believe Kiduknow found the Morales were from Baucina, Palermo. That is right by Ciminna.

That is huge if true that Cali has not only some Castellammarese heritage but connects to the Bonventres and Domingos. Was just told the other day Frank Cali was close to some of the Castellammarese Bonanno guys but no mention of a relation (however distant).

A very reputable source says Sal Catalano is also a relative of Frank Cali's mother. We know Catalano attended Cali's mother's funeral which was held in Ciminna some years back, as there was an article about it. The source himself has a marital connection with the Catalanos and was very close to them.

Should also be noted that Chris Christie has said some Calis in Palermo were maternal relatives of Salvatore D'Aquila.

Some heavyweight discussion going on in this thread.