B. wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2024 11:51 am
I could understand that based on the first part where he says "Dannarao" ordered the murder of his underboss but he then clarified that even though "Dannarao" had up to 12 captains under him, "Dannarao" was still a capodecina like them and answered only for himself.
There's a phonetic connection between "Tommy Rava" and "Danna Rao" which would be far from the worst interpretation on those tapes, where Magaddino spoke with a heavy accent on a primitive recording device. "Dannarao" was involved in the factionalism after Anastasia's death and had roughly half the captains answering to him while being a captain himself and by early 1965 "Dannarao" is dead.
Magaddino usually calls Anastasia "Tempesta" (storm) and this is the only time he refers to "Dannarao". Many years ago we speculated it could also refer to Robilotto as "Johnny Roberts" could easily become "Dannarao" too but the description of the guy better fits Rava. "Dannarao" having an underboss is the only confusing part but because Magaddino clarifies "Dannarao" was formally still a capodecina we can rule him out as boss. Most likely the underboss remark either refers to "Dannarao" killing the Family's underboss (Scalise?) or my interpretation which is that during the split Rava's group may have chosen their own admin like we saw in the 60s Bonanno war, 90s Colombo war, etc.
Armand Rava fits very well. If he really had 12 captains under his command, and this was really half the family, then at the time of 1957 there were 24 captains (or 25, if Rava himself is not included in the list of 12). I wonder who was on this list of 12 captains.
I think everyone agrees that there should be:
1. John Robilotto;
2. Antonio Anastasio;
There are also reasonable assumptions that this group included:
3. Vincenzo Squillante;
4. Giuseppe Franco;
Apparently the following captains were not part of Rava's faction:
1. Giuseppe Riccobono;
2. Giuseppe Gambino (if captain in 1957)
3. Bartolo Castellano (if captain in 1957)
I very much doubt that these captains were part of Rava’s faction, they were too close to traditional Sicilians:
4. Giuseppe Traina;
5. Jerome D'Aquila;
The following individuals were captains in 1957:
1. Joseph Paterno;
2. Frank Perrone;
3. Pasquale Conte (possibly);
4. Domenico Arcuri;
5. Gaetano Russo (possibly);
6. Salvatore Tornabe (possibly);
7. Joseph Colozzo (possibly);
8. Luigi Morici (possibly);
9. Ettore Zappi (possibly);
10. Agostino Amato (possibly);
Colozzo worked on the waterfront, I have suspicions that his crew is connected with the Mangano-Anastasia cluster. Also, if he was a captain that year, he is a strong candidate to be in the Rava faction. Antonino Conte was Anastasia's underboss, but he could represent another faction as part of the policy of representing both factions in the administration. At least since the end of the Castellamarese War, both factions were necessarily represented in the administration. If the boss was a representative of one, then the underboss was a representative of the other, here are examples:
1. Vincent Mangano (boss, faction?), Albert Anastasia (underboss, Rava faction), Giuseppe Biondo (consigliere, Scalici faction);
2. Albert Anastasia (boss, Rava faction) / Frank Scalici (underboss and/or consigliere, Scalici faction);
3. Albert Anastasia (boss, Rava faction) / Carlo Gambino (consigliere, Scalici faction);
4. Carlo Gambino (boss, Scalici faction), Aniello Dellacroce (underboss, Rava faction);
5. Paul Castellano (boss, Scalici faction), Aniello Dellacroce (underboss, Rava faction);
And it worked even later:
6. John Gotti (boss, Rava faction), Gotti clearly recognized the continuity with this faction, for example, a portrait of Albert Anastasia hung in Ravenita, Joseph Armone (consigliere and underboss, Scalici faction);
The exception to the rule was the era of 1960-1964, when there was not a single representative of the Rava faction in the administration, but this is explained by the fact that the core of this faction was first rebellious, and then, using analogies, was at the stage of “Reconstruction”.
I assume that by killing Scalici, in order to maintain peace in the family, Anastasia had to appoint a representative of the same faction, so my opinion is that Pasquale Conte comes from the Scalici faction. Scalici oversaw the crew in Baltimore, so Morici was part of his faction.
What faction was Arcuri in?
A total of 5 captains for Rava, 6 including Rava, 7 for Scalici. 7 captains are in unclear what faction. There are 19 captains in total. There were probably other captains in the Scalici faction; maybe Paul Castellano was the captain of a separate crew from Bartolo Castellano.
It seems there are a couple of captains we don't know.
