The book primarily concerns the murders of Prohibition agents Dale Kearney and Raymond Sutton in 1930.
August 15th 1930 arrests in probe of Kearney murder:
[Kearney was killed on July 6th 1930]
Joseph Riggio, Santo Alenci, Rosario Dionisio and R. V. Dionisio (Dionisio spelt as Dioniscio in newspaper accounts) were grabbed in this probe.
Riggio:
Joseph Riggio (1862-1952) was the father-in-law of boss Pietro A. Carlino.
He was born Giuseppe Mortellaro in Lucca Sicula and immigrated to New Orleans under that name. He changed it to Riggio sometime prior to 1910.
This complicates whether or not he was related to Giacomo “Jack” Riggio (Palazzo Adriano), whose daughter Antonina married Robert Victor Dionisio. Jack Riggio’s son Nicola (1903-1987), was also connected to the Colorado family per the Denver PD.
Not sure if Joseph Riggio was related to Mortellaro brothers Frank (suspected member) and Vincent (killed) who were from Bivona, Agrigento.
Alenci:
Santo Alenci (1908-1990), of Camporeale, was a painter living in Brooklyn by 1950. Not sure if he was connected.
Dionisios:
R. V. is Robert Victor Dionisio while Rosario is [Sebastiano] Rosario Dionisio, given his later identification as the father-in-law of Jack Dionisio, Robert’s brother.
Notably, the interrogation of the Dionisios erroneously describes them as brothers. This continues the confusion that surrounded their actual uncle-nephew relation.
September 1930 arrest of Jack Dionisio:
This was Gioachino Dionisio, son of Vito Dionisio and Anna D’Azzo & brother of Robert Victor.
DOB: 1900/11/27 (Lucca Sicula, Agrigento), died December 1955
He married his cousin Pearl Dionisio, the daughter of his uncle Sebastiano Rosario.
Jack Dionisio had pointed out Dale Kearney during a dinner at the Saddle Rock Café on July 4th 1930 to a group of “Italian strangers” and then later fled to El Paso, as vouched for by uncle Phillip D’Azzo of Kansas City.
On July 5th 1930, Kearney, acting on a tip, left Trinidad for Aguilar and was killed there in an ambush. Law enforcement had evidence that he was followed in a sedan registered to Robert V. Dionisio and believed the strangers who were with Jack Dionisio had committed the murder.
He was subsequently arrested on September 11th 1930 with a load of alcohol and taken into custody in Colorado Springs, where he claimed that he was severely mistreated by federal prohibition agents (beatings and other violence).
During his interrogation on the 18th and 19th of that month, he was asked several interesting questions:
Dionisio at first refused to answer any questions but later admitted to standing up to “see something” while at the Saddle Rock Café and also admitted to following Kearney to the sidewalk.• His connections to Aguilar mayor John Boccaccio (posted about in the political figures thread)
• The activities of his uncle/in-law Sebastiano Rosario
• His connections to John Cha
• The murder of Giuseppe Mantelli in 1928
Colorado Springs arrest September 13th 1930
Robert J. Dionisio, James Vinci and Russell "Cacio" were arrested in Colorado Springs. Dionisio had a revolver on him and was almost shot by the police. They refused to admit anything but according to LE it was “clear” that they were looking for Jack Dionisio.
Dionisio:
Robert J. Dionisio (1908-1982) was the son of Robert Victor.
Vinci:
James Vinci (1902-1951) was born in Missouri to Salvatore Vinci and Josephine LNU, both of Lucca Sicula. The Vinci family had moved to Pueblo by 1920.
Jack Riggio’s wife was Giuseppa Vinci, who was also from Lucca Sicula but I’m not sure if there was any relation.
James Vinci appears to have fatally shot pioneer John Arthur in 1922, after a violent argument that involved Arthur threatening people with a shotgun. It doesn’t look like he was prosecuted over this issue.
“Cacio”:
This seems to have been Russell Cascio (1908-1995), born in Pueblo. I was unable to find who his parents were but he doesn’t appear to have been related to suspected member Carl Cascio (family from Lucca Sicula).
Russell married Josephine Dionese, daughter of Luca “Louie” Dionisio (later changed to Dionese) and Vincenza Martellaro, both of Lucca Sicula. If Luca was related to the more infamous Dionisio family, it appears to have been a distant connection.
Another of Luca’s daughters married a Spinuzzi whose family was from Alia, Palermo. Scotty Spinuzzi’s parents also hailed from there so there might be some sort of relation on that side as well.
Roma, Campanella & New Mexico:
In 1932, Prohibition agents began investigating two Zerobnick Bottle Works plants in Denver. The locations were raided and bootlegging equipment as well as documents were seized.
Among these files were “client lists” that included customer records for Denver-area member Joseph Roma, three Smaldone brothers (probably Clyde, Eugene and likely actually their father Ralph), the Carlinos and bootlegger John Campanella of Cimarron, New Mexico.
Campanella info:
John Campanella aka “Big John”
POB: Described as Sicilian – possibly actually from Abruzzo?
DOB/D: 1883/10/22 – 1953/10/12
I was unable to determine where Campanella was born and who his parents were. Hopefully others can figure out these details.
He was a saloon owner in the 1910s and became involved in bootlegging from there. He was based out of Cimarron, about an hour away from Raton.
New Mexico:
The Zerobnick investigation is not the first time that Roma was tied to New Mexico. According to the Mountain Mafia book, he married Annette Greco in Raton on April 14th 1931.
While it can’t be confirmed that Campanella attended the wedding or that he even met Roma while he was in New Mexico, their connection through Zerobnick does create some space for speculation.
Probable underboss Sam Carlino was killed less than a month later (May 7th 1931) and then Pete Carlino was murdered on 13th September that year – though we know that can be possibly linked to other national issues.
Trail of Shadows suggests that the Roma wedding was held in Raton to avoid ongoing tensions in Denver but I think it is not unrealistic that Roma was also seeking support in his conflict with the Carlinos.
He self-admits to being in Pueblo later that month (ostensibly on his honeymoon) and could have been doing the same thing there with local members.
Additional ties, August 28th 1930 murder of Ray Sutton
John Campanella, James Perry Caldwell, George Pobar and possibly Elias Shedoudy apparently kidnapped, beat and then shot Prohibition agent Raymond Sutton at Pobar’s dairy farm near the Koehler mining camp in Coal Creek Valley, Colfax County.
Sutton had previously investigated and arrested Campanella in July 1930. He was also a leading law enforcement figure in the Kearney murder.
Connections:
Dale Kearney’s investigative efforts were an issue for the Dionisios and their associates in Trinidad and Aguilar – he is eliminated as a result.
Ray Sutton’s efforts in Colfax County are an existing issue for Campanella and his associates. Him being brought onto the Kearney case then also presents a problem for the Dionisio group.
As established by the bottling works raid and wedding location, Roma and Campanella are connected. We know obviously that Roma and the Dionisios are part of the same family.
Raton is 30 minutes away from Trinidad, Cimarron is an hour away – via Rock Springs, it is clear that the Colorado family had connections at even greater distances.
Based off this, I suggest then that Campanella was a remote member or associate of the family in the same vein as guys like Boschetto, the Anselmis and Pete Zanetti. Establishing his origins might help build other connections.
Other prominent Italians in Raton:
Trail of Shadows discusses two other prominent Abruzzese in Raton. These were:
Giuseppe Thomas DiLisio aka Joseph
POB: Pacentro comune of L'Aquila, Abruzzo
DOB/D: 1885/03/19 – 1972/02/26
Antonio Marchiondo aka “Tony F”
POB: Pacentro comune of L'Aquila, Abruzzo (also married there)
DOB/D: 1885/10/22 – 1959/07/30
Info:
DiLisio was a prominent bilingual merchant and later a banker, heavily involved with mining camps in Colfax County. He also invested in saloons and taverns prior to Prohibition.
One of the Trail of Shadows authors was later told by DiLisio’s sons to “not to stir the caldron too hard” during his research into Sutton in the 1970s.
Marchiondo was a miner prior to becoming a grocer and dry goods merchant. Trail of Shadows also notes that he had some medical experience and acted as a midwife for Italians in mining camps.
They seem to be fairly clear examples of padroni in Raton
