Rizzutos Pre-War

[Etna]

A couple of things have left me a little confused and questionable to a lot of the ranking charts we see today.

(1) the Rizzuto group was technically a "Crew" of the Bonanno family for quite sometime and from how it looks - branched off to eventually form their own thing.

(2) many of its members were members of the Cattolica Eraclia cosca.


My question here is - if the Rizzutos were only a decina/crew of the Bonnnos - how can Vito or Nick Rizzuto make all of these guys listed in their chart? Or, did they essentially start a form of Canadian LCN or....?

Was it a looser structure similar to that of a Camorra clan but of Sicilian origin? i.e. John Doe running drugs, john doe 2 overseeing construction operations etc.?

[Frank]

Yes good question, the Rizzuto - Bonanno thing has confused me too. For instance who had more power Rizzuto or Sciacca. Whether Vito was a Captain or a Godfather.

[Lupara]

What chart are you talking about?

[JeremyTheJew]

Yes good question, the Rizzuto - Bonanno thing has confused me too. For instance who had more power Rizzuto or Sciacca. Whether Vito was a Captain or a Godfather.

that's a good question, at the time i would think Sciascia. but i would think Nick Rizzuto had more power then both...

Where did Nick Snr fit in with the Bonanno Fam? That could possibly explain a little of the confusion

[Lupara]

I've made some charts in the past but a current one, or even one during Rizzuto's reign is just too much guess work due to a lack of information of the organization's hierarchy and member lists.

However, it isn't too difficult to guess who are crew leaders. The original Montreal crew consisted of about 20 made members, so besides the capo as de facto Montreal boss, acting capo as de facto underboss, the other members would be de facto lieutenants in charge of their own crews if they had any.

The Sixth Family states that according to one RCMP chart the Rizzuto organization consisted of three groups led by 1 or 2 crew bosses. My guess is that these 3 groups were headed by Arcadi, Agostino Cuntrera and Joe Di Maulo. Arcadi and Cuntrera's were firmly entrenched within the Sicilian camp while Di Maulo's group was basically a leftover of the Cotroni group otherwise known as the Calabrian faction. Besides the Arcadi crew, of which there is a chart available, it is difficult to guess the hierarchy of the other crews. However, other high ranking members were undoubtedly Sollecito, Gallo, Ragusa, Morielli, Renda, Manno and a few other old associates from the Cotroni era.

[dixiemafia]

It seems they worked independently but of course paid tribute to the Bonanno's. It was quite a few groups like Lupara said within the Rizzuto's who all seemed to have their own power but still answered to Vito of course.