Anthony Rotondo 2005 cross-examination

[B.]

Random note, but at the press conference for the initial 1999 indictment (before Rotondo and Palermo flipped), the woman announcing the indictment stated that the DeCavalcantes were "one of the oldest and most entrenched" Cosa Nostra groups.

The question is where did LE get this from? D'Arco?

[Angelo Santino]

Random note, but at the press conference for the initial 1999 indictment (before Rotondo and Palermo flipped), the woman announcing the indictment stated that the DeCavalcantes were "one of the oldest and most entrenched" Cosa Nostra groups.

The question is where did LE get this from? D'Arco?

That's what I'm wondering. Maybe this all came from one source and which spread into other sources. It happened with the Sicilian Vespers and the official formation in 1931.

[Chaps]

This is totally conjecture on my part but my belief, and I'm beginning to do some research to prove it, is that the DeCav's were originally part of one of the Five Families. Most likely the Gambinos's considering their ties over the last 60 years. When rereading Scarpa's files, he told the FBI back in 1963 that he was told there was a "6th Family" of about 30 members mainly in New Jersey but were old and "very close knit and not making new members." Also, take into consideration that they also operated in New York. I think that's where they started and gravitated in the 1920's to Elizabeth to probably seek more economic opportunities.

Again, a theory but food for thought.


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[Angelo Santino]

This is totally conjecture on my part but my belief, and I'm beginning to do some research to prove it, is that the DeCav's were originally part of one of the Five Families. Most likely the Gambinos's considering their ties over the last 60 years. When rereading Scarpa's files, he told the FBI back in 1963 that he was told there was a "6th Family" of about 30 members mainly in New Jersey but were old and "very close knit and not making new members." Also, take into consideration that they also operated in New York. I think that's where they started and gravitated in the 1920's to Elizabeth to probably seek more economic opportunities.

Again, a theory but food for thought.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

THANK YOU! I read this when I first skimmed over the Scarpa file and could never find it again, I swore to Rick I read it but he was wondering WTF am I talking about! I didn't know what to think about it and found it auspicious. At the time I wondered could they have been talking about the Gallos or the Gambinos? Both the Colombos and Gambinos shared Brooklyn territory, had members from the same parts of Sicily and Mineo appeared to have been a member of both at some point.

If the Ribera element was to be part of any NY Family, it would have been the Gambinos. Ribera, Sicily falls smack in the middle of the same population of Mafiosi that constituted the Sciaccatani population that included Menfi, Favara, Castelfillipo, down to Licata, pretty the southwestern coast of Sicily that traditionally had family ties to Palermo. That's something I still am dumbfounded on. Is there some long standing connection between Palermo and Sciacca or was that a new world collaboration just like it was with people from Messina. I am guessing that both areas being coastal areas in farming they had more in common than the interior Sicilian goatheaders or the Trapanesi sailers. But inter-city relationships existed like a verzon network. Cascio Ferro's parents were Palermitan, he had connections there, he was affiliated with Bisacquino and when he came to America fell under Morello's jurisdiction and was linked closely with Sal Clemente and Stella Frauto, both Corleonesi affiliated with the Morello-Lomonte-Loiacano-Masseria Family. A decade later the DeLeonardos were with the Gambinos. Mafiosi as individuals follow trends. Palermo was Sicily's urban center which connected to mainland Europe politically, financially, socioeconomically, the Mafia was most dominant there, it's no coincidence that Sicily's premier Mafiosi with ranks in other provinces opted to reside in Palermo as a symbol of status. Cafe Birreria was the Mafia starbucks. But whatever reason, the "Sciaccatani" of Little Italy, E 39th and the Bronx fell under the Palermitan Gambinos, from Lupo to D'Aquila to Mangano. When Gentile transferred to NYC in the 1930's, he went with Mangano and was heavilly connected to Elizabeth St and it's Sciaccatani population, which if you look at his hometown of Siculiana and his other known affiliation in Porto Empedocle. It's all from the same area of Sicily and ten years prior when the family was headed by D'Aquila, Gentile was pressured by this Sciaccatani faction (then headed by Vincenzo Lo Cicero from E 39th and Accurso DiMino on Elizabeth St) to join D'Aquila's group. Which makes sense if Gentile followed this "mafia chain migration," but instead he went with Schiro (Bonannos) because he considered them neutral in the D'Aquila-Morello dispute of 1921-1924.

The counter to that would be the Majuris who are from Corleone would would seemingly indicate a connection to the Morellos. Yes and no. There are always overlaps, each family/area is connected to one another in various ways. It could be familial, racket related, territory shared. The Bisacquino element went with Morello when he was BOB, when it was D'Aquila they appeared to go wit him. But by 1920 this compaesani watered down enough for local hoods of Italian descent on say, Roebling street in Castellammaresi domination Williamsburg, to earn membership in a Cast dominant family. The Bonannos were dominant Cast but it's first bosses were from Camporeale and a major leader (capo, perhaps even under) Benny Gallo was from Santa Ninfa and one article labeled him a successor of Bonventre from the Good Killers. Bottomline nothing is set in stone. Before the Colombo Saracinos, the Bonannos had a 100% rating on being a Castellammarese connected hood's first choice. Just like the Genovese and Lucchese share Corleone/interior Sicilian lineage and while the Gambinos are Palermitan dominant with the most links to the Palermo mafia, all the NY families had members from Palermo at one point. Nothing is black and white but look at the macro and not the micro. I don't imagine Luciano thinking to himself: "Well I'm from Lercara Friddi I should go with the Gambinos." He went where he fit and the Masseria-Morello combine were open to membership with grounds for promotion. He roomed with Joe Biondo and had he wanted to get Gambino'd up he could have. And while he was considered the "American mafioso" he was rather atypical, the other bosses of his era all were married and lead family lives while he lived in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Certain families can hold a certain hometown majority but what makes the mafia so innovative and resilient was it's ability to recruit the dominant Italian players in the area. John Gotti, a non-Palermitan took over the Gambinos because he was a rising star and had his time, the Gambinos always retained their Palermitan connections even if they weren't represented by during the Gotti years.

The Gambinos is an interesting bunch, it is the oldest family in NY, it can be traced back to 1870 at latest. And certain lineages have connections. The Trovatos of 1890's Red Hook were influential characters, they are related by marriage to the Manganos. The Riccobonos and Scalici's were related and before them were the Virzi's of E12th St in East Village. Most of the early Williamsburg members of Cast and Camporeale are related in some way to Joe Bonanno. The Genovese Family, long forgotten Corleonesi Family is mostly mainland Italian, but then look at Barney Bellomo and his Corleonese roots. He probably has no connection to the Corleone mafia, but In the 1910's his grandfather lived in E Harlem alongside the members but there's nothing to indicate he was ever involved so I can't jump to any conclusions there. But the network of Genoveses ran on these local cultural tracks of E106St Harlem which still shows its Corleonese gene in Bellomo, whether he knows it it not. But then had he had an issue with people in the Gen, nothing would hinder him from going with a different family, each situation is different.

[Chaps]

Gov:

I know what you mean and thanks for that interesting post. Makes me more interested and believe there is a connection somewhere. Another interesting tidbit that makes me believe the DeCav's were an offshoot of the Gambino's is this piece on info from a post JD made last year:

"Most interesting bit of info, to me at least, is about Anthony Carubia. He was a former captain in the DeCav NY faction, and as far as I can tell hasn't been mentioned much before if at all. The name stood out to me because I had a Marco Carubia (1900-1965) down as a possible member. Even though he was from Ribera, I thought he might have been a Gambino due to being present at Arcuri's social club. Given the Arcuris' role as the DeCav's main Gambino connection that makes sense. Both Carubias were Upper Manhattan guys (as were the Arcuris). So Anthony Carubia was a definite member and captain, and it's possibly Marco was also made with the DeCavs."

Was this not the area of Manhattan where, in your article, you had the Gambino's Agrigento faction holding sway?

[B.]

Here is a summary of some things related to the general topic based on what I've learned so far. Gonna break this up into sections for readability...

The Early DeCavalcante / New York Connection
I think it's in the main DeCavalcante thread we've had going, but we were talking a bit about the possible New York Family connections for these guys. I was leaning much more toward that explanation (them splitting off from the Gambinos), but these few sources that mention the DeCavalcantes being "the oldest" or "one of the oldest" (I'm leaning toward the latter) has put me on the fence about it.

There was a Rosario Cocchiara who came to NYC from Ribera in 1920 and I'm not 100% it's the same guy, but there was also a Rosario Cocchiara/Cucchiara who was involved in a mob-related hit for an NYC family I believe during the 1920s (need to look up the specifics again). Rosario is the name of DeCav capo Frank Cocchiaro's son who was an NY-based member and Cocchiara/Cocchiaro seem to interchangeable names (side note, but the Cocchiaras were related to the LoRasos (LaRasso) back in Ribera), so this was bound to be an older relative.

There was no doubt a strong association with Gambino members going back as far as you can go. But we can't rule out the Genovese connection either. Nick Delmore was close to Genovese members (apparently including Vito himself) and before it had been fully established that he was boss of his own family, the FBI speculated that Delmore was a Genovese capodecina. When Sam DeCavalcante became boss one report said he had to get approval from Gerry Catena and Genovese leaders (though maybe he had to get approval from all 5 family leaders and they were only aware of the Genovese meeting).

Then there is the Majuri angle that Christie mentioned. Frank Majuri used the alias "Frank Gagliano", his father was from Corleone, and they lived in East Harlem when the Morellos were in full swing. That doesn't necessarily mean that the DeCavalcante family as a whole had ties to the Morellos, but it does tell me that the Majuri/Maiuris could have been with the Morellos in NYC originally and possibly related to some key figures like the Gaglianos. Throw in D'Arco's line about the Luccheses originally being aligned with the DeCavalcantes and it really makes you wonder. You also have to wonder if D'Arco had any ideas about the Luccheses/Morellos being one and the same pre-1920s.


Early Riberesi in Birmingham and Elizabeth
Rick had said that two potential Alabama members/leaders were Pasquale Amari and Giuseppe Caterinicchia, both from Ribera. Not only is Ribera a meaningful connection given how closeknit the Riberesi are in the US, but those last names basically guarantee some blood relation to the DeCavalcantes (Caterinicchia/o are probably interchangeable, much like Cocchiara/o and Castellana/o, etc. etc.).

There were Giuseppe and Pietro Caterinicchio, probably brothers, who came to the US from Ribera in 1908 and 1909 respectively and by 1910 were living with their brother-in-law Giuseppe "Rigga" (Riggi) in Elizabeth. This is pretty significant to me, as Emanuel Riggi and Sal Caterinicchio were two of the most influential Local 394 figures for many years and this would mean they are related at least through marriage. Sal had a brother named Pietro, though I don't believe he had a brother named Giuseppe so I'm thinking these were his cousins. Sal came to the US in 1920.

I don't know when Giuseppe "Rigga" settled in Elizabeth, but he was in the US by 1892. John Riggi's grandfather Giovanni came to the US in 1905 and was living in Elizabeth by 1910 under the name "Rigga" as well. So by 1905-1910 (possibly earlier, I just don't have the info), you had Merlos, Caterinicchios, and Rigga/Riggis living in Elizabeth.

DeCavalcante member Carmelo Corsentino (father of member Carl) came to the US from Ribera in 1913 and by 1915 was settled in Elizabeth. The Corsentinos are related to the Collettis back in Sicily (the Collettis are related to many familiar names through marriage).

This is all significant to me because it means that Phil Amari didn't "start" a Riberesi colony in Elizabeth when he moved from NY to NJ in the 1920s, he joined an existing one with some significant names already there, including John Riggi's family. There's no evidence one way or another, but I don't believe Amari was the first Riberesi/Elizabeth leader, only the first one that was known (and the only real source I've seen that suggests Amari was the first Elizabeth leader was a non-member who wouldn't have been old enough to know firsthand).

The Riberesi Sphere of Influence and Later Immigration
Riberesi presence in the US 1920s and earlier was spread between Elizabeth, NYC, Birmingham, and Chicago. All of these areas had members or potential members from Ribera. Then there is the DeCav Connecticut faction which was active most likely by the 1940s and had fewer than ten known members, with most if not all of them being non-Riberesi and even non-Sicilian. That's a whole other topic that I'm hoping to sort out someday.

After Pasquale Lolordo's death, his brother Joseph immediately left Chicago for NYC and took Pasquale's wife and son with him. By the 1960s he is a DeCavalcante capodecina. Pasquale Lolordo's close friend Phil Bacino stays in Illinois and continues to associate with fellow Riberese Vincenzo DeGeorge, seemingly both a part of the Chicago family, though Rotondo tells Italian authorities that Bacino was an early DeCavalcante boss. Bacino definitely maintained social ties with DeCavalcante members and visited Ribera, where his brother Luciano was a member of the local family.

The Birmingham family was dead before the 1940s, though the children of Pasquale Amari at least stayed in Alabama. Seems unlikely that immigration from Ribera continued in that area. The Riberesi presence in Chicago also seemed to dwindle and aside from Bacino and the DeGeorges, there was no significant presence in the Chicago family.

Many of the known DeCavalcante members (or their parents) who were living in NYC had moved to Elizabeth by the 1920s. This leaves Elizabeth as the remaining Riberesi stronghold, with members of Ribera heritage in NJ and NYC making up most of the DeCavalcante family. In the 1950s and 60s, quite a few future DeCavalcante family members come straight to Elizabeth from Ribera, including the Vitabiles, the Palermos (1947, but close enough), Jake Amari, Frank Guaracci, and others. Most Ribera-born immigrants in general seem to have come straight to Elizabeth given the large paesan population in Peterstown and guaranteed employment with local 394.

From there, a lot has already been discussed and we know that the DeCavalcante family for the past several decades has been almost exclusively a NJ/NYC affair, still with a strong Riberesi presence and many familiar names that go back to the start of the 20th century in Elizabeth.

[B.]

Here is what Big Billy Boy Bonanno said about the evolution of the mafia in America:

- Formed in New Orleans between 1877-1879 (Where does he get these specific years?)

- New Orleans then "took immigrants from Tampa, FL under its wing". (Does this mean that the Tampa family branched off from the NO family, or did Sicilians travel from Tampa to NO and join that family? Interesting to see Tampa mentioned given Brusca's comments about Agrigento immigrants starting the US mafia and the connection to Tampa, if nothing else)

- The mafia then "traveled up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers", leading to the St. Louis and Kansas City families.

- Things "turned eastward" from there, which led to the New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Boston, and Chicago families.

- "Added later", were the families in Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit.

- "Then came" Scranton, Providence, Rockford, Birmingham, Milwaukee, Madison, and Newark, which "later moved to Elizabeth". (Well, I can already tell you that the Newark/Elizabeth part is bullshit. There are no known connections between the Newark and Elizabeth families that we know of, and none of the known Newark family members moved to Elizabeth. As I pointed out above, the relatives of future DeCavalcante members were already settled in Elizabeth between 1905-1915 if not earlier and some of those male relatives were likely members of the future DeCav family or whatever organization would later become the DeCavs)

- Sicilian mafiosi had set up shop in San Diego by 1920 and "by the 1930s" the Los Angeles family grew out of that.

- The San Francisco/San Jose family (he lumps them together) formed around 1931 and around this time the Denver and Dallas families were created.

Now, I don't even think Joe Bonanno would know most of this information, let alone Bill. I do trust his knowledge of the west coast since he grew up there and later was closely associated with the families there, which included his relatives and paesans. Overall, though, I think a lot of this is based on his own BELIEFS that came from a combo of hearsay from older members (like his father) and his own research.

Aside from connecting the Elizabeth family to the Newark family, I am sure other aspects of this are wrong and that more knowledgeable people on here than I could break it down. But he is still a member source with national connections to major leaders, so I have to at least entertain what he says. One thing that stands out to me is the idea that the LA family branched out from San Diego, but I don't want to get too far into this. I'm just bringing it up because of his reference to New Jersey.

[DPG]

One thing I'm wrapping my head around reading this thread:

The mafia was not sent to America in a expansion type of way. Italians came and some became criminals. It wasn't planned. It just happened.

Prohibition comes and their influence multiplied. It was really a perfect storm.

[B.]

We don't really know why the first mafia members came to the US. They probably had to get approval from their superiors, but we don't know whether they were "sent" to plant a flag or if they came out for personal reasons (i.e. work opportunities, family) and then saw the opportunity to grow their ranks and influence here.

Other notes on Riberesi:
- There was a pocket of immigrants from Ribera in Connecticut, especially Waterbury, by the mid-1910s. Names of interest that were in CT by then: Riggi and Smeraglia (no known Smeraglias were members of the DeCavs that we know of, but there were many early Smeraglias in Elizabeth with some related to "familiar" names. At least one Smeraglia has been a member of the Ribera family in Sicily). By the 1920s there were Caterinicchios in CT. Seems most likely that the CT branch of the DeCav family began with Ribera immigrants who recruited local Italians.

- A number of early marriages between immigrants from Ribera and Caltabellotta, a village near Ribera. Salvatore Caterinicchio and his brother both married women from Caltabellotta. There are a few "familiar" names common among Caltabellotta immigrants as well (Ippolito, Ferrara, Noto, etc.). I haven't seen these names among any Riberesi immigrants. Burgio is another town that may have some connections but haven't found much.

- The Amaris and Caterinicchias of Birmingham were relatives. Can't find any info on Riberesi in Alabama and Illinois pre-1910s, but doesn't mean they weren't there. Earliest Riberesi I can find came to Manhattan and there continued to be a significant number there through at least 1920s. There were DiGiorgis in NYC before 1900.

[Cheech]

After reading the indictment here are a few things I take from it:

- The names like "Milk", "Horse", "Pet", etc. aren't so much nicknames as much as code words for certain people. With that in mind, it's hard to know who they are talking about. Majuri is a definite possibility as you guys said, though Stango has been around long enough to have known Frank Majuri personally (he was still alive in the 1990's) and would probably know his relation to Charles. What also makes the "uncle" thing confusing is that a lot of these guys are related, especially the ones from Ribera, so it could be a relation we don't know about.

- Stango seems to be saying at one point that the DeCav family was one of the first families in the US.That could just be him rambling on to the associate, though, and there is no reason to think he's a great historian here. It does jive with what Al D'Arco said in his book, which has been contested by some of the experts here.

- When he says they're under the Gambinos "now", it also doesn't sound like he means it's anything new, only that it's different from the way the family began. As I said before, we know they deferred to the Gambinos since at least the early 1960's if not longer. It could even go back to the 1920's like it did in Philadelphia.

- Some of these transcripts sound like fucking Sopranos episodes. Hiring bikers to take care of hits? Sending each other angry text messages? There is even a mention of a Facebook message. That thing about how the administration is "like Switzerland" where Stango gets confused is also hilarious... could be a conversation between Paulie and someone.

-

[Cheech]

That's Stagno. Rotondo. Darco.

[Antiliar]

Most of what Bill Bonanno was way off the mark. He has some things right, like New Orleans being the first Mafia Family in America (and they came from Palermo), but St. Louis and Kansas City did not come before New York. The Big Apple was the second Mafia Family. It's hard to state with any certainty which came next and in what order, but it looks like San Francisco was probably the third, St. Louis could have been the fourth, Chicago in the 1890s. I don't think Kansas City had a Mafia until the 1910s or slightly earlier. Most of the Families were formed by the 1910s. There were Mafiosi in San Diego, but they weren't a separate Family. Los Angeles was really the Southern California Family and San Diego, Orange County, San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and Ventura counties were all its territory, and we know that Vito Di Giorgio was the Los Angeles boss around 1920. There may have been earlier bosses, but it's all speculative.

I communicated with Bill before he died and he was stubborn about his "facts" and didn't want to discuss challenges to the chronology he came up with. B, you're right about his sources. Before he produced that biographical movie about his dad he spent about three days or so interviewing him and getting his stories, and Bill read a lot of Mafia books.

I used to think that Newark and Elizabeth was the same Family, but realized that wasn't true. Elizabeth was always connected to Ribera (and less so, to Corleone) and Newark was connected to Villabate, but not exclusively so, and I couldn't find any evidence that either Family existed before the 1920s, but I stopped looking at a certain point. B made some good finds extending the timeline to the 1905-1910 period, so if anything, Elizabeth was a Family before Newark was. Newark, in fact, may only have been a Family for about ten years.

[B.]

Thanks for remembering that, Cheech. So that's two DeCavalcante captains, a Lucchese acting boss, and LE who independently (?) claim that the DeCavalcantes were one of the earliest families.

I appreciate you giving more context on Bill Bonanno's timeline, Rick. That Newark topic was a good one on here.

What is strange is that there is virtually no mention of the DeCavalcante family by Joe Bonanno, Gentile, Valachi (who does mention Newark family) or any other major sources pre-1960s that I can remember. Bonanno thought very little of Sam DeCavalcante, that's all. If we were talking about a family in a weird location that'd be one thing, but this is a family that was active in NY and NJ.

Gentile mentions some names that raised my eyebrow -- Vincenzo Lolordo (which was the name of Pasquale Lolordo's father) and Domenico Taormina (Taormina/Tavormina is a prominent name in Ribera), but Gentile calls them his compaesani and both are from Siculiana I believe. Considering how well-connected Gentile was to immigrants from Agrigento in the US and the time he spent in Agrigento Sicily, it is surprising he wouldn't mention a family dominated by Agrigentini from a town just up the coast from him.

[Angelo Santino]

It would make more sense if they meant the DeCavalcantes were called the first Family in NJ state rather than the country. I just don't see how it's possible.

[B.]

Stango's words while discussing street boss "Milk" (believed by some to have been the recently deceased Frank Guarraci, a Ribera immigrant):

CS: ...Milk's family was the root of the tree.
UC: Really?
CS: Oh he started this whole thing. It's been around a while now. See his uncle the underboss of consiglieres since the beginning of time. They come right from Sicily to here.
UC: Yeah.
CS: This is sii ... okay this proves he's the oldest crew in the country. They start, they originated the five families. Okay?
UC: Right.
CS: And now we run under the f**kin' Gambinos.

Stango doesn't come across very convincing, but here he is saying they are the "oldest crew in the country" and, like D'Arco, saying that New York split off from them. Like Rotondo's testimony I posted earlier, the fact that they were forced under the Gambinos seems to have been a sore point for them because of their early history in the US.

The indictment also says about this conversation: "In that conversation, the UC and STANGO discussed the membership, structure and history of the DCF. A part of that recorded conversation set forth below confirms much of the information developed about the DCF."