The Tunis Family

[B.]

Ok, I think we're onto something there. I was going to ask you if those towns or Trapani province connected to Rockford, so the Scuderi name being associated with Marsala and the influx from Marsala at the same time he immigrated is a solid indicator for sure. It also suggests he kept ties to Marsala given he was from Tunis but moved to Rockford when other Marsalesi did.

There was a Vincenzo Scuderi killed in Montreal in 2013 but no idea his background.

[B.]

Going through old info for the Palermo/Trapani threads, some good stuff came up about Tunis:

- San Giuseppe Jato leader Vincenzo Troia supervised a cattle rustling operation for the mafia and he accompanied the cattle from the port of Trapani to Tunis. No doubt he met with mafiosi on the other side.

- Dr. Melchiorre Allegra identifed Carmelo Cammarata, a Palermo mafia member, as a current resident of Tunis circa 1937.

- Allegra also identifies Rosario Pirrello, a made member from Gibellina, Trapani, as a former resident of Tunis who returned to Sicily. He had a cousin of the same name who was also a member in Gibellina.

- Allegra identified Filippo Scozzari, a former Palermo resident, as the boss of Tunis circa mid-late 1930s. He also said the "famous" Francesco Buccellato of Castellammare Del Golfo was living there along with many other mafia refugees.

Seems Scozzari could be the boss who had Calderone's uncle Saietta murdered given that happened in the 1930s.

- Since this thread is also about other possible Sicilian mafia families in other countries, Allegra specifically says in Marseilles a formal mafia family was "organized", but he did not know the names of members. This goes along with his other statement about Marseilles and other "continental" locations having a mafia presence.

- Allegra said some Sicilian mafia members were livng in Naples, like Pietro Fardella from Trapani and the D'Alessandros from Palermo who were fruit merchants, but says the Naples members were part of an "isolated element" so doesn't seem there was a Sicilian mafia family in Naples, just individual members.

[B.]

- Allegra identified Filippo Scozzari, a former Palermo resident, as the boss of Tunis circa mid-late 1930s. He also said the "famous" Francesco Buccellato of Castellammare Del Golfo was living there along with many other mafia refugees.

Wonder if this guy is connected to LA underboss Simone Scozzari. It's not a common Palermo name. Simone came to the US as a stowaway in 1923.

Simone Scozzari's father was Salvatore and his mother was a Megna, which is the surname of a Palermo boss who would have been a contemporary of Filippo Scozzari.

[B.]

Another connection:

- San Francisco member Frank Joseph Genovese was Castellammarese but grew up in Tunis, living there until he was in his 20s. He was the cousin of Pittston/Bonanno member Joe Genovese.

[B.]

Yet another Bonanno/Tunis connection:

- In 1930/1931, future Bonanno leader Giuseppe Buccellato moved to Tunis as a young man and lived there through the 1950s. Buccellato's father and other relatives were mafia figures in Castellammare and Buccellato himself is believed to have been a Sicilian man of honor who transferred membership to the Bonannos after coming to the US in 1959. What's interesting is the Tunis family supposedly disbanded over a decade previous, so if he was part of the Tunis group he stayed behind long after it dissolved.

[B.]

Motorfab found some interesting info suggesting Grenoble may have had a cosca circa early 1990s. I wouldn't say it is definitive but pentiti have stated there was definitely a Sicilian mafia "cell" in Grenoble under the leadership Giacomo Pagano, a man of honor from Sommatino, Caltanissetta, who was arrested in 1993.

Turns out there is a massive immigrant colony from Sommatino in Grenoble and it is half-joked that Grenoble has more Sommatinesi than Sommatino itself since the sulphur industry collapsed and the local economy was devastated, leading to mass emigration.

Remember too that the last Tunis boss before it was disbanded was from Riesi, Caltanissetta, which neighbors Sommatino. Could be a coincidence or maybe some of these mafia colonies in French territory have strong ties to that area in addition to the other connections (i.e. Trapani).

Thanks to Motorfab for finding reference to Grenoble's mafia faction.

[motorfab]

You're very welcome. Some points about Grenoble's cell :

Calogero Pulci who was Capo or Reggente of Sommatino's cosca, was arrested in 1994 at Rives train station (my city, which is 28 km from Grenoble), where he had been staying for a few months or years because he was wanted in Italy. He turned pentito, but it turned out the dude was bullshitting the authorities.

Pagano was arrested in Brussels. According to Calderone & Leonardo Messina, the Grenoble cell served as a back base or gateway (the word use by the French press is "relais", which makes me translate and understanding that way). Considering the proximity to Switzerland and Italy, I guess that involves exfiltrating runaway mafiosi, doing money laundering operations in the area or smuggling.

You're aboslutely right, most of the Italian community who comes to the area after WWII was for economic reasons. We can assume that as Tunisia was also a French colony, some also had to migrate to the continent at that time. I believe Tunisia became an independent state around the 1950s, like most of the maghreb countries

[PolackTony]

Tunisia was declared independent from France in 1956, at which time essentially the entire European population (as well as Tunisia’s ancient Jewish community) picked up and left. It would be interesting to see how many of the Italians returned to Italy and how many relocated to metropolitan France.

[B.]

We know the boss of Tunis returned to Caltanissetta. Supposedly the Tunis family disbanded in the 1940s, before Tunisia declared independence, so seems the mafia saw the writing on the wall and as mentioned earlier they were under more government scrutiny after WWII.

Motorfab -- thanks for the added details.

[Etna]

Going through old info for the Palermo/Trapani threads, some good stuff came up about Tunis:

- San Giuseppe Jato leader Vincenzo Troia supervised a cattle rustling operation for the mafia and he accompanied the cattle from the port of Trapani to Tunis. No doubt he met with mafiosi on the other side.

- Dr. Melchiorre Allegra identifed Carmelo Cammarata, a Palermo mafia member, as a current resident of Tunis circa 1937.

- Allegra also identifies Rosario Pirrello, a made member from Gibellina, Trapani, as a former resident of Tunis who returned to Sicily. He had a cousin of the same name who was also a member in Gibellina.

- Allegra identified Filippo Scozzari, a former Palermo resident, as the boss of Tunis circa mid-late 1930s. He also said the "famous" Francesco Buccellato of Castellammare Del Golfo was living there along with many other mafia refugees.

Seems Scozzari could be the boss who had Calderone's uncle Saietta murdered given that happened in the 1930s.

- Since this thread is also about other possible Sicilian mafia families in other countries, Allegra specifically says in Marseilles a formal mafia family was "organized", but he did not know the names of members. This goes along with his other statement about Marseilles and other "continental" locations having a mafia presence.

- Allegra said some Sicilian mafia members were livng in Naples, like Pietro Fardella from Trapani and the D'Alessandros from Palermo who were fruit merchants, but says the Naples members were part of an "isolated element" so doesn't seem there was a Sicilian mafia family in Naples, just individual members.

Oddly enough, Calderone states that Zaza, Nuovaletta and other groups consistuted a cosa nostra family in Naples. He said this was the only family outside of Sicily as he was involved.

[cobra]

Going through old info for the Palermo/Trapani threads, some good stuff came up about Tunis:

- San Giuseppe Jato leader Vincenzo Troia supervised a cattle rustling operation for the mafia and he accompanied the cattle from the port of Trapani to Tunis. No doubt he met with mafiosi on the other side.

- Dr. Melchiorre Allegra identifed Carmelo Cammarata, a Palermo mafia member, as a current resident of Tunis circa 1937.

- Allegra also identifies Rosario Pirrello, a made member from Gibellina, Trapani, as a former resident of Tunis who returned to Sicily. He had a cousin of the same name who was also a member in Gibellina.

- Allegra identified Filippo Scozzari, a former Palermo resident, as the boss of Tunis circa mid-late 1930s. He also said the "famous" Francesco Buccellato of Castellammare Del Golfo was living there along with many other mafia refugees.

Seems Scozzari could be the boss who had Calderone's uncle Saietta murdered given that happened in the 1930s.

- Since this thread is also about other possible Sicilian mafia families in other countries, Allegra specifically says in Marseilles a formal mafia family was "organized", but he did not know the names of members. This goes along with his other statement about Marseilles and other "continental" locations having a mafia presence.

- Allegra said some Sicilian mafia members were livng in Naples, like Pietro Fardella from Trapani and the D'Alessandros from Palermo who were fruit merchants, but says the Naples members were part of an "isolated element" so doesn't seem there was a Sicilian mafia family in Naples, just individual members.

Oddly enough, Calderone states that Zaza, Nuovaletta and other groups consistuted a cosa nostra family in Naples. He said this was the only family outside of Sicily as he was involved.

-ciaculli family have a decina in naples in 1950s or earlier
-3 familys in naples in 1981
-zaza and answer to ciaculli
-bardellino
-nuvoletta and later answer direct with toto riina
-tommaso buscetta became disturb when he learn about the situation from stefano bontate

[Etna]

Going through old info for the Palermo/Trapani threads, some good stuff came up about Tunis:

- San Giuseppe Jato leader Vincenzo Troia supervised a cattle rustling operation for the mafia and he accompanied the cattle from the port of Trapani to Tunis. No doubt he met with mafiosi on the other side.

- Dr. Melchiorre Allegra identifed Carmelo Cammarata, a Palermo mafia member, as a current resident of Tunis circa 1937.

- Allegra also identifies Rosario Pirrello, a made member from Gibellina, Trapani, as a former resident of Tunis who returned to Sicily. He had a cousin of the same name who was also a member in Gibellina.

- Allegra identified Filippo Scozzari, a former Palermo resident, as the boss of Tunis circa mid-late 1930s. He also said the "famous" Francesco Buccellato of Castellammare Del Golfo was living there along with many other mafia refugees.

Seems Scozzari could be the boss who had Calderone's uncle Saietta murdered given that happened in the 1930s.

- Since this thread is also about other possible Sicilian mafia families in other countries, Allegra specifically says in Marseilles a formal mafia family was "organized", but he did not know the names of members. This goes along with his other statement about Marseilles and other "continental" locations having a mafia presence.

- Allegra said some Sicilian mafia members were livng in Naples, like Pietro Fardella from Trapani and the D'Alessandros from Palermo who were fruit merchants, but says the Naples members were part of an "isolated element" so doesn't seem there was a Sicilian mafia family in Naples, just individual members.

Oddly enough, Calderone states that Zaza, Nuovaletta and other groups consistuted a cosa nostra family in Naples. He said this was the only family outside of Sicily as he was involved.

-ciaculli family have a decina in naples in 1950s or earlier
-3 familys in naples in 1981
-zaza and answer to ciaculli
-bardellino
-nuvoletta and later answer direct with toto riina
-tommaso buscetta became disturb when he learn about the situation from stefano bontate

1. Why was he disturbed by this?
2. Are bardellino, nuvoletta and zaza still recognized as cosa nostra? Or are they simply camorra now?

[motorfab]

I believe their affiliation with Cosa Nostra ended in the 80's but I'm not sure. But they're all dead now, so I'd be tempted to say no to your second question ^^

I don't know if it's a translation error in my country's version, but Calderone says in his book that Naples was a Family. That the family was quite old and that the representatives in those years were the Zaza brothers, the Nuvolottas who according to him alone represented a decina and also the Mazzarellas. He doesn't quote Bardellino, but Buscetta said he was one of them.

According to Calderone in the early 70s Bontade would have charged Salvatore Zaza with killing a guy who had slapped Luciano a few years before. I've heard of that slap before but never knew who it was or if it really happened

Sorry B., the thread has drifted a bit on something else

[Pogo The Clown]

That the family was quite old and that the representatives in those years were the Zaza brothers,

Zaza is nothing. He's a small-time enforcer. He bluffs, threats, but nothing. You can see him coming a mile away.


Pogo

[motorfab]

That the family was quite old and that the representatives in those years were the Zaza brothers,

Zaza is nothing. He's a small-time enforcer. He bluffs, threats, but nothing. You can see him coming a mile away.


Pogo

Hey Zaza, up your ass !