1936 Mangano / Profaci trip

[B.]

Noticed that Vincenzo Mangano and Joe Profaci arrived back on the same ship manifest in 1936. I assume they went to Sicily together. No idea what was going on at the time as that's not a particularly significant year in the US mafia but obviously two Brooklyn bosses traveling abroad together is something.

Anyone know if significant events were happening in Palermo that would have brought them there?

They were of course arrested together at the 1928 Cleveland meeting and Mangano traveled to Sicily with fellow Cleveland Giuseppe Traina in 1925 which I've posted about.

[PolackTony]

Interesting. 1936 was a year that the American mafia held a “National Convention” (Bonanno’s term), so it’s possible that the trip had some relation to matters discussed there.

[B.]

Good point, that was the year the Commission met formally to reaffirm seats (the five year rule) so maybe there were updates.

[InCamelot]

Is there sufficient evidence suggesting that Mangano might've been a representative (admin member?) of the Mineo/Profaci group during his trip with Joe Traina to Sicily in the 1920s?

[B.]

EDIT: I misread your post and didn't realize you said Mineo/Profaci group. No, I don't think he was with that Family even though he was close to Mineo.

I think he was a Gambino captain but hard to say, as there's nothing stating it outright. Traina was consigliere during the 1920s and may have held this role until Joe Biondo got it in late 1931 based on the description of his role in the Castellammarese War.

- Stefano Ferrigno was likely Mineo's underboss by 1930 though Mangano was a leading member of the pro-Masseria faction too.
- Mangano was close to D'Aquila and identified his body at the morgue even though he supported Masseria.
- Attardi said "Salvatore Mumbrao" was D'Aquila's underboss then took over, so he seems to place Mineo as underboss even though he was once boss of his own Family.

Personally I lean toward the Manganos and Anastasias/Anastasios all coming from the same decina, Mangano briefly serving as underboss to Scalise with Albert as captain, then Mangano became boss with Albert as underboss and Phil Mangano as captain with Tony Anastasio replacing him in 1951. Just an unconfirmed theory. A likely early leader of this group was Giuseppe Trovato who was Phil Mangano's father-in-law.

Not sure how well known it is, but Vincenzo Mangano was in with Scottos in Brooklyn before the Anastasias. He was very close to a Louis Scotto going back to the 1910s and his daughter married an Anthony Scotto, not the same one who married Tony Anastasio's daughter and replaced him as captain -- maybe a cousin.

[InCamelot]

I've often wondered if Mangano had any 'powerbase' at the time of his murder. The Manganos and Anastasias all being the same decina would answer that I think. I'm not sure if there's any info out there on how close Profaci and his borgata remained with Mangano by '51, or how they felt about his disappearance, though.

[JoelTurner]

Personally I lean toward the Manganos and Anastasias/Anastasios all coming from the same decina, Mangano briefly serving as underboss to Scalise with Albert as captain, then Mangano became boss with Albert as underboss and Phil Mangano as captain with Tony Anastasio replacing him in 1951. Just an unconfirmed theory.

I’m curious, what makes you think this?

Joe Bonanno names both Anastasia and Mangano as captains in the Al Mineo Family [A Man of Honor - P.67]. They wouldn’t have been leading the same crew concurrently.

Also, Valachi said that Vincenzo LePore (Jimmy Marino from Fordham) was the underboss under Scalice. [Valachi The Real Thing - P.343] He knew about Mangano, even mentioning him as being on Maranzano’s hit list, but doesn’t mention him as UB.

I think the family would have had a very strong presence at the Brooklyn waterfront, where these two crews were located. I think even the Carmelo LiConti group, Terry Zappi’s crew in later years, started out there

[B.]

Good eye on what Bonanno said about Anastasia / Mangano. Didn't realize he placed them both as "group leaders" at the same time. I do think Anastasia may have had roots in Mangano's crew earlier but like I said it's unconfirmed.

With LePore, there's an FBI interview where Valachi said he was a captain -- will post it if I come across it again. In the Real Thing he was just guessing about underboss: "Then there was Frank Socolic and I'm not sure who was the underboss, could had been Jimmy Marino from Forham. Now he Maranzana named a Angelo Cruiso as his underboss."

Maybe he was the underboss but I'm not confident in Valachi's guess. Did he mention his rank in Valachi Papers or his testimony? I know he mentioned the murder.

[Boatdrinks]

I have just looked at my two copies of Joe Bonanno's 'A Man of Honor'. Both the paperback, and the hardback, have the same numbering of pages.
Page 67 has Uncle Peter Bonventre sending Joe Bonanno to Uncle Vito Bonventre for work, and Bonanno then getting into the bakery business.
Page 84 has Joe Bonanno describing the five Families of New York City. He describes the Mineo Family as the second major Family, and says "This clan included Tata Chiricho, Joe Traina, Vincent Mangano, Frank Scalise and Albert Anastasia."
This bit about the Mineo Family, does not say that they were captains (indeed Bonanno is well known for avoiding that term), nor does it say that they were group leaders either.
Bonanno is merely listing some of the more well known figures. He is not even stating that they were important at that time.
There are three sources, that I have, that place the origin of the relationship of Mangano and Anastasia.
William Balsamo's 'Crime Incorporated', on page 290, has Anastasia, in 1951, saying he had known the Mangano brothers for thirty years. I do not known Balsamo's source.
Alexander Hortis, in his 'The Mob and the City', page 25, says Anastasia met the Mangano brothers in 1920.
David Critchley, in his book on the origin of organized crime book, page 158, says Anastasia's most close associates were Calabrians, and then said Jack Parisi was Vincent Mangano's brother in law.

[B.]

Ok so Bonanno didn't specifically say Mangano and Anastasia were "group leaders" at the same time? I didn't check the book after Joel's post.

--

I haven't been able to substantiate the claim about the Parisi-Mangano relation. Parisi was married to a fellow Calabrian in Brooklyn and Mangano's wife was from Palermo like him.

With this stuff in mind...

The conflict between Biagio Giordano and the Busardos could be framed as Calabrian vs. Sicilian and that may have been part of it but one of the main suspects in the Giordano murder (in which Anastasia was shot) was Carmelo LiConti who in 1920 lived next door to Giordano in the same apartment building. Some months after the Giordano murder LiConti attended the banquet for Ignazio Lupo, so it looks like he was already made or at least well-accepted by the Gambino Family by then and if it's true he killed his friend Giordano it shows there was more at play than just ethnic rivalry.

Relationships between the Palermitani and Calabrians in Brooklyn were already established though it's true Anastasia had a strong group of Calabrians around him. However there was rivalry even within the Calabrian element.

[CornerBoy]

Noticed that Vincenzo Mangano and Joe Profaci arrived back on the same ship manifest in 1936. I assume they went to Sicily together. No idea what was going on at the time as that's not a particularly significant year in the US mafia but obviously two Brooklyn bosses traveling abroad together is something.

Anyone know if significant events were happening in Palermo that would have brought them there?

They were of course arrested together at the 1928 Cleveland meeting and Mangano traveled to Sicily with fellow Cleveland Giuseppe Traina in 1925 which I've posted about.

you know your shit my friend. Glad you get such joy out of this research

[B.]

Just chasing nirvana like the rest of us.

[JoelTurner]

I have just looked at my two copies of Joe Bonanno's 'A Man of Honor'. Both the paperback, and the hardback, have the same numbering of pages.
Page 67 has Uncle Peter Bonventre sending Joe Bonanno to Uncle Vito Bonventre for work, and Bonanno then getting into the bakery business.
Page 84 has Joe Bonanno describing the five Families of New York City. He describes the Mineo Family as the second major Family, and says "This clan included Tata Chiricho, Joe Traina, Vincent Mangano, Frank Scalise and Albert Anastasia."
This bit about the Mineo Family, does not say that they were captains (indeed Bonanno is well known for avoiding that term), nor does it say that they were group leaders either.
Bonanno is merely listing some of the more well known figures. He is not even stating that they were important at that time.

That’s my bad, I misinterpreted this passage. I thought he was saying that they were captains but just not using the term.

However, if he was just listing more well known figures, Chiri seems like the odd man out. The others were famous enough to have a Wikipedia page while he’s a total unknown.

[B.]

Gentile said his return to Italy involved a meeting with Mangano, Anastasia, Biondo, and "Chirico" (Chiri) where they decided/approved of the plan. This stood out because it was three admin members plus Chiri who I assume was a capodecina. Gentile as we know was technically a soldier but also Mangano's "sostituto" for the Agrigento faction. If a consiglio was in place in the Gambino Family back then those five are good candidates -- Chiri and Gentile were at least assisting the admin. Interesting too how all five of those guys were Masseria supporters during the war.

[Antiliar]

Following up, like Boatdrinks wrote there's nothing on Mangano or Anastasia on page 67 of "A Man of Honor." I'm using the hardback edition. On page 84 it reads "The second major Family was headed by Al Mineo (his real name in Italian was Manfredi), an avowed ally of Masseria's. This clan included Tata Chiricho, Joe Traina, Vincent Mangano, Frank Scalise and Albert Anastasia." In "The Last Testament of Bill Bonanno," in page 51 of the Kindle version, Bill calls Anastasia and Mangano "men who would rise to powerful positions" around 1929/30 when Mineo, DiBella and Reina were bosses.