Question for the San Cipirello Experts

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cavita
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Question for the San Cipirello Experts

Post by cavita »

I was wondering if the surname of Drago is/was prominent in the LCN of San Cipirello. Reason being, immigrants from San Cipirello were not prominent in Rockford at all except I noticed in some FBI files on Rockford there is a heavily redacted section of someone who was connected to two Rockford LCN members by marriage- Filippo Caltagerone and Giuseppe Stassi. That person is Gaspare Drago. All three men married Provenzano sisters from Roccamena, Sicily. So, what I have is:

Gaspare Drago
Born August 21, 1913 in San Cipirello, Sicily to Francesco and Marianna Drago
Married Francesca Provenzano July 15, 1950 in San Cipirello, Sicily
1951 immigrated to Rockford, Illinois
August 9, 2012 died in Rockford, Illinois
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PolackTony
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Re: Question for the San Cipirello Experts

Post by PolackTony »

Nowhere near an expert on the San Cipirello mafia, but it doesn’t seem that the Drago surname is very common in San Cipirello at all. It is well-documented in Partinico, however.
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Re: Question for the San Cipirello Experts

Post by Pogo The Clown »

Drago is a Russian name.


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Re: Question for the San Cipirello Experts

Post by cavita »

PolackTony wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 6:17 pm Nowhere near an expert on the San Cipirello mafia, but it doesn’t seem that the Drago surname is very common in San Cipirello at all. It is well-documented in Partinico, however.
Gotcha. I'm wondering why the FBI file I have needed to mention Drago and redact his name unless he was someone noteworthy.
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Re: Question for the San Cipirello Experts

Post by Antiliar »

Sam Carlisi's ancestor with the surname Drago came from Canicatti in Agrigento. It's a name that rarely comes up and does make me think of Ivan Drago.
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Re: Question for the San Cipirello Experts

Post by cobra »

-giovanni drago, man of honor corso dei mille flipped 1991
-a killer from the group of pinucetto greco aka scarpuzzedda
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Re: Question for the San Cipirello Experts

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Well shoot- I thought there really weren't any San Cipirello immigrants in Rockford but I found another. Gaspare Randazzo was born in San Cipirello in 1878 and married Maddalena Coniglio in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1905. By the early 1920s he's living in Springfield, Illinois but by 1930 he's living in Rockford which is interesting because that's about the exact time that Joe Zito moves from Springfield to Rockford. When he died in 1969, Randazzo left a sister Maddalena LoPiccolo in San Cipirello.
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Re: Question for the San Cipirello Experts

Post by B. »

Domenico Pardo who we've spoken about was a former leader in San Cipirello who ended up in Illinois. I'd expect San Cipirello to show up in all the same places as San Giuseppe Jato.
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Re: Question for the San Cipirello Experts

Post by cavita »

B. wrote: Sun Oct 09, 2022 12:01 am Domenico Pardo who we've spoken about was a former leader in San Cipirello who ended up in Illinois. I'd expect San Cipirello to show up in all the same places as San Giuseppe Jato.
And after much research I've found Rockford LCN member Tony DiGiovanni, though born in Diboll, Texas, his father Giuseppe DiGiovanni was from San Cipirello, Sicily. I haven't been able to trace the mother because of conflicting info. It appears his mother was named Sara/Sarah, however Anthony's brother listed the mother as Rosalia Cimino. Rosalia and Sarah/Sara could be the same and Sara was a nickname for perhaps Rosaria. But to add further to the problem, Giuseppe's obituary states he married his wife Anna Rao in 1916. The 1916 date was pretty much the same year he moved his family to Rockford from Texas so my thought is that his first wife died in Texas and that he married this Anna there and then they all moved to Rockford. All four children were born before 1916.
Now interestingly, Giuseppe's sister Giuseppa married Alberto Provenzano from Roccamena, Sicily. The two Provenzano daughters married Caltagerone brothers, one which was a Rockford LCN member. Another daughter married Giuseppe Stassi, a Rockford member and the other two daughters married a Triolo and the Gaspare Drago from San Cipirello. The Provenzano boys- Peter, Dominic and Joseph were all involved with the Rockford LCN in bootlegging and tavern ownership. Makes me wonder if Giuseppe DiGiovanni and Alberto Provenzano were made members in Sicily before they emmigrated.
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