Schenectady NY

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B.
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Schenectady NY

Post by B. »

Curious what connections we know of to Schenectady.

- Villabate Family member Ignazio Profaci (confirmed via Sangiorgi) moved to Schenectady in 1902 where a branch of the Profaci clan lived. By 1921 he was living in Brooklyn and probably with the early Colombo Family under Mineo-DiBella. His son Gaetano Profaci (b. 1886) followed him to Brooklyn but in the interim was one of the main arrival contacts in Schenectady for members of the Profaci-Zarcone clan.

- Salvatore "Sylvester" Battaglia from Termini Imerese was from the Albany area and later a member of the Falcone crew in Utica. His brother Gus and close friend (relative?) Joseph Leone were also from Albany and may have been members.

The Schenectady / Albany guys could have belonged to the early Palermo-centric Utica Family that's theorized to have existed before becoming a Buffalo decina over Central NY. There are an overwhelming number of connections to the area immediately around Utica but Schenectady doesn't come up as much though it was obviously a landing spot for some mafiosi given the presence of the Profacis.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by B. »

Remembered that a later guy active in that area was Bonanno member Paul DiCocco with the Galante decina.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by UTC »

B. wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:57 pm Remembered that a later guy active in that area was Bonanno member Paul DiCocco with the Galante decina.
He's kind of hard to pin down. He was also involved with Skyball and Al Bruno, the Binghamtown Bufalinos, and even Violi and Cotroni.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by UTC »

UTC
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by UTC »

Genovese guy Paul (?) Campo was from there too.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by UTC »

DiCocco, by the way, was the successor to Tony Bernardi as racket boss of Schenectady. Bernardi, I believe, was an associate or perhaps even a soldier in Falcone's Buffalo crew.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by JoelTurner »

Would Saratoga Springs have been in the same metropolitan area as Schenectady? It’s less than 40 minutes away.

There’s a racetrack there and there were underground casinos known as “Lake Houses”.

Luciano, Costello, Adonis, etc. were supposedly operating in that area. Meyer Lansky did 3 months in prison over there in 1953.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by PolackTony »

JoelTurner wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 8:24 pm Would Saratoga Springs have been in the same metropolitan area as Schenectady? It’s less than 40 minutes away.

There’s a racetrack there and there were underground casinos known as “Lake Houses”.

Luciano, Costello, Adonis, etc. were supposedly operating in that area. Meyer Lansky did 3 months in prison over there in 1953.
Yeah, Saratoga Springs is considered part of the Capital District metro area (Albany-Schenectady-Troy).
"Hey, hey, hey — this is America, baby! Survival of the fittest.”
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by B. »

UTC wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 7:00 pm
B. wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:57 pm Remembered that a later guy active in that area was Bonanno member Paul DiCocco with the Galante decina.
He's kind of hard to pin down. He was also involved with Skyball and Al Bruno, the Binghamtown Bufalinos, and even Violi and Cotroni.
He was a confirmed Bonanno member but you're right that he had partnerships with members of many Families. No idea how Galante originally recruited him.
JoelTurner wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 8:24 pm Would Saratoga Springs have been in the same metropolitan area as Schenectady? It’s less than 40 minutes away.

There’s a racetrack there and there were underground casinos known as “Lake Houses”.

Luciano, Costello, Adonis, etc. were supposedly operating in that area. Meyer Lansky did 3 months in prison over there in 1953.
The Falcone crew tried to get involved or maybe did have involvement in gambling there.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by JoelTurner »

Image

Apparently they were thrown out of the area by a Doc Farone. This was Louis Farone, not made, a local character prominent in the area.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by B. »

Yep, I was thinking of that.

Not sure that Sylvester Battaglia was involved in much underworld activity despite being a member in Albany. His brother Gus was never ID'd as a member but the Falcones and Mancuso had a banquet in his honor when he moved to Arizona and Joe Bonanno neither confirmed/denied if Battaglia was from the "tradition" but said he met JFK at an event at Gus Battaglia's ranch. They seem like typical Termini mafiosi who were outwardly legitimate and politically well-connected.

The FBI said Joe Magliocco called Sylvester Battaglia so that could trace back to the Profacis' early presence in the area.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by Moscone65 »

I hear there are calabrians there today (also in nearby Albany) with ties to the calabrese in Toronto. Relatives and such
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by UTC »

PolackTony wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 10:08 pm
JoelTurner wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 8:24 pm Would Saratoga Springs have been in the same metropolitan area as Schenectady? It’s less than 40 minutes away.

There’s a racetrack there and there were underground casinos known as “Lake Houses”.

Luciano, Costello, Adonis, etc. were supposedly operating in that area. Meyer Lansky did 3 months in prison over there in 1953.
Yeah, Saratoga Springs is considered part of the Capital District metro area (Albany-Schenectady-Troy).
And only about 25 miles from vacation spot Lake George
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by UTC »

B, what's your take on Bernardi's affiliation, if any? He did have a large organization.
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Re: Schenectady NY

Post by B. »

UTC wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 5:39 pm B, what's your take on Bernardi's affiliation, if any? He did have a large organization.
No clue on him -- I will look to see what I can find.

What's interesting is that in addition to the Profaci-Magliocco clan having close ties to Schenectady and Albany, Carmine Persico had a relationship with the Utica crew. His property upstate wasn't super close to Utica but apparently they interacted in the general area.
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