Alan "Grecco" Wolshonak

[B.]

I started a thread on either Real Deal or the first Black Hand about how much research they actually do into a proposed member's background. In the early days little was likely needed, as these guys were often related, from the same parts of Italy, or at least lifelong friends from the neighborhood. We know from the Giuseppe Morello letters that a proposed member's compaesani even had to be contacted through 1908.

Beyond that I don't know, though. Pennisi was made in recent years and said he got a call from a Bronx social club asking his mother's maiden name and that is it as far as we know. With Barone it's possible they saw his last name and that was enough, that they didn't feel the need to determine whether his father was full or not. With his year of induction, these guys are often off about their year of induction and LCNBios has found convincing evidence the books didn't open until early 1976 except for select members who were sent out of town to be made (a process Valachi was also aware of).

I don't know enough about Campos to say. Like I said earlier, Garcia and some Bronx board members over the years have claimed he was Puerto Rican but I don't know whether that's accurate or if it was local gossip that got out of hand, i.e. someone said "That name sounds Spanish and he kind of looks Puerto Rican" and it became 'he's Puerto Rican". The Gambinos at one point were willing to make paternal half-Italians but John Gotti reportedly regretted this, even lamenting his son's half-Jewish heritage, and the rule was reversed. I don't know when Campos got made but if he was a paternal Puerto Rican and his father was full it'd be out of place for the Gambinos to make them no matter who they are. The same crew might as well have made Zef Mustafa if that were the case as he was already "like a member".

[johnny_scootch]

There’s zero chance the Gambino family made a 100% Puerto Rican, they would be a laughingstock. The fact that Andy Campos father got made proves the fact he’s at very least partly Italian.

[B.]

There’s zero chance the Gambino family made a 100% Puerto Rican, they would be a laughingstock. The fact that Andy Campos father got made proves the fact he’s at very least partly Italian.

Yeah it's not Stanfa's gang of misfits or Pittsburgh running on empty but a major Gambino crew.

[PolackTony]

Regarding Genovese members, George Barone’s father was apparently Italian, but he described himself as “a mongrel, part Italian, part Irish and part Hungarian.” He apparently was made into the Genovese Family in the early 70s (I think this is based on his own testimony, but I’m not 100% sure), which is a little odd, both because it seems pretty early for someone only part Italian to be made, and also because the books were closed until I believe 1975. Perhaps he was snuck through, rather than them knowingly making a half Italian?

Barone told the Feds that he was made in a ceremony in the Spring of 1977, officiated by Funzi Tieri. The ceremony is notable in that Barone said that it was abbreviated as a verbal-only ceremony, as Tieri was not in the shape to conduct the full ceremony given age/health (as B noted above, the Genovese were generally sticklers for the orthodox ceremony, so far as we know). I don’t recall that Barone said anything about his ancestry being an issue for his induction, but just noted that he was informed by Tony Salerno that he was to be inducted as a reward for the work he put in for “the outfit” (Barone was referring to the Genovese Family here, of course).

[Don Mosseria]

Regarding Genovese members, George Barone’s father was apparently Italian, but he described himself as “a mongrel, part Italian, part Irish and part Hungarian.” He apparently was made into the Genovese Family in the early 70s (I think this is based on his own testimony, but I’m not 100% sure), which is a little odd, both because it seems pretty early for someone only part Italian to be made, and also because the books were closed until I believe 1975. Perhaps he was snuck through, rather than them knowingly making a half Italian?

Barone told the Feds that he was made in a ceremony in the Spring of 1977, officiated by Funzi Tieri. The ceremony is notable in that Barone said that it was abbreviated as a verbal-only ceremony, as Tieri was not in the shape to conduct the full ceremony given age/health (as B noted above, the Genovese were generally sticklers for the orthodox ceremony, so far as we know). I don’t recall that Barone said anything about his ancestry being an issue for his induction, but just noted that he was informed by Tony Salerno that he was to be inducted as a reward for the work he put in for “the outfit” (Barone was referring to the Genovese Family here, of course).

Okay, interesting. Two secondary sources I looked at reported Barone being made “in the early 70s”, but 1977 makes more sense given the closure of the books (though as B said there were ways around it). Regarding him not being full Italian, I guess it’s possible that they knew and made him anyway as he had the name? Though with the other examples I’m aware of it seems like that was more of an 80s/90s thing than in the 70s? So maybe it’s more likely that they just never checked, or Fat Tony kept it under his hat? Especially if this is something the Genovese don’t seem to have done generally.

[Don Mosseria]

I started a thread on either Real Deal or the first Black Hand about how much research they actually do into a proposed member's background. In the early days little was likely needed, as these guys were often related, from the same parts of Italy, or at least lifelong friends from the neighborhood. We know from the Giuseppe Morello letters that a proposed member's compaesani even had to be contacted through 1908.

Beyond that I don't know, though. Pennisi was made in recent years and said he got a call from a Bronx social club asking his mother's maiden name and that is it as far as we know. With Barone it's possible they saw his last name and that was enough, that they didn't feel the need to determine whether his father was full or not. With his year of induction, these guys are often off about their year of induction and LCNBios has found convincing evidence the books didn't open until early 1976 except for select members who were sent out of town to be made (a process Valachi was also aware of).

I don't know enough about Campos to say. Like I said earlier, Garcia and some Bronx board members over the years have claimed he was Puerto Rican but I don't know whether that's accurate or if it was local gossip that got out of hand, i.e. someone said "That name sounds Spanish and he kind of looks Puerto Rican" and it became 'he's Puerto Rican". The Gambinos at one point were willing to make paternal half-Italians but John Gotti reportedly regretted this, even lamenting his son's half-Jewish heritage, and the rule was reversed. I don't know when Campos got made but if he was a paternal Puerto Rican and his father was full it'd be out of place for the Gambinos to make them no matter who they are. The same crew might as well have made Zef Mustafa if that were the case as he was already "like a member".

I think Andrew Campos was made in the early 2000s (2003?), according to a list of member inductions I saw on this forum posted by, I think, Angelo (apologies Angelo if it was not you). Then his father, George, was made after that (2007?). I take your point about e.g. Pennisi just getting a call to ask his mother’s maiden name. But to Jerry Capeci’s claim that “an investigation” was carried out into Campos’s heritage, it makes sense to me that with a name to like Campos, they might go a little further than usual in checking that out, as is definitely usually a Spanish or Portuguese name. It would be good to learn a bit more about where Capeci got that info from - I will look into it.

I have seen people on this forum state that the name Campos has some presence in Italy, particularly in Lazio and Lombardy. Even so, Campo would usually be the Italian equivalent. According to a quick google, Italian Campo and Spanish Campos both derive from the Latin Campus, meaning field. But I agree that given that they made the father, and taking that with Capeci’s claim that the Family looked into it before making either of them, it seems pretty safe to bet that the Gambino Family administration at least believed them to be of Italian descent in the male line. Even if they were wrong in this and their heritage was Puerto Rican, that would make this a case of someone sneaking through, rather than a family intentionally making people who are non-Italian in the male line. So I don’t think this can be used as an example of that.

[Tonyd621]

I think Cafaro was right about Grecco, and law enforcement got confused about his rank because they witnessed him bossing around made guys. If that was the case, it further confirms the organizational similarities between Chicago and the Genovese. In my opinion, Grecco not having an Italian father was the deal-breaker for his button. As you mentioned, by the time he filled the co-administrative role for Gatto, he already had an established reputation, and everybody knew his real name.

Also, it's interesting Cafaro was the person who stated with utmost confidence that Grecco was not a made member considering his mentor - Fat Tony - was instrumental in inducting George Barone into the family. Barone is probably the most well-known non-Italian Genovese. He was upfront with everybody and even loved to describe himself as a 'mutt' and a 'mongrel' because his mother was Irish-Hungarian. Barone said that everybody knew he wasn't fully Italian and that his non-LCN background and non-Italian heritage weren't a huge issue when he got proposed for membership. I'll check my notes if I have info about other Genovese with non-Italian roots because I can't remember anybody else off the top of my head. I definitely haven't seen anybody listed as a member whose father wasn't Italian.

Since you mentioned Knapik, if I remember correctly, he made up the story that he had Italian parents. The Merola name he adopted was allegedly his birth mother's maiden name, but he never found who his father was and just told everybody how he was a 100% Italian stallion. I believe Bob Buccino mentioned how he thought it was hilarious that the mob fell off so much that they started to induct non-Italians like Knapik.

I questioned this about him as well, but someone told me he is italian-this was in the photos section forum. I understood the context as factual from what the user stated. But maybe I was right along.

[Don Mosseria]

Also, it's interesting Cafaro was the person who stated with utmost confidence that Grecco was not a made member considering his mentor - Fat Tony - was instrumental in inducting George Barone into the family. Barone is probably the most well-known non-Italian Genovese. He was upfront with everybody and even loved to describe himself as a 'mutt' and a 'mongrel' because his mother was Irish-Hungarian. Barone said that everybody knew he wasn't fully Italian and that his non-LCN background and non-Italian heritage weren't a huge issue when he got proposed for membership. I'll check my notes if I have info about other Genovese with non-Italian roots because I can't remember anybody else off the top of my head. I definitely haven't seen anybody listed as a member whose father wasn't Italian.

Oh, I missed this bit about Barone previously, and him being open with people in the family that he was not full Italian. Well then, I guess that he is just an exception to the rule. Weird…

[B.]

Regarding Genovese members, George Barone’s father was apparently Italian, but he described himself as “a mongrel, part Italian, part Irish and part Hungarian.” He apparently was made into the Genovese Family in the early 70s (I think this is based on his own testimony, but I’m not 100% sure), which is a little odd, both because it seems pretty early for someone only part Italian to be made, and also because the books were closed until I believe 1975. Perhaps he was snuck through, rather than them knowingly making a half Italian?

Barone told the Feds that he was made in a ceremony in the Spring of 1977, officiated by Funzi Tieri. The ceremony is notable in that Barone said that it was abbreviated as a verbal-only ceremony, as Tieri was not in the shape to conduct the full ceremony given age/health (as B noted above, the Genovese were generally sticklers for the orthodox ceremony, so far as we know). I don’t recall that Barone said anything about his ancestry being an issue for his induction, but just noted that he was informed by Tony Salerno that he was to be inducted as a reward for the work he put in for “the outfit” (Barone was referring to the Genovese Family here, of course).

Barone: I was a mongrel of different ethnicities made into the Outfit.
Interviewer: So you were made in Chicago?

Funny how the narrative was that New York were sticklers about this kind of thing but Chicago wasn't when it appears to be the reverse.

[Don Mosseria]

Barone: I was a mongrel of different ethnicities made into the Outfit.
Interviewer: So you were made in Chicago?

Funny how the narrative was that New York were sticklers about this kind of thing but Chicago wasn't when it appears to be the reverse.

It’s probably because he used the expression “The Outfit”. But yes, also people very much assume that Chicago did not care about Italian-ness, and they push back when you tell them otherwise.

[B.]

Barone: I was a mongrel of different ethnicities made into the Outfit.
Interviewer: So you were made in Chicago?

Funny how the narrative was that New York were sticklers about this kind of thing but Chicago wasn't when it appears to be the reverse.

It’s probably because he used the expression “The Outfit”. But yes, also people very much assume that Chicago did not care about Italian-ness, and they push back when you tell them otherwise.

I was just making a joke because if you didn't know his Family or location it sounds like people's assumptions about Chicago: mongrel members, no traditional ceremony, the "outfit" treated like a wholly unique brand name.

[Don Mosseria]

Yeah, for sure man. I had someone get properly pissed off with me on a facebook mob group a couple of days ago for saying that Capone was made, and the Chicago Outfit is a traditional mafia family. This was someone running a mob page, too. People are very attached to their opinions on this stuff - lol. Before I discovered your show, I knew the story about Capone being made by Masseria in 1928, but I though that was how Chicago was brought into the wider national mafia, and that Chicago was therefore different to other families because it started as mainland led criminal group. When I saw you guys setting out all the facts about a traditional family going back decades before that, I was fascinated to learn more. I didn’t get angry and throw my toys out of pram because what you were saying didn’t fit my preconceived notions If you guys keep bringing the real info out, it will permeate into the wider cultural understanding…

[PolackTony]

Wait, so refresh my memory — where did the notion that George Campos is ¡wepa, Boricua! come from again?

Unsurprisingly, it’s bullshit.

George Campos was born in 1948 in NYC. I have his parents as Andrew Campos and Cecilia Quattrone. In 1950 they lived with her family on Hoffman near 187 St in the Belmont/Arthur Ave community in the Bronx, where Cecilia grew up. Her father was Francesco Quattrone, of Pellara, Reggio Calabria, and her mother Lena Zeolla, of Benevento province. Andrew was almost certainly an Andrew Campo (the “s” must’ve gotten added along the way somehow, and these kinds of spelling errors and changes were very common with Italians in the US back then), born in 1912 in NYC to a Giovanni Campo and his wife Francesca, both born in Italy. They lived in the 1920s on 2nd Ave and 111 St in East Harlem, and subsequently moved to Belmont in the Bronx. Without further digging, I’m not sure where exactly they were from in Italy, but Campo is an overwhelmingly Sicilian surname and there were a bunch of candidates named Giovanni Campo in NYC. A good bet would be one from Ragusa province, as his father was named Giorgio (hence, George being a name in the family tree).

So, yeah, it’s pretty evident to me that George Campos is 100% Ital.

[B.]

Here is some info about the evolution of US mafia membership:

- Giuseppe Morello refers to a process requiring proposed members' hometown compaesani be contacted before they're made circa 1908. The rule was previously violated by Vito Cascio Ferro and Pasquale Enea earlier in the decade.
- Harry Riccobene says the early Philadelphia Families were hometown/region-based and limited membership to compaesani.
- FBI source states that members in the US originally had to be born in Sicily and this was amended to include Sicilians born in the US.
- Same source states that with time Calabrians, Neapolitans, and eventually other Italians were allowed to join. This was true by the mid-to-late 1910s but Calabrian counterfeiter Antonio Comito said he was teased with the prospect of being made by one of the NYC Families in the late 1900s. We don't know if this was truly on the table or used to pacify him.
- In the late 1910s, a conflict in Pittsburgh between Sicilians and Calabrians was mediated by the Gran Consiglio and resulted in the Calabrians being allowed entry into the local mafia Family.
- By the 1920s it appears all Families who wanted to make non-Sicilians were allowed to do so liberally. There are references to non-Sicilians being made members by this decade in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New York City, Philadelphia, and probably elsewhere I'm forgetting.
- By 1925 Antonio Lombardo of Chicago becomes the first confirmed boss from outside of Western Sicily, being from Messina province.
- Circa late 1920s Al Capone is inducted and promoted to Genovese capodecina. Is he the first confirmed non-Sicilian captain? Presumably there were a number of them around the country by this time.
- Frank Milano the Cleveland Calabrese is the first confirmed non-Sicilian boss by 1930. By the end of the following year other non-Sicilian bosses and admin members pop up.
- By the 1950s there are half-Italians being made but it is extremely rare. It's unknown if the rule was formally changed at this time or if it was overlooked in some cases.
- By the 1970s and 80s it is fully accepted in some areas to induct half-Italians but still uncommon. A rule change was in effect by this time allowing it. As mentioned, even a "mongrel" like George Barone is let into the Genovese.
- Circa late 1970s or early 1980s, Gambino captain Nino Gaggi tells Roy DeMeo that only Sicilians can be captains in their Family. This has not only been untrue for decades, but Gaggi eventually promoted DeMeo as his acting captain.
- Tommy DelGiorno is inducted by Philly in 1982 and later says his Polish heritage was overlooked and he wasn't supposed to have been made indicating Philly still had a full Italian rule.
- In the 1980s, Chicago member Frank Calabrese complains about a paternal half-Italian being made while a maternal half-Italian couldn't be made, however Tony has found info that raises questions whether the new inductee was truly only half-Italian. Nick Calabrese testified that members had to be 100% Italian and he was made in 1983. Jimmy Marcello however was half-Italian but as Tony said raised by an Italian stepmother.
- In 1986, Pittsburgh inducts Chucky Porter who is 3/4 Italian but his paternal grandfather was not.
- John Stanfa inducts John Veasey in the 1990s whose paternal heritage may have little if any Italian. He violated a second mafia rule by inducting a former cop.
- Frank Salemme, an existing half-Italian member, becomes boss in New England and inducts his son who is 3/4 Irish and only Italian through his paternal grandfather.
- In the year 2000, the New York Families formally meet and decide to reverse the rule allowing half-Italians to join.

Despite these changes, some Families around the country remained entirely full-Italian if not Sicilian throughout their known existence. There are no confirmed bosses pre-1930 who were non-Sicilian and none of the confirmed national capi were from outside Western Sicily.

--

Anything missing? It looks to me like Wolshonak probably wasn't made and Tony confirmed that Andy + George Campos are Italian. Andy Knapik's biological parents are allegedly Italian so not including him either.

[B.]

Wait, so refresh my memory — where did the notion that George Campos is ¡wepa, Boricua! come from again?

Unsurprisingly, it’s bullshit.

George Campos was born in 1948 in NYC. I have his parents as Andrew Campos and Cecilia Quattrone. In 1950 they lived with her family on Hoffman near 187 St in the Belmont/Arthur Ave community in the Bronx, where Cecilia grew up. Her father was Francesco Quattrone, of Pellara, Reggio Calabria, and her mother Lena Zeolla, of Benevento province. Andrew was almost certainly an Andrew Campo (the “s” must’ve gotten added along the way somehow, and these kinds of spelling errors and changes were very common with Italians in the US back then), born in 1912 in NYC to a Giovanni Campo and his wife Francesca, both born in Italy. They lived in the 1920s on 2nd Ave and 111 St in East Harlem, and subsequently moved to Belmont in the Bronx. Without further digging, I’m not sure where exactly they were from in Italy, but Campo is an overwhelmingly Sicilian surname and there were a bunch of candidates named Giovanni Campo in NYC. A good bet would be one from Ragusa province, as his father was named Giorgio (hence, George being a name in the family tree).

So, yeah, it’s pretty evident to me that George Campos is 100% Ital.

That settles it. Hopefully it doesn't need to be discussed again though it will be.

Undercover agent Jack Garcia claimed Campos was half-Puerto Rican and Bronx "neighborhood guys" on the board have made the same claim.