Double Affiliation

[B.]

Talking about the organizations seems to be too complicated and abstract, so let's break it down to an individual member.

Alfonso Gagliano is a Montreal politician from Siculiana (same town as the Caruana-Cuntrera group) who has been identified as a made member of the Bonanno family. To the best of our knowledge, Gagliano is not known to have been involved in organized crime activity and political scandals involving him don't seem to be directly related to mafia activity. He was identified as an alleged mafia member after a member of the Bonanno family from NYC met with the Montreal decina.

If the Montreal group is no longer affiliated with the Bonanno Cosa Nostra family, what would happen to Gagliano's membership? He is a great example of my point because his relationship to the mafia is not related to the criminal part of the network. If the Montreal group later became recognized as a Cosa Nostra borgata of their own, or a decina of the Gambino family, then his affiliation would transfer to them, but we don't have information on that happening. He is a great example of how mafia affiliation works since his relationship to the mafia is not based on participation in rackets, drug trafficking, or a typical "organized crime" network.

[antimafia]

[snip]@ B.

John Dick explains it well in his book. There was no 6 year Montreal rule. That's what Violi came up with to justify keeping Nicolo out of the Montreal power structure. The Sixth family went into this extensively, the problem of the drug trade, the fact that's it had become a GLOBAL business, and how this created problems because in order to be most effective, you had to cut across family lines, territories, and even ethnic makeup.

CabriniGreen,

In which book did John Dickie state there was no five-year rule? He didn't assert that in Blood brotherhoods... but maybe he did in another book. Or in an article.

From Blood brotherhoods...:

Paolo Violi, the Canadian gangster, argued for a five-year rule: any Sicilian who arrived in Canada would have to spend five years being monitored before he was granted full status. The Sicilian visitor [a reference to Giuseppe "Pino" Cuffaro from the preceding paragraph in the book] wanted no barriers to be put up between Sicily and the New World.

Who was right? The short answer is that it does not really matter. In the mafia world, rules are very important, but they are also pliable: mafiosi, like the rest of us, tend to interpret rules in ways that suit their own interests. Even a rule as basic as the relationship between the American and Sicilian arms of Cosa Nostra was not permanently fixed.
_________________

In my opinion, with respect to the significance of the Reggio Bar tapes, Dickie looked at other writers' interpretations, especially Pino Arlacchi's and Claire Sterling's, and unilaterally decided that the latter two were wrong. This thread is one to which I've wanted to contribute for a long time but have avoided doing so because I think all the interpretations need to be presented here and, more important, the actual dialogue from the transcribed conversations needs to be reproduced here (first in Italian, then in English or French or both). Dickie underestimated Violi's power ("Violi was a territorially based boss, not a narcotics trafficker.") and overlooked his sophisticated knowledge of mafia politics in both the American La Cosa Nostra and Sicilian Mafia. I've read parts of the translation of Arlacchi's Gli uomini del disonore: La mafia siciliana nella vita del grande pentito Antonino Calderone and I agree with the posters who, here and on other forums, rightly questioned Calderone's description of Violi and the encounter between the two in Catania. I suspect Dickie heavily borrowed from Lamothe and Nicaso's Bloodlines... book and Lamothe and Humphreys's The Sixth Family... to come up with the theory of The Transatlantic Syndicate, which is the title of the chapter from which I quoted.

Let me see whether I can do this in several parts....

[Lupara]

@Johnny_Scootch

Somehow I can't quote your post which sometimes happens on the forum (Tapatalk).

Only the Rizzuto loyalists (Nick, Renda, Cuntrera, etc.) rejected Montagna. Some of the other made members, mostly those once close to the Cotronis did side with Montagna, or at least accepted his presence or authority, (Gallo, Di Maulo, etc.) Montagna did have his own crew over there but he seemingly lacked the muscle to take over so he needed to form alliances with others such as Desjardins and De Vito.

@B. Nick Rizzuto came to Canada in 1954 with his family so he could have been made there before the books closed. If he wasn't made in Sicily he probably did already have the credentials to be become a made member, possibly being recommended by his father-in-law who also settled in Canada soon after.

[CabriniGreen]

So much interesting stuff, so much info....
Where to start.....

@johnnyscootch

Good post, I think you are pretty much right...


@antimafia

It was in Mafia Republic... I went against my first thought and DIDNT post the whole excerpt, so as to not confuse the wording. I'm away from my book, but I'll post what he wrote as soon as I'm able....Wait... actually, I think you posted the exact excerpt.....


I think we need some clarfications, because it seems we are more " Combatively Agreeing" to the same things MORE than we are in disagreement.

The reason I found the Sergi seminar intriguing is because she hit on the topic of DOUBLE AFFILIATION.
I realized immediately that THIS was the key question.

I'm not arguing AGAINST whether or not the Canadian guys were Bonnano members. I think the relationship is misunderstood because the affiliations are considered, without taking into account adaptations in the mafias, due to increased activity in LCNs ( Italian/European)) core economic sector, narcotics.
( The nessecity of blood ties, the need for migration and colonization, for markets, more so than territory..)


@B.

On Gagliano, again it's kind of a moot point. The issue isnt really is he a Bonnano made member. The problem is hes the Caruana and Cuntreras ACCOUNTANT!! And their man in Montreal politics. So where are his true loyalties? See, an association with NY mobsters does NOTHING really for his political career, but if hes an initiated member, now he can be trusted to handle high level business and not be an "outsider".


( I think this is also something we have to clarify. Just like the Calabrian ascendancy, this wasn't an overnight, instant thing. The Rizzutos were ALWAYS basically autonomous, but thier evolution into a crime family was a gradual one.
The Calabrians became dominant, THIS DECADE, not before.....again, gradual....)


He very likely was a conduit to move dirty money. He would be a RESOURCE to NY, in this reguard.


When discussing the Sicilians, access to America and specifically access to the Five families and thier reservoir of contacts, IS A RESOURCE TO THEM. It gives them a ready made rolodex of contacts to markets, criminal gangs and would be distributors they otherwise would have to build relationships with. Gives em infrastructure, safe houses for dope and money, trusted couriers..... this is what Anna Sergi described in her reports......

For the Americans, access to Italian born mafiosi active in the narcotics trade, IS A RESOURCE TO THEM, it gives them a ready made source of drugs at a certain quality, price, and reliability of supply.

I've compared the relationship to say, Foot Locker and Nike. Or because the mob is diversified, maybe let's say, Macys and Nike. They need each other, but neither RUNS or controls the other.

@B @antimafia

I dont ever take one source of info as accurate, until I kinda verify it with multiple sources.
I actually DO think Violi was a territorial based boss. But I ALSO believe he was a big narcotics trafficker too, hence the REAL source of his rivalry with Rizzutos.

When hes taking meetings in Sicily, and Calabria, I feel like he was trying to mirror the moves Niccolo was making. Like, " Hes shoring up his international contacts, let me do the same.." But he was never going to get anywhere in Sicily.
It would be like him going to the shareholders of the company to oust the CEO, or worse, threatening a hostile takeover.... When he was incapable of duplicating the Rizzuto connections. It has to be pointed out, the remnants of the French connection were being run from Caracas. Venezuela is the main transit country from Colombia to the Carribean and up the Atlantic coast. The Caruanas ran the Venezuelan family. Nick Rizzuto is partners with them, and John Gambino with a ranch and a powdered milk company.

So the Rizzutos have the connections to the refiners and supply lines, the means of importation, and men to facilitate the selling of product. Also have their own laundering network. And, through the Gambinos, alternative channels to NY. Violi has territorial control of the port city, and as the Bonnanos official rep, he controls who has access to LCN resources, and a direct line to NY. THEY WERE DESTINED TO CLASH. All they had to do was combine forces and get along, but each wanted what the other brought to the table. They wanted CONTROL.

VIOLI..

Now he goes to Calabria. I do believe he probably met with the top boss and narcotics trafficker, Don Vincenzo Macri. Here's the problem, Macri was supplied by Cosa Nostra, so I think he was just outflanked there.
He didnt have a means of importation, and even if he did, he didnt have the South American connections, or the connections to the Sicilian refiners.

@B.

When Violi said, " I have a boss in NY, but they dont care what I do..." I mean, that would mean that they didnt even really have all that strong a hold on the Cotroni group either.

( In addition, it reinforces the idea that this was an autonomous organization that formed in Canada, that allowed themselves to be absorbed, call it a criminal corporate merger, the Bonnanos bought controlling interest in the company. Rather than something they built themselves, it wasnt a COLONY of NY mobsters.)



But it makes sense. The Bonnanos wernt on the Commision. The boss was an open question. They were having difficulty just resolving the NY issues. It makes sense Rastelli would seek his support, he needed all help he could get, as many votes as possible.

One last point for now, Dicke pointed out the irony that Violi, a Calabrian was readily accepted in LCN. But he wanted to exclude the sicilians, for being Sicilian, and treat em like less than equal members. Yet HE could go to Sicily, and as a Bonnano member, even though Calabrian, be repected enough to be granted an audience with bosses. Funny right?

That was a long post, but I feel like we are making good progress here. Please everyone keep contributing, keep posting. This is great stuff.

And I agree with antimafia. Part of the problem is that this is just confusing, so much info over decades of time... We need all the data, all the transcripts, like laid out... I'll check back later...

[Frank]

Very interesting thread. The whole Canadian LCN gets very confusing. For instance was Cuntrera really a member of the Bonanno Family?? Wouldn't he be a member of the Caruana Cuntrera Family?? Also has it been confirmed that Montagna was behind the Rizzuto hits? Or was it the Violi bros?

[B.]

Cuntrera's membership is a good question. Given that his paesano Gagliano of Siculiana was brought into the Bonannos and Cuntrera was considered by most sources to have been part of the power structure of the Bonanno Montreal crew, it seems possible if not likely he was made with the Bonannos. Another question would be whether Sicilian mafia members operating in Canada were allowed to be inducted into their own organizations while living in Canada. If someone from Sicily had not been made before he emigrated to Canada, even if he was from a well-connected Sicilian mafia blood family, he may have been inducted into the Bonanno family opposed to whatever organization his relatives were in because the local organization was the logical group to join according to protocol, just as it was when Nicolo Gentile traveled from city-to-city and joined the local families. I tend to err on the side of Occam's razor with this stuff because as much as the mafia changes, so much of it stays close to the same.

Something to remember, too, is that blood relation, shared hometown, or other alliances don't necessarily mirror membership affiliation. This has played out in the US throughout the history of the mafia. There isn't one specific reason for it, either, and these sorts of deep alliances/relations between members of different mafia families can be more beneficial than all of them being with the same group. At the highest level, this is why we have mafia bosses like Gambino/Lucchese, Profaci/Bonanno, Profaci/Zerilli, Morello/Lupo, etc. marrying their children or even themselves among different mafia organizations and in almost every instance it is beneficial to them to do this. This also plays out at lower levels of the organizations, too. Given that Montreal is a city historically associated with an established mafia family (Bonanno), it would have been beneficial and logical for unmade members to join that group opposed to one with a powerbase overseas, but it would ultimately benefit the group overseas, too.

Using that thinking, the Caruana-Cuntrera group may have seen the advantage to having one (or more) of their own join the local Montreal Bonanno organization. That wouldn't take any power away from the Caruana-Cuntrera group, but actually give them more power and influence. One way to look at it: a Sicilian mafia blood family "allowing" a relative of theirs to join another organization would not be seen as giving up power to that organization, but increasing their own power in two separate organizations, especially given that their allies in Sciascia and the Rizzutos were highly influential in that other organization.

I agree that Calderone's description of Violi was heavily biased and intended to make him look bad, but I'm not sure what his motivation would have been for claiming that Violi mistakenly believed there were "men of honor" in Calabria (in the Sicilian mafia sense). After all, the made members in the Montreal Bonanno decina were all "men of honor" in the mafia sense regardless of heritage, so he may have assumed the same applied worldwide, which is what Calderone implied. Is there any info out there to suggest that Luppino or anyone else thoroughly schooled Violi on these matters before he joined the Bonanno family? I might be missing something, but I'm not understanding where the belief comes from that Violi would have had working knowledge of what was going on around the world.

Because Violi was inducted into the Bonanno family, it meant he could (and did) meet with made members in Sicily and the United States and discuss the inner-workings of the mafia. If he had been solely an 'ndrangheta/Camorra member, even a powerful one, he would not have been able to meet with them and discuss the same matters. Now, whether or not there were 'ndrangheta/Camorra members who joined the mafia in Canada is another question, but if that is true, it would have been solely their mafia membership that allow them to discuss the inner-workings of the mafia with "men of honor" in Sicily and the US. Of course non-"men of honor" could have discussed other criminal business or other topics with "men of honor", but they could not have discussed the inner-workings of the mafia organization.

@B.

On Gagliano, again it's kind of a moot point. The issue isnt really is he a Bonnano made member. The problem is hes the Caruana and Cuntreras ACCOUNTANT!! And their man in Montreal politics. So where are his true loyalties? See, an association with NY mobsters does NOTHING really for his political career, but if hes an initiated member, now he can be trusted to handle high level business and not be an "outsider".

( I think this is also something we have to clarify. Just like the Calabrian ascendancy, this wasn't an overnight, instant thing. The Rizzutos were ALWAYS basically autonomous, but thier evolution into a crime family was a gradual one.
The Calabrians became dominant, THIS DECADE, not before.....again, gradual....)

I think one area where we aren't seeing eye-to-eye is that I'm not saying "NY mobsters" would factor into this at all, except in communications between the Montreal capodecina and NY. Gagliano has been identified as a Bonanno member in Montreal, meaning he would be a resource to other Bonanno members and their allies in Montreal, and they in turn would be a resource to him in Montreal. Not elsewhere, but in Montreal where the local organization was a Bonanno decina. NY doesn't automatically factor into that except when, as we know, Gagliano was identified as a Bonanno member to a visiting NY member. When I say that someone has been identified as a Bonanno member in Canada, it doesn't necessarily connect to NY at all but it also doesn't change the fact that they are part of the same organization.

There is an FBI report on MF from the early-mid 1960s that mentions that the Cotroni group was a Bonanno decina but that they were more or less autonomous even back then. By identifying them as a Bonanno decina, it does nothing to take away their autonomy from the earliest days to now. We know that even in NYC, the administration uses a heavier hand with certain crews and members than it does with others. Some crews are under constant supervision from the leadership while others more or less do their own thing. It is all circumstantial. I don't think anyone can make an argument that the Montreal decina was ever subservient and hanging on the word of NY except maybe when Galante was living in Montreal in the 1950s, so I think everyone is on the same page in terms of Montreal always being an autonomous, self-regulating group while still being a decina of the Bonanno organization.

"True loyalties" are hard to define and they often change over time, as we have many examples of paesani and even relatives killing each other throughout mafia history, but deep loyalties often transcend the organizations these guys are a part of. For example, in New York, you have had Gambino members with deeper loyalties to Colombo members than to other Gambino members, but that doesn't change the structure of the organization or their affiliation. I wouldn't doubt that Gagliano has deeper loyalty to his paesani from the Siculiana mafia than he has to, let's say, a Calabrian member of the Bonanno family in Montreal, but it doesn't change the fact that he was made into the Bonanno family in Montreal. Because this topic is about affiliation, that is what formal affiliation is.

[Frank]

Mentioning the N'DRANGHETA and Cammora switching to LCN brings up a question I've had, mainly concerning be Canada. The Musitano is one of my prime examples. First is it confirmed that they are N'DRANGHETA. I always wondered, because there have been Calabrian members in US Mafia, that they and others may have been mis identified just because they are Calabrian. Remember Albert Anastasia and countless others were Calabrian.

[antimafia]

[snip]@ B.

John Dick explains it well in his book. There was no 6 year Montreal rule. That's what Violi came up with to justify keeping Nicolo out of the Montreal power structure. The Sixth family went into this extensively, the problem of the drug trade, the fact that's it had become a GLOBAL business, and how this created problems because in order to be most effective, you had to cut across family lines, territories, and even ethnic makeup.

CabriniGreen,

In which book did John Dickie state there was no five-year rule? He didn't assert that in Blood brotherhoods... but maybe he did in another book. Or in an article.

From Blood brotherhoods...:

Paolo Violi, the Canadian gangster, argued for a five-year rule: any Sicilian who arrived in Canada would have to spend five years being monitored before he was granted full status. The Sicilian visitor [a reference to Giuseppe "Pino" Cuffaro from the preceding paragraph in the book] wanted no barriers to be put up between Sicily and the New World.

Who was right? The short answer is that it does not really matter. In the mafia world, rules are very important, but they are also pliable: mafiosi, like the rest of us, tend to interpret rules in ways that suit their own interests. Even a rule as basic as the relationship between the American and Sicilian arms of Cosa Nostra was not permanently fixed.
_________________

In my opinion, with respect to the significance of the Reggio Bar tapes, Dickie looked at other writers' interpretations, especially Pino Arlacchi's and Claire Sterling's, and unilaterally decided that the latter two were wrong. This thread is one to which I've wanted to contribute for a long time but have avoided doing so because I think all the interpretations need to be presented here and, more important, the actual dialogue from the transcribed conversations needs to be reproduced here (first in Italian, then in English or French or both). Dickie underestimated Violi's power ("Violi was a territorially based boss, not a narcotics trafficker.") and overlooked his sophisticated knowledge of mafia politics in both the American La Cosa Nostra and Sicilian Mafia. I've read parts of the translation of Arlacchi's Gli uomini del disonore: La mafia siciliana nella vita del grande pentito Antonino Calderone and I agree with the posters who, here and on other forums, rightly questioned Calderone's description of Violi and the encounter between the two in Catania. I suspect Dickie heavily borrowed from Lamothe and Nicaso's Bloodlines... book and Lamothe and Humphreys's The Sixth Family... to come up with the theory of The Transatlantic Syndicate, which is the title of the chapter from which I quoted.

Let me see whether I can do this in several parts....

Go to the link below to see my Evernote item in which I created a PDF that mostly contains transcripts of the Italian-language conversations between Paolo Violi, Pietro Sciara, Giuseppe "Pino" Cuffaro, and Carmelo Salemi on April 22, 1974. The PDF pages are from the larger PDF titled Sentenza_Caruana_Cuntrera.pdf that appears on the http://cedoc.fondazionefalcone.org/ site.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/ ... a59d64dde0

Violi may or may not have been a rube when he visited Antonino Calderone in 1972 or 1973 (the uncertain years of the encounter are per the latter's account in the aforementioned book), but what is clear from the Reggio Bar tapes is that by April 1974, Violi was well versed in American LCN politics and Sicilian Cosa Nostra politics.

Below are the excerpts from Calderone's book that are relevant to this discussion about double affiliation and to the discussion of Calderone's reliability. From chapter 14, 'Ndrangheta loquace:

Non ci sono famiglie né uomini d’onore di Cosa Nostra in
Calabria. Un giorno del 1972 o 1973 è arrivato a Catania Paul Violi, il
celebre mafioso canadese, proveniente dalla Calabria. Si è fermato nel
mio ufficio per una mezz’ora, il tempo di prendere un caffè insieme e
di chiedermi se conoscevo uomini d’onore in Calabria. Violi era
originario di Sinopoli, un piccolo paese in provincia di Reggio
Calabria, e mi spiegò di essere un capo–decina della famiglia di Carlo
Gambino, quella di New York, dislocato in Canada.

Scherzando, disse che lo zio Carlo non voleva sentirne di niente,
voleva solo il dollaro, i soldi, dalla sua decina di Toronto. Violi faceva
quello che gli pareva. Zio Carlo non si intrometteva, gli delegava i
poteri. Ma a fine anno Violi gli doveva portare i soldi. E i soldi loro li
guadagnavano facendo pagare il pizzo, e perciò mettevano bombe
nelle latterie. Lui stesso, Violi, era proprietario di una latteria a
Toronto.

Non mi fece una grande impressione, Paul Violi. Era uno
spaccone, un omone grande e grosso che non sembrava avesse molto
sale in zucca. Ad ogni modo, era diretto in Calabria perché pensava
esistessero uomini d’onore calabresi.

In America infatti è diverso. Gli uomini d’onore americani non
sono solo siciliani, ma anche calabresi e napoletani.

Non fa differenza. A questo punto potrebbe sorgere la domanda:
ma se Violi era calabrese, ed era un mafioso importante, come è
possibile che non avesse un collegamento diretto, che non conoscesse
personalmente “gli ’ndranghetisti” della Calabria?

Torniamo allora al punto della segretezza degli uomini d’onore,
della qualifica di uomo d’onore. Se Violi conosceva degli
’ndranghetisti, non sarebbe mai arrivato a conoscere gli uomini
d’onore, anche se ce ne fossero stati.

Perché gli ’ndranghetisti non lo avrebbero saputo, e se lo avessero
saputo non avrebbero potuto presentarglieli. E così Violi,
correttamente, era venuto in Sicilia per trovare un uomo d’onore, una
terza persona, che sarebbe stata in grado di fare l’eventuale
presentazione. Solo un uomo d’onore gli poteva dire se in Calabria ci
fossero uomini d’onore, e di conseguenza presentarglieli.

Noi siciliani, comunque, non facevamo uomini d’onore calabresi.
Può anche darsi che qualche calabrese sia stato affiliato a titolo
individuale, come nel caso dei napoletani, per qualche occasione
particolare. Ma la regola valeva lo stesso.

Anche perché i calabresi non cercavano affatto di entrare in Cosa
Nostra. Avevano la loro organizzazione, che era quasi uguale alla
nostra, e pretendevano pure di essere più importanti di noi.
Pretendevano che la loro organizzazione fosse superiore a Cosa
Nostra. Non so com’era fatta la loro gerarchia, ma so che la
’ndrangheta era capillare. C’era in tutti i loro paesi. Ai tempi di mio
fratello i calabresi parlavano di don Antonio Zoccali come del capo
della ’ndrangheta.

Incidentally, later, in ch. 23, Gli uomini del disonore, the error you have read in bold above about the location of the Reggio Bar is repeated. As well, a related new error is introduced because Calderone states the intercepted phone conversation between Violi, Sciara, Cuffaro, and Salemi happened in Toronto. See below.

Si trattava della registrazione di
una telefonata effettuata in Canada, a Toronto, dall’apparecchio del
bar–latteria di Paul Violi, nel 1974. Nella conversazione intercettata si
diceva che Pippo era il rappresentante provinciale di Cosa Nostra e il
sottoscritto rappresentante «del paese», e cioè di Catania.

Personally, I can live with a colossal error or two appearing in an informative, insightful book or article that, in the absence of actual fact checkers, was not thoroughly fact checked by the author and various editors. Calderone's bias is apparent, and I've always wondered whether Violi asked him at the time about the stock of picciotti, not Sicilian men of honour, in Calabria. Was there a misunderstanding? If Violi was indeed clueless at the time in thinking that there were Calabrians in Italy who were made into Sicilian Cosa Nostra families in Italy, Calderone's account, which appears to dismiss the idea and practice of double affiliation, also seems to argue, as a corollary, that 'ndranghetisti in Italy could not transfer into families of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in Italy. Unfortunately, Calderone does not discuss whether 'ndranghetisti in Italy could transfer to families of the American LCN. He also hints at rare cases of individual Calabrians being made into the Sicilian Cosa Nostra for a particular (special?) occasion, as has been done with Neapolitans.

As for Violi's knowledge of Sicilian Cosa Nostra politics, he might have learned about the subject both from his father-in-law, Giacomo Luppino (as B. speculated), and of course from Vic Cotroni himself. There are a number of instances of Canadian mafiosi from different secret societies meeting in Canada with one another and/or with Sicilian Cosa Nostra members who were residing in Canada or came for a visit to attend a wedding or even to give input as to whether Nick Rizzuto Sr. should be expelled from the Montreal decina. I'm not sure how the lines of demarcation were kept clear if indeed they were.

[scagghiuni]

violi told calderone he was under carlo gambino or maybe calderone remembered wrong?

[antimafia]

violi told calderone he was under carlo gambino or maybe calderone remembered wrong?

Calderone misremembered. As B had previously pointed out in another thread, Calderone confused Angelo Bruno with Phil Testa when commenting on the former's death. Calderone thought that Bruno was the victim of the nail bomb in South Philadelphia in March 1981.

[B.]

Thanks for sharing that. I was going from the English translation of Calderone's book.

Even if Violi was asking Calderone about the existence of mafia "men of honor" in Calabria, I shouldn't assume that this represented Violi's full knowledge of activities in Calabria. It's entirely possible he was aware of and/or knew 'ndrangheta/Camorra members in Calabria, but was asking Calderone if there were also "men of honor" in the Sicilian sense living there as well. That's assuming Calderone even reported that part of it accurately.

[Angelo Santino]

Thanks for sharing that. I was going from the English translation of Calderone's book.

Even if Violi was asking Calderone about the existence of mafia "men of honor" in Calabria, I shouldn't assume that this represented Violi's full knowledge of activities in Calabria. It's entirely possible he was aware of and/or knew 'ndrangheta/Camorra members in Calabria, but was asking Calderone if there were also "men of honor" in the Sicilian sense living there as well. That's assuming Calderone even reported that part of it accurately.

But if I may say or clarify, Calderone took it as a sign of ignorance on Violi's part because "there has never been any Men of Honor in Calabria." We don't know what Violi did or did not know.

I can't speak for Canada, but the US mafia was essentially "cut off" from the Sicilian one beginning in the 30's: the great depression, immigration regulation and other reasons. Either coincidentally or due to, there were underworld reformations as well, members weren't transferring with ease, Sicilian mafiosi weren't arriving in droves (which had to be accomidated in the '00's-20's.) From those events was where American Cosa Nostra was borne. The Mafia was "the old timers," the Sicilians, whereas the contemporary American Mafia, in NYC, didn't have the same Sicilian genetic makeup they once did, and when they opened the doors to mainlanders well- the rule goes if you're good enough to become a member you're good enough to run a Family- which elevated many non-Sicilians... Now going to the theoretical, if you were born in Calabria or Naples or Trieste and grew up in a NY neighborhood where a group was operating and you eventually join, your perspective and worldview would differ greatly from say Bill Bonanno who's Father and Family were primarily from one Sicilian town. Notice how Valachi, Fratianno and other informants are the "workers and no one else has any balls" compared to what's said about Bonanno, Profaci, Castellano and Bruno who are demonized as being cheap, greedy, who are not "street guys" but got their place through nepotism. Non-Sic and Sicilian are not mentioned despite the obvious but that's because things weren't that black and white from their perspective, the members themselves may not have even viewed it as such. If you asked any one of these guys: "so you're saying Sicilians were cunts" their response would be: mostly yes, but there was this Siggie or that Siggie who was actually a real street guy. But within the Sicilian Mafia community you had your aristocrats and your new-comers who were in the same boat as the mainlanders as far as Joe Bonanno would be concerned.

Drawing back to Canada, I'm largely ignorant, but there's a good chance ties were severed for two or three decades before being reintroduced. Violi may not have known the entire history behind Italy's Mafias since they have just as plenty in common as they do not and in the new world things long since merged into one entity.

We know that Sicilians were able to transfer with ease into the AM, the same cannot be said for the mainland groups, Furio Giunta being the exception . There's a report that claims Anastasia was trying to allow Calabrians to "transfer" into the AM as well. It's vague but there could be something to that. Since by this time it was considered Cosa Nostra and not an exclusive Sicilian brotherhood it would make sense that if Sicilian mafiosi could be accepted then why not Calabrian 'ndranghetisti. Just a thought.

If you go outside of the mafia and into Italian American history from a cultural perspective, it took an average of 3 years for Italo-dialect speakers to start speaking formal Italian and about 10 years before they were speaking English. When people from Sicily or Calabria arrived in America they were regarded as Italians and thus adopted that cultural identity to the point of celebrating holidays and other customs not exclusively revered in their hometowns. There was a drive to rise up and that meant regarding your Italo-peers as part of your group, not as an "outsider." The underworld followed this same trajectory, at least in the USA. Canada may have been different.

[antimafia]

Thanks for sharing that. I was going from the English translation of Calderone's book.

Even if Violi was asking Calderone about the existence of mafia "men of honor" in Calabria, I shouldn't assume that this represented Violi's full knowledge of activities in Calabria. It's entirely possible he was aware of and/or knew 'ndrangheta/Camorra members in Calabria, but was asking Calderone if there were also "men of honor" in the Sicilian sense living there as well. That's assuming Calderone even reported that part of it accurately.

You're welcome. Given what you have shared from the English translation on previous occasions, the translation appears to be more than adequate (I actually forgot that I have never read the translation, only the original Italian text).

Recall that when Violi was in Sicily in 1972 to meet Calderone, Violi also met with Giuseppe Settecase/Settecasi during the same trip. The narrative is that Settecase listened while he heard Violi provide a litany of complaints against Nick Rizzuto Sr. I've always understood that Violi met with Calderone for help in finding recruits because the intense animosity between Violi and Rizzuto Sr. might have warranted Violi's reinforcing his troops in case a war broke out.

[antimafia]

Thanks for sharing that. I was going from the English translation of Calderone's book.

Even if Violi was asking Calderone about the existence of mafia "men of honor" in Calabria, I shouldn't assume that this represented Violi's full knowledge of activities in Calabria. It's entirely possible he was aware of and/or knew 'ndrangheta/Camorra members in Calabria, but was asking Calderone if there were also "men of honor" in the Sicilian sense living there as well. That's assuming Calderone even reported that part of it accurately.

But if I may say or clarify, Calderone took it as a sign of ignorance on Violi's part because "there has never been any Men of Honor in Calabria." We don't know what Violi did or did not know.

I can't speak for Canada, but the US mafia was essentially "cut off" from the Sicilian one beginning in the 30's: the great depression, immigration regulation and other reasons. Either coincidentally or due to, there were underworld reformations as well, members weren't transferring with ease, Sicilian mafiosi weren't arriving in droves (which had to be accomidated in the '00's-20's.) From those events was where American Cosa Nostra was borne. The Mafia was "the old timers," the Sicilians, whereas the contemporary American Mafia, in NYC, didn't have the same Sicilian genetic makeup they once did, and when they opened the doors to mainlanders well- the rule goes if you're good enough to become a member you're good enough to run a Family- which elevated many non-Sicilians... Now going to the theoretical, if you were born in Calabria or Naples or Trieste and grew up in a NY neighborhood where a group was operating and you eventually join, your perspective and worldview would differ greatly from say Bill Bonanno who's Father and Family were primarily from one Sicilian town. Notice how Valachi, Fratianno and other informants are the "workers and no one else has any balls" compared to what's said about Bonanno, Profaci, Castellano and Bruno who are demonized as being cheap, greedy, who are not "street guys" but got their place through nepotism. Non-Sic and Sicilian are not mentioned despite the obvious but that's because things weren't that black and white from their perspective, the members themselves may not have even viewed it as such. If you asked any one of these guys: "so you're saying Sicilians were cunts" their response would be: mostly yes, but there was this Siggie or that Siggie who was actually a real street guy. But within the Sicilian Mafia community you had your aristocrats and your new-comers who were in the same boat as the mainlanders as far as Joe Bonanno would be concerned.

Drawing back to Canada, I'm largely ignorant, but there's a good chance ties were severed for two or three decades before being reintroduced. Violi may not have known the entire history behind Italy's Mafias since they have just as plenty in common as they do not and in the new world things long since merged into one entity.

We know that Sicilians were able to transfer with ease into the AM, the same cannot be said for the mainland groups, Furio Giunta being the exception . There's a report that claims Anastasia was trying to allow Calabrians to "transfer" into the AM as well. It's vague but there could be something to that. Since by this time it was considered Cosa Nostra and not an exclusive Sicilian brotherhood it would make sense that if Sicilian mafiosi could be accepted then why not Calabrian 'ndranghetisti. Just a thought.

If you go outside of the mafia and into Italian American history from a cultural perspective, it took an average of 3 years for Italo-dialect speakers to start speaking formal Italian and about 10 years before they were speaking English. When people from Sicily or Calabria arrived in America they were regarded as Italians and thus adopted that cultural identity to the point of celebrating holidays and other customs not exclusively revered in their hometowns. There was a drive to rise up and that meant regarding your Italo-peers as part of your group, not as an "outsider." The underworld followed this same trajectory, at least in the USA. Canada may have been different.

Chris,

I agree that the separation of the American LCN from the Sicilian CN dates to shortly after the end of the Castellammarese War, when the American mafia debated the possibility of dual membership, with the conclusion being there would be no more double affiliation. I usually cite Dave Critchley's The Origin of Organized Crime in America (pp. 70, 71) as support for the separateness of the two organizations since that time.

Ever since Francesco Forgione's Italian-language Mafia export came out in 2009, I've noticed a number of Italian researchers and journalists citing the part of his book that claims Frank Costello and Albert Anastasia, both born in Calabria, created the concept of the camera di controllo, i.e., a board of control, so that Calabrian mafia groups in North America wouldn't butt heads with the American LCN to which Costello and Anastasia belonged. I think that Letizia Paoli was actually the first Italian organized-crime expert to make the claim. From her March 1994 article in the European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice (p. 229):

At least since the 1950s there are known 'ndrangheta cells in Canada, in the cities of Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa. A 'Board of Control' is believed to have been operating in the State of Ontario since the early 1960s, made up of the six most important bosses of the local cosche. This institution was inspired by the two most influential Calabrian bosses of theAmerican La Cosa Nostra, Frank Costello and Albert Anastasia, who wanted to prevent conflictsbetween the ramifications of their criminal society and the 'ndrine.^75 [I've bolded the footnote number] The 'Board ofControl' therefore exercised a double function, coordinating the activities of the Calabrian families within Canada and connecting them with the Italian, US and Australian sectors of Cosa Nostra and of the 'ndrangheta itself. As in Italy, the Board is called by the affiliates
`crimini', and its president, who is elected periodically by the family chiefs, has the title of 'capo di società'.

75. Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Study of the R.C.M.P. analysts licensed on 25 February 1987, quoted in Ministero dell'Interno, Rapporto... per il 1992, cit., pp. 166-167 (n. 16).
_________________

The full title of the Italian report cited in the footnote is Rapporto annuale sul fenomeno della criminalità organizzata per il 1992--I would like to get my hands on this report or the RCMP-authored report.

Chris, I'd be curious to know more about the report claiming Anastasia tried to have 'ndranghetisti transfer to American LCN families.

[BillyBrizzi]

CG in da House!! Great to see you participating like thing pal..