Don Totò: Chicago rappresentante Salvatore LoVerde

[Antiliar]

I looked him up years ago. If it's the right guy, John Mirabella was born in St. Louis, MO., to Anthony and Frances Mirabella. He was born Giovanni Mirabella on 1/25/1904. Anthony was a fruit peddler who arrived in 1892 and his wife in 1896, according to the 1910 census. In the early 1930s he was associated with Yonnie Licavoli. Anthony was the son of Filippo Mirabella and Francesca Corso. The 1896 passenger manifest for the SS Fulda show both Antonino and Francesca arriving from Italy. Unfortunately it doesn't name any cities. But a couple family trees found both of their names in the Termini Immerese database, showing that he was born on 2/11/1862 and she on 5/11/1869, and that they married on 3/10/1896. The family trees don't give their parents' names. John Mirabella went on the lam to avoid prison and died somewhere using a fake name. One article noted that he spent time in Buffalo and Cleveland besides St. Louis. If Mirabella looked in his 70s in 1968 when he was about 64 years old, then the hard life must have caught up with him.

[PolackTony]

"But wait, there's more"

Great to see how deep this Chicago stuff goes.

Wondering if Mirabella was related to John Mirabella who attended the 1928 Statler meeting. Mirabella was probably the same old time member "Mr. Mirabella" who Bompensiero saw in St. Louis and Mirabella talked to Bomp about how they first met in Chicago in the early 1930s (he says 1928-1929 but context w/ the Ardizzone issue and Capone being boss would place it later).

Bomp was under the impression from what was said that Mirabella may have been with Chicago when Capone was boss: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... lPageId=15

Would make sense it's the same guy who attended 1928 Statler if he was involved with the peace meetings in Chicago. I believe John Mirabella bounced around the midwest and was mainly tied to STL and Detroit but he's an enigma.

The best match for John Mirabella might be the Giovanni/John Paul Mirabella born in 1904 in STL to parent from Tèrmini. His father was Antonino Mirabella; though I’m not sure if there was any direct relation to Giuseppe Mirabella, the Mirabellas in STL would almost certainly have had some close ties to Chicago. (EDIT: just saw Antiliar’s post. There’s an 1896 marriage record in Tèrmini for John Mirabella’s parents, so it’s pretty clear that they were from Tèrmini).

On the subject of the Hotel Statler meeting, Girolamo Intravaia, born 1894 in Monreale; was one of the men present for Chicago (as we’ve mentioned before). When he was naturalized in 1926, one of his witnesses was Constantino Vitello. Still unable to verify what happened to Intravaia. Some family trees state that he died in Chicago May 30, 1930. It would make sense if Intravaia had been murdered, as several days before another alleged Aiello guy, Pietro Plescia of Villafrati, was gunned down on Grand Ave; like Intravaia, Plescia seems to have been linked to Jack Zuta. But I could find no record for Intravaia’s death and no mention of a murder in the papers for that date. The next day, May 31, Filippo Gnolfo of Villarosa was murdered near Taylor St, however.

[Antiliar]

Interesting that Gnolfo's alias was Abbatte:

DATE OF OFFENSE: MAY 31, 1930
Victim Name: Gnolfo, Philip, "Abalte"
Address: Peoria St.
Case Number: 10048
Case Description: Gnolfo, Philip, alias Abatte - Age 41 - Shot to death at 9:45 AM, 5/31/30, while driving his auto south in Peoria St. between 18th and 19th Sts., by five unknown men in another machine who drove alongside and emptied shotguns into his car. Two other men with him, Carmi Guelvi of Toledo and Jos. Fiannaca of Rochester, NY, were wounded. 21 Dist.

[PolackTony]

Interesting that Gnolfo's alias was Abbatte:

DATE OF OFFENSE: MAY 31, 1930
Victim Name: Gnolfo, Philip, "Abalte"
Address: Peoria St.
Case Number: 10048
Case Description: Gnolfo, Philip, alias Abatte - Age 41 - Shot to death at 9:45 AM, 5/31/30, while driving his auto south in Peoria St. between 18th and 19th Sts., by five unknown men in another machine who drove alongside and emptied shotguns into his car. Two other men with him, Carmi Guelvi of Toledo and Jos. Fiannaca of Rochester, NY, were wounded. 21 Dist.

At the time of his murder, police told the papers that Gnolfo had been a member of the “Genna gang” and an associate of Orazio Tropea who fled Chicago in 1926 for Rockford (his apparent address when he was killed was still in Rockford), and that he had just recently returned to Chicago to retake his old bootlegging interests (unlikely; not an opportune time to set up shop in Chicago, to say the least). Gnolfo had been acquitted for a 1915 murder in Greensburg, PA (makes sense, given that he was Villarosano) and was a suspect in three Chicago murders, including Genna BIL Henry Spingola. Police believed also that Gnolfo was an Aiello guy and that he had imported his two wounded companions just the day before the shooting to Chicago as bodyguards. Various papers gave different garbled versions of their names. A more plausible name for “Guelvi” was “William Carnido”. This could match some Caronitos from Agrigento who settled in Cleveland. Joseph Fianacca would match a Giuseppe Fiannacca in Rochester, who I believe was most likely from Realmonte, Agrigento. Fiannacca told CPD that he was an olive oil salesman in Chicago on business. The three men were driving near Peoria and 19th St, south of the Taylor St Patch, when another vehicle pulled up alongside them and filled their car with shotgun slugs.

One article on the Gnolfo hit cited investigators as stating that all three men had been present at a meeting in Cleveland a year before, in which Aiello and a number of men from Rockford had also been alleged to have been present. Would seem like they were referring to the Hotel Statler meeting, unless the Aiello group had another meeting in Cleveland some time in early 1929 (if so, that would’ve been right around when Joe Giunta got whacked).

Several days after the killing, police were investigating reports that Gnolfo had been responsible for operating a blast furnace that the “Aiello gang” was allegedly using as a crematory for its victims. After “loyal Capone gang” affiliate Thomas Somnerio (Sommario, born in Chicago Heights to a family from Crotone and Cosenza Calabria) was gunned down June 4th, investigators stated that they had info that Sommario’s killing was a reprisal for Gnolfo, as Sommario was allegedly responsible for the Gnolfo hit with Jack McGurn. Police also stated that Gnolfo was believed to have been responsible for the murder of McGurn’s stepfather.

[PolackTony]

As reported above, Salvatore LoVerde filed his US naturalization in October 1930 under the name “Augustino LoVerde” and gave his address as 1418 S 51st Ct in Cicero.

When Santo Virruso filed his naturalization in September 1930, he also gave his address as 1418 S 51st Ct. Apparrently, LoVerde and Virruso were the original Odd Couple.

So, in 1930, we have a number of prominent Sicilian mafiosi from the city all living in the same area in Cicero all of a sudden — LoVerde, Virruso, Nicola Diana, Constantino Vitello, and Cipriano Argento. I highly doubt that it was coincidence that all of these guys were suddenly concentrated in Caponeville at that time.

Virruso and his brothers Salvatore and Michele remained at the Cicero address; this was clearly their home. In 1935, Michele Virruso was stated to have been living there when he was arrested for questioning as to the assassination of IL State Rep Albert Prignano (Santo was himself the primary suspect in the Prignano hit, after investigators realized he was using the alias “Angelo Lazzia”). The next year, Sam and James Virruso were noted in the papers as members of the committee of the Cicero Italian-American Republic Club. Note that this was the same club where LoVerde was whacked. Sam could have been either Santo or his brother Salvatore (both went by “Sam”), while James was probably their father, Vincenzo Virruso.

I’d think it’s a very good bet that Santo Virruso killed LoVerde.

[B.]

This Chicago stuff is like a good serial novel as each new connection comes out.

[cavita]

As reported above, Salvatore LoVerde filed his US naturalization in October 1930 under the name “Augustino LoVerde” and gave his address as 1418 S 51st Ct in Cicero.

When Santo Virruso filed his naturalization in September 1930, he also gave his address as 1418 S 51st Ct. Apparrently, LoVerde and Virruso were the original Odd Couple.

So, in 1930, we have a number of prominent Sicilian mafiosi from the city all living in the same area in Cicero all of a sudden — LoVerde, Virruso, Nicola Diana, Constantino Vitello, and Cipriano Argento. I highly doubt that it was coincidence that all of these guys were suddenly concentrated in Caponeville at that time.

Virruso and his brothers Salvatore and Michele remained at the Cicero address; this was clearly their home. In 1935, Michele Virruso was stated to have been living there when he was arrested for questioning as to the assassination of IL State Rep Albert Prignano (Santo was himself the primary suspect in the Prignano hit, after investigators realized he was using the alias “Angelo Lazzia”). The next year, Sam and James Virruso were noted in the papers as members of the committee of the Cicero Italian-American Republic Club. Note that this was the same club where LoVerde was whacked. Sam could have been either Santo or his brother Salvatore (both went by “Sam”), while James was probably their father, Vincenzo Virruso.

I’d think it’s a very good bet that Santo Virruso killed LoVerde.

I may have posted this before, but this entry is from Phil Priola's FBI file from about 1966. In here Salvatore is referred to as Sam.

[cavita]

And I should say that the name SALVATORE and SAM fit the redacted portions.

[PolackTony]

And I should say that the name SALVATORE and SAM fit the redacted portions.

Yes, Salvatore did go by Sam, as did Santo (according to the Chicago papers). So it’s hard sometimes to know which one was which when the name Sam Virruso appeared in the papers.


Also, there was a reference in the 1930s to Santo Virruso owning a garage in Kenosha, which fits with the info that Maniaci gave thy Virruso was involved in Kenosha.

[PolackTony]

On another note, I was able to finally figure out who the Joseph Sacco at the Hotel Statler was, based on the age and address given at his arrest.

Joseph Sacco was born in 1904 in North Tonawanda, NY, to Giovanni Sacco and Angelina Ponterio, of Carpanzano, Cosenza, Calabria. By 1910, the Saccos had relocated to Superior and Rockwell (my hood) near Smith Park in Chicago’s Grand Ave Patch Italian colony. Giovanni worked as a tinsmith and later for the large railroad yards immediately to the south of Grand Ave.

In April 1927, Joseph Sacco was arrested sitting in a car with a group of armed men at Oak and Larrabbee, near the infamous “Death Corner” in Chicago’s Little Sicily. The other men included Sam Vitello (brother of Unione Siciliana bigshot Constantino Vitello), Sam Virso (either Santo or Salvatore Virruso), and John Oliveretti (almost certainly Giovanni Oliveri, murdered in the same area the next year). In 1930, Joseph Sacco was living in Buffalo (1930 was a year that a lot of people got out of Chicago, for obvious reasons). But, Sacco retuned to Chicago and was shot to death in 1933. He was living at 2011 N California in the Logan Square neighborhood (same address as he gave in Cleveland) and working as a janitor at nearby Chase elementary school (he must’ve been making great money as a janitor, as his pockets were full of cash and he wore a diamond watch and $500 diamond pinkie ring when he was found slain). The police had no leads in his murder, and the papers reported that he had recently separated from his wife and sent her to WI with the kids. A lady friend with him the night he was killed said that he had received a phone call from a man called “Phil”, at which point Sacco became very nervous (D’Andrea? Bacino?).

As it turns out, one of the attendees at the infamous Hotel Statler meeting was a Calabrese-American kid.

Posting here, so as not to pull the Statler thread too much into a Chicago thing. Plus, the Virrusos and Vitellos have already come up on this thread several times.

As noted above, Joseph Sacco was busted in an apparent hit car with Virruso, Settimo “Sam” Vitello, and Johnny Oliveri in 1927. So we can directly link the Virrusos and the Vitellos. I think it’s a very strong bet at this point that Constantino Vitello was a mafioso, and likely a great example of an apparent “alta mafia” type in Chicago. We also know that Constantino Vitello was suddenly living in Cicero in 1930 at the same time as Santo Virruso, so the 1927 arrest helps to further underscore that this geographic proximity was unlikely to have been coincidental.

Joe Sacco’s wife was Angelina Cristiano, whose family was also from Carpanzano, Cosenza; they lived on a farm in rural Monroe County, WI. There were, however, a number of other Cristianos from Carpanzano in Chicago and the Kenosha/Racine area (which had a strong concentration of Cosentini). As has also been noted on this thread, Virruso and the Vitellos were also linked to Kenosha and Racine; good bet that the Cosentino Sacco was part of these links.

[PolackTony]

And on the subject of Virruso links to Kenosha and Cosentini.

In 1932, Rosa, the daughter of William “Red” Covelli, was married. The Covellis were a very important family in the Kenosha Italian community, and Red Covelli was a tavern owner and apparent leader in the Calabrese organization there. One of Rosa’s maids of honor was Lucille Virruso, who I’m pretty sure was the daughter of elder Virruso brother Michele Virruso.

Born Guglielmo Covelli in 1897 in Mariano Principato, Cosenza (an area with a very big presence in Chicago and many connections to the mafia there), Red Covelli was murdered in 1945 in Kenosha. Recall that in 1945, Kenosha tavern owner Floyd Ventura, a partner of Constantino Vitello’s nephew Gaetano Vitello Jr, was murdered, likely on orders from Vitello Jr. Clearly both the Virrusos and Vitellos had close ties to the mainlander organization in Kenosha.

[PolackTony]

Since the topic of the Unione Siciliana and the Trinacria Fratellanza has come up in this thread a number of times, thought I'd might as well continue the theme of the early history of these institutions.

In 1895, Neapolitan Oscar Durante, publisher of the L'Italia daily newspaper in Chicago, publicly accused Chicago banker Raffaele De Bartolo (of Marano Marchesato, Cosenza; as has been repeatedly noted, this area has had a very strong connection to the mob in both Chicago and Kenosha) of being a member of "the mafia" who had attempted to set up and murder Durante (years later Durante survived a bombing attempt in Chicago as well). A scandal ensued in Chicago's Italian community. De Bartolo was a very prominent business and political leader in what would evolve into the Taylor St Italian community; in 1893, he founded the 19th Ward Italian Republican Club with his paesan' Carmine Granato (recall that later, "Diamond Joe" Esposito was 19th Ward Republican Committeeman). In 1885, De Bartolo had also been alleged to have been responsible for a brutal kidnapping and torture of a fellow Italian in Chicago.

Carmelo "Charles" Triolo, major produce wholesaler and founding President and Treasurer of the Trinacria Fratellanza, issued a statement denouncing Durante's claim and stating that no "mafia" organization existed in Chicago. Triolo stated that he knew this for a fact, as he personally knew 9/10 of the Sicilians in Chicago (apparently the mafiosi were all in the other 1/10). If Triolo had actually met 9/10 of Chicago's thousands of Sicilians, he certainly had gotten a head start. According to his passport application, Triolo was born in 1855 in Palermo. He entered the US at NYC via Glasgow in 1872 and already stated that he was a fruit merchant, suggesting that he was likely from a citrus merchant family from Palermo City or one of the adjacent villages in the Conca D'Oro. In 1873, he founded the C. Triolo Co. produce wholesaling firm on South Water St (apparently one of the earliest in a long tradition of Sicilian control of produce wholesaling in the South Water St Market that continues to shape Chicago's food industry today; families such as the Arrigos, LaMantias, Battaglias, Carusos, Capones, and Russos from Tèrmini Imerese dominated the South Water St Market for decades). Triolo's early partner was Alessandro Ribolla, who was born in Palermo around 1822 and was already in Chicago by the 1850s.

Triolo's statement was false, however, as we know that he personally knew at least one mafioso, and possibly two. Triolo incorporated the Società Trinacria Fratellanza Sicilian mutual aid society in 1892 with Andrea Russo and our old friend Giuseppe Morici, both produce wholesalers from Termini Imerese. As we've speculated before, Morici may have been a boss or other high-ranking member in Chicago during this period. Andrea Russo had previously been implicated in the infamous "trunk murder" case of Termitano fruit peddler Filippo Caruso in 1885, one of the earliest possible mafia murders documented in Chicago. Andrea Russo was born in 1859 in Termini and arrived in Chicago in 1882, where he established a grocery business on Milwaukee Ave near Grand (basically the founding of the Grand Ave Patch Italian neighborhood and the base of operations of mafiosi such as Morici and Calogero Caltabellota of Trabìa around 1900; the intersection today is my current avatar). Russo was noted as a major "padrone" in Chicago's Sicilian community in the 1880s, responsible for contracting paesani in Sicily to travel to Chicago, where he set them up with loans to operate as fruit peddlers supplied by the major Sicilian produce wholesalers (contemporary accounts often castigated these padrone/client relationships as somewhat akin to slavery or indentured servitude, as the loans were often extortionate); around 1900, Morici was said to have been a major produce "commission agent" supplying the retail peddler networks. It can be surmised that this Sicilian produce wholesaling-to-retail ecosystem was a key dynamic in the early founding of the mafia in Chicago, as elsewhere in the early US mafia. In 1885, Filippo Caruso was murdered in Chicago; his body was then stuffed in a luggage trunk and sent via train to Pittsburgh where it was discovered at the train station. That Filippo Caruso lived far above the means of a street-level produce peddler is indicated by his expensive attire and reported penchant in the Sicilian community for flashing large sums of money carried in a bankroll. Andrea Russo was arrested as a suspect in the murder, along with a group of interconnected men from Tèrmini and neighboring Trabìa (surnames Russo, Mercurio, Gelardi, Azari, Bova, Conti, and Silvestri). As a padrone, Russo was seen by investigators as being a key individual in the apparent murder conspiracy and matched the physical description of the man witnesses claimed dropped off the Caruso trunk at Chicago's Union Station. Ultimately, witnesses failed to identify Russo (this would be a common frustration for CPD in the coming decades), who was released and not charged after he hired a team of expensive lawyers who threatened to sue the police department. Russo's wife was Marina Mercurio of Tèrmini; an Antonino Mercurio implicated in the Caruso murder may have been a relative. Russo went on to become one of the top men in the elite business and social stratum of Chicago's Italian community. By 1896, Russo's business was said to have been located at 20th and Archer on the near Southside, in the area associated with both Jim Colosimo's vice-empire and the HQ of later Chicago bosses Mike Merlo and Tony D'Andrea in the 1900-10s. In 1920, Russo was knighted as a Cavaliere of the Italian Crown by King Vittorio Emanuele, and in 1924 purchased a villa in Lucca, Tuscany, where split his time along with his home in the wealthy Northern Chicago suburb of Wilmette. Andrea Russo died in 1935 in a car accident in Glencoe, IL.

In the 1890s, Carmelo Triolo lived in the well-heeled western suburb of Oak Park. In 1893, Vincenzo Formusa (another iconic Chicago Termitano wholesaler based in the Grand Ave neighborhood; likely relative of later Chicago member and possible capodecina Johnny Formusa) was reported as the President of the Trinacria Fratellanza during a ceremony where the Marquis di Ungaro, Italian representative at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, formally presented the Italian flag to the Trinacria with Triolo officating. the other Trinacria officals at the time were named as: "J Zucchero" (likely Vincenzo "James" Zuccaro, born in Tèrmini around 1845; his mother was a Capone from Tèrmini, and the Termitano Capone family [unrelated to Big Al] continue to be major players in Chicago's food industry today), Vice-President; Andrea Russo, Treasurer; P. LaRocca (there were already LaRoccas from Tèrmini in Chicago by the early 1880s, so he was likely also Termitano), Marshall; J LaMantia, Financial Secretary. There were a bunch of LaMantias from Tèrmini who arrived in Chicago from the 1880s-90s, and it's unclear to me which one this guy was. A candidate would be a Giuseppe LaMantia born in 1851; his wife was Santo Bova (the Bova surname also connected to the 1885 Caruso murder), who I believe may have been a niece of Calogero Fusco, grandfather of later Chicago member Joe Fusco. An Arrigo from the later La Mantia Bros & Arrigo produce wholesaling company on South Water Market later told the FBI that his family had known Joe Fusco's family from back in Tèrmini.

In 1895, Carmelo Triolo incorporated the Unione Siciliana, along with Giuseppe Mirabella and Andrea Russo. Mirabella was the President of the Unione at least through 1908, and was also instrumental in founding the Mano Bianca ("White Hand Society") in that period. Mirabella was born in 1853 in Tèrmini and became another major produce wholesaler and "commission agent" in Chicago.

In 1896, Triolo seemd to have had a falling-out with his compatriots, as the papers noted that a judge had blocked an attempt by the Trinacria to officially remove Triolo from his position. Around this time, Triolo moved to Los Angeles, where he and his son J.P. Triolo were buying up orange groves and real estate. The Triolos quickly seem to have become big players in the SoCal fruit industry. In 1907, it was reported that Carmelo Triolo also became sole agent for the Western US representing major Chicago confectioner Giacomo Allegretti to wholesale distributors. Allegretti was born in 1865 in Bari, and had been involved in a familial "vendetta" over competition in the chocolate industry in Chicago in the 1890s that turned violent. By 1920, Allegretti had also relocated to CA and died in SF in 1942.

In 1909, Carmelo Triolo was found shot to death under mysterious circumstances in Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles.

[B.]

A+

As a Unione founder and big time Palermitano who met a violent death it looks like this Triolo could have been a prominent early member in the 19th century. Triolo is a common name in Western Agrigento (Phil Bacino's mom was one) and Ignazio Lupo's sister-in-law was a Triolo -- I've speculated her family could be from Agrigento but also possible they were Palermitan given the Lupo relation.

Shows too the Chicago>California connection was in place early.

[PolackTony]

A+

As a Unione founder and big time Palermitano who met a violent death it looks like this Triolo could have been a prominent early member in the 19th century. Triolo is a common name in Western Agrigento (Phil Bacino's mom was one) and Ignazio Lupo's sister-in-law was a Triolo -- I've speculated her family could be from Agrigento but also possible they were Palermitan given the Lupo relation.

Shows too the Chicago>California connection was in place early.

As he arrived from Scotland and later documents just state “Palermo”, I haven’t yet been able to confirm if he was actually from Palermo Città or elsewhere in the province. That he was already a fruit merchant before arriving to the US would definitely be consistent at least with a Palermo Città origin.

We know Morici was clearly a mafioso, and I think men like Triolo and Russo would be likely members as well. At the very least they were personally friendly and closely partnered with the mafia and a key element enabling the mafia to gain business and social/political power in Chicago. The entire history of the Unione/Trinacria was clearly bound up with mafia from the inception of these organizations.

I also enjoyed Triolo’s claim that he personally knew 9/10 of Chicago’s Sicilians and thus could personally verify that there was no mafia. Besides being logically inconceivable, it could also could be consistent with up to 10% of Chicago’s Sicilians being in the mafia lol.

[B.]

Bikers have their 1 percenters, while Sicilians have 10 percenters.