Alan "Grecco" Wolshonak

[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.

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.

I mean, if the mob were to ever make a half-PR guy it would be in the Bx!

Was anyone actually circulating this claim until Garcia said it first? Or was it just some bullshit neighborhood rumor and Garcia picked it up that way?

[B.]

I feel like it was on the boards pre-Garcia but don't remember exactly. People on the boards who claim personal knowledge of Bronx mafia circles have definitely claimed it independently of Garcia.

For whatever weird reason, it seems like people want to believe it or just can't reconcile that some Italian names don't end in a vowel. Some people still think Frank Martines in Philly is Latino.

[PolackTony]

I feel like it was on the boards pre-Garcia but don't remember exactly. People on the boards who claim personal knowledge of Bronx mafia circles have definitely claimed it independently of Garcia.

For whatever weird reason, it seems like people want to believe it or just can't reconcile that some Italian names don't end in a vowel. Some people still think Frank Martines in Philly is Latino.

The Martines thing is bound to be confusing to people who don’t know that it’s also a Sicilian surname, like Campo.

Pretty clear that the family just added an “s” to their name randomly. As you are well aware, that’s tame in light of what often happened to Italian surnames in the US. Campo could’ve turned into “Gamba” or been Anglicized to “Campbell”. But because someone decided to change it to “Campos”, now people forever want to believe that it must be Spanish. If they had instead turned into “Campbell”, we’d now be having to prove that they weren’t Irish.

[B.]

With some half-Italians getting made over the years and the rules allowing it for a time, there's the question of which groups they were allowed to mix with. Definitely not black, Latino, or Asian. I'd say "white" but I wonder if any thought went into it, i.e. were white Jews less acceptable? Junior Gotti was made even though he had some Russian Jewish heritage but his father later blamed Junior's flaws on it. Despite wiseguys being close to Jews and marrying them I can't think of many half-Italian members who were maternally Jewish.

The ruse to explain Pistone's background was that "Brasco" was an orphan and the orphanage burned down, in case they looked into him at all. He was later proposed for membership and I guess they took his word for it that he was Italian. It helps that he is and seems it.

With Pennisi, he said they asked him his mother's name over the phone but he's also said she grew up with made guys and was very close to them so they could have easily looked into her in addition to getting the name. It's not like they would have told Pennisi "We talked to your Mom's neighbors and looked your grandparents up on FamilySearch. We've determined that you are 100% Italian and eligible to be made. Get dressed."

If it's true they barely look into it and just ask for the mother's last name, you'd think more mistakes would be made and guys could sneak by or lie their way in. We've seen associates take on Italian names or pretend to be Italian to increase their status and even some people who cover this subject take on Italian pseudonyms thinking it will give them more credibility.

"What's your mother's last name?"
"Oh, uh... Russo!"
"Everything checks out. Do you know why you're here?"

[johnny_scootch]

Though with the other examples I’m aware of it seems like that was more of an 80s/90s thing than in the 70s?

LCN Bios has the half Irish Paul SanFilippo being made into the Gambino family around 1955.


https://lcnbios.blogspot.com/2018/02/bi ... o.html?m=1

[Pogo The Clown]

even some people who cover this subject take on Italian pseudonyms thinking it will give them more credibility.

Like Jerry Capeci. He is actually Irish.


Pogo

[Tonyd621]

This was the post I was referencing:

STUBBS:
Straightened out
Re: Bringing down ‘The Sopranos’ for the FBI destroyed my life
Post Mon Jul 19, 2021 7:18 pm

RAVENS410 wrote: ↑
JOHNNYS wrote: ↑
RAVENS410 wrote: ↑Merola isn’t made. He used his mother’s maiden name so he would sound Italian. Got caught up trying to rip off Home Depot
He was a captain.
So is this like an Andy Campos standing? Gambino’s are letting non-Italians be captains?
He’s Italian, this has been discussed elsewhere in other threads.

[Tonyd621]

It was under some Sopranos thread I believe
As I said STUBBS posted this and the context to me sounds like he is certain but of course its text so I'm assuming;

He’s Italian, this has been discussed elsewhere in other threads.

[Don Mosseria]

Though with the other examples I’m aware of it seems like that was more of an 80s/90s thing than in the 70s?

LCN Bios has the half Irish Paul SanFilippo being made into the Gambino family around 1955.


https://lcnbios.blogspot.com/2018/02/bi ... o.html?m=1

Okay, that’s very interesting. Thanks. Do you know from elsewhere that SanFilippo was half Irish? It doesn’t say what ethnicity his non-Italian mother was in his LCN Bios article, only that it was only his father that was Italian. It gives his mother’s name as Jennie Abrams SanFilippo. Abrams sounds a lot more Jewish than Irish, though you never know based on name along (as we are discussing re Campos). Jewish ancestry would be interesting speaking to B’s question above.

[Rocco]

In an early 1980s report on Gatto, the FBI acknowledges that he runs his crew through Grecco.


1.jpg


In a report years later, the New Jersey Commission of Investigation said Grecco was a Genovese member.


2.png

I remember throwing up in a plant at LT's in Brielle NJ on RT 71 in the early 90s. That place has a new biz in it every 2yrs..

[Don Mosseria]

I mean, if the mob were to ever make a half-PR guy it would be in the Bx!

Was anyone actually circulating this claim until Garcia said it first? Or was it just some bullshit neighborhood rumor and Garcia picked it up that way?

It goes back before Garcia. On February 12 2004, Jerry Capeci wrote:

“Although the Campos surname suggests a Greek ancestry, his father’s lineage is Italian, according to a law enforcement source who told Gang Land the crime family conducted an extensive investigation into his heritage before he was “made.””
https://www.ganglandnews.com/members/column369.htm [behind a paywall]

Interesting that they select Greek as the possible heritage of the Campos name here rather than Spanish/Puerto Rican. However, the next year, on June 16 2005, Capeci wrote:

“Campos, whose surname suggests Greek or Hispanic heritage – the Gambinos checked and determined his lineage was Italian before they inducted him…”
https://www.ganglandnews.com/members/column437.htm [behind a paywall]

So he has progressed here to include Hispanic. And I guess in the Bronx, if you’re guessing Hispanic, Puerto Rican would be what people would default to? According to Pogo and Angelo, Andrew Campos was made in 2003 (https://theblackhand.club/forum/viewtop ... 62#p213462), so at the time Capeci was writing, this alleged investigation by the family would be relatively current news. This shows uncertainty about his heritage goes back to the time he was made.

I definitely hear what you say about Italian names getting changed a lot in America. But I also don’t find it surprising that with a Spanish looking name, people will question it. I think it makes sense that the family might go a little further making sure in this case than they would with someone called Pennisi, as described by B above. Hence Capeci’s description of an “extensive” investigation. I would also guess Hispanisization of a name is less common that Anglisization, though as you say, who knows how an S could get added on to the name - could be anything?

In any case, it looks pretty certain they are Italian, and an S was just added on at some point. Nice one on the genealogical work - I’ve got to get on those primary research techniques myself. So it’s good to be able to put this one to bed.

[LarryC]

I feel like it was on the boards pre-Garcia but don't remember exactly. People on the boards who claim personal knowledge of Bronx mafia circles have definitely claimed it independently of Garcia.

For whatever weird reason, it seems like people want to believe it or just can't reconcile that some Italian names don't end in a vowel. Some people still think Frank Martines in Philly is Latino.

The Martines thing is bound to be confusing to people who don’t know that it’s also a Sicilian surname, like Campo.

Pretty clear that the family just added an “s” to their name randomly. As you are well aware, that’s tame in light of what often happened to Italian surnames in the US. Campo could’ve turned into “Gamba” or been Anglicized to “Campbell”. But because someone decided to change it to “Campos”, now people forever want to believe that it must be Spanish. If they had instead turned into “Campbell”, we’d now be having to prove that they weren’t Irish.

I don't understand why people think that "es" and "is" surname endings can't be Italian. Sicily is full of them as you know.

[Don Mosseria]

- In 1986, Pittsburgh inducts Chucky Porter who is 3/4 Italian but his paternal grandfather was not.

Great timeline on evolving membership criteria. One point re. Chucky Porter apparently being 3/4 Italian - this is uncertain.

Paul Hodos, author of Steel City Mafia, told me in the comments under the Archaeologists episode on which he appeared that the 75% figure was based on claims made by Porter himself, but had not been independently verified (at least as far as Paul knew, though if you guys have verified this, please let me know). Paul told me that he had traced Porters mother’s family to Avellino, so they are definitely Italian. His father was from the San Antonio area of Texas, and probably his father’s father too. The Porter name apparently has a long heritage in that region.

When it comes to his father’s mother, who should be Italian if his 75% claims are true, things are a little murky. Paul had found her on the census as Kate Porter, her father being from Texas and her mother from Kentucky. He did not have her maiden name. It is possible that both halves of this Texas/Kentucky great-grandparent couple were Italian. On the other hand, it is possible that his father was not actually Italian in the slightest, and Chucky was inventing an additional 25% Italian heritage.

[johnny_scootch]

Thanks. Do you know from elsewhere that SanFilippo was half Irish?

I can't remember where I got that from honestly, I guess there is a chance I totally made it up in my head considering the blonde hair, the fair skin (reason he was called Whitey) and the fact he grew up in the Irish neighborhood of Bath Beach. Bath Beach was all Irish before the Italians totally displaced them.

Maybe one of the genealogical experts can do a search on Jennie Abrams and come up with something.

[PolackTony]

Thanks. Do you know from elsewhere that SanFilippo was half Irish?

I can't remember where I got that from honestly, I guess there is a chance I totally made it up in my head considering the blonde hair, the fair skin (reason he was called Whitey) and the fact he grew up in the Irish neighborhood of Bath Beach. Bath Beach was all Irish before the Italians totally displaced them.

Maybe one of the genealogical experts can do a search on Jennie Abrams and come up with something.

I recall looking into SanFilippo before and it wasn’t clear to me whether Jennie Abrams was specifically Irish or Anglo/Scottish, German. But she was definitely not Italian.