What was the Combaneesh?

[antimafia]

Didn't know that Vibo Valentina was in Catanzaro then. Thank you. Those changing boundaries are important with this as we've seen in other regions.

Agreed. And you’re welcome.

[PolackTony]

This brings to mind Johnstown, PA, where there was not only a distinct Cosa Nostra Family separate from Pittsburgh but also a Calabrian Camorra society under Calabro who partnered in extortion with Sicilian mafiosi throughout Western PA. Still, this is much different from Birmingham given Western PA had an extensive mainland population and was central to the Camorra network. Gentile indicates that a Sicilian may have been a Camorra affiliate under Calabro, as when Gentile advocated for his friend LaMantia, one of the extortionists who arrived with Calabro for the meeting was a Sicilian. Johnstown was also a key location linked to the "Banana Society" which showed evidence of Cosa Nostra / Camorra crossover a few years earlier.

Maybe JD is still here checking out posts on BHF and left this as a little gift for us.

Don't know if you've seen the reference previously, but in JD's recent post about San Jose, he notes that per Tony Lima, suspected SJ member Salvatore Vizzini's father was leader of the "Camorristi" in Johnstown:



Now, Salvatore "Sam" Vizzini's parents were Giacomo "James" Vizzini, a longtime grocer and merchant in Johnstown who died in 1934, and Angelina Palilla, both of Villarosa (given the proximity of Villarosa to Villalba, also worth noting here that Giacomo apparently had a brother named Calogero Vizzini, though I saw no indication of any link to the famous one).

In 1907, Giacomo Vizzini was living in Coalport, PA, when his wife Angelina and their sons Salvatore (b. 1901) and Michele Francesco (b. 1903) arrived in the US to join him. Now, the passenger manifest states that the three had most recently been living in San Nicola Dell'Alto, a comune in today's Crotone province in Calabria (as noted above, at the time all of this was going on, Crotone was still part of Catanzaro province). Further, all three of them were recorded as having been born in the nearby comune of Isola Capo Rizzuto. I'm pretty certain that mother Angelina Palilla was actually from Villarosa (and also worth noting that both Vizzini and Palilla are typically Sicilian rather than Calabrian surnames), but the two sons would seem to have been born in Calabria. This is further supported by Sam Vizzini's brother Michele's WW2 draft card, stating that he was born in Strongoli, which neighbors the comune of San Nicola Dell'Alto. While I haven't seen any documented cases of the Honored Society in this area during the late 19th Century (at least not that I can recall offhand), in modern times this area has been a center of significant 'Ndrangheta, with the Crimine/Provincia of Crotone having extensions into Catanzaro and Cosenza provinces.

Now, if Tony Lima specified that Giacomo Vizzini was the leader of the Camorristi in Johnstown, we should take him seriously. As we know, not only was Lima initially made into the Pittsburgh outfit in 1927, but he was also related to men that we have good reason to believe were themselves *very* familiar with the old Camorra (the Banana Boys, as discussed previously). Maybe what Lima meant was that the Camorristi in Johnstown were merged into the Johnstown LCN and Vizzini was the boss of that. But, we know very little about what was happening in these places from an organizational point of view, so it may well be instead that a guy from Villarosa was, in fact, the boss of the Calabrian Camorra in Johnstown. That Vizzini pretty evidently had lived in Calabria prior to arriving in the US would certainly strengthen the likelihood of this, apart from the general fact that there were Sicilians in the Camorra in both Italy and the US.

[B.]

Wow yeah, if Lima said Vizzini's father was specifically a Calabrian Camorrista and a leader that is good enough for me. That they had roots in Villarosa, which produced other important members in both Johnstown and Pittsburgh members, and lived in Calabria makes them perfectly primed to have been members of both the Camorra and local Cosa Nostra. Johnstown is like a perfect case study of the relationship between the American Camorra and Cosa Nostra.

His name is slipping right now but the 'ndrangheta initiated and elevated a native of San Cataldo in Caltanissetta in more recent decades. He ended up over an 'ndrina on the mainland.

[JoelTurner]

Jimmy Brown Gioe's wife Gladys was Canonsburg, PA. This was a town outside of Pittsburgh.

Her father John Cappa was from Enna proper while her mother was from Villarosa. The former was shotgunned to death in Pittsburgh on May 2 1917 while attempting to blackmail brothers Charles & Joseph Rossignolo

I wouldn't be surprised if he was in the mafia; his brother Paul Cappa was a longtime Passaic gangster who was part of the Profita/Angelo LaPadura gang

[B.]

Good detail, Joel. I believe Jimmy Brown's family was from Catania province when I looked into him many years ago and it looked like his father died very young, possibly nefariously. Be interesting if both him and his wife's fathers were killed underworld-style. Something to relate over.

[JoelTurner]

Gioe was from Belmonte Mezzagno, Palermo

I don't know anything about his parents besides their names, I don't think they ever moved to the US.

His brother Sam was a Philly member and his sister Vincenza was married to Casimiro Spera, another Belmontesi. He was likely a relative of the Spera family that was a part of the Philly/Vineland group alongside the Perella, Pepitone, Barrale, etc. families.

[B.]

Ah, I misread and thought you said Jimmy Brown Failla. I'm def familiar with Gioe. Makes sense he married a woman from Caltanissetta/Enna given his presence in Trenton and Philly.

Gioe also had a close relationship to the Bruno Annaloros going back to Angelo's father Michael, them coming from Caltanissetta obviously. There may have even been a compare relationship based on a comment on one tape but I haven't seen it confirmed.

[B.]

The Sicilian who was a high-ranking 'ndranghetista is Calogero Marceno, the capo-locale of 'ndrina Zagari in Taurianova, and he came from San Cataldo, Caltanissetta. Gaetano Costa from Messina held similar rank but in Messina proper and what sets Marceno apart is he was from a comune with a mafia history going back to at least the mid-19th century and operated outside of Sicily.

Both of them flipped, too.

[Angelo Santino]

This brings to mind Johnstown, PA, where there was not only a distinct Cosa Nostra Family separate from Pittsburgh but also a Calabrian Camorra society under Calabro who partnered in extortion with Sicilian mafiosi throughout Western PA. Still, this is much different from Birmingham given Western PA had an extensive mainland population and was central to the Camorra network. Gentile indicates that a Sicilian may have been a Camorra affiliate under Calabro, as when Gentile advocated for his friend LaMantia, one of the extortionists who arrived with Calabro for the meeting was a Sicilian. Johnstown was also a key location linked to the "Banana Society" which showed evidence of Cosa Nostra / Camorra crossover a few years earlier.

Maybe JD is still here checking out posts on BHF and left this as a little gift for us.

Don't know if you've seen the reference previously, but in JD's recent post about San Jose, he notes that per Tony Lima, suspected SJ member Salvatore Vizzini's father was leader of the "Camorristi" in Johnstown:



Now, Salvatore "Sam" Vizzini's parents were Giacomo "James" Vizzini, a longtime grocer and merchant in Johnstown who died in 1934, and Angelina Palilla, both of Villarosa (given the proximity of Villarosa to Villalba, also worth noting here that Giacomo apparently had a brother named Calogero Vizzini, though I saw no indication of any link to the famous one).

In 1907, Giacomo Vizzini was living in Coalport, PA, when his wife Angelina and their sons Salvatore (b. 1901) and Michele Francesco (b. 1903) arrived in the US to join him. Now, the passenger manifest states that the three had most recently been living in San Nicola Dell'Alto, a comune in today's Crotone province in Calabria (as noted above, at the time all of this was going on, Crotone was still part of Catanzaro province). Further, all three of them were recorded as having been born in the nearby comune of Isola Capo Rizzuto. I'm pretty certain that mother Angelina Palilla was actually from Villarosa (and also worth noting that both Vizzini and Palilla are typically Sicilian rather than Calabrian surnames), but the two sons would seem to have been born in Calabria. This is further supported by Sam Vizzini's brother Michele's WW2 draft card, stating that he was born in Strongoli, which neighbors the comune of San Nicola Dell'Alto. While I haven't seen any documented cases of the Honored Society in this area during the late 19th Century (at least not that I can recall offhand), in modern times this area has been a center of significant 'Ndrangheta, with the Crimine/Provincia of Crotone having extensions into Catanzaro and Cosenza provinces.

Now, if Tony Lima specified that Giacomo Vizzini was the leader of the Camorristi in Johnstown, we should take him seriously. As we know, not only was Lima initially made into the Pittsburgh outfit in 1927, but he was also related to men that we have good reason to believe were themselves *very* familiar with the old Camorra (the Banana Boys, as discussed previously). Maybe what Lima meant was that the Camorristi in Johnstown were merged into the Johnstown LCN and Vizzini was the boss of that. But, we know very little about what was happening in these places from an organizational point of view, so it may well be instead that a guy from Villarosa was, in fact, the boss of the Calabrian Camorra in Johnstown. That Vizzini pretty evidently had lived in Calabria prior to arriving in the US would certainly strengthen the likelihood of this, apart from the general fact that there were Sicilians in the Camorra in both Italy and the US.

I was trying to figure out who succeeded the Johnstown boss in 1924, sounds like Vizzini may be a strong possibility. This makes me wonder if the informant who stated Johnstown had a separate family was knowing or unknowingly referring to this group? The alternative would that there were two groups in Johnstown prior to the 50s.

Good find!

[Angelo Santino]

The Sicilian who was a high-ranking 'ndranghetista is Calogero Marceno, the capo-locale of 'ndrina Zagari in Taurianova, and he came from San Cataldo, Caltanissetta. Gaetano Costa from Messina held similar rank but in Messina proper and what sets Marceno apart is he was from a comune with a mafia history going back to at least the mid-19th century and operated outside of Sicily.

Both of them flipped, too.

For what it's worth, Joe Pinzola was arrested working for a Calabrian whom the press labeled a black hand boss. Given we know how easy it was to join this group at a lower degree, it's possible Pinzola started out on that side. This would put him in the same category of guys from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago and maybe Philly who started out as camorra and were selected for mafia membership and began reaching leadership positions by the late 20s / early 30s.

And Caltanissetta, there was a Sicilian, John La Paglia, murdered in Pittsburgh in 1924 whom informants (one was a Gigliotti) claimed this guy was a black hand boss along with Calabro of Johnstown (he claimed had him murdered) and Milano of Cleveland. The guy who confirmed his identity was Lamendola, brother of the underboss a few years later. I want to say both of these men were from Caltanissetta but I might be mistaken. He had moved to Pittsburgh a month prior from Ohio. His murder occurred around the same time about 10-15 people, all of whom I was able to identify were Calabrese, were murdered. I always assumed LaPaglia was mafia but now I'm not so sure given the introduction of Sicilian camorristi onto the playing board.

Also, a brother of the famous Musolino came to the US and met up with relatives, he was taken to Elizabeth St and put through a ceremony by a group composed of Calabrians and Sicilians. The latter must have been numerous enough for him to mention them. This was in the early 1900s.

We've talked about compaesanismo as a strong link between not just OC but the Italian community in general. But others facts would likely apply. It might have been easier to join the camorra, in fact we know that it was. But also, camorra and mafia had different cultures. The quintessential mafioso wore black, owned a business and would blend in whereas the standard camorrista wore different colors, usually had no skills and flaunted their underworld status. Some elements might have been more appealing to some more than others. This can be broken down further of course because there's camorristi who did not follow that trend, especially amongst the Calabrians. This takes us back to Johnstown because the investigation in 1924 revealed a list of 23 members who were part of Calabro's group, one was a Lo Faro whose father was known to the SS in Little Italy in NYC. The SS went to locate the father and found out he had moved to Milton, NY, had a solid reputation, and owned one of the nicest farms in town.

[B.]

The murdered underboss was Landolina from Caccamo, similar name, but maybe Lamendola was from Caltanissetta. I think Tony found that LaPaglia was from Villarosa which as we know now was linked to both the mafia and Camorra in Johnstown. LaPaglia is also the one we believe was connected to Chicago boss Tony Lombardo, an ex-Ohio Messinese described by DeRose as a "Camorra man".

Confusing these matters more is that Calabro of Johnstown worked closely with the Pittsburgh Family and presumably the Johnstown Family in extortion and Gentile implied Calabro had a Sicilian under him. Just hard to tell where the formal distinctions begin and end given these close relationships and the revelation of a Camorra leader whose heritage was from Villarosa but lived in Calabria.

Good point about Pinzolo. His story is unique in that he arrived to Pittston where his Caltanissetta paesans were already active, moved to NYC and worked with/under a Calabrian, then was something of an outsider boss of the Luccheses.

[PolackTony]

Also, a brother of the famous Musolino came to the US and met up with relatives, he was taken to Elizabeth St and put through a ceremony by a group composed of Calabrians and Sicilians. The latter must have been numerous enough for him to mention them. This was in the early 1900s.

That was Antonio Musolino, brother of the brigand Giuseppe Musolino of Santo Stefano in Aspromonte. He left Calabria for NYC in 1906 and soon after was initiated into a Camorra organization that he called “La Mano Nera” by Frank Filastò, who the Musolinos were related to by marriage. He said that the group had a tavern in Brooklyn that they used as a meeting place and as you note, specified that the members were both Calabrian and Sicilian.

[B.]

The affiliation of Sicilians with the Calabrian Camorra raises the question of whether any Sicilians from an established mafia clan joined the Camorra or if they only recruited guys outside of that background. If the Banana Society members were truly Camorristi in addition to mafiosi the answer is yes but there are still questions there.

[Angelo Santino]

The affiliation of Sicilians with the Calabrian Camorra raises the question of whether any Sicilians from an established mafia clan joined the Camorra or if they only recruited guys outside of that background. If the Banana Society members were truly Camorristi in addition to mafiosi the answer is yes but there are still questions there.

Was on a call with Tony about this and other camorra-related stuff for 2 and a half hours and I have a headache. This is confusing stuff and the three of us (il tre cavalieri) raise questions that haven't been previously raised. It's a learning process and I'm here for it. When we all have time I want to break down 19th century Naples camorra and 1910's Pittsburgh camorra between the three of us and get your take on this business.

Anyways, it's been established that the society we all know and love as camorra was heavy in Messina and had some presence in Palermo. Caltanissetta seems like it has a lot of connections throughout the ages and countries. That opens a whole new can of worms because we have very few examples outside of Nisseni going mafia-to-camorra with the exception of the banana Limas of Trabia. On a grand scale, we don't see people going mafia to camorra but given it was PA/OH where the camorra was king perhaps the dynamics were different than, say NYC. These questions don't lead to answers, just more questions. Anyways, bonanotti.

[PolackTony]

“Batura” (possibly battuto), in the way that DeCarlo translates it as “bad guy” would seem to be akin to malandrino. Malandrino is of course a general term meaning criminal or outlaw, with no organizational significance in the Camorra, but has been often used to refer to Camorra/‘Ndrangheta affiliates. For example, one theory of the etymology of the Calabrian term ‘ndrina is that it derived from Malandrina, the organization of “bad guys”. We know that in several localities in Italy the Camorra called itself Società di Malavita (in Bari and other locations in Puglia and Calabria). Bad guys lead a Bad Life.

Couple of notes to the above.

The 1973 book “La Mala Italia” by Ernesto Ferrero, the author discusses means of communication used in Italian prisons. One such method was the practice of tapping on walls to communicate from cell to cell; like a primitive Morse code. Ferrero notes than in prison slang this was called “batti-batti” or “battuta” (from battere, meaning “to beat”, the term battuta is also used to refer to a beat or measure in music). This could be what was being referenced on the tape. DeCarlo seems to connect “batura” to being a “bad guy”, but we also know that these guys didn’t always speak linearly, so who knows.

Regarding malandrina being the origin of the term ‘ndrina. Malandrina was also used in the 19th century to refer to the section of a prison where the Camorra affiliates were housed. Would make sense that this would then become the origin of the Calabrian term for a Società once the organization spread from the prisons into Calabria.