Dominick Dionisio heritage?

[JoePuzzles234]

People are crazy lol. They’ll say anything online to get attention. Yeah, Dionisio is on the darker side but not at all out of the range of Southern Italians (and not just Sicilians can be that dark, by any means). If guys call him “Black Dom”, it’s just because he’s dark, not because he’s part black (this isn’t unusual, eg, Black Sam Carlisi, Black Joe Amato, and Black Tom Oneglia in Chicago). He doesn’t look like a guy who is of ~25% African ancestry, he looks 100% Ital-Med.

Dionisio’s longtime address was at 63rd and 15th Ave, on the border of Bensonhurst and Boro Park (he’s still listed as the property owner). Also listed for this address were Joseph and Rosalie Dionisio, now both deceased. These were presumably his parents. Joseph Dionisio’s family, I believe, was from Ischitella, Foggia, Puglia, while Rosalie’s parents were Girolamo Grigoli and Antonina Geloso, both of Carini (his apparent maternal ancestry is worth noting in light of his longtime Colombo affiliation, given that there was a significant faction of Carinesi in the Profaci Family back in the day).

Unless someone has a firm genealogy to back up their claims here, I’d be extremely skeptical that not only would a member have significant black ancestry, but that this would be a widely known fact about him (your prior probability here should be that it is very unlikely to be true and thus one would need a lot more than a rumor to take it seriously). People swore for years that Campos was part PR and I showed that to be 100% false.

Thank you for clearing this all up, definitely reminded me of the Garcia/Campos/PR myth too.

[PolackTony]

People are crazy lol.

No clue if this is true or not but I saw someone claim Dom’s mother is a Puerto Rican woman named Monica Rios.

I’m not 100% certain that the Joseph and Rosalie Dionisio who shared Dom Dionisio’s address were necessarily his parents. That seems the most likely, though it’s possible that he lived with some other relatives who weren’t his parents, of course. I don’t see any records for any Monica Rios/Dionisio who would fit the bill, so unless there is something more substantive to the claim I would assume it’s likely to be BS unless proven otherwise.

[CornerBoy]

100 percent white. mom is def 100 prcnet sicilian

[SonnyBlackstein]

People are crazy lol.

No clue if this is true or not but I saw someone claim Dom’s mother is a Puerto Rican woman named Monica Rios.

Hasnt PolackTony put this to bed?

[johnny_scootch]

Hasnt PolackTony put this to bed?

Possibly but it wasn’t like someone just said Doms mother is PR, they gave a first and last name so I thought it was definitely worth mentioning so Tony could at least check it out.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Possibly but it wasn’t like someone just said Doms mother is PR, they gave a first and last name so I thought it was definitely worth mentioning so Tony could at least check it out.

Fair call bud.

[CornerBoy]

People are crazy lol.

No clue if this is true or not but I saw someone claim Dom’s mother is a Puerto Rican woman named Monica Rios.

do all the research you want. His mom is 100 percent Sicilian. if you can research that, you will find that and be wasting your time.

[PolackTony]

I can't say that what I found is 100%, as it can be difficult to verify ancestry for contemporary guys in every case (eg, birth records and such are not available). But the information that I posted above about Rosalie Dionisio, whose parents were both from Carini, would certainly fit Dom's mother being 100% Sicilian. Again, my baseline assumption -- before trying to verify any info on the guy -- is going to be that even today, they are not going to make a guy whose mother is Puerto Rican (even if she was a 100% Euro-white PR). Given that Dionisio was a longtime, well-known associate with the Colombos and is from Bensonhurst, I would have to assume that if his mother really was PR, everyone in the neighborhood would know this about him. Extraordinary claims necessitate a high bar of evidence, so unless someone has a better, actually confirmed, genealogy for Dionisio, I wouldn't take these internet rumors very seriously (people are flipping out because he's on the darker side and guys apparently call him "Black Dom").

[B.]

Yeah the number of guys especially in the early days who were called "Black ____" or "Blackie" because of dark complexion is massive.

[NorthBuffalo]

Someone needs to add that YouTube clip of Dennis Hopper explaining Sicilian DNA. These are not Germans or Swedes we are talking about - these are Mediterranean people. If someone saw old photos of Chick Ciancaglini and didn't know who he was, you would assume he was a black gangster.

[gohnjotti]

Important to note that Greg Scarpa told the FBI (these files are publicly available) that his nickname was "***** Dom." That always made me wonder about Dom's ethnicity, because I can't see them calling a non-African American person that unless it was one big inside joke.

EDIT: Black Hand automatically bleeps out the N-word, but that's what I was trying to write.

[B.]

Important to note that Greg Scarpa told the FBI (these files are publicly available) that his nickname was "***** Dom." That always made me wonder about Dom's ethnicity, because I can't see them calling a non-African American person that unless it was one big inside joke.

EDIT: Black Hand automatically bleeps out the N-word, but that's what I was trying to write.

Black Joe Amato of the Chicago Family was also called "[Redacted] Joe" I believe.

[Proletarian187]

Someone needs to add that YouTube clip of Dennis Hopper explaining Sicilian DNA. These are not Germans or Swedes we are talking about - these are Mediterranean people. If someone saw old photos of Chick Ciancaglini and didn't know who he was, you would assume he was a black gangster.

Maybe not the most accurate, balanced source.. But one hell of a speech he delivers: Not very pc but a classic rant for sure..


"Sicilians have black blood pumping through their hearts"

"The moors were fucking sicilian women so much it changed the blood lite forever"

"Your ancestors fucked N*****s! Your great great great grandmother fucked a n****r and had a half-n****r kid"

"You're part eggplant!" - gets shot in the face.

[gohnjotti]

Important to note that Greg Scarpa told the FBI (these files are publicly available) that his nickname was "***** Dom." That always made me wonder about Dom's ethnicity, because I can't see them calling a non-African American person that unless it was one big inside joke.

EDIT: Black Hand automatically bleeps out the N-word, but that's what I was trying to write.

Black Joe Amato of the Chicago Family was also called "[Redacted] Joe" I believe.

Interesting. Dionisio definitely doesn't look as African-American in his most recent mugshot.

[PolackTony]

Important to note that Greg Scarpa told the FBI (these files are publicly available) that his nickname was "***** Dom." That always made me wonder about Dom's ethnicity, because I can't see them calling a non-African American person that unless it was one big inside joke.

EDIT: Black Hand automatically bleeps out the N-word, but that's what I was trying to write.

Black Joe Amato of the Chicago Family was also called "[Redacted] Joe" I believe.

Correct, and Chicago member Joseph Amabile was also called “Joe Shine”.