Salvo Lima's 1961-1962 Visits to the US

[PolackTony]

On the 15th of June, 1961, the Passaic Herald-News reported that Dr. Paolo Bevilacqua was visiting the US with a delegation of Italian mayors, including Salvo Lima. The delegation had arrived to attend the World Convention of Local Administrators (mayors' conference) in Washington, DC, and would visit other cities including NYC, Philly, and Baltimore afterward (the Passaic paper reported on it because Bevilacqua had two aunts who lived in Passaic and was to take a side trip to visit them). As noted above, this group was composed mostly of Northern/Central Italians, including the Mayors of Rome, Milan, Turin, and Bologna. Apart from Lima and Bevilacqua, the only other Sicilian seems to have been a Rosario Puleo, born in Casteldaccia.

Regarding Lima's 1962 return trip to the US, here is the relevant section of the FBI document that discusses Lima's meeting with DiBella in Chicago and subsequent visit with mafia members in the Bay Area, which B. has mentioned:



Note that the CI claims that the Lima delegation visited Las Vegas in October, which is when the Nitti Travel Agency in Chicago booked its secretive "convention" at the Dunes Hotel. Lima and the "Ritorno" delegation arrived in Chicago (no records that I could find of an Alitalia flight for them to O'Hare, so they may have arrived on a private flight) and were in Chicago through at least the 26th, which was the same day that Nick Nitti booked the Dunes for both a convention and the deluxe suite for an unnamed VIP. The convention was claimed to have been for the "Oak Park Fellowship Club", which the CI informing the FBI of the booking said was an Italian-only group (the only other reference to anything called the "Oak Park Fellowship Club" that I've ever seen was from a correspondence written by the Chicago-based architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who was definitely not Italian, in 1900). The CI told the Feds that he believed that he had heard Nitti state that the VIP suite was for Sam Giancana, but when he called Nitti back with the FBI listening and tried to get him to state who the suite was for, Nitti was evasive and would only say: "You might know him". The choice of the name "Oak Park Fellowship Club" for what I'm sure was a fake convention was almost certainly tongue-in-cheek, as Giancana resided in Oak Park.

Various US papers claimed that the "Ritorno in Sicilia" delegation was composed of 30, 35, or 37 individuals. Confirmed attendees apart from Lima included Oscar Andò, Mayor of Messina (1961-1962), Gaetano Falzone, Deputy Mayor of Palermo, and Giuseppe Seminara, Vice President of the Region of Sicily. Catania Mayor Salvatore Papale (also with the Democrazia Cristiana party, naturally) seems to have also been present, though he isn't mentioned by name in any of the articles that I've seen. Additionally, the group was stated to include a number of other elected officials, "dignitaries", financiers, and industrialists.

On September 26th, the delegation's tour was kicked off with a Chicago event presided over by Hizzoner, Mayor Richard J Daley, and Chicago Italian Consul Francesco Guariglia. Old Man Daley bestowed gold medallions signifying honorary "Chicago citizenship" upon Lima, Andò, and Seminara, telling the audience that as "the melting pot city", "none had contributed more than the Italian and Sicilian Americans" to Chicago (apart from loyal votes for the Machine, they also contributed his daughter-in-law, whose father Luigi Briatta was the Outfit associate in charge of Loop gambling operations).

Lima shakes hands with Hizzoner, with Andò in the background and Consul Guariglia on the right:


On September 30th, the "Ritorno" delegation was honored in Los Angeles, at St Peter's Italian Catholic Church, by LA Italian Consul Dr. Tito DaPrato. Sicilian-born actor and local resident Nick Quattrociocchi served as their interpreter in LA; when asked by a reporter about the mafia in Sicily, Quattrociocchi responded: "The mafia is a myth. The organization is almost extinct, just like the wild American Indian". The delegation left LA on October 2nd (the "Oak Park Fellowship Club" convention in Vegas was scheduled for the 3rd, with the attendees arriving by chartered aircraft).

Papers stated that the "Ritorno" delegation was slated to visit Dallas and Washington, DC. They also seem to have visited Boston, where Lima met with Teddy Kennedy for the 3rd time. On October 7th, they were honored by Mayor James Tate in Philadelphia. On October 8th, they were greeted by Mayor Wagner in NYC (the second time in as many years for Lima) at Gracie Mansion. The delegation was in NYC through October 12th, as their visit was scheduled to culminate in the Columbus Day Parade, where Salvo Lima was a speaker and honored guest.

Above, I noted that Michele Reina was the Secretary of the "Ritorno in Sicilia" committee with Lima. Like Lima and Bevilacqua, Reina was a DC party politician in Palermo; in 1961-62, Reina was on the Palermo Provincial Council, and in 1976 was Provincial Secretary of Palermo. Reina was shot to death by the mafia in 1979, while driving with his wife and friends in Palermo. At the time, Reina's killing was the most prominent mafia murder of a politician since Emanuele Notarbartolo was murdered in 1893 (Notarbartolo was stabbed to death on a train near Termini Imerese. Palermo municipal councilor Raffaele Palizzolo was convicted for orchestrating the murder, but his conviction was later overturned. Palizzolo was from Tèrmini Imerese and alleged to have been the capofamiglia of neighboring Càccamo), and ushered in an era of other mafia hits on politicians. According to Buscetta, the murder traced back to Totò Riìna. Later investigations point to Reina having tangled with some building contractors associated with fellow DC politician and former Palermo Mayor Vito Ciancimino, a puppet of the Corleonese mafia.

Michele Reina and Salvo Lima (1970s):

A Paolo Bevilacqua was killed by the mafia in 1982. I can't find any info on him, but if they killed a former Palermo mayor, especially Lima's successor/friend, I'd expect more info but I don't know how well-known the politician Bevilacqua was and there were also much higher profile murders at the time.

Guessing it's a different one -- maybe someone can find out for sure.

Different guy. Dr. Paolo Bevilacqua was born in Pietraperzia in 1923 and died in Palermo in 2007.

[B.]

Revisiting this from the Sicilian side...

- Tommaso Buscetta said he wrote letters to Carlo Gambino and Joe Bonanno before Lima's visit so that he'd receive the proper treatment when he visited the US.

- Buscetta said he was never told Salvo Lima was a member but knew Lima's father to have been a member of Palermo Centro.

- Gaspare Mutolo believed Salvo Lima was not a member.

- Francesco Marino Mannoia testified that Stefano Bontade told him in confidence that Salvo Lima was a "reserved man of honor" in the Viale Lazio Family. When the court grilled him on this and asked if he may have confused it with Lima's father, Marino Mannoia was adamant about what he was told. "Reserved man of honor" is a term used in Sicily for made members who are made in secret and their membership is kept secret even within the mafia. It is typically used for politicians and other public or high-level figures for obvious reasons. Salvatore Costanza of the San Jose Family was also told that Lima (Mayor of Palermo, as he knew him) was a member, so that's two sources who were under that impression even though no pentiti met him as an amico nos and high-level figures like Buscetta were never told of it.

Question: the Viale Lazio Family was said by pentiti to have been disbanded. Was this the typical name for this Family or was it also known by another name? We know the Porta Nuova Family was temporarily disbanded in the early 1960s and later reconstituted, then the Palermo Centro Family was disbanded for a more significant duration because of the LaBarberas. There are examples of Palermo Families being split or disbanded much earlier in history as well (SanGiorgi era). What's the story with the Viale Lazio Family?