Why did Sam DeCavalcante have people on loan?

[JoelTurner]

Sam DeCavalcante had at least 3 people who were members of other families but operated under him and were described as being on loan.

- Dominick "Louie" Luciano - part of the Philadelphia family

- Alessio "Albert" Barrasso - part of a New York family (likely Colombo)

- Camillo 'Bill' Molinaro - part of the Cleveland family

I don't think that the DeCavalcante family had hit their membership cap, which was supposedly 75 members, so this wasn't really a way to circumvent it.

Unlike instances like when Jack Dragna sent Frank Bompensiero to Tampa to fight the KKK, these were long-term arrangements. I'm curious as to why none of them transferred. All of them were living in North Jersey prior to being "loaned", so it's not like they had to move cities.

Why was Sam DeCavalcante the only boss, as far as I can tell, to have this arrangement?

[nizarsoccer]

I really doubt Camillo 'Bill' Molinaro was part of the Cleveland family. He on abortion "doctor" related to some members of the LA Family and while he knew of a very specific relationship nexus, it's hard the timeline to work if Cleveland only started making people in 1976/77 after Cleveland not making people for a very long time. He didn't even Cleveland members/associates in Cleveland. Anthony Liberatore, he first met in San Diego via an introduction through Joseph Limandri/Hardian Liberatore. John "Curly" Montana, he met in the tri-state area via a Buffalo/DeCav associate (Jesse Hyman).

[JoelTurner]

I really doubt Camillo 'Bill' Molinaro was part of the Cleveland family.

(https://books.google.ca/books?id=UqtdHl ... &q&f=false)

According to Bob Buccino, Molinaro admitted to being a member of the Cleveland family and said that he was “Under the wing of Sam DeCavalcante”.

I found the Cleveland thing pretty weird too. As far as I can tell, he was born and lived his whole life in New Jersey. I don’t see anything linking him to Cleveland other than his own statement.

it's hard the timeline to work if Cleveland only started making people in 1976/77 after Cleveland not making people for a very long time.

It’s interesting that you mention that Cleveland hadn’t made people for a while before 1976-77. Molinaro claimed to be a member in 1975.

Even if we take his story at face value, it’s pretty weird that he would be a Cleveland member on loan to Sam DeCavalcante.

[nizarsoccer]

I really doubt Camillo 'Bill' Molinaro was part of the Cleveland family.

(https://books.google.ca/books?id=UqtdHl ... &q&f=false)

According to Bob Buccino, Molinaro admitted to being a member of the Cleveland family and said that he was “Under the wing of Sam DeCavalcante”.

I found the Cleveland thing pretty weird too. As far as I can tell, he was born and lived his whole life in New Jersey. I don’t see anything linking him to Cleveland other than his own statement.

it's hard the timeline to work if Cleveland only started making people in 1976/77 after Cleveland not making people for a very long time.

It’s interesting that you mention that Cleveland hadn’t made people for a while before 1976-77. Molinaro claimed to be a member in 1975.

Even if we take his story at face value, it’s pretty weird that he would be a Cleveland member on loan to Sam DeCavalcante.

I wrote a lot about him as part of research I was doing on another person:


Born in 1916 or 1917 (newspapers differ), Molinaro at first showed up to me in the record in 1969 when he was arrested in connection with an abortion ring.[1545] Molinaro and a female accomplice were snared by a sting operation where an undercover female agent from the Morris County Prosecutor’s office contacted the duo to perform an abortion on her.[1546] The pair was charged with attempted abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion.[1547] What’s really crazy is that this was Molinaro’s second arrest in 2 years for abortion related “crimes”. In 1967, he was charged with another man for performing an abortion on a 22-year-old college student in a hotel under the alias “Dr. John Adams”.[1548] Molinaro ended up getting convicted on the 1967 charges and received a sentence of 4 ½ – 6 years in prison and a $1,500 fine.[1549] Not wanting to do prison time, Molinaro became a fugitive from the law and filed appeals (that were dismissed) while on the run.[1550] Now New Jersey police officer Robert “Bob” Buccino had encounters with Comillo Moliaro and fleshed out some context around the latter’s activities. He claimed that an abortion case he built against Molinaro went nowhere in Morristown because Molinaro paid $30,000 to a Democrat politician who gave a third of it a county detective and the other third to a state trooper to squash the case.[1551]

As it turns out, Molinaro didn’t run far away and would resurface a couple years later among an interesting crowd. On December 10th, 1975, Comillo Molinaro was arrested at the Roman Forum, the nightclub at Local 945’s headquarters set-up by Palmeri to siphon money from the union’s trust fund.[1552] Buccino, the arresting officer, gives a different date in his book, early March 1980.[1553] Regardless, Buccino observed that he was working for the Teamsters out Local 945 and some of his activities start to emerge.[1554] The commission investigating New Jersey’s solid waste industry noted that Comillo Molinaro was an associate of Simone “Sam the Plumber” DeCavalcante and he was hired by George A. Franconero, Palmeri’s and Hyman’s lawyer.[1555] As manager of the Forum, Molinaro was paid $325 per week and would take money out of the Forum’s register at will, including a $10,000 that was earmarked to construction company Boulderwood for supposed improvements.[1556] The final highlight from the report also noted that after an investigation by New Jersey’s Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC), it was revealed that one of Molinaro’s jobs for DeCavalcante was to transport money to Las Vegas.[1557] That’s pretty vague and it wasn’t until I read the report investigating dental plan infiltration by organized crime that some more details were fleshed out. I will first outline Molinaro’s and Buccino’s testimony and then examine if we can make some sense from the story that was presented.

Molinaro testified that he initially met Jesse Hyman while working at the Forum.[1558] After working out a deal with Hyman, Molinaro incorporated G&M Services with the help of attorney George Franconero to provide laboratorial, janitorial, and other general services to Hyman’s dental clinic in Irvington, New Jersey.[1559] For those services, he initially got paid $200 per week that was bumped up to $250 after some time.[1560] The Forum, by the way, was then managed by Stanley Resnick starting in 1976 on a trial basis after Hyman discussed with him an opportunity to purchase the club.[1561] As part of Molinaro’s relationship with the dentist, he met once with Cleveland organized crime figure John “Curly” Montana in the tri-state area.[1562] That statement could be doubtful considering Molinaro’s next connection. Comillo stated that he met Anthony Liberatore in 1960 who subsequently became the godfather to one of Molinaro’s children.[1563] Anthony “Tony” Liberatore was made into the Cleveland Crime Family in 1976 or 1977 (depends if you believe James “Jimmy the Weasel” Fratianno’s or Angelo Lonardo’s date) after serving 20 years in prison for participating in the murder of two police officers.[1564] Tony Liberatore was paroled in 1958 and in 1965 he was elected business manager of Laborers’ Local 860, becoming increasingly influential among labor circles.[1565] John Montana was described in FBI reports as an associate of Liberatore, and thus if Molinaro was indeed a member of Cleveland's Family, probably met him more than once like he testified.[1566] Molinaro affirmed that he was initially introduced to Liberatore in San Diego by Tony’s brother “Bill Liberatore”.[1567] The introduction to the Liberatore family was facilitated by Molinaro’s cousins Joseph and John Limandri (or Li Mandri) who were friendly with the Clevelanders.[1568] Joseph Limandri and his father, Michael “Mimi” Limandri, were both members of the San Diego crew of the Los Angeles LCN Family.[1569] The biggest claim made by Molinaro was that he was a made member of the Cleveland Crime Family and that he was sponsored by Joseph Limandri, but was currently “on loan” to the DeCavalcante Crime Family.[1570] Speaking of the north Jersey crew, Molinaro also had a long-time connection with DeCavalcante Acting Boss John “the Eagle” Riggi, business agent of Laborer’s Local 394.[1571] Both Riggi and Molinaro in their testimony agreed that they first got acquainted with each other around 1970 and that Molinaro met with Riggi several times per month at “Café Italiano”.[1572] That was probably a typo and they were actually referring to Café Italia, a place that served as headquarters for Riggi and the DeCavalcante Family alongside the Ribera Club.[1573] Further evidence of their closeness came from the fact that Molinaro attended both Riggi’s son’s and daughter’s weddings, with his son’s wedding reception being held at the Forum.[1574] As an associate of Riggi’s, Molinaro was directed to settle labor disputes at job sites by intimidating or assaulting those individuals deemed causing the problems with one such instance happening at Newark Airport.[1575] Furthermore, when John Riggi was having trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Molinaro was able to solve those problems through his connections with the Limandri family in California.[1576] Apparently DeCavalcante himself contacted Molinaro to see if he could help solve Riggi’s problem, with Comillo flying to California to meet with Harry Hall or Haller.[1577] Hall made a call in the presence of Molinaro to someone in Washington, D.C. who promised that he could solve Riggi’s problem for $25,000.[1578] A couple weeks later Hall visited Molinaro in New Jersey with a letter from the IRS to the Philadelphia office that showed that the matter was resolved.[1579] Molinaro showed this letter to Sam the Plumber who after reading the letter and satisfied that the matter was settled, destroyed the letter and made the $25,000 payment.[1580] The final claim that Molinaro made was his ability to secure loans from the Teamsters’ pension plan. In 1975 alone, he claimed he was able to secure four loans ranging from $500,000 to $2 million provided that the person seeking the loans was 1) referred to him by an associate or member of organized crime and 2) brought 10%-50% of the loan value upfront in cash.[1581] Molinaro claimed that his Teamster connection was Jackie Presser who Molinaro would contact once the money was fronted.[1582] An example was given where Molinaro received $150,000 in an upfront payment in 1975 that he split between himself, Ernest Palmeri of Local 945, an individual from a Teamsters local in Boston, and Mr. DeCavalcante.[1583] Importantly to the story, he used Dr. Hyman, who he referred to as a dentist on the Teamsters payroll, to transport the monies to Boston and Buffalo.[1584] Interestingly, Molinaro claimed that Buffalo was where all the loans either came out of or were approved.[1585] Finally, Molinaro claimed he also had involvement with Gambino members Joseph Paterno, James P. Palmeri, and Frank “Butch” Micelli as well as Genovese soldier John DiGilio.[1586] Now a lot of these details came from Bob Buccino’s testimony who claimed that he got his information from Molinaro himself after he confessed to certain details under questioning after the latter’s arrest.[1587] Paradoxically, mobbed up lawyer Franconero told Molinaro to cooperate with Buccino, but after some issues with getting Molinaro and his family enrolled into the Witness Protection Program, the mob somehow “got to him” and Molinaro stopped cooperating.[1588] Molinaro dropped off the face of the earth and I couldn’t find any articles on further criminal involvement subsequent to 1980. A Mafia abortion doctor turned lab technician turned financier. Truly a weird story. So how much of these claims check out? Surprisingly, it pretty much all checks out.

I think the best to verify Molinaro’s statements is to verify the nexus of relationships he described existed and can be corroborated by other sources. Essentially, he was purporting there were specific ties between Los Angeles <-> Cleveland <-> Buffalo via the particular people mentioned which carried implications on secondary relationships. Let’s start with the Limandri family first since they were directly related to Molinaro. Marco Limandri was originally born in Palermo, Sicily and came over to Manhattan (and later New Jersey) in 1913, becoming a member of what then was the D’Aquila Family (later Gambino).[1589] He was involving in bootlegging and counterfeit money and the Bureau of Narcotic’s book claimed he was one of the largest narcotics distributors in the U.S. with connections in Italy and New York and with top Mafia figures.[1590] He was the brother-in-law of fellow Gambino mobster Michael Pecoraro, was put as the witness to the marriage between Gambino powerhouse Joseph Riccobono and his wife Carmela Pinzolo, and was listed as a known associate of olive oil czar Joseph Profaci.[1591] In fact, Mimi shows up in multiple FBI and DOJ memos listing him as part of the “inner circle of the Mafia” and an invitee to an LCN meeting attended by many of the “old line bosses” in the Miami area in January 1968 that included New Orleans Boss Carlos Marcello, Los Angeles Boss Nick Licata, San Francisco Boss James Lanza, and San Jose Boss Joseph Cerrito.[1592] His reputation can be seen from the fact that members of the Bonanno Crime Family approached Mimi Limandri in October of 1967 to use his influence with Joseph Bonanno to avert open warfare within the family as the latter tried to regain control over his borgata.[1593] In the 1940s, Mimi moved out to California and at some point transferred his LCN membership to the Los Angeles Crime Family, settling in San Diego.[1594] His son Joseph Limandri was born in New York and moved with his father to San Diego to direct the family’s activities in the labor union racket.[1595] He was the business agent for Culinary Workers Alliance Local 402, AFL-CIO, which later became HERE Local 30.[1596] Joseph Limandri was also married to Florence Dippolito, sister of fellow Los Angeles member Joseph Dippolito.[1597] Marco and both Josephs were part of the San Diego regime of the LA LCN Family under caporegime Joseph Adamo.[1598] Joseph Dippolito was later promoted by Nicholas Licata to become the family’s underboss.[1599] The Limandri’s were also said to be politically powerful in San Diego with some measure of influence over mayor Frank Curran and San Diego County Democratic Chairman Murray Goodrich.[1600] The Limandris’, however, were not just politically connected and had LCN contacts across the county. Joseph Limandri, for instance, told an informant that he was good friends with Sam Massi from Chicago and Detroit power Peter Licavoli, cousin to Cleveland’s Boss James “Jack White” Licavoli.[1601] Joseph Limandri also knew Anthony Liberatore who possibly attended a meeting that included future Tropicana swindler Joseph Agosto![1602] Small world indeed. This was back in 1974 when Agosto was trying to line up labor leaders behind his insurance fund scheme.[1603] Further proof of their acquittance comes from “Bill Liberatore”. Bill’s full name was John Hadrian Liberatore, a real estate broker living in San Diego that authorities contend was associated with organized crime in Los Angeles.[1604] More about of their relationship will come, but so far it seems what Molinaro was saying is true and that the Liberatore family did know the Limandri family. Further proof for the nexus of relationships described by Molinaro, the FBI knew of meetings between Buffalo member Carl Rizzo with LA Consigliere Frank Bompensiero and Joseph Limandri.[1605] Hyman also testified that it was Carlo Rizzo who introduced him originally to Anthony Liberatore in 1975, highlighting a pre-existing relationship.[1606] While, no testimony directly linked Molinaro to Rizzo, they were associated through their mutual relationship to Hyman and there is a reason to believe they were associated business wise which I will get to. But the simple fact that Rizzo can be linked directly to Joseph Limandri and Anthony Liberatore strengthen Molinaro’s statements since he would have had to have direct knowledge to outline such a specific web of relationships. Now what about Molinaro’s Teamsters connections? Well, that is true as well. Jackie Presser acknowledged that he talked to Molinaro numerous times on the phone, but obviously denied that he helped him get loans.[1607] Additionally, Molinaro’s claims against Jack Presser were taken seriously enough that they were included in a report to President Ronald Reagan about organized crime alongside the testimony of esteemed mob figures like Angelo Lonardo, Jimmy Fratianno, and Frank Bompensiero.[1608] We will circle back to the Teamsters and Presser in a moment, but the last major claim Molinaro made was in regards to squashing Riggi’s IRS problems via the help of a “Mr. Harry Hall” whom he knew through the Limandri family. Harry Hall’s ties the Teamsters, San Diego, and Cleveland all together and perhaps explains how Molinaro was able to leverage his familial ties to get Presser’s help.

First, is there a verifiable relationship between the Limandri family and Harry Hall? Absolutely. In fact, FBI documents highlight Harry coming to Joseph Limandri for help regarding a pair of New Jersey mobsters. In a very similar scenario to what Molinaro described, Harry Hall received $90,000 from two Jersey hoodlums to try and fix a federal case.[1609] Hall already cashed the check but was unable to deliver the “fix” and so the mobsters threatened to kill him if he didn’t return them the cash.[1610] The IRS was aware of this transaction and not wanting to testify before a grand jury regarding this matter, Hall asked Joseph Limandri if he could go to New Jersey and ask those mobsters for a “receipt” that would satisfy the IRS.[1611] Harry Hall was also associated with John Hadrian Liberatore who introduced him to his brother, Anthony.[1612] Informants told the FBI that Harry’s association with Liberatore was established through a San Diego source involving a stolen securities scheme where Hall was supposedly arrested in Los Angeles.[1613] Well the Limandris’ were from San Diego and also involved in the stolen securities racket. In 1969, an informant described how Joseph’s brother John explained how they had a contact in New York that could steal $25 to $30 million dollars worth of blue-chip stock certificates without his bank knowing that they were missing for 30 days.[1614] Thus, I think there is evidence to believe that LiMandri knew of Harry Hall who introduced him to Hadrian “Bill” Liberatore who then introduced him to Anthony Liberatore. In 1973, Liberatore supplied Harry Hall with $130,000 worth of stolen securities to be sold in Chicago.[1615] Now why is that significant? Anthony Liberatore introduced Harry Hall to William E. Presser and his son Jackie in 1970 which resulted in the creation of a hugely profitable scheme.[1616] In 1972, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters signed a $1.3 million per year four-year contract with Hoover-Gorin & Associates, a Las Vegas public relations firm.[1617] Hoover-Gorin started out as a partnership between two principles: Duke Hoover and Harry Hall.[1618] Harry Hall was also employed by Allen Dorfman and attended trustee meetings of the Central States Pension Fund.[1619] From the $5.2 million contract, Jackie Presser personally received a $200,000 kickback.[1620] Hall received about $25,000 per month from the firm, kept $8,500 to pay taxes and passed along $16,500 monthly to Presser.[1621] More importantly, Hoover-Gorin also paid $2,000 per month each to Cleveland LCN gangsters Anthony Liberatore and Thomas Lanci until 1974.[1622] The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Liberatore was put on the payroll precisely because he introduced Haller to Presser which enabled the creation of this scheme.[1623] Thus, Haller was known by both the Limandri and Liberatore family with the latter using Harry to create closer ties with Jackie Presser. Given Molinaro’s connection to both Liberatore and Limandri, it makes sense why he was able to use Presser’s services in obtaining Teamster loan. Therefore, once again Molinaro’s story about the specific connections between these people can be verifiably identified which gives further credence and weight to his testimony. It is hard to be this oddly specific if you didn’t actually know these people. Now what about the way Molinaro split the cash payoffs when he helped individuals obtain Teamsters loans?

Molinaro claimed to split bribery proceeds between himself, Ernest Palmeri, a Teamsters official in a Boston local, and Sam DeCavalcante. Additionally, Hyman was used as a bagman to transport money to Boston and Buffalo. Because Molinaro believed that Teamsters loans were approved out of Buffalo, I believe they got a cut too of the proceeds and this is supported by Hyman’s transportation of cash there. At face value, Molinaro’s share would be Cleveland’s cut, and given he was operating in New Jersey he was also taking care of the DeCavalcante family. Given he worked at the Forum for some time and Palmeri had his own powerful Teamsters connections I guess he was also entitled to a cut to satisfy the Genovese Family. Boston is a bit more curious. The big Teamsters local under control of the Mafia there was Teamsters Local 25.[1624] Its President, William McCarthy was a close associate of Patriarca Crime Family underboss Gennaro “Jerry” Anguilo.[1625] It was also noted that McCarthy had a suspected alliance with Sal Provenzano of New Jersey.[1626] Salvatore Provenzano, of course, was a leader of Local 560 after his brother went away and the Provenzanos did have a history with Local 945 not to mention their general Genovese membership.[1627] The funneling of money to Buffalo is curious. Molinaro erroneously believed that Buffalo was the center of Teamsters loan approval which were actually doled out of Chicago. In any case, the Buffalo Crime Family did technically have claim over IBT Local 398, but it was not controlled by the family proper since the Rochester rebel group were functionally independent by the 1970s.[1628] Thus, the Buffalo payments could represent a business relationship between Molinaro and that group that would likely be channelled through Carl Rizzo since they were both connected via Dr. Hyman. Of course, Molinaro in his 3-hour confession never specified if these groups received consistent payoffs or if simply group X (like the Boston Teamsters official) received a payment from this one transaction because they referred the specific individual that sought the loan. Basically, everything that Molinaro has testified or confessed to can be verified independently and is correct which is why the last claim that needs to be examined is so baffling. Was Comillo Molinaro really a made member of the Cleveland LCN Family? Probably not. This is so weird to me. Why state the truth about pretty much everything except for that one detail? Let’s examine.

At face value, the claim might not be so outlandish. Molinaro claimed that the Limandris sponsored him into the Cleveland Family. A member of one Family proposing an individual into another Family has been known to happen on occasion. A Colombo captain, John Misuraca, helped two of his associates get inducted in the San Jose Crime Family during the 1950s.[1629] Plus, Los Angeles and Cleveland had extremely deep ties throughout their histories. For instance, Frank “Musacatel” Gruttadauria was a Cleveland LCN member who transferred to the LA Family around ~1949 under the decina of Angelo Polizzi.[1630] Going into the 1960s-1970s, the Families continued to maintain extensive relationships with each other as outlined by u/JoePuzzle234’s article on the Milano brothers. There are two big obstacles, however. The first is that John Scalish famously refused to induct many members into his family and Frattiano exclaimed that Cleveland hadn’t conducted a making ceremony in so long that its administration forgot its words and procedures.[1631] Anthony Liberatore was part of the first batch of Cleveland associates that was made in recent memory and that was in 1976/77. Now Liberatore would have likely been made earlier, but he didn’t get paroled until 1958, after the Appalachian meeting took place that resulted in the closure of the books. Molinaro was born five years earlier but would have had to be made before 1957. That could have happened, but it is just unlikely he would have flown so under the radar for so long that he wouldn’t show up in FBI memos. It is also curious that he met Cleveland organized crime figures in New York/New Jersey or San Diego and not in Cleveland where those introductions would have been presumably easier to make. Overall, Comillo Molinaro’s made status is likely false, and blemishes the otherwise true story he told during his testimony/confession.

All the numbers refers to endnotes of sources, but there's no easy way I copy that over to BlackHand.

[PolackTony]

Joseph Limandri, for instance, told an informant that he was good friends with Sam Massi from Chicago and Detroit power Peter Licavoli, cousin to Cleveland’s Boss James “Jack White” Licavoli.

First I’ve ever heard of a connected guy in Chicago called Sam Massi.

[CornerBoy]

intersting thanks

[JoelTurner]

This was an excellent read! From the first three paragraphs, what I understood was:

- He was working with for DeCavalcantes
- His cousins, the LiMandris, introduced to him Bill Liberatore in San Diego
- Bill's brother was Anthony Liberatore, a Cleveland associate made in 1976 or '77
- He was working with the Gambino's Paterno crew

Marco Limandri [...] becoming a member of what then was the D’Aquila Family (later Gambino). He was the brother-in-law of fellow Gambino mobster Michael Pecoraro

1) I think that Camillo was related to the LiMandris via Michael "Skinny Mike" Pecoraro. Michael was married to an Edith Molinaro(https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-co ... 2447:62308).

2) You've clearly done a lot research on the LiMandris; do you think Marco could have been a Newark Family member originally? He lived with his family in Belleville, NJ (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M456-H42). Plus, he was involved in alcohol/narcotics with Sam Accardi and Anthony Riela (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=2)

Was Comillo Molinaro really a made member of the Cleveland LCN Family? Probably not.

John Scalish famously refused to induct many members into his family [... ] would have had to be made before 1957. That could have happened, but it is just unlikely he would have flown so under the radar for so long that he wouldn’t show up in FBI memos.

He met Cleveland organized crime figures in New York/New Jersey or San Diego and not in Cleveland

This reasoning makes sense. I still don't see the "why" as in why would he lie about this especially when the rest of his story checks out. It's weird. Wouldn't it be simpler to claim to be a DeCavalcante member if you wanted to lie about it?

[nizarsoccer]

Joseph Limandri, for instance, told an informant that he was good friends with Sam Massi from Chicago and Detroit power Peter Licavoli, cousin to Cleveland’s Boss James “Jack White” Licavoli.

First I’ve ever heard of a connected guy in Chicago called Sam Massi.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... voli%20%22 (Page 14). I tried to look for who that guy was, but didn't get anything so I moved on.

[nizarsoccer]

This was an excellent read! From the first three paragraphs, what I understood was:

- He was working with for DeCavalcantes
- His cousins, the LiMandris, introduced to him Bill Liberatore in San Diego
- Bill's brother was Anthony Liberatore, a Cleveland associate made in 1976 or '77
- He was working with the Gambino's Paterno crew

Marco Limandri [...] becoming a member of what then was the D’Aquila Family (later Gambino). He was the brother-in-law of fellow Gambino mobster Michael Pecoraro

1) I think that Camillo was related to the LiMandris via Michael "Skinny Mike" Pecoraro. Michael was married to an Edith Molinaro(https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-co ... 2447:62308).

2) You've clearly done a lot research on the LiMandris; do you think Marco could have been a Newark Family member originally? He lived with his family in Belleville, NJ (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M456-H42). Plus, he was involved in alcohol/narcotics with Sam Accardi and Anthony Riela (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=2)

Was Comillo Molinaro really a made member of the Cleveland LCN Family? Probably not.

John Scalish famously refused to induct many members into his family [... ] would have had to be made before 1957. That could have happened, but it is just unlikely he would have flown so under the radar for so long that he wouldn’t show up in FBI memos.

He met Cleveland organized crime figures in New York/New Jersey or San Diego and not in Cleveland

This reasoning makes sense. I still don't see the "why" as in why would he lie about this especially when the rest of his story checks out. It's weird. Wouldn't it be simpler to claim to be a DeCavalcante member if you wanted to lie about it?

I'm not really good with the genealogy aspect of Mafia research, so I never looked how exactly he was related to the Limandri's, I just took his word for it. In the Federal Bureau of Narcotics book, for Michael Pecoraro it does indeed say that he lived with a Gloria Molinaro (Edith), so I think you may be on to something. https://archive.org/details/mafiagovern ... ew=theater (Page 53).

In terms of the Newark Family, I know less than 0 about them besides following the thread that Antiliar made. I looked into the Limandris to try and confirm/debunk Molinaro's claims and not from the Newark angle. I don't know if there are enough documents on Mary Ferrell to prove one way or another (from what I've seen).

In terms of his motivation to lie, I'm not sure. Me and JoePuzzle234 thought and talked about this for months now. First of all, Molinaro's made status only comes from Bob Buccino. When Molinaro testified in front of the New Jersey Commission on organized crime's dental plan infiltration, he outright denied knowing what the term "made man" meant etc. Bob Buccino, from his book, was prone to making mistakes and this could be a case of just a bad interpretation of what Molinaro said to him during their "3-hour confession". Associates in the past have tried to overinflate their status for whatever reason. You have guys like Larry Mazza who claim they were made now. Since Buccino and Molinaro initially tried to strike a deal for cooperation/Witness Protection, Molinaro could have had the motivation to inflate his status to make himself seem more important and get a better deal. This is also a bizarre question, but how did the Mafia view abortion? I know Joseph Bonanno was full of himself when talking about members not being allowed to profit off a woman's body, but seriously did the Mafia condone potential members helping perform abortions? This does conflict with their Catholic values (I know, I know lol). The report by the U.S. House, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce on the Organized Crime Links to the Waste Disposal Industry published in 1981 was after the public/government was made aware of Molinaro/Buccino's testimony and yet instead of taking their word for and referring to Molinaro as a Cleveland soldier, they still referred to him as a DeCavalcante associate. Of course, a counter argument would be that in the Report to Ronald Reagan on OC they did refer to him as a "made man" of the Cleveland Family. Finally, I'm not sure how Rick Porrello's books on Cleveland are regarded here, but it's curious Molinaro is missing from either of his efforts on the Cleveland Family. It is an incredibly bizarre situation all around, but that's what made this guy very interesting to me. Hopefully others can shed a light on him if they can.

[JoelTurner]

I never looked how exactly he was related to the Limandri's, I just took his word for it. In the Federal Bureau of Narcotics book, for Michael Pecoraro it does indeed say that he lived with a Gloria Molinaro (Edith), so I think you may be on to something. https://archive.org/details/mafiagovern ... ew=theater (Page 53).

It would have been interesting to see how exactly he was related to them. Michael Pecoraro’s nephew was Thomas “Jellybeans” Molinaro, a Gambino member/associate in Joe Paterno’s crew.

Associates in the past have tried to overinflate their status for whatever reason. Molinaro could have had the motivation to inflate his status to make himself seem more important and get a better deal.

True, this part makes sense. I still don’t get why he’d claim to be a Cleveland member on loan rather than just saying he was with the DeCavalcantes.

[nizarsoccer]

I never looked how exactly he was related to the Limandri's, I just took his word for it. In the Federal Bureau of Narcotics book, for Michael Pecoraro it does indeed say that he lived with a Gloria Molinaro (Edith), so I think you may be on to something. https://archive.org/details/mafiagovern ... ew=theater (Page 53).

It would have been interesting to see how exactly he was related to them. Michael Pecoraro’s nephew was Thomas “Jellybeans” Molinaro, a Gambino member/associate in Joe Paterno’s crew.

Associates in the past have tried to overinflate their status for whatever reason. Molinaro could have had the motivation to inflate his status to make himself seem more important and get a better deal.

True, this part makes sense. I still don’t get why he’d claim to be a Cleveland member on loan rather than just saying he was with the DeCavalcantes.

Jellybeans Molinaro was someone I wanted to look into in the future, but without paying for ancestry.com, I'm not really sure how to go about it. The genealogy stuff is kinda challenging for me. Molinaro's son was named Michael Molinaro who was also represented by George Franconero. Not sure if that helps with all the identity stuff or trying to find a clear family tree connection between all three families.


So I thought about it a bit more. Maybe Molinaro was afraid he would get called out by the Bob Buccino, a New Jersey State Trooper, who he could have assumed to know a lot about organized crime in the state. Perhaps Molinaro thought they would know who was made and who wasn't made in the DeCavalcante Family/NYC Families. Cleveland would be out of their purview, but it's close enough geographically + historical relationships that him working with DeCavalcante/Riggi/Gambino/Genovese would make sense? By saying he was made with DeCavalcante, he might have thought there would be a higher chance of them knowing he was lying and screwing up his deal? Not sure.

[JoelTurner]

Jellybeans Molinaro was someone I wanted to look into in the future, but without paying for ancestry.com, I'm not really sure how to go about it. The genealogy stuff is kinda challenging for me.

Marco LiMandri was married to Marianna Pecoraro. Marianna's brother was Michael Pecoraro. Michael was married to Edith Molinaro. Edith's sister was Angelina Molinaro. Angelina's son was Thomas Molinaro. I don't know where Camillo fits in.

Here's some stuff on Thomas "Jellybeans" Molinaro:

- 1930 Census (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4DJ-GY5)
- 1940 Census (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-co ... 61385:2442)
- 1950 Census (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-co ... 8633:62308)
- In 1958, he was working for Joseph "Demus" Covello, a member of the Joe Paterno crew. Some robbers phoned him from their hotel but he claimed he didn't know them. (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=5)
- In 1985, he was arrested with Joe Paterno for planning a hit (https://apnews.com/article/99e57f8578a3 ... 0c1d18673e)

[PolackTony]

Joseph Limandri, for instance, told an informant that he was good friends with Sam Massi from Chicago and Detroit power Peter Licavoli, cousin to Cleveland’s Boss James “Jack White” Licavoli.

First I’ve ever heard of a connected guy in Chicago called Sam Massi.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... voli%20%22 (Page 14). I tried to look for who that guy was, but didn't get anything so I moved on.

Actually, it was most likely Elmwood Park crew member Salvatore “Sam” Mesi, now that I think about it.

[nizarsoccer]

Joseph Limandri, for instance, told an informant that he was good friends with Sam Massi from Chicago and Detroit power Peter Licavoli, cousin to Cleveland’s Boss James “Jack White” Licavoli.

First I’ve ever heard of a connected guy in Chicago called Sam Massi.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... voli%20%22 (Page 14). I tried to look for who that guy was, but didn't get anything so I moved on.

Actually, it was most likely Elmwood Park crew member Salvatore “Sam” Mesi, now that I think about it.

Cool, thanks for the information.

[B.]

Only comparable situation I can think of offhand with a made member was Nicky Bianco. Patriarca made him in NYC in 1963 and then had him report to acting boss Joe Colombo though he formally belonged to NE.

Much different situation though because Bianco was made to help mediate the Gallo war and he later transferred.