Vancouver "mafia" under Joe Gentile

[Antiliar]

where can one find good stuff on KO konigsberg?

Thanks a million

There's files in the Mary Ferrell site. His great-nephew also wrote a book about him called Blood Relation.

New find:

Vincenzo was arriving in 1921 to a cousin, Silvestre Cordaro, on the Lower East Side. It looks like Cordaro was from Casteltermini, Agrigento. Limey has Cordaro listed as an "unconfirmed member" of no specified family -- not sure if he got his name from this immigration record or has some other reason to list him as a possible member. Would be curious if Cordaro shows up elsewhere. Given his Agrigento roots, apparent relation to the Gentiles, and residence in the LES and possibly later Brooklyn, this would make Cordaro a likely Gambino member if he was indeed a mafioso.

Early Cleveland member Antonino Mangione, identified by Nicola Gentile, also arrived to Silvestre Cordaro in NYC when he came from Siculiana. So Cordaro can be connected to both Vincenzo Gentile and Mangione, listed as a "cousin" of both.

Nicola Gentile said Mangione opposed Al Polizzi becoming a Cleveland member because his father was an informant in Sicily which fits because Polizzi was from Siculiana also. Polizzi was sponsored by the non-Sicilians John Angersola and Charles Coletta.

I think Cordaro was either a padrone or a padrone who specialized in Mafia members and associates who was one himself. If I recall correctly, there were quite a few who "claimed" him as some sort of relative. Antonino Governale might have operated in a similar fashion.

[lennert]

B - A little late, but some background info on Celona: Joe Celona was born March 7, 1897, as Giuseppe Antonio Celona in Bruzzano Zeffirio, Calabria. Father was Domenico Celona, his mother Maria Teresa Fiorenza. He came to Canada by way of Quebec City, together with his father and some brothers. They gave their intended destination as Montreal. If I remember correctly, he was named in a 1950s FBI file as an early Vancouver underworld leader. Celona, during the 1920s/early 1930s was apparently well connected, counting among his “friends” Vancouver’s mayor. His primary rackets, according to the newspapers, were bootlegging and running brothels. When a new mayor came into office in 1934, it didn’t take long before Celona was send off to prison. During the early 1950s he made headlines again because of him assaulting a news photographer.

[B.]

B - A little late, but some background info on Celona: Joe Celona was born March 7, 1897, as Giuseppe Antonio Celona in Bruzzano Zeffirio, Calabria. Father was Domenico Celona, his mother Maria Teresa Fiorenza. He came to Canada by way of Quebec City, together with his father and some brothers. They gave their intended destination as Montreal. If I remember correctly, he was named in a 1950s FBI file as an early Vancouver underworld leader. Celona, during the 1920s/early 1930s was apparently well connected, counting among his “friends” Vancouver’s mayor. His primary rackets, according to the newspapers, were bootlegging and running brothels. When a new mayor came into office in 1934, it didn’t take long before Celona was send off to prison. During the early 1950s he made headlines again because of him assaulting a news photographer.

Interesting he was Calabrese -- thanks Lennert.

[PolackTony]

Great thread, glad that the subject has come back up.

[antimafia]

@lennert Is the following short news item old news to you? I don’t mean literally, as It’s from a historical British Columbia newspaper dated Friday, October 15, 1915.



Please let me know whether you want me to send you the source, as well as a JPG of the full newspaper page.

[lennert]

Antimafia - I am familiar with the case. Can not remember the exact details, as it has been some time ago I looked into it. If I remember correctly, this was not the well known Nick Gentile. I want to say his parents were Pasquale and his mother’s maiden name was Zaffino or something. His brother Dominic was shot dead in Vancouver in 1914 I think. Like I said, I can not remember exactly, so I might be off here, but I think I came to this conclusion when I looked into this case.

[lennert]

I think this Nick Gentile died from influenza in Vancouver in 1918.

[motorfab]

Here is a obituary of Gerlando Gentile. The obituary is mentioned in the Informer dedicated to Gentile on page 6


A few observations on the married names of the daughters:

-The Vellas are a well-known family of Siculiana. I don't know who Pasqua was married to, but in the family we have Francesca Vella married with Carmelo Caruana (the father of Alfonso/Gerlando/Pasquale) + Salvatore Vella married with Giuseppa Cammalleri from Cattolica Eraclea (I guess she's a sister or cousin to Leonardo). Salvatore Vella was a leading member of the Caruana-Cuntrera clan and involved with Nick Rizzuto and the Cuntrera brothers in Venezuela.

-Salvo & Di Salvo are also well known names in Cattolica Eraclea and besides Jerry Di Salvo is a nephew of Joe Gentile.

In 1959 following the murder of Giuseppe Spagnolo in 1955, Rosario Gurreri tells investigators that Leonardo Salvo (sometimes called Salvo Pollari) & Giacinto Arcuri told him that Spagnolo should be killed for having "damaged to the honor" of Leonardo Cammalleri's mother-in-law whose name was Giuseppa Di Salvo ...

It makes a number of interesting connections...

[B.]

Nice job. I've always wondered if there might be ties to the more well-known mafia clans of Siculiana. Nick only talked about his own family and Siculiana in passing.

[antimafia]

Here is a obituary of Gerlando Gentile. The obituary is mentioned in the Informer dedicated to Gentile on page 6


A few observations on the married names of the daughters:

-The Vellas are a well-known family of Siculiana. I don't know who Pasqua was married to, but in the family we have Francesca Vella married with Carmelo Caruana (the father of Alfonso/Gerlando/Pasquale) + Salvatore Vella married with Giuseppa Cammalleri from Cattolica Eraclea (I guess she's a sister or cousin to Leonardo). Salvatore Vella was a leading member of the Caruana-Cuntrera clan and involved with Nick Rizzuto and the Cuntrera brothers in Venezuela.

-Salvo & Di Salvo are also well known names in Cattolica Eraclea and besides Jerry Di Salvo is a nephew of Joe Gentile.

In 1959 following the murder of Giuseppe Spagnolo in 1955, Rosario Gurreri tells investigators that Leonardo Salvo (sometimes called Salvo Pollari) & Giacinto Arcuri told him that Spagnolo should be killed for having "damaged to the honor" of Leonardo Cammalleri's mother-in-law whose name was Giuseppa Di Salvo ...

It makes a number of interesting connections...

Leonardo Salvo used the alias Leonardo Pollari and, much like Vito Rizzuto’s father-in-law, was a fugitive most of his life. I’ve only ever heard unsubstantiated rumours that Salvo ended up living and dying somewhere in the US, with only Buffalo in particular being mentioned.

Salvo is a first cousin to the father of retired NHL player Mike Cammalleri. Back in Italy, Salvo’s mother spent the rest of her life in what used to be known as a sanitarium. The sister of Cammalleri’s paternal grandfather married a Guaragna, who was a close friend of the Giacinto Arcuri who died several years ago. This Arcuri was also a close friend to Guaragna’s wife’s brother, i.e., Mike Cammalleri’s paternal grandfather. All had ancestry from Cattolica Eraclea. All lived in North York in Toronto. Only Arcuri had ties to organized crime.

In Toronto, Guaragna’s oldest daughter married a man born in Ribera; they too lived in North York. The man from Ribera had no ties to organized crime either.

In Toronto, a male first cousin of Vito Rizzuto's wife married a Guaragna. This Cammalleri, like his wife, also had ancestry from Cattolica Eraclea; he did not have ties to organized crime either.

Arcuri did not have any Cammalleri relatives in his family tree till one of his sons married a woman whose maiden name is Cammalleri. She died at a somewhat relatively young age a few years ago.

Peter Edwards covered Arcuri's trial for the murder of Enio Mora. In the trial, it was revealed that Arcuri came to Canada when he was 16 years old -- this is yet another reason I don't think this Arcuri is the same Giacinto Arcuri who was convicted in absentia of being one of the killers of former Cattolica Eraclea mayor Giuseppe Spagnolo. Lately I've been finding other examples of individuals who arrived in Canada earlier than has been mentioned in books and articles about Canadian organized crime -- Giuseppe Lo Presti is another example, and I hope to write more about that discrepancy soon.

[antimafia]

Nice job. I've always wondered if there might be ties to the more well-known mafia clans of Siculiana. Nick only talked about his own family and Siculiana in passing.

There are a number of Gentiles and Cucuzzellas with ancestry from Siculiana or Cattolica Eraclea or both, and they can still be currently counted among the Montreal area's Sicilian-Canadian population.

I proposed two article ideas to Tom Hunt several months ago, as he had earlier indicated he was okay with me writing under a pseudonym for his Informer journal. One idea was to write about Nick Gentile's specific whereabouts and activities in Sicily from approximately 1962 to 1964, as Gentile's extensive activities in Cattolica Eraclea during that time period were researched and documented by one of the comune's townspeople many years later.

The other article idea was to write about Arcangelo Di Vincenzo, better known by his alias Tony Frank, who rose to the top of the criminal underworld in Montreal after arriving in the city in 1904 from his native Bronte, in Catania. I wanted to write about Di Vincenzo's personal life and his connections to American-based criminals of Italian ancestry who, like him, crossed the Canada–US border with some regularity.

Unfortunately, the article ideas did not meet the focus of the journal, which deals with American crime and American law enforcement. I told Mr. Hunt I took no offense -- and I meant it; I still mean it.

I would still like to write about these two topics but I don't think a forum is the right place to do so. If I don't find the right platform for writing about the subjects, I might reach out to you, Angelo, Rick, and Tony to see whether you can do something with my research -- no promises, though.

[cavita]

Here is a obituary of Gerlando Gentile. The obituary is mentioned in the Informer dedicated to Gentile on page 6


A few observations on the married names of the daughters:

-The Vellas are a well-known family of Siculiana. I don't know who Pasqua was married to, but in the family we have Francesca Vella married with Carmelo Caruana (the father of Alfonso/Gerlando/Pasquale) + Salvatore Vella married with Giuseppa Cammalleri from Cattolica Eraclea (I guess she's a sister or cousin to Leonardo). Salvatore Vella was a leading member of the Caruana-Cuntrera clan and involved with Nick Rizzuto and the Cuntrera brothers in Venezuela.

-Salvo & Di Salvo are also well known names in Cattolica Eraclea and besides Jerry Di Salvo is a nephew of Joe Gentile.

In 1959 following the murder of Giuseppe Spagnolo in 1955, Rosario Gurreri tells investigators that Leonardo Salvo (sometimes called Salvo Pollari) & Giacinto Arcuri told him that Spagnolo should be killed for having "damaged to the honor" of Leonardo Cammalleri's mother-in-law whose name was Giuseppa Di Salvo ...

It makes a number of interesting connections...

Filippo Vella (1895-1958) was born in Siculiana and I personally believe he was an early Rockford LCN member. The Vella family in Rockford had quite a few that were bookmakers and associates of the LCN with one of the family being a high profile attorney.

[B.]

Antimafia -- I will send you a private message soon.

Interesting you point out the Cucuzzella name showing up in Siculiana. Gentile's friend Antonino Cucuzella was from Ribera and a cousin of the LoLordos of the DeCavalcante and Chicago Families. Joseph LoLordo was still in contact with a cousin in Montreal named Vincenzo LoLordo as late as the 1960s.

Despite both the mafia-affiliated Cucuzzella and LoLordos coming from Ribera, those names don't seem particularly common there and both are more common to Siculiana. Tony and I have wondered if the LoLordos' deeper ancestry is actually in Siculiana, same could be true of Nino Cucuzzella.

[antimafia]

^^^^
Here’s the Quebec marriage record for a Nicolina Cucuzzella who married a Carmelo Bruno, both of them born in Cattolica Eraclea, as was Nicolina’s father. Carmelo’s father, however, was born in Licata.

[antimafia]

^^^^
Most Cucuzzellas who have lived in Quebec have ancestry from Cattolica Eraclea. Same with most Lo Prestis, although the Lo Presti surname is more prevalent in Siculiana, as Tony has discovered. The Ancestry site isn’t very helpful to Canadian mobwatchers hoping to find Canadian records, whereas vital records, obituaries, and cemetery entries — to name just a few examples of information published in Canada — are extremely valuable.

Below is the Quebec marriage record for a Nicola Cucuzzella (male) whose parents’ places of birth do not appear on the record. His father was an Antonino Cucuzzella, and Nicola’s mother was an Antonina Lo Presti. But without constructing a family tree, I can’t assume from where Nicola’s parents descend. Earlier in André Cédilot’s career as a Quebec-based journalist, he had indicated in one of his articles that Siculiana was the birthplace of the murdered Giuseppe Lo Presti; at some point later, Cédilot started listing the correct birthplace: Cattolica Eraclea.