Salvatore Brancaccio (Brooklyn)

[PolackTony]

I was looking through some older threads and came across B.'s discussion on D'Aquila captain Vincenzo Di Leonardo's (Mike DiLeonardo's grandfather) letter to Vito Cascio Ferro in 1909. The thread is in the "Informative Posts" section, so I wasn't able to reply to it directly and instead created this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=4357

After Cascio Ferro's 1901 arrival to NYC, he was invited to a dinner with the following names via a letter from Salvatore Brancaccio:

Giuseppe Morello
Carlo Costantino
Giuseppe Fontana
Francesco Megna
Gioacchino DiMartino
Salvatore Brancaccio

Salvatore Brancaccio
Another possible Brooklyn resident. The Informer says he may not have been a Sicilian and possibly lived on Navy Street, where the Neapolitans had a strong underworld presence, but it's unconfirmed. His letter to Cascio Ferro would suggest they were acquainted and the attendance at the dinner by well-connected Sicilian mafia figures would make a non-Sicilian background for Brancaccio very interesting, though it also suggests we may just not have enough info and Brancaccio was a Sicilian figure who flew under the radar.

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Would be interesting to know why these exact men were chosen for the dinner with Cascio Ferro. Based on what's available, it looks like we have the Corleonesi, Schiro, and Lupo families represented, which may have been the total number of separate NYC families in 1901, so that could have factored into who attended. Again, though, if Brancaccio was a Navy Street guy from Naples, that could suggest it was important to show social solidarity with a non-mafia group, but what makes it strange is that he would be the one writing the letter to Cascio Ferro. Too many what-ifs, but an interesting glimpse into something.

While Brancaccio is a neighborhood in Palermo, as a surname it is overwhelmingly Campanian. There were two Salvatore Brancaccios in Brooklyn that I identified, both from Campania. One was born ~1872 in Naples province and arrived in NYC in 1899. This guy lived in East New York.

Another Salvatore Brancaccio is a much better bet for the guy who wrote Cascio Ferro. This guy was born ~1851 in Salerno province per his 1915 naturalization document and had arrived in NYC ~1893, so likely a bit better established by 1901 than the other guy. Also, in 1900 this guy was living at 86 Navy St (under the BQE today). When he died in Brooklyn in 1923, he was living on Hudson Ave directly across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard (wife was Giuseppina/Josephine, parents given as Giuseppe Brancaccio and Carmella De Vito [another mainlander surname]).

Looks like this could very well be the guy communicating with Cascio Ferro in 1901. If correct this would obviously be a big deal.

[B.]

I speculated w/ CC and Antiliar that it could have been Salvatore Brancato. You don't see nicknames for surnames like that but it's similar and Brancato was an important NYC mafioso from Palermo at this time, sometimes referred to as a "leader" and would fit with this crowd.

Possible too it was a pseudonym, someone who entered illegally and wasn't documented in the US, etc.

It would be one thing for a non-Sicilian to attend a casual dinner, but a non-Sicilian organizing what may have been a formal banquet where the capo dei capi welcomes a prominent Sicilian mafioso would be surprising to say the least.

[PolackTony]

I speculated w/ CC and Antiliar that it could have been Salvatore Brancato. You don't see nicknames for surnames like that but it's similar and Brancato was an important NYC mafioso from Palermo at this time, sometimes referred to as a "leader" and would fit with this crowd.

Possible too it was a pseudonym, someone who entered illegally and wasn't documented in the US, etc.

It would be one thing for a non-Sicilian to attend a casual dinner, but a non-Sicilian organizing what may have been a formal banquet where the capo dei capi welcomes a prominent Sicilian mafioso would be surprising to say the least.

Sure, he could well have been Brancato, as that would fit the context. But the surname thing would be pretty odd, I think. If he actually was named Brancaccio he was almost certainly Napolitan’ and I would think most likely the guy born 1851 who lived on Navy St.

Looking over David Critchley's book, his footnote on the Brancaccio letter to Cascio Ferro has Brancaccio as the same guy that I identified (d. 1923), but doesn't note that he was born in Salerno.

Another possibility is that there was a mistranscription. Has anyone here ever seen the original letter itself? Critchley references a 1909 report documenting the letter in the Palermo archives. Maybe the people who took down the report put Brancaccio when it was originally Brancato or something else.

[B.]

Another possibility is he was indicating he came from Brancaccio given the importance of hometowns ("all of Corleone"). Should have been a least a last name and "di" if that's the case but I think we're missing either context or language.

[PolackTony]

Another possibility is he was indicating he came from Brancaccio given the importance of hometowns ("all of Corleone"). Should have been a least a last name and "di" if that's the case but I think we're missing either context or language.

Yeah, that's another possibility. The way that the letter is transcribed though, Salvatore would then be the only one apparently not giving his actual surname. If the two already knew each other, maybe VCF already would know who he was. I think that we at least would need to see the actual text of the original letter and start from there to be sure.

[B.]

This dinner is one of the more valuable indications of early political dynamics:

Giuseppe Morello - Lucchese/Genovese boss from Corleone and likely by this time the newly appointed capo dei capi

Carlo Costantino - High-ranking Bonanno member from Partinico. Very close to Lupo/Morello. Bailed Girolamo Asaro out of jail when he was arrested by Petrosino. Later linked to Petrosino murder with Cascio Ferro.

Giuseppe Fontana - Important member in Palermo (and apparently the US) from Resutanna. Would probably be with Lupo if he transferred to an NYC Family.

Francesco Megna - Part of Scalise-Riccobono-Virzi clan and arrival contact for future Gambino boss Vincenzo Mangano, from Tommaso Natale. Likely a Lupo member. The Pallavicino boss in the 1920s was named Francesco Megna, can't confirm/deny if it's the same guy but I haven't found evidence he stayed in the US and Pallavicino is in that northern part of Palermo near Tommaso Natale.

Gioacchino DiMartino - From San Cipirello and his arrival contact on a return trip from Sicily was Bonanno boss Nicolo Schiro. However he was also close to Genovese/Lucchese boss Giovanni Pecoraro and listed him as his arrival contact on a later trip but Pecoraro was murdered when DiMartino was in transit. Pecoraro lived in San Cipirello for a time where his son (a future Gambino member) was born. Bonanno member Pietro Licata was from San Cipirello which adds to the Schiro connection but the Pecoraro tie-in makes DiMartino's affiliation a question mark.

Salvatore Brancaccio - ???

It's clear we have the future Gambino, Lucchese/Genovese, and Bonanno Families represented, though DiMartino is a wild card. Sicilian mafia connections are also fully repped. Question is if they deliberately chose certain men as representatives of these groups and why there'd be 6 men total greeting Cascio Ferro.

[PolackTony]

Yeah the letter and dinner are super interesting. We don’t see any Agrigento representative, which makes sense as they didn’t head any of the NYC families. The Riccobono-Virzi group was clearly at least later tied into the Agrigentini as well though, given Antiliar’s recent find.

[B.]

And we're learning now some of these early guys in the Secret Service files were Lupo-connected Agrigentini. Agrigento was in Manhattan by 1891 at the latest based on immigration documents.

Vito Cascio Ferro himself could be considered Agrigento-adjacent. His father was from Siculiana, Vito lived in Sambuca for a time, and Italian LE found a coded letter from Ribera at his house. He was also born in Palermo and connected to everyone, hard to nail him down. At least 5 of the guys at the dinner were from Palermo province.

Aside from Masseria's Menfi connection and Gentile calling his faction the Sciacchitani during the war, NYC has had no known bosses from Agrigento which is kind of crazy given how many there were.

[Antiliar]

I speculated w/ CC and Antiliar that it could have been Salvatore Brancato. You don't see nicknames for surnames like that but it's similar and Brancato was an important NYC mafioso from Palermo at this time, sometimes referred to as a "leader" and would fit with this crowd.

Possible too it was a pseudonym, someone who entered illegally and wasn't documented in the US, etc.

It would be one thing for a non-Sicilian to attend a casual dinner, but a non-Sicilian organizing what may have been a formal banquet where the capo dei capi welcomes a prominent Sicilian mafioso would be surprising to say the least.

Sure, he could well have been Brancato, as that would fit the context. But the surname thing would be pretty odd, I think. If he actually was named Brancaccio he was almost certainly Napolitan’ and I would think most likely the guy born 1851 who lived on Navy St.

Looking over David Critchley's book, his footnote on the Brancaccio letter to Cascio Ferro has Brancaccio as the same guy that I identified (d. 1923), but doesn't note that he was born in Salerno.

Another possibility is that there was a mistranscription. Has anyone here ever seen the original letter itself? Critchley references a 1909 report documenting the letter in the Palermo archives. Maybe the people who took down the report put Brancaccio when it was originally Brancato or something else.

Missed this thread from several months ago. To answer your question, the letter was reproduced in the biography of Joseph Petrosino by Arrigo Petacco. The book was originally in Italian then translated to English. The Italian version of the book has Brancaccio. The letter was taken off Vito Cascio Ferro, if I recall correctly, after he was arrested in Palermo as a suspect in the Petrosino assassination. I think it's more likely it was found among his belongings, because why would he be carrying a an eight-year-old letter on his person? They also found the letter mentioning DiLeonardo and several photos.

[PolackTony]

I speculated w/ CC and Antiliar that it could have been Salvatore Brancato. You don't see nicknames for surnames like that but it's similar and Brancato was an important NYC mafioso from Palermo at this time, sometimes referred to as a "leader" and would fit with this crowd.

Possible too it was a pseudonym, someone who entered illegally and wasn't documented in the US, etc.

It would be one thing for a non-Sicilian to attend a casual dinner, but a non-Sicilian organizing what may have been a formal banquet where the capo dei capi welcomes a prominent Sicilian mafioso would be surprising to say the least.

Sure, he could well have been Brancato, as that would fit the context. But the surname thing would be pretty odd, I think. If he actually was named Brancaccio he was almost certainly Napolitan’ and I would think most likely the guy born 1851 who lived on Navy St.

Looking over David Critchley's book, his footnote on the Brancaccio letter to Cascio Ferro has Brancaccio as the same guy that I identified (d. 1923), but doesn't note that he was born in Salerno.

Another possibility is that there was a mistranscription. Has anyone here ever seen the original letter itself? Critchley references a 1909 report documenting the letter in the Palermo archives. Maybe the people who took down the report put Brancaccio when it was originally Brancato or something else.

Missed this thread from several months ago. To answer your question, the letter was reproduced in the biography of Joseph Petrosino by Arrigo Petacco. The book was originally in Italian then translated to English. The Italian version of the book has Brancaccio. The letter was taken off Vito Cascio Ferro, if I recall correctly, after he was arrested in Palermo as a suspect in the Petrosino assassination. I think it's more likely it was found among his belongings, because why would he be carrying a an eight-year-old letter on his person? They also found the letter mentioning DiLeonardo and several photos.

Thanks for confirming, man.