It wasn't so much a new family as much as it was a split of an already previously existing one. It wasn't like Morello/Masseria/Yale didn't have a base to start with, a base which was entrenched already in E Harlem and the Lower East Side. Same goes for Reina with his loyalists in E Harlem and the Bronx. Some of these members on both sides were already in NY 20-30 years. It just allowed for both groups to recoup what they lost with Morello/Masseria recruiting mainlanders and Reina recruiting Palermitan Americans.B. wrote:Masseria's quick rise isn't that strange when you consider Joe Bonanno and Al Capone rose almost as quickly and there are other examples after that. Rarely do you hear of seniority being an issue. Some of the old timers had an issue with Angelo Bruno's rise from soldier to boss which happened somewhere between seven to nine years, but earlier and more powerful bosses rose faster without issue.
What sets Masseria apart to me is that he rose that quickly to become boss of a seemingly new family. It makes you wonder what the circumstances were for some other families' creation and first boss. Bootlegging wealth was definitely a big part of Masseria's rise, but surely there was a lot more at play we'll never know about both his rise and the reasons for other families getting created. You have to wonder too if the earliest mafiosi in America were largely independent and affiliated strictly with their original Sicilian family, or if the mafia immediately began installing bosses in the US once the first mafiosi came here.
As far as the early groups formations and their affiliations go, the mafia wasn't as capitalism centered then. Someone leaving Palermo to become a player in the new world wasn't seen as losing an "earner" but gaining a connection in America. And given that the Palermitan mafia was connected to the citrus industry, having these new world connections allowed for further money making opportunities. Many of the early American Mafiosi from Palermo were fruit dealers, wine sellers as well as other citrus related fields. As more and more Sicilians "took over" the lower French quarter from previous Italian immigrants, it made sense to have a Representative which would be in contact with Representatives in Sicily. Today we call them bosses. But the way communication flowed was by way of letters. If a mafioso moved from Palermo to New Orleans and wished to be active with the mafiosi there, a letter would have to be sent from his representative in Sicily to the rep in New Orleans to confirm that so and so is a member in good standing and to "take him into the house." Now let's say a member came from Sciacca or Trapani to Palermitan dominated New Orleans, he would be afforded the same respect as a Palermitan. In most of the US cities these families were heterogenius but again, Families weren't meant to be gargantuan and if a group got too large they would split into two groups amicably. It happened in Palermo in 1910 and NY in 1912.
But then, not to contradict myself, 1912 NY was the last time there was an agreed upon split and that was because the three families had no control over immigration and as more and more mafiosi came into the new world these groups got beefed up to numbers unheard of in Sicily. And given that Palermo was the port of exit as well as the largest city, more members came from there than anywhere else and if landing in NY would have went with the Lupo/D'Aquila Palermitan mob which explains why it split into two. I would imagine that the Gambinos outnumbered the Gen/Luc and Bonannos 2 to 1. And the mafia tries to prevent internal monopolies.
