Family Councils / Consigli / Seggia / Elders / Inner Circle

[Angelo Santino]

Going outside of New York it's amazing how most of its members weren't hardened criminals. Most of them were involved in gambling but most of them weren't considered violent.

New York and Chicago, of course. I'm thinking Philly and NE also?

Before Scarfo, Philadelphia was a pretty sleepy family too. You had killers, you had them in every family even the most "peaceful" ones, but most of Philadelphia then and now always centered around gambling and loans.

NE I know so little about.

But one can argue that gambling and loansharking was illegal hence, not legitimate. That's true but gambling extended well beyond the mob and was like marijuana in the decades before it was legalized.

Detroit, outside of the Organization, was a well organized Operational gambling syndicate that was composed of multiple decine. Rockford had soldiers that were designated "Gambling Bosses," but then you go to Philly or LA and the Family doesn't co-function as an organized gambling syndicate, instead it's every man kind of doing their own thing. Some teamed up but it was nothing like Detroit or Chicago I'd imagine. I could be wrong.

[PolackTony]

Going outside of New York it's amazing how most of its members weren't hardened criminals. Most of them were involved in gambling but most of them weren't considered violent.

New York and Chicago, of course. I'm thinking Philly and NE also?

Before Scarfo, Philadelphia was a pretty sleepy family too. You had killers, you had them in every family even the most "peaceful" ones, but most of Philadelphia then and now always centered around gambling and loans.

NE I know so little about.

But one can argue that gambling and loansharking was illegal hence, not legitimate. That's true but gambling extended well beyond the mob and was like marijuana in the decades before it was legalized.

Detroit, outside of the Organization, was a well organized Operational gambling syndicate that was composed of multiple decine. Rockford had soldiers that were designated "Gambling Bosses," but then you go to Philly or LA and the Family isn't mirrored by an organized gambling syndicate, instead it's every man kind of doing their own thing. Some teamed up but it was nothing like Detroit or Chicago I'd imagine. I could be wrong.

Yeah, this is one reason why it's important to disaggregate "mafia" from "organized crime". In cities like, say, Dallas, the mafia so far as is known seemed to have had little presence in the overall organized crime landscape. Philly and LA, obviously the mafia had more of an OC footprint. But then NYC, Chicago, and Detroit you had the mafia as the command structure at the center of large and tightly controlled "syndicates" that ran a major portion of the OC activities in those areas. Buffalo, I'd imagine we could add to that list.

[Angelo Santino]

Exactly. The FBI informants described Joe Zammuto, boss of Rockford as completely legitimate, not involved in anything directly. Contrast that to Zerilli in Detroit who had a definitive say in the organized gambling ring that extended beyond Detroit and included non-Italians, not as grunts but as partners in making this operation run.

--

One thing B. made a note of that I think is relevant here is the idea of secrecy. For most people, a "secretive" family would likely be defined as a Family whose administration or boss is unknown. The Genoveses and Chicago both share that same example. But for other families- Tampa, Rockford, New Orleans, even Philly, the bosses were known it was the organizations that were shrouded in secrecy. Everyone knows who Carlos Marcello was yet for his Crime Family tree we have 5 confirmed members, one consigliere who might not even had been a member yet, and about 60 names of "Suspected Members," many of whom obviously weren't because the FBI had a different idea of what Marcello's "associates" were.

[B.]

The boss was traditionally the representative, provider, and face of the org. I actually believe it's easier to speculatively ID early bosses in the dark years than it is to ID rank-and-file members for this reason since a member could be anyone from a cutthroat extortionist to a doctor, or neither, and it's almost impossible to guess without inside sources. On the other hand, the boss tended to be an accessible point of contact both locally and nationally, a hub in the network with all lines connecting to him. It's not a coincidence that we can easily identify guys like Trafficante, Marcello, and Frank Zito as rappresentanti but the FBI struggled to confirm members under them.

These types of bosses make total sense to me with the consiglio in mind.

[Angelo Santino]

What should the uniform name be for all of them for chart purposes? "Family Council" or "Consiglio" seems the best.

Looking at Detroit, notice how they have "The Dons." Could do something similar but that could run into issues in cases like KC because the B/U wasn't referred to as "The Bakery."

detroittop.PNG

[scagghiuni]

Maniaci also said there was a formal assembly of the entire Family called the "tourna" (ph -- not sure the Italian term) which went out of fashion for obvious reasons. Most Families probably had a consiglio / assemblea just like the early national mafia had its Gran Consiglio and Assemblea Generale. Allegra also referred to Assemblea Generale in Sicily, so that's another one that seems to be imported. Might imply the Gran Consiglio existed there too.

i read Allegra declarations but i didn't see where he mentioned the Assemblea Generale, he told about 'capiprovincia'

[B.]

Maniaci also said there was a formal assembly of the entire Family called the "tourna" (ph -- not sure the Italian term) which went out of fashion for obvious reasons. Most Families probably had a consiglio / assemblea just like the early national mafia had its Gran Consiglio and Assemblea Generale. Allegra also referred to Assemblea Generale in Sicily, so that's another one that seems to be imported. Might imply the Gran Consiglio existed there too.

i read Allegra declarations but i didn't see where he mentioned the Assemblea Generale, he told about 'capiprovincia'

This is a translation but here is where he identifies future Palermo mayor Lucio Tasca Bordonaro as a mafia member and says they held an Assemblea Generale of the Palermo rappresentanti to mediate the Palermo mafia war of the 1920s:

[B.]

^^^ Some of the possible emissaries sent by D'Aquila as part of the "three special commissions" were Vincenzo DiLeonardo and Paolo Palmeri (1924) as well as Giuseppe Traina, Vincenzo Mangano, and Calogero DeLeo (1925), though I don't know how their trips fit into the timeline of events in Palermo. Doesn't seem to be a coincidence that high-ranking D'Aquila / Buffalo figures went there together in the mid-1920s as the Palermo war was ramping up. Michael DiLeonardo was told that Buffalo was one of D'Aquila's key allies.

I forgot he said D'Aquila sent "three special commissions" to establish peace in Palermo, could play into what was discussed above about the different times the national US leadership set up temporary "commissions" for specific purposes. This would imply it extended to international mob politics when necessary.

[Angelo Santino]

Was looking up Gen stuff and followed what turned out to be the wrong guy to Norristown, what an amazing link that would have been but sadly no. Norristown was documented by Morello as having an early Mafia presence from Agrigento which had little to do with the Philadelphia Family. This made me think about the "Ten-Bosses-From-The-Far-West" and B.'s article on Birmingham, not to mention that there was a temporary presence of enough members in Oregon or Washington (B., please expand, I disremember).

I think all these examples, not to mention that Philly was a compound of 3 Sicilian factions, points to their being more Families early on that died out (formally or informally) within a generation. Sicilian immigration started in New Orleans in the 1830's, by the 1850's they started arriving more. In 1870 the damn broke and Sicilian communities sprouted all over America. Some opted for cities, others preferred the rural area. It's from the 1860's to the 1890's where we began to receive limited intel that Mafia was in San Francisco, Philadephia, Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago, New York etc.

The know these groups weren't founded by Italians deciding to form a gang to take over a criminal racket, it was a network which could be utilized for criminal and economic aid. We see this in the 1960's reports that the function of most Representatives outside of NY/Chicago provide economic relief or business connections to their members.

Let's say one of I'm a member in New Orleans in 1872 and move to Butte, Montana to be a miner but remain in contact with my affiliation in New Orleans, I'm a window/conduit to Butte, Montana. Let's say in this theoretical that mining began to attract a certain amount of Sicilians to go there for work and a small community is there. Members followed immigration and economic patterns and let's say 2 or 3 or 10 members move to Butte and use me as a conduit and point of reference to show them the ropes and provide them favors. There's a good chance that I would request or Nola would sanction or agree to recognize me as the Rep of Butte. I'm not a "crime boss," my job is to represent/be a point of contact between the members in Butte and the other Families nationally. Mining eventually dissipates in 10-20-30 years and there was never a sizable membership and by 1890 or 1900 it's clear the Sicilian community isn't going to be replenished. I'm probably not going to disband the Family but I likely wouldn't try and expand upon it. I would grow old with the remaining members in Butte who likely aren't doing much. And it eventually dies out when the last member there does.

The above is fiction but I wonder if similar scenarios played out across America. This brings us to criminality because the Families most active in crime (most non-violent gambling syndicates and super-criminal networks like in NY) seem to have lasted the longest and remained robust. We know the mafia wasn't founded for the purpose of committing crime but that's it was likely always acceptable for its members to do. But some areas of the country just lacked the proper biosphere for the Mafia to survive beyond a generation.

[cavita]

Was it always the consigliere who sat at the head of the Consiglio? I know when I posted about Rockford's "Inner Circle" an FBI file stated that "GULOTTA called a council meeting at the Aragona Club in Rockford. He said JOE ZITO, as the Rockford Family Council Consigliere sat at the head of the council."
At least in this case the consigliere was the head of the council, but were other positions the head of their respective councils in other families?

[B.]

Was it always the consigliere who sat at the head of the Consiglio? I know when I posted about Rockford's "Inner Circle" an FBI file stated that "GULOTTA called a council meeting at the Aragona Club in Rockford. He said JOE ZITO, as the Rockford Family Council Consigliere sat at the head of the council."
At least in this case the consigliere was the head of the council, but were other positions the head of their respective councils in other families?

Don't know for sure -- that's great info that the official consigliere in Rockford presided over it and is further evidence the secretary/chairman/head of the council was often if not always equivalent to "the" consigliere whether they called it that or not. I don't think the Family boss was typically the head of it and that was by design since this was meant to balance power.

From what's available the secretary/chairman was elected like the consigliere was. In San Jose we have the succession of secretaries too: Scavuzzo, Nicosia, Zoccoli.

This goes back to Detroit where John Priziola was the head of their council. Bompensiero said he was underboss but Scott Burnstein was told, I think by Tony Z himself, that Priziola was the consigliere.

In Pittston Joe Barbara was the one who organized what appears to be a consiglio meeting where Stefano LaTorre was put on trial and shelved. Barbara presided over it but it was Volpe who initially put it in motion and he was either the boss or former boss at the time. Some sources thought Barbara was Family boss but there is a lot of conflicting info on that and LaTorre's sons did not believe Barbara was ever boss. I'm now thinking Barbara could have been the consigliere or chairman/secretary of their consiglio which would explain the confusion -- if he was the consigliere/chairman he would have appeared like a "top boss" or capo consigliere in Pittston.

Seems to fit Zoccoli in San Jose. He was the "secretary" and the SJ informants never called him "the" consigliere but everything about his role suggests he was the equivalent.

We don't have enough examples of someone breaking down the different roles on the council but it's something to look for.

[PPPP]

The Ricca planes threat thing to me is one of the single greatest lines in mafia history, lol.

What's the Ricca quote/line?

[PolackTony]

The Ricca planes threat thing to me is one of the single greatest lines in mafia history, lol.

What's the Ricca quote/line?

From Nick Gentile’s memoir “Vita di Capomafia” (translated here from the original Italian by CC).

[O]ne fine day, Paolo Ricca came to see me, he was a lieutenant of Al Capone, and he said:
“I have been sent exclusively by Al Capone to speak with you. We of Chicago, carefully follow the developments of the situation and are sure that all the components of the commission
work in favor of Maranzano, the only one who is faithful to the mandate among all the six Rappresentanti is you. We invite you to make your voice heard and to set aside the nonsense
which does not even bring anyone to agreement.”

He added:
“Either Maranzano decided to receive you or otherwise we authorize you to disable the commission. However, Maranzano should know about the war that we of Chicago will wage, and if necessary, we will employ airplanes. Because those means are ready and concentrated in a specified place.”

[Angelo Santino]

The Ricca planes threat thing to me is one of the single greatest lines in mafia history, lol.

What's the Ricca quote/line?

From Nick Gentile’s memoir “Vita di Capomafia” (translated here from the original Italian by CC).

[O]ne fine day, Paolo Ricca came to see me, he was a lieutenant of Al Capone, and he said:
“I have been sent exclusively by Al Capone to speak with you. We of Chicago, carefully follow the developments of the situation and are sure that all the components of the commission
work in favor of Maranzano, the only one who is faithful to the mandate among all the six Rappresentanti is you. We invite you to make your voice heard and to set aside the nonsense
which does not even bring anyone to agreement.”

He added:
“Either Maranzano decided to receive you or otherwise we authorize you to disable the commission. However, Maranzano should know about the war that we of Chicago will wage, and if necessary, we will employ airplanes. Because those means are ready and concentrated in a specified place.”

*Michael Keaton drops bomb from from a plane.
Roman Moronie: "Knock down that wall, knock down that wall and knock down that fargin wall--"
*BOOM!
Roman Mornie: "Now I'm reeeeeally angry! This is Fargin War!"
*Newspaper headline: FARGIN WAR! Moronie Mob VS the Dundee Mob.

[PPPP]

The Ricca planes threat thing to me is one of the single greatest lines in mafia history, lol.

What's the Ricca quote/line?

From Nick Gentile’s memoir “Vita di Capomafia” (translated here from the original Italian by CC).

[O]ne fine day, Paolo Ricca came to see me, he was a lieutenant of Al Capone, and he said:
“I have been sent exclusively by Al Capone to speak with you. We of Chicago, carefully follow the developments of the situation and are sure that all the components of the commission
work in favor of Maranzano, the only one who is faithful to the mandate among all the six Rappresentanti is you. We invite you to make your voice heard and to set aside the nonsense
which does not even bring anyone to agreement.”

He added:
“Either Maranzano decided to receive you or otherwise we authorize you to disable the commission. However, Maranzano should know about the war that we of Chicago will wage, and if necessary, we will employ airplanes. Because those means are ready and concentrated in a specified place.”

That's great. Thanks.