New LCNBios posts

[SonnyBlackstein]

Have there been other cases of there being two acting captains for the same crew? Ruggiero said that the Florida guys(seven in total) were disorganized, so that might have played a part.

Giallanzo and Padavona both being acting captains for the Jerome Asaro crew, though in that instance it was more of Padavona acting for Giallanzo acting for Asaro.

Giallanzo is an official now no?

[PolackTony]

DiVarco was originally going to get the North Side from DiBella, but was heading to prison for a year on tax charges, so Solano got it instead.

Yeah, that makes sense. For whatever reason, the FBI still seemed to think that they were both captains. It’s still an interesting question as to why both were present at the 1976 meeting, I think.

I think it was out of respect for DiVarco. He had presumably known DiBella a long time and was originally slotted for the spot.

Wait, was DiVarco imprisoned for tax evasion a second time in the 70s? DiVarco and Joe Arnold were each sentenced to one year for tax charges in 1972; unless I'm just not aware of it, he didn't have a second conviction following that in the 70s (hence him being at the "Last Supper"). The FBI and IRS raided several of DiVarco's social clubs around Chicago and Rush for gambling operations in 1979, but this was after DiBella was gone, of course.

In 1973, the FBI was informed that DiBella succeeded Prio following his death (the wording makes it sound that DiBella was made acting captain at this time; presumably, the official status would require being formally approved by the "board of directors" or the like). When Prio passed, DiVarco was in prison and thus the spot went to DiBella at that time (the CTE was clearly not a made guy, as Joe Arnold obviously couldn't be "considered" for anything):





The file that I have for Vince Solano only goes to 1974, unfortunately. One of the last entries reports that Solano was no longer active in criminal circles at that time (big lol).

Nah, I think I got DiBella mixed up with Prio. I seem to remember reading another file stating that Solano was less well-known to law enforcement than DiVarco, so that's why they went with him. I'll have to hunt it up when I get a chance.

Given that the Feds had false intel that Solano was out of the game in 1974, he was definitely lower-profile than DeVarco, whose name was in the papers frequently during that period.

When Ken Eto testified before Congress in 1986, he was very explicit that Solano succeeded DiBella, and didn't mention DiVarco in the line of succession, though Eto of course knew DiVarco very well and had worked with him for decades:




In regard to the "Last Supper" meeting:

[Pogo The Clown]

Updated with some Philly info.


Pogo

[Pogo The Clown]

Updated with some Los Anglese info. Do we know when member Michael Comparetti died? Thanks.


Pogo

[JoePuzzles234]

Updated with some Los Anglese info. Do we know when member Michael Comparetti died? Thanks.


Pogo

mike marino info.png

No death year but he appears to have been born around 1908. Pretty old guy to be inducting by that point, also definitely the same person from the FBI 1985 list, given the Marino alias.

Very interesting that LCNBios identifies the Los Angeles member “Nick Nardi” as Nicholas Anthony Nardi, whereas the FBI’s list has Nardi down as Nicholas Paul Nardi.

I think it may be a mistake because Nicholas Anthony Nardi is the Milano “cousin” in Cleveland and John Nardi’s brother (obituary pages all just state Nicholas A. Nardi but have all the other particulars, like the correct parents and brothers etc). The Cleveland Nardi was the one associated with Local 416 and died in 2014, at around 88 years old.

The Los Angeles Nardi looks to have been born 12/22/1919 and then dies in or around 4/9/1988. This age matches up with the Nicholas Nardi that was busted in the stolen securities case with Michael Rizzitello and Robert Paduano in 1986.

Bit of a dumb detail but he also appears to have been around 5.4 ft tall

nick nardi la member info.png

Here is a photo of Carmen Milano and Nicholas A. Nardi - the Cleveland Nardi is above average height

milano l and nardi far right.jpg

[CornerBoy]

Flipper is a fat fuck!

[Pogo The Clown]

Great info JoeP. Thanks.


Pogo

[Ed]

Comparetti.jpg

Comparetti was close to Mike Rizzitello in the 1970s. He was arrested at least once for "peddling without a license."

[PolackTony]

Updated with some Los Anglese info. Do we know when member Michael Comparetti died? Thanks.


Pogo

Very interesting that LCNBios identifies the Los Angeles member “Nick Nardi” as Nicholas Anthony Nardi, whereas the FBI’s list has Nardi down as Nicholas Paul Nardi.

I think it may be a mistake because Nicholas Anthony Nardi is the Milano “cousin” in Cleveland and John Nardi’s brother (obituary pages all just state Nicholas A. Nardi but have all the other particulars, like the correct parents and brothers etc). The Cleveland Nardi was the one associated with Local 416 and died in 2014, at around 88 years old.

The Los Angeles Nardi looks to have been born 12/22/1919 and then dies in or around 4/9/1988. This age matches up with the Nicholas Nardi that was busted in the stolen securities case with Michael Rizzitello and Robert Paduano in 1986.

Bit of a dumb detail but he also appears to have been around 5.4 ft tall
nick nardi la member info.png

Here is a photo of Carmen Milano and Nicholas A. Nardi - the Cleveland Nardi is above average height
milano l and nardi far right.jpg

Interesting info. The Chicago Nick Nardi died in 1988 in Woodland Hills, CA, and was in California by 1958 at the latest. He was born in 1919 in Chicago to Vito Nardi and Maria Grazia Valente, both of Simbario, Vibo Valentia, Calabria, and grew up in Elmwood Park crew territory in Humboldt Park. Simbario was strongly connected to the outfit in Chicago, with families such as the Rotis, Bertuccis, Spinas, Andriacchis, and Tenutas hailing from Simbario. Nick Nardi was very likely related to Chicago Heights crew affiliate Dominick Nardi, as his father Vito Nardi also had connections to the Heights. There was a Nick Nardi who was the business agent of UAW Local 727 in Chicago in the 1940s, but I don't know if it was the same guy. I also note that the Nicholas Nardi arrested in 1986 for the stock fraud case in LA (then 66, which fits the December 1919 birthdate) was living in Chatsworth, which is near Woodland Hills.

My assumption is that this Nick Nardi was entirely unrelated to the Cleveland Nardis, as their surname seems to originally have been Nardacchione. I'm not sure where their ancestry was from, but Campobasso/Molise would be a guess.

[JoePuzzles234]

Updated with some Los Anglese info. Do we know when member Michael Comparetti died? Thanks.


Pogo

Very interesting that LCNBios identifies the Los Angeles member “Nick Nardi” as Nicholas Anthony Nardi, whereas the FBI’s list has Nardi down as Nicholas Paul Nardi.

I think it may be a mistake because Nicholas Anthony Nardi is the Milano “cousin” in Cleveland and John Nardi’s brother (obituary pages all just state Nicholas A. Nardi but have all the other particulars, like the correct parents and brothers etc). The Cleveland Nardi was the one associated with Local 416 and died in 2014, at around 88 years old.

The Los Angeles Nardi looks to have been born 12/22/1919 and then dies in or around 4/9/1988. This age matches up with the Nicholas Nardi that was busted in the stolen securities case with Michael Rizzitello and Robert Paduano in 1986.

Bit of a dumb detail but he also appears to have been around 5.4 ft tall
nick nardi la member info.png

Here is a photo of Carmen Milano and Nicholas A. Nardi - the Cleveland Nardi is above average height
milano l and nardi far right.jpg

Interesting info. The Chicago Nick Nardi died in 1988 in Woodland Hills, CA, and was in California by 1958 at the latest. He was born in 1919 in Chicago to Vito Nardi and Maria Grazia Valente, both of Simbario, Vibo Valentia, Calabria, and grew up in Elmwood Park crew territory in Humboldt Park. Simbario was strongly connected to the outfit in Chicago, with families such as the Rotis, Bertuccis, Spinas, Andriacchis, and Tenutas hailing from Simbario. Nick Nardi was very likely related to Chicago Heights crew affiliate Dominick Nardi, as his father Vito Nardi also had connections to the Heights. There was a Nick Nardi who was the business agent of UAW Local 727 in Chicago in the 1940s, but I don't know if it was the same guy. I also note that the Nicholas Nardi arrested in 1986 for the stock fraud case in LA (then 66, which fits the December 1919 birthdate) was living in Chatsworth, which is near Woodland Hills.

My assumption is that this Nick Nardi was entirely unrelated to the Cleveland Nardis, as their surname seems to originally have been Nardacchione. I'm not sure where their ancestry was from, but Campobasso/Molise would be a guess.

Thanks for posting, really great info. The business agent part is interesting, as Nardi was also associated with unions in California. He was the secretary-treasurer for Industrial Workers Federation of Labor Local 886, where Anthony Doria (possible Los Angeles or Chicago associate?) acted as an advisor. The FBI describes them as close associates.

Local 886 appears to have been some sort of sham union as well

union info.png

[Pogo The Clown]

Small Chicago and Colombo updates.


Pogo

[chin_gigante]

Bio on Manny Guaragna: https://lcnbios.blogspot.com/2022/09/em ... nanno.html

Some good surveillance photos in this one

[B.]

Glad to see Guaragna get more attention.

- Confirms Giuseppe Arcuri was an NY-based member of the Sciascia crew at one point. Adds to the idea that Montagna may have been with the "Montreal" crew in NY before Sciascia's death like Arcuri.

- Mancuso was official Bronx captain with Sal Montagna acting. Massino felt Mancuso did't need an acting captain, similar to him saying Cammarano Sr. didn't need his son to act for him. Massino seems to have been very critical of guys using acting captains when he felt it wasn't necessary.

- Discussed by Antimafia and I elsewhere, but Manny Guaragna's family goes back to the same 1930s NYC circles as Rosario Arcuri, Vito Rizzuto, Calogero Renda, etc.

[chin_gigante]

Curious who the guy Silvio is

[Shellackhead]

Anyone knows why Mondo Pollestrino got demoted?