Very interesting. Is there reason to believe that Angileri transferred his membership to Rockford? We've discussed the Marsalese connections before; there are still Marsalesi in Chicago connected to their paesani in Rockford and Beloit, so it should be unsurprising that back in the 20s the Gennas had connections in both towns.cavita wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 5:01 pmI've heard from a few old timers that personally knew Angileri stated he was a member in Marsala before coming to the U.S. Whether his membership transferred to Rockford, I don't know.PolackTony wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:31 pmI note that you state that Vito Angileri was alleged to have been a member; was it alleged that he was specifically a Rockford member?cavita wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 12:41 pm May 22, 1973 Joseph Angileri was arrested for pimping two women out of the Viking Tap, 1302 Broadway which he co-owned with Vince Sciame. Sciame claimed he knew of the arrangement Angileri had with the women but wanted no part of it. Angileri was the son of Vito Angileri, an alleged mafia member who died in Rockford in 1970. It was also rumored that Joseph was connected to the Rockford LCN as a pimp.
I note that Vito Angileri was from Marsala. There were also a bunch of Marsalesi Angileris in the Taylor St Patch in Chicago -- we've already seen before that the Gennas had ties to the Rockford region. In the 1940s, there was a Marsales' Thomas Angileri from Taylor St who was busted for hijacking cigarette trucks with a gang of guys that included Leo Pepitone (also Marsales' and likely a cousin of Thomas). Later, a Salvatore Angileri was alleged to have been affiliated with the Buccieri/Taylor St crew and seems to have been the grandson of a Salvatore Angileri from Marsala.
Most of the Marsala immigrants to Rockford settled in the Beloit, Wisconsin and South Beloit, Illinois area. I believe after Aragona, the next highest population of Sicilians in the Rockford area come from Marsala.
I've mentioned it before, but the Aragona network would've certainly been a significant medium of interaction between Chicago and Rockford as well. In 1935, Alfonso Rotolo was reported as the President of Societa M.S. Aragona Sicula in Chicago. Later, in the 1940s, his brother Ray Rotolo was named as the head of the men's division of what was then reported as the Aragona Fellowship Club, HQ'd in the Englewood neighborhood on the Southside (better known for having a colony of Salernitani and Calabresi back then) -- it was also noted that the Aragonese Society constituted the Aragona Lodge (Lodge #71) of the Italo-American National Union (the "Unione Siciliana"). The Rotolos' mother Maria Stella Scifo was noted at that time as having been the former head of the ladies' division (Giuseppa Gagliano from Leonforte, Enna, married to a Libertino Rotolo from Aragona was the current ladies' head). No way that these people didn't have close connections to the Rockford Aragona Club. While Frank Buscemi was from Little Sicily, it seems that many other Aragonesi in Chicago (like the Sambucesi also) were based on the Southside. Alfonso Rotolo, for example, lived near 31st and Emerald in Armour Square. This could be significant given the later relationship of the Chinatown crew to Gumba Saladino. Worth noting also that the paternal grandmother of Johnny Apes Monteleone's brother-in-law Dominic Buscemi was also a Rotolo from Aragona.
Photo of Alfonso Rotolo below, when a play that he wrote was performed on Grand Ave in 1949 (Rotolo died the following year). The papers noted that the play was supported by the "Italian Societies" and specifically named the Aragona, San Nicola di Bari, Alimena, and Sant'Angelo Muxaro (also based in Chinatown/Bridgeport) societies as involved with the play: