Pre Sabella's

[Angelo Santino]

Among those named as bosses of the local Family were Frank "Cheech" Barrale, Michael Maggio and George Catania. Presumably, they held short tenures in the years from about 1905 to 1920 when it was affirmatively known that Salvatore Sabella became the boss.

The noted bosses represent the majority of Mafiosi in Philadelphia from towns in western Sicily where the "Honored Society"
(as it is called there) had been a part of the culture for centuries. By far, the least number of local Mafiosi were from Campobello di Mazara, Province of Trapani. Their route to the citywas through some brief settlement in Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Michael Maggio(1889-1959) came to the United States in 1905 and by 1910 had established himself as a grocer, then an Italian cheese manufacturer in Philadelphia.4 He became a benefactor of the Roman Catholic Church, various charitable causes and a civic leader. Only a few of his paesani, including relatives, were in the Philadelphia-South Jersey Family.

B. You've looked into Michele Maggio, what do you got on him? Here's what I have for the other two:

1 Francesco Cheech Barrale - Cumberland, NJ
1882: B: Mar 15 in Belmonte Mezzagno, Sicily
1900: Barrale (18) arrived May 25 in NYC to his brother Luigi, 267 Elizabeth St.
1915: Age 33, resides with family as a farmer in Deerfield Township, address unspecified. Had a neighbor, Anthony Pipitone, also a farmer. Has business on Christian St, Philly.
1920: Age 37, resides with family at 106 Morton Ave, neighbor Anthony Pipitone.
1930: Age 47, resides with family as a farmer at 43 Morton Ave in Deerfield, Cumberland, NJ. His entire street was Ital.
1942: Age 59, same address in Deerfield.
1958: died.

2 Giorgio Catania - Upper Darby - worked at Christian and Passynk
1877: Born to Filippo and Giuseppina Badame in Caccamo, Sicily.
Said he arrived in 1900, cannot locate anything on him.
1920: Lived at 532 Carpenter St with Family. Retail merchant and grocer.
1928: Murdered July 3. Lived at 706 Wayne Ave, Brywood. Witness for body is son Philly Catania.

3 Michele Maggio - Philadelphia proper...
Maggio-Michele
1889-1959 C.Di Mazzara,Sic.[1906] 1920-50's A.Bruno[M] Con
as per (http://mafiamembershipcharts.blogspot.c ... iladelphia)
*If he was an early boss, he would have been 20 in 1909 and in 1919 Sabella became boss.

If I had to hazard a guess I'd ponder the order was Catania, Barrale, Maggio onto Sabella but I'm not even sure these guys were all one group before Sabella. We're talking 60 miles of distance between these men. But on the other hand, Sabella's group was estimated to have 19-21 members which you'd think would be more if there were 3 or more small groups forming a family.

Are you seeing any early Sciaccatani element? I'm not, although they surely existed in Norristown and Montgomery they don't appear to have any part in the Philly Family since Sabella. Am I correct? And did Maggio have any early links to Christian St? Because that's the only thing all these men have in common. And when Sabella became boss he also operated there. This kinda matters because if we can't connect the Sciaccatani of the county to these other groups that sheds 2 decades off of the Family. Before 1895 very few Sicilians lived in the actual city. So the Caccamesi didn't exist prior to 1890-1895.

South Jersey Sicilians predate Philly. I don't know about the Belmontesi in S. Jersey but starting in the 1870's Italians began immigrating from NYC to that area- Bridgeton and Millville, in 1877 Vineland Italians owned 56 parcels of land and by the late 1910's they owned a combined 2 million worth. Farming appeared to be the big thing. In 1885 East Brighton or 'New Italy' was constructed 4 miles from Vineland.

I'm gonna ask, B. do you think it's possible this group actually began after the 1900's and not prior to 1895? More and more I see this being a possibility so if I'm missing something please check my thinking.

We do have Nick Gentile being made in 1906 in Philadelphia, he was born in Siculiana (a Sciaccatani). Gentile was vague enough that he could have meant the Philadelphia area if he was made by a group of Sciaccatani in the suburbs and this group may have died out. Or It's connected to Philly. Or perhaps the family was starting in the early 1900's and Gentile got in and the Sciaccatani angle played no role. Philadelphia has a history of bringing in people from all different areas- Enna, Castrogiovanni, Campobello di Mazzara, Cast, etc.

I would have one request before you respond and it's reconsider what you know as fact based off of Morello. Go to the book, use the index, find the reference that says things like Sabella gracefully retired and see if its sourced. Some things are but some things are not and we already know her logic can be flawed, as can in all of us.

Lastly, one file claimed that Bruno was made by Mike Maggio? Is that correct or was he simply proposed? Because if he directly did the ceremony, him being a former boss or possibly a founding member might have bestowed that privilege.

[Antiliar]

In the 1920 census for Catania it says he arrived in 1910. Like you, I couldn't find his passenger manifest.

[Angelo Santino]

In the 1920 census for Catania it says he arrived in 1910. Like you, I couldn't find his passenger manifest.

Yes I seen it said 1910 and I believe it's 1900 (look at the way the two last digits connect with the handwriting, the 2nd to last digit is a slim 0 not a defined 1, compare to other numbers written in document), his father Filippo and mother Giuseppina Badame came in approx. 1905 and they were quite elderly (b. 1850/1860s), I couldn't find them either.

George Catania (1877-1928) had arrived in 18975 and led a large group of Mafiosi from his hometown of Caccamo, Province of
Palermo.

Typo, I'm assuming she meant 1895? If so then maybe he arrived, left and came came back in 1900 or he was just off by 5 years when he answered census questions.

There was another George Catania, same age, both have Josephinas as wives, lived in Pittsburgh and was still alive in 1930. To make matters worse it says our George Catania's son Phillip was born in Pittsburgh but I'm having trouble confirming it. In 1929 Philly Catania, b 1906 was sent to prison for having a firearm intended for robbery. At some point he moved to NJ and in 1940 resided in Bridgeton (Belmontesi country) with wife Dora Elizabeth.

In Sicily, Caccamo and Bel.Mezz aren't too far from each other, it'd take all day to walk from one city to the other but both are close to Palermo and not too far inland. Not sure if this played any part/factor in USA but these are really the only Sicilian factions with continuity we see inside Philly. Other "cities" such as Cast Del Golfo, Enna or C.D.Mazz. had one or two members but not a strong faction (that we know of). And I'm seeing no Sciaccatani connections personally other than Italian demographics in the suburbs and Nick Gentile claiming he was made there. Of course I'm not making the "I don't see it so it's not there" argument, just pointing that out.

[Angelo Santino]

Can anyone help me perhaps narrow down Vincenzo Turco? Mafiamemberships has (an Angelo above) one Vincenzo Turco
Turco-Angelo*
1895-1975 Basilicata, It. [1896] 1940- Vincenzo[?] Sol
Turco-Vincenzo Turk 1895-1979 Canicatti,Sic. [1914] 1930-70's
Sol

But that's not always accurate and the name in question is quite common, there were at least 3 different men with that same name between Philadelphia and Vineland and some moving back and forth. Are there any FBI documents or anything providing info that I can connect to one of these men?

Actually as per B's thread:

- In late January 1965, Rocco Scafidi named some new members:

"Angelo Turco (brother of Vincenzo "Jimmy")

WW2 Draft reg lists an Angelo Turco but doesn't state the relation, only that he lives in Vineland.

Screen Shot 2018-04-06 at 1.05.11 PM.png

Only Angelo in Vineland is:

Screen Shot 2018-04-06 at 1.13.22 PM.png

And if this is him, both men probably are related as Canicatti and Girgenti is both a town and the former name of the province Canicatti was in. But Basilicata is way off north in northern Calabria so that's incorrect.

Can anyone confirm if these are the correct men?

[B.]

First of all, there are old FBI documents from at least one informant who says that Salvatore Sabella was forced to step down/deposed. He says it was earlier than 1931 and seems to get some years off, but there may be more than one source who says something along these lines if I remember right. One reason I've seen listed is his handling of the 1927 murder.

For someone who nitpicks other researchers about small, relatively unimportant details, Morello makes many mistakes or otherwise poorly analyzes info, including the examples you listed. She never questions or even puts Riccobene's Castellammare War info into perspective, pushing his incorrect info about the Castellammarese war starting in 1927 or around there and a crew of Philly hitmen staying in NYC for a substantial amount of time. I'm not saying Riccobene was lying, only that the timeline is off and I don't remember Morello pointing this out in any way. What's funny is it sort of proves Sabella was a close ally of his fellow Castellammarese and had solid connections to them, which she seems to fight against in other places. I have no idea why in that article she tried to say that it was James Sabella who Joe Bonanno was talking about when he had the sitdown with Domenico Sabella and his brother. Domenico Sabella was Salvatore's brother and that is the obvious connection. I don't believe James Sabella was Castellammarese or even a Bonanno, was he?

Limey is sometimes mistaken in his origins of these guys. Angelo Turco from Vineland/Canicatti is Vincenzo's brother and according to Scafidi he was made.

I have seen old reports that identify Barrale as a "boss" of South Jersey (which could be a generalization, referring to him being a captain, which we know he was). There is also a report that IDs him as a possible underboss under Joe Bruno or Joe Ida, but we have multiple sources who list the underboss succession for those two bosses and Barrale is not mentioned among them. I am not sure what Morello's basis is for saying Barrale was an actual boss of the entire Philly-SJ family, but he is old enough.

Bruno was likely proposed by Michael Maggio. He is typically said to have "pushed" Bruno in the organization. I can't remember the exact location/timeline offhand, but Maggio lived a ways away from Philly early on and only later settled there after abandoning his wife and child. His son Joseph would later follow him to Philadelphia where he was later killed in the family's SJ summer home for sleeping with his step-mom, Michael's wife. The step-mother was also killed. It seems extremely unlikely to me that Maggio was ever a boss of the family, but there is reason to believe he held an admin spot of some kind -- most likely consigliere.

Catania is the only one to me that seems like a proper candidate for an early boss.

I know of no members or leaders from Sciacca offhand, let alone a boss. It's not clear to me if the alleged Sciacca mafiosi from north of Philly were their own group or an early incarnation of the Philly family.

No clue on when the Philly family would have started, only Gentile's vague info you mentioned. I know the FBI claimed over multiple decades that the Scranton family was the first family in Pennsylvania, sometime before or shortly after the turn of the century and there are early relatives of known Scranton area mafiosi who lived there by then. Ed recently posted about the Pittsburgh family starting ~1905. I would imagine Philly started before that but no clue honestly.

[Raven]

Can anyone help me perhaps narrow down Vincenzo Turco? Mafiamemberships has (an Angelo above) one Vincenzo Turco
Turco-Angelo*
1895-1975 Basilicata, It. [1896] 1940- Vincenzo[?] Sol
Turco-Vincenzo Turk 1895-1979 Canicatti,Sic. [1914] 1930-70's
Sol

But that's not always accurate and the name in question is quite common, there were at least 3 different men with that same name between Philadelphia and Vineland and some moving back and forth. Are there any FBI documents or anything providing info that I can connect to one of these men?

Actually as per B's thread:

- In late January 1965, Rocco Scafidi named some new members:

"Angelo Turco (brother of Vincenzo "Jimmy")

WW2 Draft reg lists an Angelo Turco but doesn't state the relation, only that he lives in Vineland.
Screen Shot 2018-04-06 at 1.05.11 PM.png

Only Angelo in Vineland is:
Screen Shot 2018-04-06 at 1.13.22 PM.png
And if this is him, both men probably are related as Canicatti and Girgenti is both a town and the former name of the province Canicatti was in. But Basilicata is way off north in northern Calabria so that's incorrect.

Can anyone confirm if these are the correct men?

[Angelo Santino]

Awesome, we can confirm some Sciaccatani elements then.

Thanks for this. I gotta ask, do you have more of this? I'm not asking for everything but if I run into any other issues like the above, are you an authority? Thanks again.

[Raven]

Awesome, we can confirm some Sciaccatani elements then.

Thanks for this. I gotta ask, do you have more of this? I'm not asking for everything but if I run into any other issues like the above, are you an authority? Thanks again.

I'm hardly an authority. All I know is what I read.

Several months ago on MF I found a document that I loved which contained profiles from people found in Angelo Bruno's address book. I saved the whole thing and spent a few weeks typing out a lot of it. Here is a link to the document.

If you want pm me and I will send you an attachment of it in a word file as well as the pages I transcribed. (The reason I like to type them out is so I can do a search on my documents for a particular name or word and that file will show up in the listing of search results.)

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 5&tab=page

[bronx]

great info Chris!

[Angelo Santino]

great info Chris!

Question, have you ever heard of Luigi Barrale or a Jim Romano, both Belmontesi like Traina. They at different times lived at 267 Elizabeth and when Francesco Barrale arrived in 1900 and Giovanni Cappello in 1903, they went there before making their way to Jersey. Apart from Traina and Giamlombardo I haven't encountered many members in the NYC area that are of Belmontesi descent.

Salut.

[bronx]

Hmm i think they may have been with don peduzzu..tough one..see if that ties in..

[Angelo Santino]

Hmm i think they may have been with don peduzzu..tough one..see if that ties in..

I don't know if they were even criminals or what level of affiliation beyond being relatives, so it may not tie in at all. Just thought I'd ask.

[Angelo Santino]

Found another major descrepancy:

Book 3: Catania was murdered by Anthony Musky Zanghi. This ties in because Sabella was said to have hit Zanghi out of retaliation for Sabella's Friend Catania... Well, according to her latest article Sabella was behind Catania's murder so that's pretty much voided.

And again, if this was a purebread Sicilian Outfit under Sabella until 1931 it doesn't explain why guys were Mike Romeo, John Scoppelitti (thought to be the leader) were so integral to the case, they were in the same cars, dining together. I guess it's possible but I find it highly unlikely these guys were not members already.

Once I can get over this 1931/Sicilian/Calabrian/LCN narrative I actually find myself agreeing with many of the things she says. This passage here is spot on: "Mafiosi came from farming backgrounds in western Sicily and most were middle-class, not of lower economic circumstances. Many came from towns, not villages. Opportunity, more than poverty, seemed to be the reason for so many young adult males to leave their parent's homes. Many returned. Some men were educated, others were not. Among other Sicilian men in the fledgling Italian colony, Mafiosi were a minority."

[Angelo Santino]

1 You can add Giorgio Catanese to the Caccamese faction.
2 Domenico Ceppaluni was from Naples, not Calabrian like Morello said.
3 Eduard Caminiti was from Messina not Calabria as Morello said, an honest mistake because
3 Sicilians from Messina- Quaranta, Caminiti and Restucci- might have been Sabella members by the 1920's but they were more affiliated with Calabrians before that.

Questions/help:
1 Limey listed a Giovanni Catanese, I have no record of this name and the above Giorgio doesn't appear to be related to any "Giovanni." Anyone ever heard of him?
2 Three Amatos I also never heard of:
Amato-Ignazio* 1881-1965
Amato-Nicolo* 1898-1988
Amato-Vincenzo 1894-1966
3 Are Salvatore Tramuta and Sam Trombetta the same or separate people?
4 Giuseppe Caro (1882/7/9 - 1975/7/13) wasn't anywhere near Philly, born in S.Giovanni, Cuneo not Sicily, he lived in McKees Rocks, Stowe and died in Kennedy. Doesn't seem the right guy, is there any more info?
5 Bruno D'Elia (1884-1966) is a member? Born in Montalonia (Monteleone di Puglia?) and lived and died in Bethlehem, PA?
6 Same with Archangelo Gobbo, Frosinone, Italy (mainland), lived on Federal St. Born in 1886, arrived in 1913 and died in 1938 of Tuberculosis. Where did this info come from that he was LCN?

[Angelo Santino]

Ignazio Denaro emigrated from Palermo where his family lived, but his grandfather got married in Termini Imerese so the family is most likely from there. I can't link him directly to any Palermitan Denaros.

Anthony "Musky" Zanghi was born in NYC in 1899, the family moved sometime before 1906. The family is from Messina. He was alleged (in Book 1) to have murdered George Catania, but now that's laid on Sabella. In 1920 the family lived at 838 Montrose.