Vincent Generoso & the DiMino connections

[JoelTurner]

A capo based out of New Rochelle, NY; Vincent Generoso wasn’t very well-known. Two aspects of his background stand out: he was from Sciacca and that used the surname “DiMino”.

Generoso’s earliest record was his 1914 marriage to Maria Pedicano. His parents are listed as Ferdinando and Calogera Pomilla.

By 1917, his WW1 Draft card lists him at 84 Elizabeth St, NYC, NY. Shortly after, in the 1920 census, there was a James DeMins [sic] living at that address alongside his wife Mary, daughter Lena, son Michael, and SIL Mary Pedicano. Note that this is the only record where he used the surname DiMino.

In Mar 1922, Gambino capo Accurso DiMino’s brother immigrated to the US. Accompanied by his wife Antonina Falcone, their children Calogera, Michaelangelo, & Antonino. They were headed to his brother Vincenzo DiMino at 84 Elizabeth St, NYC, NY. Additionally, they were traveling with Genovese member Vito Campo.

Vincent Generoso aka Vincenzo DiMino was Accursio DiMino’s brother

As further proof, both of them (and their other brothers) named their eldest sons Michael and their eldest daughters Calogera which was then anglicized to Lena/Lillian.

I can’t tell where he got “Ferdinando” from. I had initially thought that their mother could have remarried making him a half-brother but this wasn’t the case. His parents MichaelAngelo and Calogera had a daughter after he was born. Similarly, I don’t know why he was using the surname Generoso

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1) Both Vincent and Anthony moved to New Rochelle, NY between 1920-25. I can’t tell what happened to the latter after that; his children were living with their uncle Salvatore Falcone in Utica by the 1930 census.

2) Vito Campo was similarly a Genovese member from Sciacca who started out in Little Italy before moving to New Rochelle. The two were arrested together; I don’t know how/why they ended up with the Genovese.

[chin_gigante]

Really interesting find, good work

[Cheech]

Connection to mickey generoso aka mickey dimino? Strange coincidence or am i missing something

[Antiliar]

Great find, Joel. There are other examples of brothers being inducted into different families.

[Cheech]

So no connection to Mickey?

[JoelTurner]

Really interesting find, good work

Thank you!

[JoelTurner]

Connection to mickey generoso aka mickey dimino? Strange coincidence or am i missing something

Michael Generoso (Mickey the Leach/Mickey DiMino) was Vincent Generoso’s son

I referenced him in my post but I should have been clearer

[JoelTurner]

Great find, Joel. There are other examples of brothers being inducted into different families.

Thank you!

[Cheech]

Connection to mickey generoso aka mickey dimino? Strange coincidence or am i missing something

Michael Generoso (Mickey the Leach/Mickey DiMino) was Vincent Generoso’s son

I referenced him in my post but I should have been clearer

Thanks. I didnt catch that. Appreciate it

[B.]

If true this is a great discovery.

Accursio Dimino's controversial murder could have led his brother to join a different Family. Accursio was also deeply in the mix with future Genovese members when he was killed.

I've suspected Antonino Dimino was a mafia figure given who his brother was and the marriage to the Falcone sister. Most of the Falcones' connections were to the Gambino Family, unsurprising given their Sciacchitano heritage, but I've never seen much linking them to the Genovese.

[JoelTurner]

Here’s another Sciacchitani-Genovese connection:

Brothers Peter “Patty Shack” & Vincenzo “Jimmy Blink” Bivona were both born in NYC but their parents were from Sciacca.

Their father Accursio Bivona (born to Vincenzo Bivona & Accursia Catanzaro) immigrated pretty early, in Sep 1899. Similarly, their mother Margherita Sclafani (Born to Michele Sclafani & Caterina DiMino) showed up in Feb 1901

Note that Gambino Capo Accursio DiMino’s wife Guiseppa was also a Sclafani. However, they don’t appear to be directly related as her parents were Antonino Sclafani & Caterina Frisca.

Shared surnames aside, the Bivonas and Generoso/DiMinos definitely knew each other as they lived directly across the street. In the 1920 census, the Bivonas were at 85 Elizabeth St, NYC, NY while the Generosos were at 84 Elizabeth St, NYC, NY

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I don’t really know anything about either of the Bivona bros in terms of their activities. I’ve just seen the names on a few lists.

LCN Bios mentions that Peter Bivona was part of Michael Generoso’s crew in the post on Dominick Cappolla. The rest of that crew, at least by the ‘60s & ‘70s, seems to have been a random mix of street guys but it’s interesting to see that they still had Sciacchitani links

[B.]

Yeah, Elizabeth street was where a ton of Sciacchitani once lived. Curious if either of these branches of the Sclafanis were related to the Corrao cousins. Though not Sciacchitano or even Sicilian, Eli Zeccardi of course ended up related to the Corraos and Indelicatos through marriage so he's another though less direct Genovese/Sciacca connection.

Discovering more of these Sciacchitani with the Genovese could be significant given Joe Masseria's faction was labeled by Gentile as the "Sciacchitani". Masseria's own background in Menfi places him near Sciacca and he had allies within the Gambino Sciacchitani but we've long wondered whether his own Family had an element from there as well.

[JoelTurner]

Masseria […] had allies within the Gambino Sciacchitani but we've long wondered whether his own Family had an element from there as well.

Who were these allies? I’ve only heard of Masseria being linked to Mineo-Ferrigno-Mangano group

[B.]

Masseria […] had allies within the Gambino Sciacchitani but we've long wondered whether his own Family had an element from there as well.

Who were these allies? I’ve only heard of Masseria being linked to Mineo-Ferrigno-Mangano group

From a previous post of mine:

Attardi's account also might tell us something about Gentile's description of Masseria's faction as the "Sciacchitani". Attardi was from Porto Empedocle, made in Sciacca, then transferred to Sciacca-born Accursio Dimino's decina. Dimino has a falling out with D'Aquila and is killed in 1922 then Attardi says he himself is one of the men marked for death by Maranzano's faction during the Castellammarese War.

Given Attardi was marked for death by Maranzano, he must have been a Masseria-aligned member of the Gambino Family and it could suggest others among the Sciacchitani were as well. Nicola Gentile too, though not a member of the Gambino Family until after the war, was still very much a product of the Gambino Sciacchitano/Agrigentino network and he was sympathetic with Masseria.

[PolackTony]

Yeah, Elizabeth street was where a ton of Sciacchitani once lived. Curious if either of these branches of the Sclafanis were related to the Corrao cousins. Though not Sciacchitano or even Sicilian, Eli Zeccardi of course ended up related to the Corraos and Indelicatos through marriage so he's another though less direct Genovese/Sciacca connection.

Discovering more of these Sciacchitani with the Genovese could be significant given Joe Masseria's faction was labeled by Gentile as the "Sciacchitani". Masseria's own background in Menfi places him near Sciacca and he had allies within the Gambino Sciacchitani but we've long wondered whether his own Family had an element from there as well.

This links back to the recent discussion we had in a different thread about the trends I’ve seen with pre-1900 Sicilian arrivals to the US. The Sciacchitani, who really began arriving in serious numbers around 1890, were the single biggest cohort of Agrigentini in the US during that period. By 1900, they formed a significant bloc within the larger Sicilian population of NYC (over 1/4 of the Sicilian population in BK). And while some went up to Harlem, the Bx, and Westchester, most clustered around Lowe Manhattan and South Brooklyn. As I’ve noted, Sciacca’s economy in the 19th century was heavily based on fishing and a crisis in this sector led to large-scale out migration after the 1880s, so it makes sense that we tend to see the Sciacchitani strongly clustering around major seaport areas (for the same reason, many of them settled in Boston, while smaller numbers also headed for North Jersey, the Philly area, and SF). What’s interesting though is that they don’t seem to have formed their own Family (unless it was a short-lived one that was quickly absorbed), but rather seemed to have instead just formed their own factions within the Palermitano and Corleonese Families. At least, that’s how I read the evidence that we have here, which is admittedly full of lacunae.