St. Louis family info / Frank Bompensiero's St. Louis+Chicago visit

[B.]

- Alphonse Pazzalo was Alphonse Palazzolo, a leader of the "Green Ones." "Green" refers to "greenhorns" and means a recent immigrant. Apparently they were a crew that tried and succeeded in taking over the leadership of the St. Louis Family. When he was killed Vito Giannola took over, but he was killed months later. I think Frank Agrusa was the next leader, but he moved to Indiana under the name Frank Abbate. The boss may have been Gaetano "Tom" Buffa, who testified against another member's girlfriend in a narcotics trial then moved to California. He was murdered in Lodi in 1947. Pasquale Miceli succeeded him.

- The St. Louis Family appears to go back to the 1870s, possibly founded by a Matranga from New Orleans. The first alleged Mafia murder there took place in 1875.

- There were several Vivianos in the 1910s and 20s, many with the same names. Gaetano "Big Tom" Viviano was apparently a leader of some sort, but not sure if he was a boss. He may have been forced out by the Green Ones and moved to California, where he died in 1934.

- An Antonino Triolo may have been an early boss. His name is on a passenger manifest with Toto D'Aquila and Giuseppe Traina in 1910. He came from Borgetto and was 50 years old at the time.

- Another early man of importance was Frank Sicola, a Black Hander during the 1910s who was murdered in 1922. His name was mentioned in a letter found on Vito Di Giorgio when he was arrested in New Orleans a few years before he became the boss of Los Angeles (who was also murdered in 1922).



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Thanks. Just to add, here is what I've found on some of the same names:

Cinisi

- Vito Giannola and Alfonso Palazzolo were both from Cinisi and there was a relation. Palazzolo also had a brother who had been killed several years earlier. LE believed that Giannola ordered Alfonso Palazzolo's murder, which as you mentioned preceded his own murder, but I generally don't trust those assumptions from back then... that said, it is very common to see paesani killing one another, so it's possible. Frank Agrusa was also from Cinisi and Vito Impastato associated with Agruso early on in his "career", so it looks like the "green ones" or "greenies" were largely a faction from Cinisi, or at least led by men from there.

- Future underboss John Vitale's family was from Cinisi and his father was likely an early member.

Partinico

- It looks like Frank Sicola was from Partinico. He killed a man named Michael Adragna and a young boy named Joseph Giammanco in 1921; I assume the boy was an accident, but six years later Giammanco's older brother Benny Giammanco was killed allegedly on Vito Giannola's orders. These Giamancos were likely relatives, possibly older brothers or cousins, of future capodecina Jimmy Giammanco and maybe his relatives the Giardanos.

- Gaetano Buffa who you mentioned was also from Partinico, as was the infamous international Francesco Coppola who spent a good deal of his time in St. Louis.

- Domenico Giambrone was said to be a leading figure after Viviano's 1914 deportation, but place of origin unknown, though from what little I've found it may be Palazzo Adriano or Partinico both in Palermo province. He was said to associate with Buffa. Other associates were brothers Carmelo and Angelo Bonvissuto, and Domenico Anello, these three showing up on immigration records as being from "Palermo", though that may be the province only. Giambrone's brother Paolo was murdered in the early 1920s and he left St. Louis only to return and be killed himself in 1934.

- Member Ralph Caleca who was mentioned in the original post as being close to Alfonso Palazzolo of Cinisi was himself from Partinico. Given that Caleca was young when Palazzolo was still alive, this points to the "factions" from different villages all being part of the same family/group, which would seem obvious to us, but gets lost in old documentation about "gangs", etc.

Terrasini

- The Vivianos and a Giuseppe Cammarata (murdered 1910) were early figures from Terrasini. Despite the informant claiming that the guys from Terrasini / Favarotta had higher standing than the guys from Cinisi and Partinico, it doesn't necessarily seem to be the case from our limited view of things back then. As I already said, though, this reference could have been more about St. Louis deferring to Zerilli and the Terrasini group in Detroit rather than the internal set-up of the St. Louis family.

- No idea if they were made members in St. Louis, but there were a large number of Bommaritos from Terrasini active alongside their paesani and other mafia figures in St. Louis throughout the early history, then later confirmed member Frank Bommarito. No doubt connections to Detroit there as well.

- A cafe used by many early mafia figures in St. Louis from different backgrounds was the Cafe Santa Fava. This would appear to be a reference to Santa Maria della Fava, but curious if it could have any connection to Favarotta.

Agrigento

- Damiano Capuano b.1866 was another early power of some kind murdered in 1910. Can't determine where he came from but a daughter married Sicilian Pasquale Santino of Siculiana, Agrigento, which given the time period points to Capuano at least being Sicilian. Santino himself was said to become a power in the Italian underworld would later be killed in 1927.

- Member Anthony LoPiparo and his brother Giuseppe, a likely member, and possible early member Antonino Fasulo were from Villafranca Sicula, which is right next to Burgio, where future boss Pasquale Miceli was from. So this influential Agrigento group goes back at least to Pasquale Santino or maybe even further. Curious if his father-in-law Capuano was also from Agrigento.

- Member Calogero SanFilippo, who attended the 1928 Cleveland meeting along with John Mirabella, was from Casteltermini in Agrigento not terribly far from Burgio and Villafranca Sicula. His representing the family there during this period shows again that the Agrigento group weren't second-class citizens in the family.

Other Sicilian + Mainland

- Early possible member Antonio Sansone's family may have come from Termini Imerese. I've found a handful of possible connections to Termini in early names and looking through the wider genealogy of early St. Louis figures it is fairly common to come across the maiden name Sansone.

- 1920s "Gang leader" Carmelo Frisina described as an ally of Pasquale Santino, but came from Abruzzo, so not likely a made member of the St. Louis outfit if the informant is correct about St. Louis refusing to induct non-Sicilians, though it should be noted the informant is incorrect about them not inducting non-Palermitani Sicilians, as we see there was a group from Agrigento going back to the early days and included at least one boss. Still, no indications they ever inducted mainlanders and if they did back in the 1920s it doesn't seem they continued the practice.

- The Russo brothers, Anthony and William being the leading figures, were active in the 1920s in St. Louis but due to how generic their name is I haven't been able to trace them. They appear to have operated at high levels but whether that was as mafiosi or simply criminals in association with the mafia is hard to say.

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It's not surprising that Terrasini, Cinisi, and Partinico run through the history of St. Louis (at least from the 1910s through the 1960s) but yet again I find it intriguing that mafiosi from Agrigento were influential outliers in yet another city/family. Aside from groups like the DeCavalcantes who were dominated by members from Agrigento, we often see guys from that province taking a small but powerful role in larger groups. In this case we even have at least one boss and maybe other top family leaders coming from there in a family said to be dominated and run by men from Palermo area who even supposedly had a caste system of Palermitani, not unlike the D'Aquila/Gambino family on a smaller scale.

[B.]

- According to Giardano, the St. Louis family had 22 members "on his payroll" (seemingly this is the total number of members). He stated that the youngest member was his nephew, aforementioned capodecina Giammanco, who was in his 40s and that the average age among the membership was "62 or 63". Bompensiero apparently suggested that to become "effective" again they would have to induct younger members and Giardano agreed.

Wanted to look at this again... we have 13 confirmed members living in 1967, the year before Bompensiero visited. Even of those 13, many don't seem to have been particularly active in criminal or even general mafia activity by this point, which leaves 9 more that were even further off the radar. Even if he meant the "payroll" comment literally (which seems unlikely given how weak the family's rackets were by then), it would still be a reference to the total membership (i.e. why would he pay 22 random members?). It would also make sense for the total membership as they are said to have not made members for many years and it seems unlikely a family like St. Louis would have ever been particularly large (i.e. 50+), so with attrition and no inductions this fits.

When researching some of the old-timers who are unconfirmed but possible members, a number of the ones who weren't murdered seem to have lived surprisingly long. If the youngest member in 1968 was 48-year-old Jimmy Giammanco and the average member was "62 or 63" (unlikely Giardano added the ages up and calculated that, but you never know haha), it's likely they had a number of 70+ or even 80+ members who were completely off the radar. Maybe when I have more time I will come up with a list of candidates since we do have some possible names.

- Informant claimed that when Pasquale Miceli was the boss of the organization, the outfit's leadership met at the "council table" at the Miceli Funeral Parlor where they decided on matters of policy. These meetings would typically take place when someone in the organization had died, which would give the membership "legitimate reason" to meet at the funeral parlor together and discuss matters within the organization. The "policy makers" would be members like Pasquale Miceli, Sam Viviano, and other now-deceased members. Other "policy makers" still living were Joe Giardano and consigliere John Ferrara. This "council" sounds identical to the "chair" meetings held in Milwaukee and similar "council" meetings held by San Jose, Detroit, and possibly other small families.

This part got me excited because I've been looking for more examples of a "council" and this is the most detailed description of one along with Milwaukee.

- The Milwaukee family called their meeting the "chair" or "sagia" and included the family leadership and select senior members with the purpose of discussing "policy". A Milwaukee informant's description of the "chair / sagia" matches the description of St. Louis' "council table" almost exactly, plus the Milwaukee chair meeting was recorded at least twice during the 1960s. It was not simply the boss holding court, but included senior members giving advice and even debating with the boss.

- A San Jose informant described a "Council" of older members in charge of the family and said that individuals had to be elected to the council when one council member died. His description was more confusing than the Milwaukee and St. Louis examples and it almost sounded like he was talking about the Commission because he mentions multiple families being on the "Council", but it's pretty clear he wasn't referring to the National Commission. However if the "Council" included multiple families, it might mean the San Francisco and San Jose groups held council together. The Milwaukee council may have included the Madison family leadership, so in areas where small families are clustered together maybe the councils included multiple groups in the region so that "policy" was consistent? I believe in Sicily they had regional commissions in addition to the national commission, so this may have been similar.

- Detroit researchers have mentioned coming across references to a "Council" in Zerilli-era Detroit. This has been a point of confusion and there has been an assumption by some that this was a "ruling panel", but researchers have specifically mentioned the word "council". I would have to see the available info myself, but given Detroit's ties to San Jose and St. Louis, it sounds very possible that they also used this same "council" not to lead the family but again to discuss "policy" like St. Louis, Milwaukee, and presumably San Jose.

- A researcher on here mentioned coming across info about a senior, non-administrative member being on a "council" within a small, possibly midwestern city. I am blanking on who brought this up or which family it was, but I clearly remember someone mentioning it. Was it Cavita / Rockford? That would fit with these other groups, but my memory is too hazy.

What do these groups have in common?
- Smaller mafia families made up almost entirely if not exclusively of Sicilians, particularly Sicilians from the same town(s).
- The membership of each of these groups was concentrated in and around one city, not sprawling across multiple cities and states like many other families, even other small ones.
- As mentioned extensively in this thread, St. Louis membership was mostly from the same towns (Terrasini, Partinico, Cinisi) as Detroit and the two cities had constant, overlapping ties through the 1960s.
- San Jose was started by mafiosi from the same town (Bagheria) as the mafiosi that started and dominated the Milwaukee family, then later San Jose came under the influence and included membership from Detroit.
- Milwaukee, Detroit, and St. Louis were all midwestern cities. If we include San Jose, they were all non-east coast cities who operated outside of NYC's influence.

Speculation:
- Given that all of these groups were almost exclusively Sicilian and dominated by certain groups of paesani, primarily from Palermo province, it seems possible that this model was a continuation from Sicily.
- Joe Bonanno and others have talked about how the term "boss" was a corruption, with Bonanno preferring "father" and many others using "rappresentante" through the 1960s. While Bonanno might have sugarcoated this role, I do think there is some truth to the idea that the boss was originally seen as a representative, like an elected politician (remember, the mafia held elections for boss even if they were often fixed), and these "councils" would seem to back that up, with other senior leaders being able to have their say without simply being helpless subjects of the boss. A San Jose informant (not sure if the same one who mentioned the council) talked about how Joe Profaci had taken the position in a more tyrannical direction.
- In the early days of the US mafia, mafiosi managed to be very well-connected to each other despite limited communication and travel abilities, but because communicative and travel was more limited, it may have made sense to have a "council" within each group / region in order to solve issues and maintain peace on a smaller scale when a national assembly wasn't necessary or convenient.
- Despite following the Sicilian mafia model, NYC broke the traditional model in many ways, creating multiple huge families in the same relatively small area. This included inducting non-Sicilians at a higher rate than most families in the midwest and west coast and sprawling over large areas with families like the administration + captains of families like the Gambinos and Genovese being almost the size of entire families in other cities. Other east coast cities seem to have followed after NYC's lead, with Philly having upward of 90 members spread out over a large area at their peak and including a large number of non-Sicilians; New England was even more sprawling and included members from all kinds of different backgrounds; Buffalo had a large number of Sicilians, including many paesani, but they were also very large for a non-NYC family and as sprawling as New England.
- I would almost expect Buffalo to have had this "council" but despite various meetings of family leaders on the Magaddino tapes, none of them come across like "council" meetings, with Magaddino instead holding court while everyone else listened to his rants. You also have to figure that on one of the tapes Magaddino talked about how he refused to appoint a consigliere, so I can only imagine how Magaddino would feel about listening to an entire "council" of other people's opinions.

Maybe more thoughts later as they come to me but this is a lot for now anyway....

[B.]

More thoughts, re: the St. Louis council meeting.

- The informant claimed these council meetings happened at the funeral parlor owned by boss Pasquale Miceli, primarily when members died so that the members would have an excuse to meet. Side note, but this interesting because the Miceli-era ended in the early 1950s, which means the St. Louis family was very cautious of being seen together early on. Many families didn't become this cautious until years later.
- The funeral parlor bit reminds me of JD's research on the DeCavalcante family, how when a member would die they would hold a private "ceremony" where the family membership would each taken turns kissing the deceased member on the forehead. In this case it was also in a funeral parlor owned by a family member.
- While it was a much different form of meeting from the St. Louis "council table", it is interesting that both groups used the death of a member as a chance to conduct an internal family activity at the funeral parlor at the time of the service.
- Also of interest is that the boss/funeral parlor owner Pasquale Miceli was from Burgio, barely up the road from Ribera, which is where the dominant DeCavalcante membership was from, including the funeral parlor owner Corsentino. In all likelihood a coincidence, but had to point it out.

Can anyone think of other examples of families conducting formal meetings like this during funerals? We know of mafia members conducting business and having one-off meetings at funerals, but that is different. The closest thing I can think of offhand is the Philly family conducting a making ceremony during a wedding in Trenton in the early 1960s where two North Jersey members were made, but that was again a one-off.

[B.]

Quadruple post, but I guess "my thread, my rules"...

Any ideas on the identity of "Joe"? Made member of the Chicago family, described as being in his early 60s circa 1968, grey hair, hooked nose, thin, hunchbacked, walked with a cane. Presumably wealthy, lived on a large piece of property and trained dogs. Met Bompensiero / Giardano at a hotel in Cicero, indicating he may have been connected with that area. In a position to arrange a meeting between the boss of St. Louis and Alderisio on one day's notice.

I'm a beginner with Chicago, so the only name that comes to mind is Joe Aiuppa given the age, hooked nose, grey hair, wealth, and Cicero connection but not sure about his back, weight at the time, or much else.

[Snakes]

Aiuppa fits that with the exception of being thin and hunchbacked, although he had numerous health ailments over the years which could have temporarily rendered him stooped. However, "thin" was never an adjective I'd use to describe him.

I'll take a look at some lists and see who else I can dig up.

[cavita]

I find the St. Louis connections very interesting with many members and tying in to the various Mafia families as well. Before Rockford LCN boss Tony Musso moved to Rockford he had gotten arrested in St. Louis on February 1, 1918 for carrying a concealed weapon. Then on July 31, 1919 Musso was arrested again on a charge of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon along with Joe Provenzano, 24, Jim Curezo, 26, Joe Busan, 23, and Joe "Banana Joe" Berti.
After establishing himself in Rockford as the clear LCN leader, Musso was sought for arrest in a large liquor conspiracy case. He was found and arrested in St. Louis on August 20, 1930. Arrested along with Musso were two men described as Cicero gangsters- Joe Cincumiano, alias George DeTrapiano, 40, and Vincent Infusino, who was a member of the "Green Ones: and who later became a capo in the San Francisco LCN.
I find this all interesting because Musso was born in Partinico and upon immigrating to the U.S. he first traveled to Detroit to a cousin, Vincenzo Finazzo. Finally, one of Musso's trusted lieutenants in Rockford was Tony LoMonaco who supposedly lived in St. Louis before coming to Rockford. This is not surprising because one of LoMonaco's sisters lived in St. Louis and married a Bommarito.

[Snakes]

Wonder if that Joe Cincumiano is the "Joe" from B's file?

[B.]

I find the St. Louis connections very interesting with many members and tying in to the various Mafia families as well. Before Rockford LCN boss Tony Musso moved to Rockford he had gotten arrested in St. Louis on February 1, 1918 for carrying a concealed weapon. Then on July 31, 1919 Musso was arrested again on a charge of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon along with Joe Provenzano, 24, Jim Curezo, 26, Joe Busan, 23, and Joe "Banana Joe" Berti.
After establishing himself in Rockford as the clear LCN leader, Musso was sought for arrest in a large liquor conspiracy case. He was found and arrested in St. Louis on August 20, 1930. Arrested along with Musso were two men described as Cicero gangsters- Joe Cincumiano, alias George DeTrapiano, 40, and Vincent Infusino, who was a member of the "Green Ones: and who later became a capo in the San Francisco LCN.
I find this all interesting because Musso was born in Partinico and upon immigrating to the U.S. he first traveled to Detroit to a cousin, Vincenzo Finazzo. Finally, one of Musso's trusted lieutenants in Rockford was Tony LoMonaco who supposedly lived in St. Louis before coming to Rockford. This is not surprising because one of LoMonaco's sisters lived in St. Louis and married a Bommarito.

Great info, thanks for filling that in. Not sure if you saw it in one of the above posts, but was it you who mentioned Rockford having a possible "council" of some kind in addition to the administration? I am blanking on who mentioned it and which small family, but there was an indication that a family aside from Milwaukee, St. Louis, Detroit, and San Jose also had a "council" of senior members.

Antiliar mentioned St. Louis being a family as early as the 1870s which backs up what I've read about them being one of the first families in the US. ALl of this supports the idea of them being a major staging area in the history of the US mafia, especially for other small families. There was such an exceptional amount of violence there in the 1910s through 1920s, even among the Sicilians alone, that I'm sure a number of young men were able to prove themselves there before heading elsewhere.

[cavita]

I find the St. Louis connections very interesting with many members and tying in to the various Mafia families as well. Before Rockford LCN boss Tony Musso moved to Rockford he had gotten arrested in St. Louis on February 1, 1918 for carrying a concealed weapon. Then on July 31, 1919 Musso was arrested again on a charge of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon along with Joe Provenzano, 24, Jim Curezo, 26, Joe Busan, 23, and Joe "Banana Joe" Berti.
After establishing himself in Rockford as the clear LCN leader, Musso was sought for arrest in a large liquor conspiracy case. He was found and arrested in St. Louis on August 20, 1930. Arrested along with Musso were two men described as Cicero gangsters- Joe Cincumiano, alias George DeTrapiano, 40, and Vincent Infusino, who was a member of the "Green Ones: and who later became a capo in the San Francisco LCN.
I find this all interesting because Musso was born in Partinico and upon immigrating to the U.S. he first traveled to Detroit to a cousin, Vincenzo Finazzo. Finally, one of Musso's trusted lieutenants in Rockford was Tony LoMonaco who supposedly lived in St. Louis before coming to Rockford. This is not surprising because one of LoMonaco's sisters lived in St. Louis and married a Bommarito.

Great info, thanks for filling that in. Not sure if you saw it in one of the above posts, but was it you who mentioned Rockford having a possible "council" of some kind in addition to the administration? I am blanking on who mentioned it and which small family, but there was an indication that a family aside from Milwaukee, St. Louis, Detroit, and San Jose also had a "council" of senior members.

Antiliar mentioned St. Louis being a family as early as the 1870s which backs up what I've read about them being one of the first families in the US. ALl of this supports the idea of them being a major staging area in the history of the US mafia, especially for other small families. There was such an exceptional amount of violence there in the 1910s through 1920s, even among the Sicilians alone, that I'm sure a number of young men were able to prove themselves there before heading elsewhere.

I just now read that. No, it wasn't the Rockford family that had a council. I have no idea as to who it was though. I'm very intrigued about St. Louis being that staging area as you put it but not surprised. Their connection to Springfield was also huge and the pool of Italian men to draw from was great since central Illinois had many coalmining jobs that drew in these men. Any idea who the men were that I mentioned above? I've of course heard of Infusino but the other men are a mystery to me.

[Antiliar]

Quadruple post, but I guess "my thread, my rules"...

Any ideas on the identity of "Joe"? Made member of the Chicago family, described as being in his early 60s circa 1968, grey hair, hooked nose, thin, hunchbacked, walked with a cane. Presumably wealthy, lived on a large piece of property and trained dogs. Met Bompensiero / Giardano at a hotel in Cicero, indicating he may have been connected with that area. In a position to arrange a meeting between the boss of St. Louis and Alderisio on one day's notice.

I'm a beginner with Chicago, so the only name that comes to mind is Joe Aiuppa given the age, hooked nose, grey hair, wealth, and Cicero connection but not sure about his back, weight at the time, or much else.

One who comes to mind is Joe Liscandriello. Don't know if he was hunchbacked, wealthy or walked with a cane. His age fits (born in 1905), but there were also some made guys who were under the radar and whose names never appeared in newspapers or government reports.

Joe Fusco is another possibility. I do know that he was wealthy, and he was born in 1902.

[Snakes]

I considered both of those but B's "Joe" seemed to have influence in Cicero, which I don't believe either of them had. Fusco was from Elmwood Park and Lisciandrello was a North Sider, IIRC.

[DPG]

- Alphonse Pazzalo was Alphonse Palazzolo, a leader of the "Green Ones." "Green" refers to "greenhorns" and means a recent immigrant. Apparently they were a crew that tried and succeeded in taking over the leadership of the St. Louis Family. When he was killed Vito Giannola took over, but he was killed months later. I think Frank Agrusa was the next leader, but he moved to Indiana under the name Frank Abbate. The boss may have been Gaetano "Tom" Buffa, who testified against another member's girlfriend in a narcotics trial then moved to California. He was murdered in Lodi in 1947. Pasquale Miceli succeeded him.

- The St. Louis Family appears to go back to the 1870s, possibly founded by a Matranga from New Orleans. The first alleged Mafia murder there took place in 1875.

- There were several Vivianos in the 1910s and 20s, many with the same names. Gaetano "Big Tom" Viviano was apparently a leader of some sort, but not sure if he was a boss. He may have been forced out by the Green Ones and moved to California, where he died in 1934.

- An Antonino Triolo may have been an early boss. His name is on a passenger manifest with Toto D'Aquila and Giuseppe Traina in 1910. He came from Borgetto and was 50 years old at the time.

- Another early man of importance was Frank Sicola, a Black Hander during the 1910s who was murdered in 1922. His name was mentioned in a letter found on Vito Di Giorgio when he was arrested in New Orleans a few years before he became the boss of Los Angeles (who was also murdered in 1922).



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Thanks. Just to add, here is what I've found on some of the same names:

Cinisi

- Vito Giannola and Alfonso Palazzolo were both from Cinisi and there was a relation. Palazzolo also had a brother who had been killed several years earlier. LE believed that Giannola ordered Alfonso Palazzolo's murder, which as you mentioned preceded his own murder, but I generally don't trust those assumptions from back then... that said, it is very common to see paesani killing one another, so it's possible. Frank Agrusa was also from Cinisi and Vito Impastato associated with Agruso early on in his "career", so it looks like the "green ones" or "greenies" were largely a faction from Cinisi, or at least led by men from there.

- Future underboss John Vitale's family was from Cinisi and his father was likely an early member.

Partinico

- It looks like Frank Sicola was from Partinico. He killed a man named Michael Adragna and a young boy named Joseph Giammanco in 1921; I assume the boy was an accident, but six years later Giammanco's older brother Benny Giammanco was killed allegedly on Vito Giannola's orders. These Giamancos were likely relatives, possibly older brothers or cousins, of future capodecina Jimmy Giammanco and maybe his relatives the Giardanos.

- Gaetano Buffa who you mentioned was also from Partinico, as was the infamous international Francesco Coppola who spent a good deal of his time in St. Louis.

- Domenico Giambrone was said to be a leading figure after Viviano's 1914 deportation, but place of origin unknown, though from what little I've found it may be Palazzo Adriano or Partinico both in Palermo province. He was said to associate with Buffa. Other associates were brothers Carmelo and Angelo Bonvissuto, and Domenico Anello, these three showing up on immigration records as being from "Palermo", though that may be the province only. Giambrone's brother Paolo was murdered in the early 1920s and he left St. Louis only to return and be killed himself in 1934.

- Member Ralph Caleca who was mentioned in the original post as being close to Alfonso Palazzolo of Cinisi was himself from Partinico. Given that Caleca was young when Palazzolo was still alive, this points to the "factions" from different villages all being part of the same family/group, which would seem obvious to us, but gets lost in old documentation about "gangs", etc.

Terrasini

- The Vivianos and a Giuseppe Cammarata (murdered 1910) were early figures from Terrasini. Despite the informant claiming that the guys from Terrasini / Favarotta had higher standing than the guys from Cinisi and Partinico, it doesn't necessarily seem to be the case from our limited view of things back then. As I already said, though, this reference could have been more about St. Louis deferring to Zerilli and the Terrasini group in Detroit rather than the internal set-up of the St. Louis family.

- No idea if they were made members in St. Louis, but there were a large number of Bommaritos from Terrasini active alongside their paesani and other mafia figures in St. Louis throughout the early history, then later confirmed member Frank Bommarito. No doubt connections to Detroit there as well.

- A cafe used by many early mafia figures in St. Louis from different backgrounds was the Cafe Santa Fava. This would appear to be a reference to Santa Maria della Fava, but curious if it could have any connection to Favarotta.

Agrigento

- Damiano Capuano b.1866 was another early power of some kind murdered in 1910. Can't determine where he came from but a daughter married Sicilian Pasquale Santino of Siculiana, Agrigento, which given the time period points to Capuano at least being Sicilian. Santino himself was said to become a power in the Italian underworld would later be killed in 1927.

- Member Anthony LoPiparo and his brother Giuseppe, a likely member, and possible early member Antonino Fasulo were from Villafranca Sicula, which is right next to Burgio, where future boss Pasquale Miceli was from. So this influential Agrigento group goes back at least to Pasquale Santino or maybe even further. Curious if his father-in-law Capuano was also from Agrigento.

- Member Calogero SanFilippo, who attended the 1928 Cleveland meeting along with John Mirabella, was from Casteltermini in Agrigento not terribly far from Burgio and Villafranca Sicula. His representing the family there during this period shows again that the Agrigento group weren't second-class citizens in the family.

Other Sicilian + Mainland

- Early possible member Antonio Sansone's family may have come from Termini Imerese. I've found a handful of possible connections to Termini in early names and looking through the wider genealogy of early St. Louis figures it is fairly common to come across the maiden name Sansone.

- 1920s "Gang leader" Carmelo Frisina described as an ally of Pasquale Santino, but came from Abruzzo, so not likely a made member of the St. Louis outfit if the informant is correct about St. Louis refusing to induct non-Sicilians, though it should be noted the informant is incorrect about them not inducting non-Palermitani Sicilians, as we see there was a group from Agrigento going back to the early days and included at least one boss. Still, no indications they ever inducted mainlanders and if they did back in the 1920s it doesn't seem they continued the practice.

- The Russo brothers, Anthony and William being the leading figures, were active in the 1920s in St. Louis but due to how generic their name is I haven't been able to trace them. They appear to have operated at high levels but whether that was as mafiosi or simply criminals in association with the mafia is hard to say.

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It's not surprising that Terrasini, Cinisi, and Partinico run through the history of St. Louis (at least from the 1910s through the 1960s) but yet again I find it intriguing that mafiosi from Agrigento were influential outliers in yet another city/family. Aside from groups like the DeCavalcantes who were dominated by members from Agrigento, we often see guys from that province taking a small but powerful role in larger groups. In this case we even have at least one boss and maybe other top family leaders coming from there in a family said to be dominated and run by men from Palermo area who even supposedly had a caste system of Palermitani, not unlike the D'Aquila/Gambino family on a smaller scale.

On my phone so it would take to long to delete everything but the certain passage.....B, did you happen to see a address for the cafe you mentioned? I'm sure it will be in South/Old St Louis cause from what I understand everything North of the current 'downtown' was farmland or uninhibited at the timeframe we are speaking of.

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

The informant mentioning several families represented at a council meeting
made me think of how close geographically Rockford, Chicago, Milwaukee,
Madison are. Also, the overlapping of business interests, the relocation
of members from one city to the other, and the similar Sicilian towns that
members came from. Perhaps the aforementioned cities all sent representatives
to certain council meetings in order to ensure that all the families in that close
proximity were following similar policies to avoid inter-family problems, and to
discuss and solve inter-family problems that had arisen. A multi family,
regional sit down.

[B.]

The informant mentioning several families represented at a council meeting
made me think of how close geographically Rockford, Chicago, Milwaukee,
Madison are. Also, the overlapping of business interests, the relocation
of members from one city to the other, and the similar Sicilian towns that
members came from. Perhaps the aforementioned cities all sent representatives
to certain council meetings in order to ensure that all the families in that close
proximity were following similar policies to avoid inter-family problems, and to
discuss and solve inter-family problems that had arisen. A multi family,
regional sit down.

That informant was in California, so he would have been talking in theory about multiple California families, not the midwest, if I'm even understanding him correctly. The Milwaukee council meeting may have included Madison figures but I'd have to re-check some of those documents. I don't remember anything about Carlo Caputo or his underboss Aiello attending but I recall another Madison member possibly attending.

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

The informant mentioning several families represented at a council meeting
made me think of how close geographically Rockford, Chicago, Milwaukee,
Madison are. Also, the overlapping of business interests, the relocation
of members from one city to the other, and the similar Sicilian towns that
members came from. Perhaps the aforementioned cities all sent representatives
to certain council meetings in order to ensure that all the families in that close
proximity were following similar policies to avoid inter-family problems, and to
discuss and solve inter-family problems that had arisen. A multi family,
regional sit down.

That informant was in California, so he would have been talking in theory about multiple California families, not the midwest, if I'm even understanding him correctly. The Milwaukee council meeting may have included Madison figures but I'd have to re-check some of those documents. I don't remember anything about Carlo Caputo or his underboss Aiello attending but I recall another Madison member possibly attending.

I misread the location aspect. To your knowledge, did Madison actually
have any active rackets going? I have read that they were a family in
name only, and once they relocated to Madison, they were mainly
involved in legal ventures. Very quiet, no indictments.