Random historic info

[Angelo Santino]

We're going to have to have a discussions on what constitutes a "new" Family.

We know that a Family technically disbands when a new boss is appointed, but I don't think it's accurate and/or very misleading to say a city had 5 families because there were 5 bosses throughout history in a certain city. In New York and Chicago, there were members got might have gotten moved around to other groups but as groups they ran on the tracks previously built by those before them and in every case, we have members who were under one "Family Boss" who then pops up in the next succeeding "Family Boss."

[B.]

Excellent points and a great post I hope people reference.

- The period I'm confused by is after Loiacano is killed, the Morello allies are also killed, Masseria is made, etc. I can 100% see the Morello faction having more of a claim at that time but when Reina and Masseria emerge as bosses it's not as clear to me. Maybe I'm missing something there.

- Thinking of it now, my POV is not so much that the Lucchese had more of the Morello Family of the 1910s-1920s, which we know already started to diversify (the mainland guy saying he was made in 1917 etc.), but the Luccheses may have more closely resembled the early Morello Family and that's where my thinking is coming from. They also diversified a bit too though but that may have happened after Reina took over.

^^^ You have a lot of the well-known Corleonese clans in the Luccheses but also places like Baucina (Cecala's hometown) and Marineo so I think I've been biased into viewing the Morello Family at the time it broke up through the lens of the earlier Morello Family. It's not that the Genovese were "less" of the Morello Family so much as "more" a reflection of the later Morello Family, while the Luccheses may have reflected more of the old Family (Morello's close allies being an exception). Not black and white or an exact science and the 1963 charts will be great to reference to see what happened w/ later generations.

- I agree the best take is they were two sons from the same father, not really a need to force one line of succession. It's a lot like crews. People used to think every crew has a direct succession when a lot of crews split, some guys are given brand new crews, and others are broken up and soldiers distributed elsewhere. You could say if a guy was a soldier with a certain captain and later becomes a captain himself his crew has roots in another crew but it's not a real succession.

^^^ Not that Families were forming and breaking up all the time, but I think Families follow the same logic as crews on a larger scale. What mixes things up is that guys in each Family might have had different feelings and sympathies. There were guys who ended up with the Lucchese who weren't anti-Morello but likely ended up there for other reasons.

^^^ We know the Masseria/Morello-backed Pinzolo had a majority of the Family behind him at one point so that's interesting. They were at least a bit smaller though because the NJ crew was still with Newark at this time and there's still the mystery of the Brooklyn crew -- D'Arco said the original captain of his crew was first a member of the "Brooklyn Family" (he came from Agrigento, maybe D'Aquila) so we don't know if they were with them yet either. That's potentially <20 members smaller (general guess) and then Valachi said the Gagliano faction was originally something like 20 members, so that should leave around 100 guys who were behind Pinzolo but many of them may have been indifferent/ambivalent, or at least not fully trusted by Gagliano.

Where I come from is less about seeing the Luccheses as the real successor but more that I don't buy the idea that the Genovese have particular claim to it either. The mind wants to say one or the other is the Morello Family because it simplifies things when there were a lot of moving pieces. I think it's attractive to emphasize the Genovese side and link it to the "First Family" (not your view or mine, but others) because of how powerful that Family is and its famous bosses so I've tried to avoid that, but don't want to avoid it to the point of ignoring facts.

We're going to have to have a discussions on what constitutes a "new" Family.

We know that a Family technically disbands when a new boss is appointed, but I don't think it's accurate and/or very misleading to say a city had 5 families because there were 5 bosses throughout history in a certain city. In New York and Chicago, there were members got might have gotten moved around to other groups but as groups they ran on the tracks previously built by those before them and in every case, we have members who were under one "Family Boss" who then pops up in the next succeeding "Family Boss."

The only issue is there were 3 bosses by the early 1900s and we end up with 5. The basic succession you wrote about in the Informer is irrefutable to me and all of the Families should 100% be seen as having direct lineage with those groups, with the two splits being the only thing with some questions but that's only about the formal side of it.

What I think Gentile / Magaddino mean when a Family is essentially broken when a boss dies and then "formed" (their word) when a new boss is elected is that the Family isn't properly represented in Cosa Nostra until a new boss is elected and recognized. It's not that a Family is literally done and a brand new one replaces it (that's def not true), but it's not seen as fully legitimate until they have a new "Father". They're still organized but not properly recognized until their new "Father" is himself recognized if that makes sense. Exception is when a Family leaves the boss spot open for a reason (Bill B + Scarpa said this was done, maybe symbolic) but the Family is still unified.

[Angelo Santino]

- The period I'm confused by is after Loiacano is killed, the Morello allies are also killed, Masseria is made, etc. I can 100% see the Morello faction having more of a claim at that time but when Reina and Masseria emerge as bosses it's not as clear to me. Maybe I'm missing something there.

Think of Morello killing Loiacano like Caponigro killing Bruno. Neither men had the authority or go-ahead to do that by the larger Mafia network. One doesn't normally "take over" as boss, there is a process that involves more than just the Family but the assemblea and D'Aquila. Morello coming onto the scene and killing his boss (Morello was still a member of that family) sent shockwaves throughout the entire American Mafia.

- Thinking of it now, my POV is not so much that the Lucchese had more of the Morello Family of the 1910s-1920s, which we know already started to diversify (the mainland guy saying he was made in 1917 etc.), but the Luccheses may have more closely resembled the early Morello Family and that's where my thinking is coming from. They also diversified a bit too though but that may have happened after Reina took over.

It may seem like that but we don't know the full extent of these families this early on. And most of what we know centers around Brooklyn, Manhattan and less so the Bronx. Staten Island, Long Island and New Jersey are more obscure. For all we know, the floodgates of mainlanders predated Morello's release and was ongoing. The Luccheses appear much more conservative in their membership as the Gens came to outnumber then 3:1 in modern times.

^^^ You have a lot of the well-known Corleonese clans in the Luccheses but also places like Baucina (Cecala's hometown) and Marineo so I think I've been biased into viewing the Morello Family at the time it broke up through the lens of the earlier Morello Family. It's not that the Genovese were "less" of the Morello Family so much as "more" a reflection of the later Morello Family, while the Luccheses may have reflected more of the old Family (Morello's close allies being an exception). Not black and white or an exact science and the 1963 charts will be great to reference to see what happened w/ later generations.

Perhaps those factions went with Reina after the split. It would make sense for Marinese given Loiacano was from there. As for the other Corleonese members who went Reina, again, there's a larger world and network at play here. Going with Morello was taking David's side in his war against Goliath (D'Aquila, the Assemblea, regular daily routine.) Most of the membership are "soldiers" but we know they are not in the army awaiting commands, most just want to go about their life with as little surprises as possible. Morello upset that with his actions. The ones that went with Morello were either loyalists or those who seen opportunity. Look at Masseria? He might have went from a non-member to a boss in short time. That was a gamble and he beat the odds.

- I agree the best take is they were two sons from the same father, not really a need to force one line of succession. It's a lot like crews. People used to think every crew has a direct succession when a lot of crews split, some guys are given brand new crews, and others are broken up and soldiers distributed elsewhere. You could say if a guy was a soldier with a certain captain and later becomes a captain himself his crew has roots in another crew but it's not a real succession.

^^^ Not that Families were forming and breaking up all the time, but I think Families follow the same logic as crews on a larger scale. What mixes things up is that guys in each Family might have had different feelings and sympathies. There were guys who ended up with the Lucchese who weren't anti-Morello but likely ended up there for other reasons.

Probably the same reasons why most of the Colombos sat it out while Persico and Orena forces were gunning for each other, or the same reason most of the Philly membership sat out the Merlino-Stanfa war. Most of them don't care nor want to play politics, who the boss is usually makes no difference to those who check in, conduct themselves and just want to live their lives.

^^^ We know the Masseria/Morello-backed Pinzolo had a majority of the Family behind him at one point so that's interesting. They were at least a bit smaller though because the NJ crew was still with Newark at this time and there's still the mystery of the Brooklyn crew -- D'Arco said the original captain of his crew was first a member of the "Brooklyn Family" (he came from Agrigento, maybe D'Aquila) so we don't know if they were with them yet either. That's potentially <20 members smaller (general guess) and then Valachi said the Gagliano faction was originally something like 20 members, so that should leave around 100 guys who were behind Pinzolo but many of them may have been indifferent/ambivalent, or at least not fully trusted by Gagliano.

They likely backed Pinzolo for the same reason they backed Reina a decade prior- the Boss of Bosses and the Assemblea selected these men to be Rappresentante and most of the membership has an incentive to go along with that edict.

Where I come from is less about seeing the Luccheses as the real successor but more that I don't buy the idea that the Genovese have particular claim to it either. The mind wants to say one or the other is the Morello Family because it simplifies things when there were a lot of moving pieces. I think it's attractive to emphasize the Genovese side and link it to the "First Family" (not your view or mine, but others) because of how powerful that Family is and its famous bosses so I've tried to avoid that, but don't want to avoid it to the point of ignoring facts.

I'm guilty of that, I'll refer to Morello as the Genovese Boss and not as the Lucchese boss, but both of these charts of these groups are going to have Morello-LoMonte-Loiacano as their first bosses. The correct, most accurate name for clarity would be the Genovese-Lucchese family 1890's-1921-2.

I just don't want to create the misconception that Morello was a man without shelter so he teamed with Masseria and they just founded a family from scratch that didn't exist prior to 1922 without any foundations preceding it. Morello's loyalists went with him and they were, like him, former members of the Corleonese/Genovese/Lucchese Brugad.

We're going to have to have a discussions on what constitutes a "new" Family.

We know that a Family technically disbands when a new boss is appointed, but I don't think it's accurate and/or very misleading to say a city had 5 families because there were 5 bosses throughout history in a certain city. In New York and Chicago, there were members got might have gotten moved around to other groups but as groups they ran on the tracks previously built by those before them and in every case, we have members who were under one "Family Boss" who then pops up in the next succeeding "Family Boss."

The only issue is there were 3 bosses by the early 1900s and we end up with 5. The basic succession you wrote about in the Informer is irrefutable to me and all of the Families should 100% be seen as having direct lineage with those groups, with the two splits being the only thing with some questions but that's only about the formal side of it.

What I think Gentile / Magaddino mean when a Family is essentially broken when a boss dies and then "formed" (their word) when a new boss is elected is that the Family isn't properly represented in Cosa Nostra until a new boss is elected and recognized. It's not that a Family is literally done and a brand new one replaces it (that's def not true), but it's not seen as fully legitimate until they have a new "Father". They're still organized but not properly recognized until their new "Father" is himself recognized if that makes sense. Exception is when a Family leaves the boss spot open for a reason (Bill B + Scarpa said this was done, maybe symbolic) but the Family is still unified.

[/quote]

Agreed fully.

[Angelo Santino]

There was the theory that after Masseria/Morello combined that they were renegades of the Mafia until they killed D'Aquila 6 years later and during this cold war, they beefed up their Family through a mainlander mass recruitment drive, but that doesn't account for the amount that joined D'Aquila's family, not to mention the other groups- Colombos and Luccheses. Did the Genoveses "sneak in" members, every family did that at different times, but I don't believe Masseria could sneak in 200+ members without the rest of the Mafia knowing about it. I also don't think there was a cold war or ongoing war of Masseria and D'Aquila forces gunning after each other for six years. American Mafia wars typically don't last long.

Think back to LoMonte, we all know now thanks to Gentile that D'Aquila was behind it. But back when he was killed, no one suspected him and this was six months after the Corleonese murdered D'Aquila members John Fontana, Joe Fanara and wounded capodecina Saverio Virzi. It seems like D'Aquila would be the first suspect, but this goes back to the sitdown rules that Michael DiLeonardo spoke about- you need evidence and can't directly call someone a liar. If D'Aquila denied it and no one could refute it then officially on the (mafia) record he didn't do it.

[Chaps]

I'm glad my question elicited such a response. I do have an opinion which is solely based upon your research. There were too many Corleonese that went with Reina. Traditionalists maybe. They seemed to be into the 1980's. Was Masseria with Morello originally? If he was he split off and formed his own Family. To bolster his ranks he took in and made mainlanders?

[Chaps]

Is this how I'm seeing things?

[Angelo Santino]

To find out more, read the article. Thanks to Antiliar for putting this together.

3/18/1920 - Morello is released from prison after serving ten years in Atlanta.
5/24/1920 - A reception is held for Morello where he received about 2000 according to Clemente
6/30/1920 - Lupo is released from Atlanta.

12/10/1920 - Salvatore Loiacano is murdered on Elizabeth Street.

SS Agent Flynn: “Salvatore Lo Jacono [sic], who was reared in the Morello school, but who blew hot and cold alternatively until he was not trusted by the padrone, succeeded to brief authority and in a short time he joined the innumerable caravan. The old gang was split into the pro and anti Morellos and the factions began to solve for police an awkward situation by killing off each other. One Pecora (Giovanni Pecoraro) came down to Atlanta to see Morello and returned to advise [Loiacano] that the latter’s manner of handling the Mafia situation was not at all to the liking of the master. Would [Loiacano] resign, get out of New York? Lo Jacono would not. That is, he would not at the behest of Morello. If, on the other hand, representative members of the local chapter of the Mafia came to him and asked him to abdicate he would bow to the will of his people. It was Guillamo Cecce [sic], courier like Peccora [sic], who took then news to Morello in Atlanta. Lo Jacono was murdered in his own house two days after Cecce returned from Atlanta.”132

Morello was already out of prison 9 months before Loiacano was killed.

12/29/1920 - Salvatore Mauro is murdered on Chrystie Street. (Good Killers Informant claims the Bonannos did it).
1/23/1921 - Angelo Patricola is murdered on Elizabeth, he lived on E 40th St. - Terrasinese.
1/26/1921 - George Terranova (no relation), chauffer for longtime Morello admin John Peccoraro, is murdered on E 107th St.
2/1/1921 - Angelo LaGattuta (Mezzojuso) (longtime Morello member dating back to the 1890's) and Salvatore Pollacia (future Masseria consigliere) are fired at in the Bronx.
2/28/1921 - Giuseppe Granatelli (Mezzojuso) aka The Peacemaker (No, he wasn't on a goddamned consiglio ) is murdered.
3/33/1921 - Clemente returns from Italy.
4/8/1921 - Clemente meets with Masseria regarding a counterfeiting deail, Masseria is partnered with an unnamed Jew.
4/9/1921 - Gentile returns to the US from Italy and transfers to Boston and then Bonanno, which offended Gambino Capodecina Vincenzo LoCicero who expected Uncle Nick to join their brugad. Gentile said:

While I was a fugitive (in Sicily for murder) for the reasons mentioned above, arriving from New York was my dear friend Umberto Valente with eleven others who were part of the Mafia. Among them was Piddu Morello, who had been the capo dei capi of the Onorata Società from upon my induction. When he was incarcerated, his sentence was to be served for 25 years in prison, his position had been entrusted by the Assemblea Generale to Totò D’Aquila. The motive for which the gentlemen had come from New York to find me, was that fact that following the tumultuous meeting of the Assemblea Generale of the Mafia, these fellows had been condemned to death.

The issue with the above is that Morello was still in New York, Gentile and Morello never could have met in Sicily. Gentile then travels the country in an attempt to form a commission to cancel the contract on Morello's life.

4/11/1921 - Carmelo Nicolosi (Corleonese) is murdered.
5/17/1921 - Joseph Lagumina (Corleonese) is murdered. Nephew to the Corleonese Rumores, he and the late Fortunato LoMonte married two sisters.
10/3/1921 - Giuseppe Viserti is charged with the Lagumina murder and released on bail.
10/10/1921 - Giuseppe Viserti is murdered.
10/28/1921 - Morello returns to Sicily. (He was convicted 25 years ago in absentia, if he were caught he'd have been incarcerated, this shows the severity of the situation in America.)
10/30/1921 - Lupo receives the OK from the DA to return to Sicily temporarily.
12/10/1921 - Salvatore Riccobono is murdered in East Village.
1922 - Jack Lima, Morello's brother in law, disapears, presumed murdered.
1922 - Pollacia and Umberto Valente return from Sicily aboard the same ship.
2/9/1922 - Ciro Terranova and John Pecoraro return to NY together.
4/14/1922 - Al Mineo returns to NY
5/8/1922 - Vincent Terranova is murdered.
SS Agento Palma received intel:

Upon the release of LUPO AND MORELLA they tried to come back into power, but the new organization here in America would not permit this. Consequently, LUPO AND MORELLA and a few of their old ‘standbys’ went to Sicily, taking it up with their main headquarters expecting to be put back into power. They also refused (them), and since that time, with a handful of followers, LUPO AND MORELLA and the new organization have again opened up their feudista and about thirty have been eliminated between the two factions. Recently VINCENT MORELLA [sic] was assassinated, and since that time MORELLA has moved to the West Side and both he and LUPO are now living behind iron bars and shutters. Their assassination is expected momentarily. Another discrepancy eliminating LUPO AND MORELLA is that one of their Lieutenants, name unknown, remained in PALERMO, ITALY, and was recently interviewed by a friend of informant “C.”

Please bare in mind that we've already connected the the Gambino lineage from Lupo to D'Aquila, the latter's group wasn't a "new organization," the SS' main objective was counterfeiting, we're lucky Palma even provided this intel since it's not what he was investigating.

5/14/1922 - Vito DiGiorgio and james Lo Cascio are murdered in Chicago.
5/19/1922 - Accursio DiMino is murdered.
5/22/1922 - Lupo returns.
8/8/1922 - Attempt on Masseria at his home.
8/11/1922 - Umberto Valento is murdered.
8/14/1922 - Joe Biondo and Charles Dongarro are arrested for the Valente murder but discharged.
10/5/1922 - SS Agent Palma receives intel that Masseria and Yale have a counterfeiting operation importing bills from Corleone.
3/6/1923 - Morello admin member John Pecoraro is murdered.
6/13/1913 - Michael Nicolosi, bro of Carmelo, is shot and wounded.
6/19/1923 - Vincenzo Salemi, Morello bro in law, is murdered.
8/4/1923 - SS receives intel that Gambino member Sal Mangiapane is ignoring D'Aquila's edict by going into business with Morello member Yale.
8/26/1923 - The Salvatore D’Aquila-led Assemblea agrees to take the “Lupo gang” back into the fold, but not “Morello and his crowd.”
In 1924, word got back to the US that "everyone" was now working together. Morello and Giacomo Reina go into business together, which is a signal that by this point, America's 2nd Mafia War was concluded.

As you can see, plenty of Corleonese went with Morello, we never heard of them because D'Aquila wasn't fucking around.

I have other reports and could likely get a date for a few things-
1 When it was specified Masseria wasn't part of the Fratellanza.
2 When he was "now" a Fratellanza member.
3 Angelo Renia (Reina) going underground due to the "feud." I seem to recall (or misrecollecting) him going to hide in Jersey??

Also, one can infer that the Palermitan Pollacia was already with the Morellos, as was Yale. So by 1921, the "Corleonese" weren't only comprised of that, like all the Families at the time, they were accepting people from other places.

[Angelo Santino]

My own thoughts/observations:

SS Agent Flynn: “Salvatore Lo Jacono [sic], who was reared in the Morello school, but who blew hot and cold alternatively until he was not trusted by the padrone, succeeded to brief authority and in a short time he joined the innumerable caravan. The old gang was split into the pro and anti Morellos and the factions began to solve for police an awkward situation by killing off each other. One Pecora (Giovanni Pecoraro) came down to Atlanta to see Morello and returned to advise [Loiacano] that the latter’s manner of handling the Mafia situation was not at all to the liking of the master. Would [Loiacano] resign, get out of New York? Lo Jacono would not. That is, he would not at the behest of Morello. If, on the other hand, representative members of the local chapter of the Mafia came to him and asked him to abdicate he would bow to the will of his people. It was Guillamo Cecce [sic], courier like Peccora [sic], who took then news to Morello in Atlanta. Lo Jacono was murdered in his own house two days after Cecce returned from Atlanta.”

1 The facts are muddled as Morello was out of prison but he, Pecoraro and Loiacano existed and the narrative does coincide with the factual evidence- Loiacano's murder led to some struggle which put a target on Morello's back, which seems to validate that Morello/Pecoraro were responsible.
2 The "split" of the "old gang" could be seen as the first reference to the Genovese and Luccheses, or Flynn may not have had that understanding and was referring to the larger war that came about. His expertise wasn't on Mafia affiliation after all. Still though, it reads like it's inferring that there was an internal dispute within the Morello/Loiacano group.
3 His reference to Morello as the Master seems to confirm his limited knowledge of internal nuances because inside the Mafia world he no longer held an office.
4 Loiacano's alleged response that he would only resign if the "chapter" wanted him to indicates there was a protocol. This was politics not gang hierarchies at play here.

SS Agento Palma received intel: Upon the release of LUPO AND MORELLA they tried to come back into power, but the new organization here in America would not permit this. Consequently, LUPO AND MORELLA and a few of their old ‘standbys’ went to Sicily, taking it up with their main headquarters expecting to be put back into power. They also refused (them), and since that time, with a handful of followers, LUPO AND MORELLA and the new organization have again opened up their feudista and about thirty have been eliminated between the two factions. Recently VINCENT MORELLA [sic] was assassinated, and since that time MORELLA has moved to the West Side and both he and LUPO are now living behind iron bars and shutters. Their assassination is expected momentarily. Another discrepancy eliminating LUPO AND MORELLA is that one of their Lieutenants, name unknown, remained in PALERMO, ITALY, and was recently interviewed by a friend of informant “C.”

1 Not going into the "new organization," it was not.
2 Maranzano was living in Palermo at the time and was connected to the Mafia elite. Bonanno said he had previously met Morello in Sicily. If he did, this would have been the time Maranzano and Morello were introduced.
3 The Palermo Mafia and D'Aquila were allies, he was from there and likely a member before coming to the US. Given the joint-ventures between the Gambinos and Palermo at the time, it makes sense they wouldn't have sided with Morello against D'Aquila, especially when he was in the wrong for killing the Boss Loiacano.

[Angelo Santino]

I went off on a tanget in the Genovese 63 thread and decided it would be better suited here. It's not about the mafia per se but still very relevant. B., you'd probably find it interesting. You don't read it from beginning to end, you use it almost like a tour guide and look up the areas you want to learn more about. Keyword searching "Italian" brings you quickly to the relevant parts.

I recall reading about the history of Manhattan which stated that Napolitans began arriving first in the 1870's and were concentrated on Mulberry Bend, which was an area south of Little Italy. It was all wooden tenements and was eventually demolished. Its conditions were documented in How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York (1890) by Jacob Riis and lead to new Housing Laws which abolished the bend and sent people moving a few blocks north to Elizabeth St. In the 1890's the area was mostly Irish, by 1893 there were only a few older Irish in the neighborhood. For anyone who really wants to get a great visual of NY's Italian neighborhoods, Jacob Riis describes it in vivid detail by describing individual streets, what the conditions were and what you would see. It doesn't go into the mafia but mentions the criminality in the area. You can get it for free on google books, here's a wiki on it-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Other_Half_Lives

[Pogo The Clown]

There was the theory that after Masseria/Morello combined that they were renegades of the Mafia until they killed D'Aquila 6 years later and during this cold war, they beefed up their Family through a mainlander mass recruitment drive, but that doesn't account for the amount that joined D'Aquila's family, not to mention the other groups- Colombos and Luccheses. Did the Genoveses "sneak in" members, every family did that at different times, but I don't believe Masseria could sneak in 200+ members without the rest of the Mafia knowing about it. I also don't think there was a cold war or ongoing war of Masseria and D'Aquila forces gunning after each other for six years. American Mafia wars typically don't last long.

"Mustache Pete Fat Ass. Thinks he owns the whole lower east side." - Bugsy Siegel

Think back to LoMonte, we all know now thanks to Gentile that D'Aquila was behind it. But back when he was killed, no one suspected him and this was six months after the Corleonese murdered D'Aquila members John Fontana, Joe Fanara and wounded capodecina Saverio Virzi. It seems like D'Aquila would be the first suspect, but this goes back to the sitdown rules that Michael DiLeonardo spoke about- you need evidence and can't directly call someone a liar. If D'Aquila denied it and no one could refute it then officially on the (mafia) record he didn't do it.

"On my streets, no coincidence." - Joe 'The Boss' Masseria


Pogo

[Angelo Santino]

There was the theory that after Masseria/Morello combined that they were renegades of the Mafia until they killed D'Aquila 6 years later and during this cold war, they beefed up their Family through a mainlander mass recruitment drive, but that doesn't account for the amount that joined D'Aquila's family, not to mention the other groups- Colombos and Luccheses. Did the Genoveses "sneak in" members, every family did that at different times, but I don't believe Masseria could sneak in 200+ members without the rest of the Mafia knowing about it. I also don't think there was a cold war or ongoing war of Masseria and D'Aquila forces gunning after each other for six years. American Mafia wars typically don't last long.

"Mustache Pete Fat Ass. Thinks he owns the whole lower east side." - Bugsy Siegel

Think back to LoMonte, we all know now thanks to Gentile that D'Aquila was behind it. But back when he was killed, no one suspected him and this was six months after the Corleonese murdered D'Aquila members John Fontana, Joe Fanara and wounded capodecina Saverio Virzi. It seems like D'Aquila would be the first suspect, but this goes back to the sitdown rules that Michael DiLeonardo spoke about- you need evidence and can't directly call someone a liar. If D'Aquila denied it and no one could refute it then officially on the (mafia) record he didn't do it.

"On my streets, no coincidence." - Joe 'The Boss' Masseria


Pogo

Ivo Nandi played a great Joe the Boss in Boardwalk Empire. It was fictitious but it didn't portray him as an obese shortsighted fool. His character had a cousin played by the great Palermitan actor Richard Amato who meets Luciano in Florida who wants to do a deal who warns him that he should see Joe the Boss. In other words, whatever Lucky was doing wasn't okayed by Joe. In reality bosses don't generally micromanage their members but this is how the early history is depicted as. Never was the case.

[Pogo The Clown]

I'm only early in the second season when Masseria is first introduced but I must say that that actor really does resemble Masseria.


Pogo

[Angelo Santino]

I'm only early in the second season when Masseria is first introduced but I must say that that actor really does resemble Masseria.


Pogo

Gyp Rosetti in S3 played by Bobby Cannavale is good. I really enjoy the production settings, they really knew how to make the scenes look like Chicago, New York, Atlantic City and Florida.

[Snakes]

Yes, Nandi did a great job. Very menacing as Masseria. Vinnie Piazza was also a great Lucky.

[Antiliar]

Some interesting connections on social media. Angela Terranova, daughter of Ciro Terranova, married Joseph Cina. He was apparently related to Salvatore Cina. They were married on Aug 30, 1944, in the Bronx (it was his second marriage). Later they opened a restaurant (Angie and Joe's) in Yonkers. Salvatore Cina was in-laws with Vincent Giglio.

The dates are little off, but it's the same person:
Angelina Terranova
Birth Date: 19 Oct 1912
Birth Place: Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Angela Cina
Social Security Number: 082-12-7317
Birth Date: 12 Oct 1912
Issue Year: Before 1951
Issue State: New York
Last Residence: 10709, Eastchester, Westchester, New York
Death Date: 24 Jan 2008

Name: Joseph Cina
Gender: Male
Marriage License Date: 30 Aug 1944
Marriage License Place: Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Spouse:
Angela Terranova
License Number: 5338

There was another Angela Terranova - the daughter of Ciro's brother Vincenzo - who was about the same age as her cousin. She married Salvatore La Scala in 1936. After Joseph Cina's marriage record gets digitized I will be able to see how he was related to Salvatore Cina. I think he might be his brother's son or grandson. If so, it suggests that the Cinas and Terranovas may have kept in touch going back to the 1909 counterfeiting operation.