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

[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.

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.

I don't think they had much going on by that time, or really much after the bootlegging era. Their leadership was successful in the cheese business and they used their mafia connections to that end, which is how many members of smaller families were with business. Even Milwaukee, which was bigger, didn't have a whole lot of criminal activity going on outside of Balistrieri himself and a handful of members/associates in his inner circle. Milwaukee had members who had been employees of the city for their entire lives and the family used a "street tax" very sporadically, with some earlier bosses not enforcing it at all. Going back to St. Louis, there is the bit I posted above about how they had to get approval from Chicago and New York every time they wanted to tax bookmakers which seems like it would have been an ordeal.

Small families in the US have become more fascinating to me for that reason -- they were much more like the old Sicilian villages in some ways, with members having legitimate businesses that cut corners and benefited from the mafia but only some members were full-on criminals and membership was made up more of paesani and relations. Some of these groups were more like an "unethical mutual aid society" in some ways than an "organized crime family". Prohibition seems to have been the peak of criminal activity for many if not most of these small families around the country.

[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.

I don't think they had much going on by that time, or really much after the bootlegging era. Their leadership was successful in the cheese business and they used their mafia connections to that end, which is how many members of smaller families were with business. Even Milwaukee, which was bigger, didn't have a whole lot of criminal activity going on outside of Balistrieri himself and a handful of members/associates in his inner circle. Milwaukee had members who had been employees of the city for their entire lives and the family used a "street tax" very sporadically, with some earlier bosses not enforcing it at all. Going back to St. Louis, there is the bit I posted above about how they had to get approval from Chicago and New York every time they wanted to tax bookmakers which seems like it would have been an ordeal.

Small families in the US have become more fascinating to me for that reason -- they were much more like the old Sicilian villages in some ways, with members having legitimate businesses that cut corners and benefited from the mafia but only some members were full-on criminals and membership was made up more of paesani and relations. Some of these groups were more like an "unethical mutual aid society" in some ways than an "organized crime family". Prohibition seems to have been the peak of criminal activity for many if not most of these small families around the country.

Your small family assessment is good. The smaller families interest me more because
information is scarce in most cases. In NYC and Chicago, the families were shadow govt's
in their heyday, which is fascinating in different way.

[B.]

More random info on the St. Louis family:

- Mariano Costa, owner of Costa Food Distributing Company, described as yet another "arbitrator" in the family when he was alive and stepfather to the LoPiparos. During the period when Anthony LoPiparo was a power in the family, LoPiparo was said to consult with Costa. Costa was from Palazzo Adriano, which lends credence to the idea that the family had an early element from there, possibly including early power Domenico Giambrone.

- Anthony LoPiparo said to take over as boss for Pasquale Miceli upon his death, followed by Tony Giardano. This came from seemingly a low-level informant though he is correct about Miceli and Giardano's position so seems likely he could be right about LoPiparo as well.

- Frank Pisciotta, largely inactive by the 1960s, described as formerly "high-placed" under Miceli. This would go hand-in-hand with the info about Pisciotta being an "arbitrator" ala consigliere John Ferrara, though as already mentioned a number of old timers are described as arbitrators so hard to say whether it describes a formal role.

- In 1964, an informant (possibly one of the following men) recounted a conversation between an associate of John Vitale named Patrick LoPiccolo and an associate called "Turk" TNU where "Turk" claimed to have told soldier Ralph Caleca that if 50 young Italian men had to depend on the St. Louis mafia leadership for a living, they would all starve to death. LoPiccolo and "Turk" also complained that Vitale, Giardano, and Caleca wouldn't induct them nor anybody else in St. Louis and commented how if someone were to kill those three men, they would wipe out the entire organization in St. Louis and how the organization needed new members in order to survive.

- LoPiccolo and "Turk" also talked about how in years past there were "at least 15 or 20" members of the St. Louis family. LoPiccolo claimed he had been "blackballed" from membership during that time and was still "not good enough" for the organization. I assume the 15 to 20 number is a reference to active members, not total membership, as we know they had at least 22 members still living (but most inactive) according to Giardano in 1968, so they no doubt would have had more than that during the earlier period LoPiccolo was referring to. Patrick LoPiccolo may have been a relative of Salvatore LoPiccolo, a business partner of Tony Giardano. Given that the conversation is recounted in detail and both men, especially LoPiccolo, were bitter about being held back from membership and other issues, seems possible one of them was the informant, most likely LoPiccolo since "Turk" is mentioned only by nickname.

- In the mid-1960s Giardano attempted to muscle more influence in local produce business, which was controlled by underboss John Vitale. John Vitale stood up against Giardano and was heard telling an associate that Giardano was "sick" and damaging the St. Louis family's reputation around the country. He claimed that Giardano was not consulting with Vitale before making decisions, which he should be doing. As a result of Giardano's behavior, Vitale contacted consigliere John Ferrara to try and settle the dispute with Giardano related to the produce business, claiming that it would be Vitale and Ferrara and not Giardano who would make any decisions. The issue was apparently settled with Giardano allowed to save face despite Vitale's disparaging remarks behind his back.

- Vitale also had involvement in the produce business in Tampa along with other interests, where his close partner Sam Roth had a partnership in a juke box company owned by the Deicidue brothers of the Tampa family, indicating that Vitale may have had some involvement in this business as well though it doesn't specifically indicate this. Vitale was reported to be unhappy with how his business in Tampa was handled and was seeking to settle these issues with a meeting of some kind.

- Vitale, Ralph Caleca, and Giardano were all invited to attend the wedding of Tony Accardo's son in Chicago along with East St. Louis gang leader Buster Wortman, but Vitale did not want to attend partly because he would have to ride to Chicago with Wortman. Note that Vitale would later serve as a pallbearer at Wortman's funeral, which surprised an informant who felt Vitale had been pressured to attend the funeral and serve as pallbearer.

- In 1964, one informant believed the former boss of the St. Louis family was currently in prison and called "Little Joe" and that the former underboss was the deceased Anthony LoPiparo. The info on LoPiparo seems to be correct, but not sure who "Little Joe" would be and I'm not sure which members were in prison at this time. Tony Giardano had recently served a sentence before being appointed boss, but this says "former boss". LoPiparo died in 1960 and I believe it was a few years before Giardano became boss, so seems possible someone else was in the position in the interim. Tony's brother Joe Giardano was said to be a major figure in the family in his prime and is mentioned as a "policy maker" in connection with the "council table", but not sure if he was in prison in the 1960s and haven't seen him mentioned as an admin member.

- Vincenzo Chiappetta from Poggio Reale in Trapani was a member in the Pueblo, CO family along with his brother Marco. In 1922, the Pueblo family split into two factions over the murder of Pellegrino Scaglia and other members were murdered in the conflict. Vincenzo and Marco Chiappetta, members of the pro-Scaglia faction, left Pueblo after the conflict and settled in Kansas City, where Marco stayed, while Vincenzo moved on to St. Louis. Vincenzo Chiappetta's wife was a cousin of the Scaglias through marriage and a number of Scaglias lived in Kansas City, including the murdered Pellegrino Scaglia's children. Vincenzo Chiappetta continued to live in the St. Louis area through the mid-1960s where he was interviewed by the FBI. When asked, he claimed the mafia was an organization from Sicily that had died out in the United States. It's unclear if Vincenzo Chiappetta was ever involved with the St. Louis outfit despite living there and he does not show up on any member lists to my knowledge.

- Vince Biondo identified as a member of the St. Louis family circa 1963 along with another previously confirmed member. There were some Biondos from Terrasini but cannot confirm Vince Biondo was connected to them or that they had any involvement with the mafia.

- In 1963, an informant stated that the term "family" is meaningless in St. Louis as there was so little going on. He felt that the family would be dead in the next ten years. He claimed that there were no young men being groomed to keep the family going and that the "grandfathers" of the family's current "old members" had the same problem but had been able to find "qualified" young men. This is interesting and suggests that even in the earliest days of the organization it was felt there weren't enough suitable recruits. We have seen informants from every generation all over the US claim that younger guys are less suitable, values are corrupted, etc. so it seems the mafia just mirrors the rest of society with a "get off my lawn" attitude no matter the era. To be fair, the St. Louis family seems to have taken it to heart by refusing to induct new members.

[Antiliar]

I think we have enough info for a St. Louis timeline. It could be something like this:

1870s: St. Louis Family founded
?: Tony Matranga?
?: Tom Viviano?
1910s: Dominic Capuano
[1914-1923: Dominic Giambrone, according to some sources]
1927: Alphonse Palazzola killed
1927: Vito Giannola killed
1931: Frank Agrusa/Abbate/Alo moves to Hammond, Indiana area
1944: Thomas Buffa testifies against a member's gf, then moves to California; Agrusa/Abbate/Alo killed in Hot Springs.
1947: Thomas Buffa killed in Lodi, California
1953: Pasquale Miceli dies
1960: Tony Lopiparo dies.
1980: Tony Giordano dies.
1982: John Vitale dies.
1997: Mike Trupiano dies.

[B.]

I think we have enough info for a St. Louis timeline. It could be something like this:

1870s: St. Louis Family founded
?: Tony Matranga?
?: Tom Viviano?
[1914-1923: Dominic Giambrone, according to some sources]
1927: Alphonse Palazzola killed
1927: Vito Giannola killed
1931: Frank Agrusa/Abbate/Alo moves to Hammond, Indiana area
1944: Thomas Buffa testifies against a member's gf, then moves to California; Agrusa/Abbate/Alo killed in Hot Springs.
1947: Thomas Buffa killed in Lodi, California
1953: Pasquale Miceli dies
1960: Tony Lopiparo dies.
1980: Tony Giordano/Giardano dies.
1982: John Vitale dies.
1997: Mike Trupiano dies.

Yep, there is definitely a picture emerging there. I am going to dig in a bit more to try to nail down the exact years on some things (i.e. Giardano didn't become boss until his release from prison, which I believe was after 1960, which leaves a gap, but I could be wrong) and see all that's said about some of the relationships. For example Palazzolo is mentioned as being a top underling of Giannola but the papers and LE didn't always get those relationships right (i.e. Sabella being under Scopelliti in Philly).

It looks like Tony LoPiparo was underboss when Pasquale Miceli was boss, so that would make the B/UB during that period both from Agrigento which again stands out to me with so many members being from those Palermo villages and supposedly having a "caste" system based on that.

[Antiliar]

A Damiano Capuano is another alleged early boss. He was killed in 1910.

[B.]

A Damiano Capuano is another alleged early boss. He was killed in 1910.

Let me know if you can find out where he's from. He was Siculiana native Pasquale Santino's father-in-law and the LoPiparos and others from Agrigento came up around Santino, who was killed in 1927. That group appears to have been their own faction at odds with other factions of the late 1920s, like the dominant Cinisi "Green Ones". I wouldn't be surprised if Capuano was from that province as well and if not a boss at least an early leader of that faction.

[Antiliar]

There's a family tree for the Capuano family on Ancestry.com. It doesn't specify the place of birth for Damiano other than Palermo, but it says his father Antonio (more likely Antonino) was from Caltavuturo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caltavuturo

Capuano was delivering presents to his best customers (it was Christmas Eve and he was a wealthy fruit merchant) when he was shot and killed. A Tomasso Viviano ran to him and fired a gun to attract the police. This Viviano was either a boy or a young man who delivered food for Capuano. The articles didn't give identifying information on this Viviano except to say that his brother was Joe Viviano and he was related to Pietro Viviano. No age or address given, so we don't know if or how he's related to Big Tom Viviano.

Found an obit that may help. There was a George B. Catanzaro who died on March 23, 1910 at age 62. He was the father of Mrs. Gussie Capuano and Mrs. Josie Bommarito.

In 1908 a Pietro Cipriano sent out Black Hand letters to better-off Sicilians in St. Louis including Capuano, Vito Viviano, Vincenzo Bommarito, Gaetano LaFata, Ghio LaFata and several others.

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

I think we have enough info for a St. Louis timeline. It could be something like this:

1870s: St. Louis Family founded
?: Tony Matranga?
?: Tom Viviano?
[1914-1923: Dominic Giambrone, according to some sources]
1927: Alphonse Palazzola killed
1927: Vito Giannola killed
1931: Frank Agrusa/Abbate/Alo moves to Hammond, Indiana area
1944: Thomas Buffa testifies against a member's gf, then moves to California; Agrusa/Abbate/Alo killed in Hot Springs.
1947: Thomas Buffa killed in Lodi, California
1953: Pasquale Miceli dies
1960: Tony Lopiparo dies.
1980: Tony Giordano/Giardano dies.
1982: John Vitale dies.
1997: Mike Trupiano dies.

Would Nino Parrino be considered the last boss?

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

This should settle the issue of how he spelled his mane:

[Antiliar]

I'm not sure if Nino Parrino was a boss or a boss only according to some random guys on the internet.

[cavita]

I have an FBI file from June 1966 which details how Springfield boss Frank Zito and Anthony Giordano from St. Louis met in an office in Rockford with Rockford consigliere Joe Zito (Frank's brother) and Rockford capo Charles Vince about them being able to provide Rockford with a state-of-the-art policy wheel that was easily transportable and that could give instant results on the policy tickets. Frank Zito also detailed how he had a downstate State Police Supervising Captain "in his pocket." Not long after this the Rockford LCN put on a party for the State Police captain at a motel owned by Rockford LCN member Phil Priola and girls were provided for the party through a "****### pimp." Through my research I found that the State Police individual was Springfield Supervisor of District 1 Commander Captain Raymond H. Cramer of Sterling, Illinois. Now, why Giordano was present is a mystery to me but at this stage in the game (1966) it shows me that Giordano must have had some kind of pull to be involved.

[B.]

I have an FBI file from June 1966 which details how Springfield boss Frank Zito and Anthony Giordano from St. Louis met in an office in Rockford with Rockford consigliere Joe Zito (Frank's brother) and Rockford capo Charles Vince about them being able to provide Rockford with a state-of-the-art policy wheel that was easily transportable and that could give instant results on the policy tickets. Frank Zito also detailed how he had a downstate State Police Supervising Captain "in his pocket." Not long after this the Rockford LCN put on a party for the State Police captain at a motel owned by Rockford LCN member Phil Priola and girls were provided for the party through a "****o pimp." Through my research I found that the State Police individual was Springfield Supervisor of District 1 Commander Captain Raymond H. Cramer of Sterling, Illinois. Now, why Giordano was present is a mystery to me but at this stage in the game (1966) it shows me that Giordano must have had some kind of pull to be involved.

Interesting. While his family was withering, he was definitely tapped into the national scene, maybe even moreso than the local St. Louis scene.

There's a family tree for the Capuano family on Ancestry.com. It doesn't specify the place of birth for Damiano other than Palermo, but it says his father Antonio (more likely Antonino) was from Caltavuturo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caltavuturo

Capuano was delivering presents to his best customers (it was Christmas Eve and he was a wealthy fruit merchant) when he was shot and killed. A Tomasso Viviano ran to him and fired a gun to attract the police. This Viviano was either a boy or a young man who delivered food for Capuano. The articles didn't give identifying information on this Viviano except to say that his brother was Joe Viviano and he was related to Pietro Viviano. No age or address given, so we don't know if or how he's related to Big Tom Viviano.

Found an obit that may help. There was a George B. Catanzaro who died on March 23, 1910 at age 62. He was the father of Mrs. Gussie Capuano and Mrs. Josie Bommarito.

In 1908 a Pietro Cipriano sent out Black Hand letters to better-off Sicilians in St. Louis including Capuano, Vito Viviano, Vincenzo Bommarito, Gaetano LaFata, Ghio LaFata and several others.

Thanks for finding and sharing that, man. If he was from Palermo, I would guess he was from one of those main St. Louis mafia villages like Terrasini, Partinico, or Cinisi, especially given that his sister-in-law was married to a Bommarito, but it seems these early Sicilian mafiosi in St. Louis were more interconnected than not despite hype around the Cinisi-led "Green Ones" faction, etc. Would be curious too if he were from Termini Imerese or Palazzo Adriano.

Will see about using this info as a jumping point later.

[B.]

Some other St. Louis info:

- Soldier Anthony Miceli, son of boss Pasquale, born in Chicago in 1920. Already may have mentioned Pasquale Miceli living in rural Illinois early on, but this places him in Chicago proper. Mike Merlo, also of Agrigento, was a power there at the time, though unknown if Miceli had connections to the local mafia.

- Associate/possible old time member Frank Napoli was from Siculiana like early power Pasquale Santino, making Napoli another possible member of this influential Agrigento element.

- Vincenzo Chiapetta, mentioned earlier as an early Pueblo member who fled to Kansas City (where his brother became a member) then settled in St. Louis, was described by the FBN as having "replaced Pasquale Miceli as head of the organization at St. Louis." Along with his heavy ties to the Kansas City group where he had relatives, he is described as an associate of Anthony Miceli, John Vitale, and Tony Giardano of St. Louis. He would have been in his later-60s when Miceli died in 1953, so seems unlikely he took over as boss at least for any substantial period. However, along with the deaths of old time leaders, a number of leaders/future leaders were having legal problems during this period so it's entirely possible if not likely that there were some some temporary admin members who haven't been clearly identified in the mid-1950s to early 1960s. The FBN was often hazy about titles and formal affiliations, but they were often correct about associations, so this points to Chiapetta at least being involved with the local St. Louis organization. By the 1960s when the FBI interviewed him he was described as quite senile.

- Quite a while before his visit to St. Louis, Frank Bompensiero gave info to the FBI about some very early associations he had with St. Louis members, including the Giardano brothers and Tony LoPiparo, all of who spent time visiting San Diego/Tijuana. In addition to Tony and Joseph Giardano, he also identifies their brother Salvatore "Sam" Giardano as a member.

- Tony Giardano's sister and other relatives lived in Detroit and an informant believed that Giardano himself grew up in Detroit, but Giardano was at least born in St. Louis. Even many of the older Sicilian members were born in St. Louis as first generation Americans and weren't immigrants themselves like you often see in other cities during the same period, which reinforces the idea that the St. Louis mafia was long-established in the area. There is minimal info, but it's likely some of these men had fathers in the local mafia.

[Villain]

I have one Anthony Miceli being involved with the Chicago Heights crew during the 1930s who in turn was stationed in Calumet City and was also followed by one John Miceli who operated in Hammond, Indiana; and also Joe Miceli in Highland Ill, also followed by Pete and Sam Miceli. I believe Sam was later a legit member of the Chicago Heights crew