Early San Jose

[Angelo Santino]

Admittedly I'm not a West Coast expert, I read the Last Mafioso by Jimmy Fratianno and that is it. I've heard and seen most online accounts state that the San Jose Family began in the 1940's. I'm not suggesting otherwise, but in the 1910's the San Francisco Mafia, notably the LaFatas and their crew on Broadway had connections to both San Jose as well as Oakland, evening maintaining addresses there with cumari. But in both instances, the boys from Frisco are being met in both cities with handshakes and kisses, not as strangers. Again the agreed upon consensus is that the San Jose family was formed in the 40's by Sciortino, who I believe was a surname that factored into SF in the early 20's (but it is a common surname so...). Anyways Frisco had connections to those cities as early as 1910 and if San Jo became independent from Frisco in the 40's it still ran on the tracks formed way back when.

Also, the SF Family, or at least the portion I'm seeing of it, was active around what is today Embarcadero. Any contemporary followers on what areas of the city the Frisco Family was most accurate. I would imagine in 1920 there was a migration across the city like there was in most cities due to economic opportunities and the fact that Italians hated paying fucking rent (never happened in Italy!) and opted to own instead.

[B.]

Nice to see you back, man.

I dug into San Jose a while back. Families like San Jose interest me because they didn't really didn't "need" to exist in the same way families in larger cities do, so they must have been created for some other reason. It's similar to Milwaukee/Madison and Newark/Elizabeth... the five families for that matter.

First known San Jose boss Onofrio Sciortino was from Bagheria and came to the US in 1907. By 1930 he was living in San Jose with his elder brother Carmelo (arrived 1909) and Carmelo's family. By 1940, Onofrio is still living with Carmelo, still with no apparent wife or children of his own. I couldn't find a 1910 or 1920 record for either of them, so I'm not sure where they were living during the period before 1930. However, an older brother or cousin named Vito Sciortino was living in San Jose as early as 1910 (arrived in US 1903) where he was a "bushelman". He later died in San Jose in 1969. I don't know what his exact relation is or if he had any mafia connections, but it shows that there was a Sciortino presence in San Jose by 1910.

You have to figure Onofrio Sciortino was 38-years-old in 1930 when we first know he was living in San Jose, though he may have been there much earlier if Vito Sciortino's presence there in 1910 is any indication. San Jose wasn't exactly a city where an Italian kid sat on the stoop and stared at the guys with pinky rings and fancy cars. Whether he was a boss/member of the San Jose family, a member of another family, or not a member yet is another question, but he was already situated in San Jose for over a decade before the family was allegedly created. At the very least he already represented a mafia presence there before the 1940s.

Sciortino is a name that shows up in the Bonanno family through soldier Pietro Sciortino, also from Bagheria like the other Sciortinos. He bounced between Brooklyn, Tucson, and Milwaukee/Madison and had strong ties to the west coast and midwest in general. He was working for Maranzano by the 1920s along with future San Jose member Nick Guastella and Vito Mule, whose son would become a San Jose member. That to me is an indication that Pietro was probably familiar with his fellow Sciortino in San Jose.

Pietro Sciortino's brother-in-law John DiBella was a Madison soldier and Joe Bonanno's business partner, and Sciortino was involved in a serious dispute with Frank Balistrieri of Milwaukee during the Bonanno problems of the 60s. Sciortino had strong ties to Milwaukee and Madison, which were families formed by members from Bagheria like the Sciortinos. Some of these early members of the Madison and Milwaukee families had fled Chicago after the murder of Aiello, who was also from Bagheria.

As a contemporary of these guys from the same hometown, you have to wonder where Onofrio Sciortino fit into this. The Aiello murder seems to have caused a major uproar in the mafia in general, but particularly among the Bagheria natives throughout the US. If Sciortino was over in San Jose, I wonder what role he could have played in the situation. Or Pietro Sciortino in Brooklyn for that matter.

The ~1942 date that is given as the start date for the family seems strange. What would have been going on in the early 1940s that would necessitate the Commission approving the formation of a small family so close to another small family run by 50-year-old Sciortino who had been living there for years? I would guess they either split off from San Francisco due to some kind of dispute, or they were a family earlier than the 1940s. Unless there is a concrete member source who can confirm the year they were formed it's hard to trust anything.

One other thing to consider is that they were represented by the Profaci family on the Commission despite their strong ties to families like the Bonannos. Representation on the Commission can sometimes say something about a family's origins. Joe Cerrito was from Villabate and there were other connections to the Profaci family through the Misuraca brothers, with Profaci member John Misuraca taking an almost administrative role over San Jose in the 1960s. Sal J. Profaci later served as a liasion with San Jose as well. San Jose also had connections to Detroit through the Misuracas and at least one other member, so putting all of this together it sort of makes sense they would fall into that Profaci/Detroit orbit. Also consider that the first known SJ boss was from Bagheria and the next was from Villabate. Those cities aren't far from each other. (On the flipside, I wonder if the Villabate-born Joe Profaci was affiliated with the Bagherini in Chicago led by Aiello when he lived there?)

Also, Cerrito's wife was an Ardizzone, possible relation to the early Los Angeles boss of the same surname, so maybe Los Angeles played a role somewhere in the early days of San Jose. I find it significant that the three California families were all represented by different NYC families: Los Angeles (Lucchese), San Jose (Profaci), and San Francisco (Bonanno?). They all seem to have been formed by members from different parts of Sicily and each had their own connections back east. A family like San Jose shows to me how these families aren't always created out of convenience.

[B.]

Here's a theory:
When they disbanded the Newark family Joe Profaci was sad because he didn't have anybody to represent on the Commission so the other bosses got together and created the San Jose family and gave it to him which made him happy until the Gallos ruined everything.

[Antiliar]

In the early 60s the representation of Los Angeles switched from Lucchese to the Bonannos. That's when Joe B wanted to send his son down there and take over. Desimone complained to the other Commission members after he found out and was given to another Family. So maybe Profaci didn't always represent San Jose.

[B.]

Here's what Gentile said:
San Francisco family existed as of the early 1920s and the Sciortino brothers (presumably Onofrio and Carmelo) were members. He adds that the Sciortino brothers were part of Toto D'Aquila's "secret service", who were in place to eliminate anyone condemned by D'Aquila. He doesn't mention San Jose, but I believe the Sciortinos were likely living in San Jose by this time, so if they were San Francisco members this points to San Jose splitting off from San Francisco sometime after the early 1920s.

This relationship between D'Aquila and the Sciortinos adds another potential dimension to the formation of San Jose. Gentile also says that the Sciortinos were formerly of New York, which could be an indication that they were D'Aquila family members originally.

[Angelo Santino]

San Francisco also had connections to Williamsburgh, Boss Frank Lanza is another guy from the "Class of Schiro" (my name for it) which included Magaddino, Sabella, Milazzo, Messina etc. The Sciortinos might have been with that group, I don't think or recall anyone verifying it. Nick Gentile, when he landed back in the US in 1921, transferred from Boston to Brooklyn to San Francisco and maybe that was him moving through neutral factions.

San Francisco Italians criminals (I can't verify they were connected with the mafia) also had early connections to LA and presumably San Diego as early as 1911.

[JCB1977]

Where do the Zoccoli's fit in? Steve Zoccoli had strong ties to the ORV. Wasn't his father early OC?

[SonnyBlackstein]

Here's a theory:
When they disbanded the Newark family Joe Profaci was sad because he didn't have anybody to represent on the Commission so the other bosses got together and created the San Jose family and gave it to him which made him happy until the Gallos ruined everything.

Did get a chuckle from this.

[JCB1977]

Angelo Marino's father was Salvatore "Sam" Marino, he was from Sharon, PA which is about 15 minutes Northeast of Hillsville and 10 miles East of Youngstown. Sal Marino owned the Sharon cheese company, he was early OC/Black Hand in the 1920's and very close to John LaRocca. He retired to San Jose in the 60's but sent his son Angelo out there in the 40s to open up the California cheese company which they sold to Sargento for millions. Salvatore was from Palermo and he arrives in the United States in 1921 and he immediately took over the Sharon, Pennsylvania numbers racket and was involved in Bootlegging. He was considered a Capo and a very close confidant to Frank Amato Sr.

[Angelo Santino]

Yes, despite SF having a suspected Mafia Family since 1880, there was a separate migration that started in the ORV in the 1910's and carrying on into the 50's. Vallejo was also another city. I can find some names with underworld connections to both places but alot more seemingly just vanish/retire. But a few of them went onto become Boss in SF which leads to only more questions.

I was in SF a few years ago and while there visited Little Italy on North Beach. All gone, save for a few restaurants, there's larger Little Italy's in Vietnam. Rent is/was 3k+ a month for a pillbox. I then came on "here" (the forums) and you had posters still pondering the local crime family's existence.

[Sol]

Good to see you back Gov.......Soliai

[Pogo The Clown]

Great stuff guy's. Especially the discovering that San Jose likely broke off from San Francisco and their ties to D'Aquila.

San Francisco also had connections to Williamsburgh, Boss Frank Lanza is another guy from the "Class of Schiro" (my name for it) which included Magaddino, Sabella, Milazzo, Messina etc. The Sciortinos might have been with that group, I don't think or recall anyone verifying it. Nick Gentile, when he landed back in the US in 1921, transferred from Boston to Brooklyn to San Francisco and maybe that was him moving through neutral factions.

Interesting how the Bonannos produced the Bosses for at least 5 other families. Shows just how much these groups were organized and interconnected from the earliest days. Just further puts to rest the whole Luciano and 1931 narrative.


Pogo

[Angelo Santino]

Great stuff guy's. Especially the discovering that San Jose likely broke off from San Francisco and their ties to D'Aquila.

San Francisco also had connections to Williamsburgh, Boss Frank Lanza is another guy from the "Class of Schiro" (my name for it) which included Magaddino, Sabella, Milazzo, Messina etc. The Sciortinos might have been with that group, I don't think or recall anyone verifying it. Nick Gentile, when he landed back in the US in 1921, transferred from Boston to Brooklyn to San Francisco and maybe that was him moving through neutral factions.

Interesting how the Bonannos produced the Bosses for at least 5 other families. Shows just how much these groups were organized and interconnected from the earliest days. Just further puts to rest the whole Luciano and 1931 narrative.




Pogo

"When Tommy Reina went with Faranzano, Don Masseria made Tommy pay a price: me... Meyer, from now on, you and me gotta agree. So if I start getting a swelled head, just shoot me. It'd be a lot less painful."

[Pogo The Clown]

Faranzano will think Masseria ordered the hit 'cause Tommy changed sides. The Bronx is at stake. He'll have to strike back.


Pogo

[Geekgang666]

Dominick "Dom" Anzalone (1903-1983) was a prominent member of the San Jose crime family and former Monessen, PA. gambling racketeer. Anzalone was born in Ventimiglia Palermo, Italy on Feb 11, 1903, He was described as short and swarthy and first resided in Pennsylvania upon his arrival in the U.S. where he claimed to be a fruit merchant and was associated with the Pittsburgh crime family. He controlled a nationwide horse racing racket in Westmoreland and Fayette County. Anzalone also owned some 20 race horses and took bets and fixed horse races. His legal troubles began in the early 1950s when Anzalone was charged with falsely representing himself as an American citizen (claiming to be born in Louisiana) but the conviction was later overturned on a technicality. Around this time he also began to face deportation proceedings over his reputation as an alleged "Racket's boss" and was the main subject of a Maryland Racing Commission investigation on mafia infiltration in horse racing in Baltimore for 'buying' jockeys. Anzalone once admitted before a court of law that he was a gambler and "did very well at it". In June 1956, deportation actions by the US prosecutors were thrown out and Anzalone was permitted to remain in the United States. Anzalone, like many other Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh family mobsters, later moved west to San Jose in 1961. He became a soldier of the San Jose crime family under Joseph Cerrito and remained active in organized criminal activities until his death in 1983.