Revisiting the Magaddino transcript - names

[faffy444]

ill be honest I thought the info about Apulian ancestry came from dubro's book. perhaps I'm wrong about that. maybe I read about Apulia elsewhere.

[antimafia]

ill be honest I thought the info about Apulian ancestry came from dubro's book. perhaps I'm wrong about that. maybe I read about Apulia elsewhere.

No worries. If you ever come across the source again, please share. Thanks.

[faffy444]

yes I will. been looking for, but cant locate my dubro book.

[B.]

Thanks for all of the info, Antimafia. You've definitely given us more to think about on the Canadian end.

I couldn't find the word "Grey" in the Mary Ferrell file, but my searches were limited because I'm not a member. If "Louie Grey" is a transcription error or a transcription that was guessed at, the name could definitely be Louis Greco. If "Louie Grey" appears in the file as a definitive nickname for Greco that no one was ever aware of, what's interesting to me is that grey is the Canadian spelling of the colour.

The dialogue was originally in Italian, and many of the transcribed names were horribly butchered phonetic interpretations, so with that said he probably wasn't saying "Grey", but "Louie Greco" and it was heard as "Grey" given factors like sound quality, accent, enunciation, etc. He's mentioned in context with "Littogrande" who was said to be in charge of Montreal "at that step" (translated from Italian, probably meaning "at that time") when either Violi or his mother came over. "Littogrande" must be Lilo Galante, who Greco was associated with and would have been in charge at the time.

- They start talking about a "Paul", who I am guessing is Paolo Violi again, as Magaddino says he sent for him but "they brought him to New York and gave him $50,000 and sent him to Haiti" to gamble. Magaddino says he is "Calabrese, Calabrese, Calabrese, and Calabrese -- a dog".

Could "Paul" be Paul Volpe? Recall that Volpe was under the criminal tutelage of Vito De Filippo of the Bonannos before becoming a part of the Buffalo Family, had hid out in New York at various times in the late 1950s (but maybe not in the '60s) when he was escaping the wrath of Papalia and others in Hamilton, and had casino interests in Haiti with De Filippo.

Volpe, born in Toronto, did not have Calabrian ancestry. Although James Dubro's Mob Rule... is part biography of Volpe, Dubro never mentions in the book from where Volpe's parents and ancestors descended. Dubro has previously told me that Volpe had northern Italian ancestry.

I didn't even think of Paul Volpe. I had completely overlooked it, but before mentioning the bit about Haiti he says this Paul was from Toronto and "owned a washroom". Not sure I understand the "washroom" comment, but based on that and everything you said about NY and Haiti, plus the fact that Magaddino had the authority to send for him, makes Volpe most likely.

Also something I had missed is Magaddino says Paul is "at times he is Calabrese, Calabrese, Calabrese -- a dog". By "at times", he might mean Paul is behaving like a Calabrese (which is funny as he's talking to a supposed Calabrese, Romeo).

Paul Volpe would then be the one Dominick Romeo is seemingly volunteering to murder.

This Dominick Romeo could be the individual Dominic Romeo (so spelled in the book) who accompanied Peter Joseph Magaddino in the car that was used to get to the the Hamilton residence of Giacomo Luppino on March 30, 1966. The Ontario Provincial Police had just surveilled Vic Cotroni and Paolo Violi entering Luppino's house when they then spotted the vehicle Magaddino and Romeo were in--the car stopped at Luppinos house. According to the book, Romeo was Magaddino's driver, and the purpose of the visit was to persuade Cotroni to ally himself with the Buffalo Family rather than the Bonanno Family. My reading of the paragraph in the book is that Romeo was also a visitor in Luppino's residence; however, I can't tell whether the meeting inside involved only Luppino, Cotroni, Violi, and Magaddino.

I'm sure that's the same Romeo that Magaddino is talking with, and it's clear from the conversations that he was a made member of the Buffalo family. Romeo is also very knowledgeable of the Buffalo family's activities in Canada though it's not clear where he lived. I hadn't heard that before about the Buffalo family meeting with Cotroni/Violi in an attempt to bring them to their side. I wonder if they were asking them to completely switch families, or if they were only asking them to abandon their support for Joe and Bill Bonanno. We know that the Cotroni decina stayed loyal to Joe Bonanno longer than most of the family, so this may have Buffalo trying to convince Montreal to join the DiGregorio faction.

[Ed]

I didn't even think of Paul Volpe. I had completely overlooked it, but before mentioning the bit about Haiti he says this Paul was from Toronto and "owned a washroom". Not sure I understand the "washroom" comment, but based on that and everything you said about NY and Haiti, plus the fact that Magaddino had the authority to send for him, makes Volpe most likely.

According to Dubro, Volpe ran his mob activities out of the family car wash.

B., great stuff as usual.

BTW, a good chunk of my mob collection comes from Dubro's old library after he began to sell them off.

[HairyKnuckles]

Very good HK, thanks for the chart. I have to ask, who were captains Tommy Russo and Frank Castellano and where were they based? Was Frank the uncle of Paul Castelanno?

Tommy Russo is Gaetano Russo, a captain based out of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Died in 1970. Crew probably disbanded after his death. Frank Castellano was Paul´s uncle.

Yes Gaetano russo, remmember we discussing the guy. Tell me HK do you happen to know where was Frank Castellano from and based? Bensonhurst or South Bklyn? Thanks.

Sorry, it should be Frank Castellana (he spelled his last name differently for some reason) and was a cousin of Paul´s uncles and the father of Pete. He had a butcher shop at 1088 92nd Street in Canarsie, Brooklyn (in the 1940s). Most likely originally from Bensonhurst.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Frank Castellana lived at 56 Bay 40th Street. Other in household was wife Carmella, sons Alexander and Peter, daughters Rose and Nancy. Also in household was his mother in law Nancy Masotto. He was a butcher by trade and earned 5.000 $ in 1939 according to 1940 census.

[jimmyb]

B, great job. Really appreciate the work you put into it.

Agreed. B is a dedicated poster who puts in a lot of work into this. I love his way of discovering, analyzing and explaining. These transcripts are not easy to go through. Respect!

B. is the man, no doubt! Hopefully in the near future I can revisit my CDG research and get another book going. When it comes to Buffalo and 1950s-1970s Bonanno information, I plan on consulting B. as often as possible. Hope you don't mind!

[HairyKnuckles]

B, great job. Really appreciate the work you put into it.

Agreed. B is a dedicated poster who puts in a lot of work into this. I love his way of discovering, analyzing and explaining. These transcripts are not easy to go through. Respect!

B. is the man, no doubt! Hopefully in the near future I can revisit my CDG research and get another book going. When it comes to Buffalo and 1950s-1970s Bonanno information, I plan on consulting B. as often as possible. Hope you don't mind!

Has your current book been released?

Another guy you might consider to seek information or advice from is Thomas Hunt, the co author of DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime. if you are planning on a Buffalo book. I haven´t been in contact with Thomas Hunt for a long time, but I bet Antiliar has. I suggest you PM Antiliar, if you´re not in contact with Mr Hunt already. A talk with him could give you inspiration for a book on the Buffalo Mafia,

[B.]

B, great job. Really appreciate the work you put into it.

Agreed. B is a dedicated poster who puts in a lot of work into this. I love his way of discovering, analyzing and explaining. These transcripts are not easy to go through. Respect!

B. is the man, no doubt! Hopefully in the near future I can revisit my CDG research and get another book going. When it comes to Buffalo and 1950s-1970s Bonanno information, I plan on consulting B. as often as possible. Hope you don't mind!

Thanks man, but I would definitely consult JD and HairyKnuckles before me on the 1950s-1970s Bonannos. I've done a lot of research into them but those two guys have unearthed bigger things from that period and are better with the overall timeline of people/events.

If you did end up doing a CDG oriented book I'd be curious what you can find on the Philadelphia CDG guys. There aren't very many of them known but Sabella was the first confirmed boss and held the spot for a ~10 years even though some of the other Sicilian groups in Philly at the time like the Caccamo and Belmonte Mezzagno guys seem to have been the bigger groups. Offhand there were Sabella, Galante, and Chiodo families from CDG involved in the early Philly family but can't remember if there are other names offhand.

[jimmyb]

B, great job. Really appreciate the work you put into it.

Agreed. B is a dedicated poster who puts in a lot of work into this. I love his way of discovering, analyzing and explaining. These transcripts are not easy to go through. Respect!

B. is the man, no doubt! Hopefully in the near future I can revisit my CDG research and get another book going. When it comes to Buffalo and 1950s-1970s Bonanno information, I plan on consulting B. as often as possible. Hope you don't mind!

Has your current book been released?

Another guy you might consider to seek information or advice from is Thomas Hunt, the co author of DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime. if you are planning on a Buffalo book. I haven´t been in contact with Thomas Hunt for a long time, but I bet Antiliar has. I suggest you PM Antiliar, if you´re not in contact with Mr Hunt already. A talk with him could give you inspiration for a book on the Buffalo Mafia,

Thanks HK, yeah I agree---Hunt is an impressive researcher. His piece on the "Good Killers" was a big help for my research. I gave a shout out to his co-author Mike Tona in my book. A few yrs ago Tona sent me some really good stuff on the Magaddino family.

In terms of a future project, I want CDG to anchor the book. So to the extent I would talk about Buffalo, in would be about how the Magaddino family connected to other Castellammarese mafiosi in Sicily, Brooklyn, Detroit and Tucson.

B. you raise a good question about Philly. I know Morello talks a bit about Sabella in her books. I think Critchley does too.

[B.]

Yeah, Salvatore was married to Leonardo Galante's sister who was Stefano Magaddino's cousin. Sabella's sister was married to Matteo DiGregorio, brother of Gaspare. Sabella's brother Domenico was of course a Bonanno member. So he was definitely tapped into that same CDG tree.

[B.]

I've been revisiting the original transcript that this topic was based on and see some things in a new light. When I have time I may give it a new breakdown.

One thing I wanted to mention now though is that the number of Bonanno members in the Montreal decina seemed to be an issue for Magaddino and may shed some light on the make-up of the Bonanno Montreal crew.

In reference to Canada, Paul Sciacca tells Magaddino that Bonanno took seven people from Magaddino's territory, then made two more in Montreal (on top of the existing members in Montreal). Magaddino indicates that he is fine with the Montreal decina having ten members, but any more than that (i.e. the 9 additional members) is unacceptable to him. In the DeCavalcante tapes, Sam mentions something about Bonanno inducting members after the books were closed, specifically in Arizona and Montreal, yet another grievance the Commission had with JB.This indicates that the Montreal decina was originally ten members and Bonanno recruited an additional seven men from Toronto or an area that was otherwise under Buffalo's control, plus made an additional two new members in Montreal

It's hard to say what is meant by JB "taking" seven people from Magaddino (i.e. it could mean they were simply allied with him in the war, though this seems to have taken place before the "war" broke out), but from the context it does seem like they're talking about members initiated into the Bonanno family in Canada. A report from the 1960s claims that the Montreal decina had ~20 members, just like it did in the late 90s/early 2000s. Since we have had such little member information from within Montreal, we have no idea who many of the ~20 members were. However, if you look at the numbers discussed by Magaddino/Sciacca, there were 10 officially sanctioned Montreal members, probably all made by the time the books closed in 1957. Then Bonanno brought in 9 more men, bringing the total crew members to 19, which matches the ~20 mentioned in other docs.

There were certainly enough recruits in Montreal proper to make up a 20 member decina, but like I said we have no idea who many of the early Montreal made members were, just a handful have been confirmed and we can speculate on a few more, but what if 7 of the 20 members circa mid-1960s were based in Toronto? The Montreal crew did have longstanding interests there and Vito DeFilippo had a strong presence in the area as well, maintaining influece over Paul Volpe and likely other Magaddino members/associates.

Remember that decades later Sal Vitale expected there to be ~10 members in Montreal and was surprised to find that there were 19 (previously 20, as Sciascia had been killed). Joe Bonanno's expansion of thecrew seems to have been unsanctioned, and maybe the Bonanno family/NYC continued to have the false impression that the Montreal crew was limited to ten, when in actuality they maintained the "illegal" ~20 number set up by Bonanno.

[antimafia]

Is the original transcript the one found at https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 2&tab=page?

On what page of the 95-page file is there discussion of Bonanno's having taken seven people from Magaddino's territory?

[Lupara]

I bet Paolo Violi was one of those initiated in the 1960s.

[B.]

Is the original transcript the one found at https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 2&tab=page?

On what page of the 95-page file is there discussion of Bonanno's having taken seven people from Magaddino's territory?

Here is the specific part about the 7 men from Magaddino's "area", plus the two who were made in Montreal. In other parts of the transcript references are made about Bonanno stepping on Magaddino's toes in Canada, but this is the only part that specifically mentions these 9 men that Bonanno apparently recruited.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=Montreal