Info on Gambino Baltimore crew

[Fughedaboutit]

BGF has so many small sets throughout the city. Take Greenmount north of North Ave. and you will see tons of corner boys...and of course you have the west side.

lol fuck North Ave and park heights

[Pogo The Clown]

BGF has so many small sets throughout the city. Take Greenmount north of North Ave. and you will see tons of corner boys...and of course you have the west side.

All in the game yo.


Pogo

[B.]

Seems that the Corbis were tapped in close to the Calabrian network that went through Pittsburgh, Ohio, WV, and other areas of the US (particularly midwest and interior east coast). The Pittsburgh end of this network that the Corbis were connected to can even be traced to Pellegrino of the Genovese family, who we know was an established Calabrian Camorra member before joining Cosa Nostra, and we know Vito Genovese, who was tied to the Camorra in NYC, had strong ties to remnants of the Camorra in Pittsburgh in the 1920s/30s. The Corbis married into this network as well. Appears Patsy Corbi was associated if not a member of the WV "Black Hand" group that was most likely a Camorra group, and another brother Tony Corbi settled in Youngstown which is of course tied to both Pittsburgh and Calabrians. I would be curious if the Frank Naples who was killed in WV (allegedly Pat Corbi participated) is related to the more infamous Naples brothers of Youngstown... would add another layer to this murky story.

Do you remember what was shared about Vito Corbi and Urso? Vito Corbi was the father of the more well-known Corbis and he did die in 1929 and I've seen indirect info about him being a "Black Hand" member or underworld figure, but I haven't been able to find any concrete info, only references on wiki type pages. It seems possible to me that the Corbis and other Calabrians/mainlanders in Baltimore emerged from a Camorra or similar group and were later incorporated into Cosa Nostra. Pasquale Corbi may have been the defacto leader of this Calabrian group, which is why he is referred to as a leader before his death (the informant specifically says Corbi was a better leader than his brother Frank, who at the time of the info was acting/defacto captain for Morici). In most families/crews that had a significant Calabrian / Sicilian dynamic, we almost always see a defacto leader of each group, so seems possible in Baltimore even though it was just a ~12 member decina.

However, I do wonder if the Palermitani like Morici, LaFata, and other Sicilians in Baltimore were affiliated with the Gambinos earlier. Antonio Messina may have been a Sicilian from the Palermo area, as there was an Antonio Messina in the right age range in Baltimore who fit that bill, though I'm not sure if I have identified the right Antonio Messina's record. If he had been close to Philip Mangano since the 1920s like it says in that article (anyone have info on the upstate NY murder Mangano and Messina allegedly committed together in the 1920s?), it seems very possible Messina was an associate or member of the D'Aquila/Mangano family by the 1920s or 30s. None of the info mentions Anastasia's motivation for the Messina and Zannino contracts, but the article seems to hint that Messina's murder is connected to the Mangano murder(s) and that seems possible given the timing and supposed ties between Mangano/Messina. Would be pretty interesting if the Messina/Zannino murders were in any way connected to the Mangano murders and Anastasia takeover.

You also have to figure that the D'Aquila family was heavily influencing the Philadelphia family by 1920, if not earlier, so not too crazy to think that they had planted some kind of flag in Baltimore by then. When Ignazio Lupo was in hiding in 1908-1909, he later claimed he spent part of it in Baltimore. My personal opinion on a lot of these "satellite crews" is that the connections, if not full-on members, were there much earlier than the ones we know about. For example, Maranzano's wife and children were sent to hide out in Montreal and there are other examples of the Bonannos having ties to Montreal before Galante went there in the early 1950s. Other examples are the NY and Decav crews in New England.

[HairyKnuckles]

B, perhaps you already know but in 1967, Frank Corbi was shot through his leg during an argument in a card game possibly by Antonio Ripepi, a mobster with the Pittsburgh Mafia. The dispute was over a gambling debt. When FBI interviewed Corbi and asked him about the incident, he dismissed it as a misunderstanding and said that the witness who had named the assailant (Ripepi) had simply mistaken him for another guy Corbi had never seen before.

According to informants, Frank Corbi was a man who didn´t like violence. Because of this, he would rather accomodate people than offend them or cause any trouble. It was also said that Frank lacked the guts and respect that his brother Patsy have had. Informants "complained" that Frank Corbi had neglected the crew and allowed other groups to muscle in on the crew´s territory.

Joseph Nunzio Corbi, Frank Corbi´s younger brother, had attended City College. He played baseball, football and basketball until transferring on a full scholarship to Calvert Hall College, where he played baseball. He graduated in 1929. Apperently an outstanding pitcher, he played in the early 1930s for the Cumberland Colts, a New York Yankees farm team, until an accident ended his career. He was a member of the Old-Timers Baseball Hall of Fame.

[Geekgang666]

Wow great information thanks for sharing this. I'm from Baltimore and i also do research on OC. Have you ever heard of Julius "The lord" Salisbury before?

[B.]

Wow great information thanks for sharing this. I'm from Baltimore and i also do research on OC. Have you ever heard of Julius "The lord" Salisbury before?

Salisbury ran one of the biggest gambling operations in Baltimore and basically paid lip service to the Gambino crew. One of Joe N. Gallo's priorities in Baltimore was meeting directly with Salisbury to collect larger sums of money from his operations. I believe Salisbury went along with this while Gallo was still a regular visitor to Baltimore, but he seems to have gained a lot of his independence back by the late 1960s.

B, perhaps you already know but in 1967, Frank Corbi was shot through his leg during an argument in a card game possibly by Antonio Ripepi, a mobster with the Pittsburgh Mafia. The dispute was over a gambling debt. When FBI interviewed Corbi and asked him about the incident, he dismissed it as a misunderstanding and said that the witness who had named the assailant (Ripepi) had simply mistaken him for another guy Corbi had never seen before.

According to informants, Frank Corbi was a man who didn´t like violence. Because of this, he would rather accomodate people than offend them or cause any trouble. It was also said that Frank lacked the guts and respect that his brother Patsy have had. Informants "complained" that Frank Corbi had neglected the crew and allowed other groups to muscle in on the crew´s territory.

Joseph Nunzio Corbi, Frank Corbi´s younger brother, had attended City College. He played baseball, football and basketball until transferring on a full scholarship to Calvert Hall College, where he played baseball. He graduated in 1929. Apperently an outstanding pitcher, he played in the early 1930s for the Cumberland Colts, a New York Yankees farm team, until an accident ended his career. He was a member of the Old-Timers Baseball Hall of Fame.

I thought I posted about the Corbi shooting above but maybe not. I have seen the report that implies Ripepi shot Corbi, but other reports say that Ripepi attempted to hit Angelo Tromberi with the butt of his gun, and Corbi was shot in the ensuing fight for the gun. I believe that was Tromberi's story. The other story, which may have come from Corbi or Ripepi (though Ripepi at least initially denied being in Baltimore at all), is that Tromberi attempted to kill or otherwise hurt Corbi and Ripepi attacked Tromberi in Corbi's defense.

It seems Joe N. Gallo was trying to give the crew a kickstart and help them establish dominance in Baltimore but once he became consigliere and the crew was left to its own devices under Corbi, it allowed the other groups to ice them out of the rackets even further. Morici sounds like he was also pretty passive during his time as caporegime, seeming to me like your typical old school Sicilian who stayed in his little corner of the world. They had some influence in boxing through Trotta and Zannino, but other than that this crew didn't seem to have a strong foothold in much.

Interesting about Joe Corbi's background. Despite being an active member and getting recorded meeting with Peter Maggio, most sources say he was a legitimate businessman who ran the pizza crust business he owned with his brother Frank. He had a long history of full-time legitimate employment, too, like a number of these guys.

[Etna]

Great additional information. I'm a Baltimore native as well, so it's nice to hear more about these guys.

[Geekgang666]

Salisbury was a big man out here in Baltimore. I read one report that there were 2 guys that came from NYC that was trying to get extort money from him. I believe that Salisbury took a trip out to New York to figure out who these guys are. Come to find out the two guys wasn't giving promised from New York and soon the two guys ending up leaving Baltimore. Do anybody happen to have a photo of Frank Corbi? I already have photos of the rest of the Baltimore crew but not Frank Corbi.

[B.]

He was extorted first by Pasquale "Patsy" Zirpoli and Salvatore Romano, the two guys you're talking about. Zirpoli lived around north Brooklyn and Romano lived in south Brooklyn. I haven't been able to connect them to any particular family but Limey has a Pasquale Zirpoli listed as a possible Bonanno member for whatever reason.

Salsbury was very "candid" with the FBI when interviewed by them and I suspect one informant who knew a lot about Salsbury's activities and whereabouts could be Salsbury himself. Salsbury openly told the FBI that Zirpoli and Romano had tried to extort him but that they were small time gangsters from New York and not backed by any organization. He also told the FBI that his "friends" had gotten Zirpoli and Romano to back off and he was satisfied with the result. He ID'd Zirpoli when shown a photograph. However, he said he wasn't willing to testify.

Gallo of course moved in on Salsbury a short time after this, which makes me believe they were playing the classic move on him, where Gallo sent Zirpoli and Romano as "independent" thugs and then conveniently appeared to "protect" Salsbury. Gallo had been plotting to move in on Salsbury as soon as Salsbury was released from jail, then these random NY thugs visit him and suddenly Gallo is there making a more "favorable" arrangement.

Along with CT soldier Iacovetti apparently sending this "Frankie Dee" to hang around Frank Corbi, Iacovetti was said to have had his own interests in Baltimore pre-1960s. He was arrested there in 1960 and was said to extort local Baltimore bookmakers. If I have the right info, Iacovetti was born in NYC and raised in Queens, then lived with his parents and siblings in Altoona, PA. Strange that he would then end up in Connecticut with strong ties to Baltimore. Anyone have more info on Iacovetti?

[Cheech]

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... =iacovetti


per MF this guy was everywhere. CT, NY, FL, PA, MD....

[OlBlueEyesClub]

Great thread, finally a bit of information in regards to the lowkey Gambino crew in Baltimore. In the Mary Ferrell doc mentioned above, is the "Rizzo who owns Jilly's on 52nd Street" the same Jilly Rizzo, that Pistone mentions being associated with early on during his UC operation?

[HairyKnuckles]

Great thread, finally a bit of information in regards to the lowkey Gambino crew in Baltimore. In the Mary Ferrell doc mentioned above, is the "Rizzo who owns Jilly's on 52nd Street" the same Jilly Rizzo, that Pistone mentions being associated with early on during his UC operation?

No. Jilly Rizzo was a friend of Frank Sinatra´s.

[Stroccos]

anyone ever hear of thomas aversa , i wonder if he was a made guy?

[Geekgang666]

Yes, Thomes Aversa was a made member of the Gambino crime family in Baltimore. Aversa was born on Nov 26, 1903, in Ragusa, Sicily. He has been arrest numerous times for gambling. it's rumored that Aversa was a silent partner in several small bars in Baltimore. He was also known to finances attorney fees and bail bonds for local Italian racketeers.

[Stroccos]

Yes, Thomes Aversa was a made member of the Gambino crime family in Baltimore. Aversa was born on Nov 26, 1903, in Ragusa, Sicily. He has been arrest numerous times for gambling. it's rumored that Aversa was a silent partner in several small bars in Baltimore. He was also known to finances attorney fees and bail bonds for local Italian racketeers.

Thanks for the info
Anyway you could post this Baltimore pics for us ?