Connection between George Adragna (Pittsburgh) and the Piazza family of Misilmeri/Marseille

[motorfab]

I was doing some research for an upcoming article I'm working on, and I discovered a family connection between George Adragna and Pietro Piazza, a important individual involved in drug trafficking in Marseille.

I'll keep Pietro Piazza's background brief, except that I suspect he's an important member of Cosa Nostra in Marseille, due to his ties to the Di Pisa family in Misilmeri (I explain all that here viewtopic.php?t=7900&start=225).

So to get back to Adragna, I was researching the 1963 case mentioned in the other thread, and I came across a doc on Mary Ferrell mentioning that Piazza was Adragna's brother-in-law.


I haven't yet taken the time to look up who Borgese & Bova were, but I assume they were mobsters from NY or Pittsburgh. For your information, the Piazza/Vincileoni affair was apparently a big deal at the time and, due to the advanced age of the protagonists, earned the name "the case of the peaceful retirees." in the press

The name Adragna would resurface alongside that of the Piazza some twenty years later (in 1986 to be precise) when Mariano (son of Pietro) and his cousin of the same name were arrested in Marseille in a case linked to the Pizza Connection (I had shared a series of articles that talk about it here viewtopic.php?t=12530 and I talk about it in part in one of my articles https://unehistoiredecrimeorganise.blog ... ction.html)

George Adragna was arrested in San Jose during this blitz. His wife, Rosa (born Lo Cicero), was also arrested and was facing extradition to Italy (I don't believe this happened).

Some articles mention that Rosa Adragna was Mariano "Mario" Piazza's aunt, so I assume Pietro was married to one of Rosa's sisters but I'm very bad at genealogical research, so I leave that to the experts...

I'm not sure if the connection between the Piazza and Adragna families has been discussed here before, so I'll take the liberty of writing a thread about it.

Lennert had already mentioned Adragna to me in a thread where I mentioned the Piazza cousins ​​(viewtopic.php?p=219201&hilit=adragna+piazza#p219201), but I was unaware of this family connection.

And on a side note, the family being from Alcamo, that gives us another connection between mafiosi from Alcamo and the French mob (the Mancuso brothers https://unehistoiredecrimeorganise.blog ... -york.html).

[B.]

Very nice.

Good observation about Alcamo and France, too. We see heavy connections between Trapani province and Tunis (former French protectorate) and Joe Bonanno mentioned a cousin living in Paris so maybe there are more Trapani connections to France proper than we're aware of.

The Adragnas were as well-connected as it gets. Pittsburgh, San Jose, Bonannos, and they likely trace back to the Sicilian mafia. Great new connection here.

[OmarSantista]

As always, looking forward to this article fab. B, we need another verbal bloodlines article dude!

[motorfab]

Some additional information:

- Thomas Borghese is also a cousin of Piazza. According to the the 2 FBN that followed them, Borghese was a honorary sheriff (lol)
- Still according to the two FBN agents who followed Piazza & Vincileoni in New York, Piazza met with members of the Lo Cascio family (presumably relatives of Adragna's wife).
- According to these same police officers, Adragna & Borghese are suspected of involvement in the "Angelvin" affair, the famous case of the French TV presenter who inspired William Friedkin's film The French Connection.
- Vincileoni, who lived on Rue Mansard in Paris in 1939, was likely connected to the Mancuso brothers (at least Giuseppe, for sure) and, according to rumors, committed the murders of Antoine Zirano & Armand Alessandrini that same year.

[lennert]

Peter Bova was married to the sister of the Adragnas. So he’s another relative by marriage.

[B.]

Here is a post I made a couple years ago on the Adragnas. There was speculation in the Gentile Informer issue that "Joe l'Alcamese" may have been Joe Adragna Sr. It doesn't match up from what I can see but Gentile's recollection of Joe the Alcamese may not be entirely accurate or there could be other variables to the story we don't have as to my knowledge the Adragnas are the only Alcamesi known to have been members in Pittsburgh. The wide connections we see with the Adragna sons likely came from their father.

There was a Frank Adragna from Monte San Giuliano in Sharon PA and Ohio who was the same age as the one arrested for the Bazzano murder but the murder suspect was from Alcamo and lived in the actual Pittsburgh area. The one in Sharon married a non-Italian while the mafioso married a woman with heritage in Avellino who was originally from PA. Adragna's father and brothers were also mafiosi with Families in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, and the Bay Area.

His half-brother Joe is a suspected Bonanno member, same with their father Giuseppe. Fellow Bazzano suspect Ciro Gallo of the Bonanno Family was married to a woman from Alcamo and lived near Williamsburg where the Adragnas lived. I couldn't find any links between Gallo's wife and the Adragnas beyond that, though both Gallo and the Adragnas had close ties to the CA Bay Area and became members there. George Adragna was a Pittsburgh member who transferred to San Jose and another brother Vito was a Pittsburgh associate later proposed into the San Jose Family. Another half-brother of Frank was Antonino Dragna who was heavily active in crime and died in a 1928 still accident.

A Pittsburgh member called "Joe l'Alcamese" (Joe the Alcamese) was involved in the Pittsburgh Family's turmoil circa 1932 and according to Gentile it resulted in his murder as he chose to stay in Pittsburgh with his fiancee rather than move to New York and transfer like his allies Gentile and Charles Cavallaro. I've seen speculation that Joe l'Alcamese was Giuseppe Adragna Sr., Frank's father, but he was living in Williamsburg in 1930 with his wife and Frank's half-brothers and died in New York in 1931. Nothing to substantiate the idea that he was in Pittsburgh, had a new fiancee, and was murdered there, especially not in 1932. However he was a mafioso named Joe from Alcamo and two of his sons joined the Pittsburgh Family so there could be a connection, especially given that Alcamo doesn't otherwise show up in what we know of Pittsburgh.

More likely is that Gentile was referring to someone else entirely but I do think it's significant that both Joe l'Alcamese and Frank Adragna from Alcamo were linked to the conflict(s) in Pittsburgh at this time. Ciro Gallo's involvement is interesting too not just because his wife was from Alcamo like the Adragnas but because his brother Joe was the suspected driver in the 1931 murder of previous Pittsburgh boss Giuseppe Siragusa. Joe Gallo and the other killers allegedly came from NYC but Gallo only ever lived in California from what I've found before the Siragusa hit and afterward, becoming a San Jose member; his brother Ciro was living in Brooklyn at the time so maybe Joe was staying there. Ciro and Joe Gallo apparently never lived in Pittsburgh but odd that both Gallo brothers were suspects in the 1931-1932 murders of two Pittsburgh bosses.

I believe Joe Adragna Jr.'s wife came from Menfi, Agrigento. One of the Bay Area informants who was close to Vito Adragna knew that Joe Jr. was a member of an unspecified New York Family. His Trapanese heritage and Williamsburg residence make the Bonannos most likely. Giuseppe Adragna Sr. would be another likely Bonanno member, same with his brother Vito who had a son named Francesco/Frank as well though this Frank Adragna lived out his life in NY.