B. wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2023 8:32 am
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.