2014 Informer acticle on early New York Mafia

[B.]

One thing that stands out to me is the running theme of supermarkets in the Gambino family, especially among the Palermo guys, going back to Lupo himself. It's not just the towns and regions that continue to be a running theme in these families, but also certain trades. For many years the Morellos/Luccheses were overwhelmingly involved in the lathing industry, and later garments.

I'm glad this topic came up because I was just recently reading about Lupo's arrest in the 1940s (which I believe was with his nephew or another younger relative) and it made me wonder if he was a soldier with a specific family at the time. Is he known to have associated with any other Mangano members post-1930?

[Antiliar]

I'm sure there may have been hundreds of early members whose names we'll never know, so I don't think we can answer if he was known to have associated with Mangano members. We know who he was arrested with, plus there was that 1923 meeting that does include some names who were connected to Mangano. That's in the article.

[Confederate]

I looked at the article and read the responses here in this thread I gathered that Angelo Santino & Rick Warner are Chris Christie & Antiliar on this Forum. You guys did a great job on the article! Did the Early New York Mafia people specifically send some of their people to other Cities or did Mafia/Camorra people just immigrate to other cities randomly?

[Antiliar]

The typical method is chain migration or work-related migration. New York, New Orleans and Philadelphia were the largest migration-bound cities on the East Coast, so it's natural that the earliest Mafia organizations would start there. They also moved to locations with a high demand for immigrant labor, such as areas with coal mining, railroad construction, and fishing. Once someone was established, usually a padrone, others would come, followed by individuals who invited their relatives. People rarely were "sent out." The norm was people from the same or nearby villages moved to the same location. The earliest Gambinos were from Palermo, the Morellos were mostly Corleonesi, those in Pueblo were primarily from Lucca Sicula, in Cleveland they came from Licata, etc. So opportunity and familiarity dictated where people went.

[DPG]

When and why you yall believe New Orleans influence on a national stage faded so quickly?

[Antiliar]

Contrary to the current zeitgeist, some of those killed in New Orleans in 1891 were actual members of the Mafia. I believe they tried to operate less openly after that, plus the number of members was far smaller than the relatively huge New York borgate. Another important factor is that Ellis Island became the dominant immigration port and New Orleans declined in significance, so the New Orleans Mafia had a smaller pool of "talent" to draw on compared to the Big Apple. There was also less bigotry and vigilante justice in New York than New Orleans, which existed in the Jim Crow South.
It could also be due to the after effects of the 1891 mass lynching that the first known Boss of Bosses, Nicola Taranto, was a New Yorker.

[Angelo Santino]

Before 1870, Italo immigration passed through N'Orleans and had a sizable economic colony there with budding colonies in St Louis and New York City and Texas. After 1872 the main ports of entry became New York City, Philadelphia and Boston and gradually immigration shifted to the northeast. It's a forgotten era. Most contemporary Italo-American history starts in the 1890's with Elizabeth and Mulberry St and continues into the 20's onward. The histories of 1870's Mulberry Bend (not to be confused with the street), 1860's Red Hook Brooklyn or the 1850's New Orleans-Buenos Aires-Palermo transatlantic citrus trade are not only OC stories but also that of the early Italo pioneer.

I explained the above because the Mafia wasn't planned per se, it requires the right political and criminal biosphere to form. Work and chain migration paved the way. They rarely have any intention or conspiracy of "taking over" anything beyond their own daily interests. Had the South won the Civil War then N'Orleans would have most likely remained the Sicilian epicenter and there may have never been a New York Mafia with 5 Families, in fact in this alternative timeline New York would have died out in the 90's with Louisiana having to contend with multiple Families.

[DPG]

Thank you both

[Angelo Santino]

Thank you both

You're welcome. Any other questions just ask.

I guess one thing I would add about this, the takeaway from our article, is that it details the early NYC Mafia and the foundations that lead it to become a dominating and leading force in the worldwide Italian underworld. Every group, especially in Italy, looked to America or admired their power here. But before we go there, we must have an understanding that the early Mafia (1870-1900) were very small groups, no more than 10-20 members per Family in Sicily. They didn't make anybody and everybody nor did they aspire to have an army. But one thing the mafia doesn't control is immigration and how NYC handled it's overflow of Mafiosi entering the area is something to be observed and recognized.

For starters, as Antiliar stated, Italo immigration followed a padrone system with chain and work migration, this lead to formations of colonies. The Mafia followed suit, and given that it's a secret society, the people generally admitted are relatives, close friends and compaesani generally from the same city or area of Sicily, we'll call them factions. In the New World of NYC, these factions were set up across the 5 boroughs and gradually began infusing people encountered locally who, while Italian, may have come from a different region.

The guiding forces of the NYC Mafia was Morello from 1900-1910 and then D'Aquila until 1928. Under their leadership, we seen the formation and evolution of 3 to 4 and then 5 centralized groups. NYC's Mafia membership in terms of numbers may have only been secondary to Palermo! But even more amazing is that Palermo was divided up between more families, in fact when one grew too large it split. That didn't happen in New York City. There never was a Harlem or Brooklyn Mafia in the sense that one family controlled that district exclusively. And while the Bonannos dominated Williamsburgh, the Gambinos Red Hook etc it was essentially 5 groups with members spread out across the city by 1920. Interesting that they didn't splinter into smaller groups, there could have easily have been 11 Families. We can speculate as to why that occurred, but in the end that really made the New York Mafia into the semi-Godfather esque "Ceasar's army" model that it had for a period.

Now we don't have an accurate total of memberships, but Gentile estimated 2000 and Clemente 3000 in the 1920's. Whether that's true or not, we do know that by the 1960's the NYC still maintained large numbers and had made strong inroads into legitimate industry. NYC was becoming highly respected by the Mafia in Sicily to the point where America influenced the formation of the post WW2 Commission and according to Bill Bonanno asked his father if America would be interested in an American-Sicilian ruling body. And the Bonannos also had the clout to go to Montreal and bring in what seems to have been a Calabrian 'ndrangheta crew. Montreal remains another interesting scenario of what happens when you cross breed Calabrian, American and Sicilian memberships. Kinda sheds light on why that remains so fucking confusing. And I don't believe we can use an "American LCN" model when it comes to viewing Canadian OC evolution, yes it mirrors it in certain ways but quite frankly there's other elements that the American model didn't have to contend with.

Another takeaway is that mafiosi, as individuals, accomplished very little in the scheme of the national mafia, rather it's the result of the many components involved that made this system function. The mafia didn't so much organize as much as evolve. Granted there are certain figures who had a big impact: Capone, Maranzano, Luciano, Masseria among others, but as to any national change, well that remains questionable.

[Frank]

Speaking of Canada are the Rizzuto, Cotroni, Luppino and other groups in Canada considered their own separate families or are they part of Buffalo or Bonanno families. For example was Rizzuto a family boss or a Capo.

[Lupara]

Speaking of Canada are the Rizzuto, Cotroni, Luppino and other groups in Canada considered their own separate families or are they part of Buffalo or Bonanno families. For example was Rizzuto a family boss or a Capo.

Officially he was neither. Montreal became an extension of the Bonanno family but it was basically a family within a family.

The families in Ontario were independent but Magaddino had great influence over them similar to Masseria's role in New York. He was the boss of bosses of Ontario and he did have a crew operating in Hamilton.

[Pogo The Clown]

Lupo and Morello and everyone else received 10-20 year sentences which was shocking, you can understand why Morello cried because that was most unexpected.

I'll tell you one thing, and I'm not ashamed to say it, my estimation of Joe Morello as a man just fucking plummeted.


Pogo

[Frank]

Yes Cinderella didn't even cry

[Antiliar]

Morello was an emotional guy

[Dwalin2014]

Boss of bosses crying.... Not even Lepke and his underlings cried while going to the chair. I hope it was fake crying, otherwise I don't understand anything about the mafia any more, at least not about the qualities required for a strong boss...