B. wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 6:16 am
Very interesting.
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- There is an old Italian senate report where they summarize the leadership/activities of the
Ribera Family circa 1950 and the boss is said to be Francesco Montalbano. Note that earlier in this thread CC identified early
Gambino captain Vincenzo LoCicero's son Phil (a Gambino member himself) as marrying a Montalbano from Caltabellotta, a neighboring comune closely affiliated with Ribera and the DeCavalcantes. Two suspected NYC members of what the FBI termed the "old faction" of the DeCavalcante Family were the elderly brothers Accursio and Lorenzo Marsala who came from Caltabellotta, as was Elizabeth-based captain Paolo Farina (one of Accursio Marsala's nat witnesses was another Farina from Calt).
- The Italian report also
identified Phil Bacino's brother Luciano as one of the leaders of the mafia in Ribera under Montalbano circa 1940s/50s -- it makes a distinction between the Ribera leaders and the "picciotti", the later usually a term for soldiers, and Luciano Bacino is clearly labeled among the leadership group. Luciano Bacino being a leader in Ribera could play into the rumors of Phil having had a high rank early on in the US, his attendance in Cleveland, etc. The Bacinos appear to be important in Ribera.
- Given Phil and Luciano Bacino's mother was a Triolo and their mother's sister married into the DeCavalcante Giacobbes, plus the other Triolos Cavita found in Illinois, you have to guess there were Triolos involved with the mafia in that part of Sicily. Giovanni Lupo's mother-in-law being a Triolo adds to this if she too is from these villages.
- One of the Ribera "picciotti" ID'd by the Italian senate was a Caruana and I suspect the Caruanos of the DeCavalcantes were originally Caruanas and got the ending vowel swapped like many Sicilian immigrants.
- The
Italian senate report also says the Ribera Family influenced nearby Calamonaci, where the Gambino LoCiceros come from. Calamonaci doesn't have its own Family so the LoCiceros were probably associated with the Ribera Family in Sicily. One of their sons being born in Ribera adds to that.
- The
DeCavalcante Manhattan faction operated in the same area as the LoCiceros and that neighborhood is likely where the DeCavalcante Family originates. According to records, Ribera immigrants with
surnames linked to the DeCavalcante were arriving to that neighborhood by the early 1890s at the latest -- probably earlier, as earlier records are more sparse with info and don't include where people come from. When Phil Bacino arrived to his uncle Carmelo Giacobbe in 1923 he lived in the same general area as the LoCiceros. The Arcuris were close to the LoCiceros as CC discovered and operated in this part of Manhattan and the Manhattan DeCavalcantes hung out at the Arcuri club. Joe Arcuri was the liaison to the DeCavalcante and Tampa Families that all of these guys were connected to.
- Despite Italian authorities knowing about the Ribera Family and its activities in the post-WWII 1940s-1950s period, the Italian senate noted the difficulty in cracking down on them due to their deep connections in local industry and municipal politics. The report specifically notes the situation was virtually identical in Siculiana, Nicola Gentile's hometown.
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Gentile's Ribera connections:
- Nick Gentile arrived to Domenico Taormina who he said "trafficked in paesani" and was a burlap wholesaler. He said he already knew about the mafia at this time and as we know Gentile would go into the burlap trade, which was a sales scam he said originated in his native Siculiana. Records show Gentile's older brother previously arrived to NYC and listed Taormina as his arrival contact.
Taormina was from Siculiana and sent Nick to Kansas City where he was met by Vincenzo LoCicero -- LoCicero was already established in NYC but it's not clear why he was in KC. He doesn't identify Taormina as a member but it seems likely he was a preeminent mafioso from Siculiana in NYC, maybe a Gambino member given LoCicero fits into the story.
- Gentile traveled to Sicily with Nino Cucuzzella in 1913 and the two later went to Quebec together around WWI.
Cucuzzella was a Ribera native and a maternal cousin of the Chicago/DeCavalcante Lolordos, with Cucuzzella's son Leo living in Philly then Delaware where he was
involved in gambling and associated with Joe Lolordo. There was already a colony in Montreal from Ribera and Siculiana; Cucuzzella and the Lolordos had relatives there. The Siculiana colony would eventually become affiliated with the Bonannos but the DeCavalcante Riberesi would maintain close ties to them.
- Gentile also mentioned on a later trip to Sicily he contacted his brother-in-law Giuseppe Cappello who was at that time in Ribera for unspecified reasons
- The only time Gentile mentioned a confirmed DeCavalcante member is when he told authorities Phil Amari was in contact with Charlie Luciano and Joe Adonis when Amari came to Italy. In 1948 Amari and Phil Bacino went to Ribera together where they were photographed with Fortunato Pope.
- Interesting the Italian senate compared Ribera to Siculiana given we see Gentile of Siculiana was heavily connected to the Riberesi and LoCicero.
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- As noted earlier in this thread,
one of Vincenzo LoCicero's sons (a Gambino member) married the first cousin of DeCavalcante underboss Frank Majuri of Corleonese descent. Frank
Majuri himself would marry a Caruano from Ribera and his bro-in-law would become a member --
his bro-in-law was a Riberese DeCavalcante member and his cousin-in-law was a Gambino member with strong Ribera ties.
- 1973 article in the Detroit Free Press by a historian from Agrigento talks about how DeCavalcante members came from Caltabellotta.
The FBI reported on this article and noted how in addition to Caltabellotta, the DeCavalcante Family also had members from Ribera and Alessandria della Rocca.
The LoCiceros' father was from Alessandria, the LoCiceros themselves were born in Calamonaci, and one of the LoCicero sons was born in Ribera while another married a woman from Caltabellotta with the same surname as a Ribera boss. The LoCiceros are connected to the DeCavalcante compaesani groups on multiple fronts.
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Excuse my rambling but I think we're getting closer to understanding the roots of the DeCavalcante Family and Vincenzo LoCicero + the Gambino Family appear to fit right in.
This is fairly circumstantial but you could theorize the DeCavalcantes split off from the Manhattan Agrigento Gambino faction as we've long speculated, though the DeCavalcante sources we have indicate it would be the other way around.
There is something here but as usual we are a few dots away from seeing the picture.