Need help with 1928 Cleveland mafia meeting

[cavita]

I have tried and failed to find sufficient information regarding an individual in attendance at the December 5, 1928 mafia meeting at the Hotel Statler in Cleveland, Ohio. Specifically I am looking for info on Joe Balsamo- what city did he represent, where was he born and when, and what ended up happening to him. I have some suspicions but need some help before I make that determination.

[Antiliar]

It's been a while since I looked at this, but if I recall, that name was an alias or just an error. I think it was Giuseppe Palermo of Brooklyn.

[cavita]

It's been a while since I looked at this, but if I recall, that name was an alias or just an error. I think it was Giuseppe Palermo of Brooklyn.

Well if that's the case then it destroys my theory. Thanks for checking though!

[B.]

The mugshot from the 1928 meeting looks like it says "Balesmo", "Palesmo", or "Palermo".

One of the more interesting early mob figures to me is Giuseppe "Salvatore Saracino" Palermo. Probably no connection to him?

[Antiliar]

I double-checked the photos I took at the National Archives. It looks like a spelling error. It was who I said it was. I don't have any info on this Giuseppe Palermo either, such as which New York Family he was part of. My guess would be that he was with Joe Traina, who was a high-ranking Mineo Family member (formerly under D'Aquila and later Scalise, Mangano, Anastasia and Gambino). Maybe Palermo drove him, like Magliocco drove Profaci.

EDIT: The other Giuseppe Palermo was an alias for Salvatore Saraceno. He died shortly after he was released from prison, in 1924.

What was your theory?

[cavita]

Well there was a Joe Balsamo who was active in Chicago who made his way to Rockford in 1929 with Frank Richardson. Balsamo ended up staying and became close to Joe Zito who ended up being the consigliere there. In 1934 there was a raid on 416 Wall Street in Rockford, where authorities discovered 400 gallons of whiskey, thousands of counterfeit U.S. revenue stamps, shotguns, a revolver, ammunition and complete records of business transactions. Subsequent investigation found that “the organization was supplying sugar to producers from unknown sources, running alcohol through Rockford from many points in the Middle West, and doing an active business in the manufacture of contraband whisky.” In this raid authorities arrested Joe Balsamo, Joe Zito, Frank Licari, Phil Vella and Tony DiGiovanni and they were indicted in June 1935. It also appeared during this time that Joe and his brother Frank of Springfield were heads of a huge extortion/kidnap gang that was active in northern Illinois. This FBI file from 1969 stated “During the 1930’s, JOE and FRANK ZITO bossed a gang of individuals who operated out of Gary, Indiana and Springfield, Rockford and Peoria, Illinois. The group was made up primarily of Chicago and Rockford hoodlums and they engaged in extortion and kidnaping.” Another FBI file stated that “Investigation conducted by the Bureau in 1937, reflected that the [REDACTED] group and the group involved in the DE PHILLIPI kidnapping were all connected and headed by [REDACTED]. It would appear that following an alcohol tax indictment in June, 1935, in which [REDACTED] along with [REDACTED] were co-defendants, there was a split in the gang, part going with GEORGE SALADINO and the [ZITO] brothers and the balance remaining loyal to [REDACTED].”
I was curious as to the chance that possibly this Balsamo was the same one from the 1928 meeting as two other attendees, Phil Bacino and Sam Oliveri also had dealings with the Rockford people. These early days seemed to be a revolving door for LCN members/associates to move freely among other families and the fact that Frank "Three Fingers" Coppola was also in the northern Illinois and Iowa area during this time as Angelo Vota lends credence to this.