Furnari's origins

[Eline2015]

So he was adopted or what?
https://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/us ... nari_32qqp

[PolackTony]

Not adopted, his dad died when he was a baby.

He was born Christoforo Furnari in 1924 in BK to Primo Furnari and Filippa “Fannie” Indovino, both of Valguarnera Pepe, today in the province of Enna. Primo Furnari had previously lived in Rochester, NY, where there was a colony from Valguarnera, before marrying Filippa in BK in 1922.

Primo Furnari died in 1926, when Christie Tick was about a year-and-half old. Filippa subsequently remarried Christie’s stepfather, Giuseppe Brigandi, also a native of Valguarnera, in 1936.

[Eline2015]

Not adopted, his dad died when he was a baby.

He was born Christoforo Furnari in 1924 in BK to Primo Furnari and Filippa “Fannie” Indovino, both of Valguarnera Pepe, today in the province of Enna. Primo Furnari had previously lived in Rochester, NY, where there was a colony from Valguarnera, before marrying Filippa in BK in 1922.

Primo Furnari died in 1926, when Christie Tick was about a year-and-half old. Filippa subsequently remarried Christie’s stepfather, Giuseppe Brigandi, also a native of Valguarnera, in 1936.

Thank you, Polack

[B.]

Salvatore Graffagnino was listed as a member of the Brooklyn crew in the 1960s and his family was from Caltanissetta, not sure the specific hometown, so he and Furnari would be two with heritage in that general area.

Most of the original Brooklyn crew was Sicilian when Furnari was made:

Saccos and Curiales from Joppolo Giancaxio, Agrigento
Varios from Monte San Giuliano, Trapani
D'Anna from Agrigento (Ravanusa?)
Abbinanti from Ventimiglia di Sicilia, Palermo
Schiavo from Castellammare del Golfo, Trapani

Later you had Domenico Cutaia whose father was from Porto Empedocle, Agrigento, and his mother was from Mazzara del Vallo, Trapani.

The Brooklyn, NJ, and Prince Street crews were all primarily Sicilian during most of Gagliano and Luccheses reigns. Interestingly it's the Harlem-Bronx, Queens, and Long Island elements that look to have been more diverse back then.

[funkster]

Schiavo was Darco's uncle on his mothers side wasn't he?

[PolackTony]

Schiavo was Darco's uncle on his mothers side wasn't he?

He was described in D’Arco’s book as a “cousin by marriage”. I’m unsure myself of exactly who was married to who. D’Arco said that while he had heard of “cousin Joe” as a kid, he didn’t actually meet him until D’Arco was in his 20s. Schiavo was 22 years older than D’Arco and in his late 40s when they first met.

It was Schiavo that first put D’Arco on record with the Luccheses and, of course, later sponsored him for membership.

[Pmac2]

Christy tic was some type of hitman in the 60tys profaci had him targeting the gallo crew i remember reading in some 302s. I think as a reward he was inducted in the mid 60tys when the books were closed and some how ended inthe luchese family

[Pmac2]

He did a shit load of time for a rape

[Pmac2]

I think he got a appeal or something in the 40ty and 50tys

[PolackTony]

Correct. He was charged along with two buddies for jumping and attempting to rape three girls in 1943, when Furnari was 19. One girl had her jaw fractured, another one was badly beaten, and a third jumped into Canarsie Creek to escape. Furnari was convicted and sentenced to 15-30 years in Sing Sing.

I'm not sure about the specifics of when he actually got out and if/when the conviction was overturned on appeal. Obviously, by the 60s he was out and active on the streets. In 1969, he appeared at a Nassau County grand jury and called an associate of the Lucchese Family in the papers; Furnari was living out in Rockville Center by then.

[B.]

Schiavo's own background is mysterious like much of the crew's history.

He was born in NYC but visited his parental hometown of Castellammare as a young kid, his family at that point living in what appears to be Bushwick which fits the Castellammarese background. His father was from Castellammare but was living in Alcamo when he came to the US.

He ends up in Canarsie and is close to capodecina Salvatore Curiale as well as underboss/boss Tommy Lucchese. According to D'Arco, it was Schiavo who sponsored the Varios into the Lucchese Family which stands out because the Varios were from Monte San Giuliano which was a straight horizontal line across northern Trapani from Castellammare. The 1896 CDG mafia investigation netted guys from both Castellammare and Monte San Giuliano.

Willie Dara's info confuses the matter. His family was from Mazara del Vallo and Marsala, both in Trapani, and he was originally from the same Brooklyn/Queens border area. He was very close to Paul Vario, as was Dara's third cousin Mike Sabella who was Sciacchitano, and Dara said that both he and Sabella were placed under the protection of the Lucchese Family during the Bonanno war through Vario and then returned. However in one report he apparently told the FBI that Paul Vario was originally with the Bonannos as well but "shifted" to the Lucchese Family. Dara seems like he was in a position to know given he was a longtime Bonanno member close to the Varios but then we have D'Arco saying it was Schiavo who made the Varios into the Luccheses. Maybe the Varios were originally Bonanno associates who were "released" to the Luccheses and that explains it, not sure.

It wasn't necessarily geography that placed guys like Schiavo and the Varios with the Luccheses. Those Brooklyn/Queens border neighborhoods had Bonanno members from Castellammare (the Asaros) and Mazara del Vallo (Bello, Dara), possibly others I'm forgetting. Vario was very close to Vinnie Asaro, too, along with Dara and Sabella. For whatever reason Schiavo and the Varios ended up with the Curiale crew.

Another interesting comment from D'Arco is that Curiale was made before the formation of the Commission when there was "only one mob in Brooklyn". We know this isn't accurate about only one Family being in Brooklyn but could suggest he was originally with another Family in Brooklyn (Gambino?) or that there was some kind of reorganization that took place in Brooklyn. Curiale's Agrigento identity was strong as D'Arco knew of it and said the Sicilians called it "Grigento" [sic] -- he also knew that Paolo D'Anna was from Agrigento. Of course this is the game of telephone and D'Arco is recalling these anecdotes decades later in his senior years but given this was his own crew there might be something in these vague stories.

Interesting too that Vario protege Danny Cutaia had heritage from Porto Empedocle and the other half from Mazara del Vallo, the latter where Vario's close friend Willie Dara was from. Cutaia's heritage is also a reflection of the crew's roots given the Curiale / Sacco's hometown of Joppolo Giancaxio is a relatively close distance to Porto Empedocle in Agrigento and the other side of Cutaia's heritage follows the older Trapanese members.

[JoelTurner]

Looking back, I don’t get how/why Schiavo landed with the Lucchese family.

Aside from his background, a Castellammarese living in Brooklyn, he seems to have started out with Bonanno adjacent people.



The Gaetano Mule whom he was arrested with came up before in the “Asaro Clan Info + Early Castellammarese Mafia” thread:

Gaetano Mule was a merchant and later an undertaker who lived at 1365 75th Street (the address the death certificate gave for Frank Italiano), who was born in Alcamo in 1885. The Mules arrived in 1920 and their contact was Francesco Puma of 504 East 12th Street in Manhattan. Puma was one of the Good Killers arrested in 1921.

—————

In 1969, Long Island’s Newsday listed him as a Sciacca Family associate



At this point, he would have been a Lucchese member for years. Still, some source of theirs seems to have associated him with the Bonanno family.

[B.]

Great details.

Early Canarsie and the Brooklyn/Queens border hasn't been dug into that deeply that I'm aware of. There may have been more to these relationships early on.