Question about The Comission 1959-1984

[Angelo Santino]

Appalachin ended the annual five year national assembly. In 1975, the Commission was reduced to the NY Five and Chicago. What Families were designated to what commission rep? For instance Pittsburgh and Cleveland were both 'with' the Genovese, whereas Philadelphia was with the Gambinos. These arrangements might go back to the 1900's, certain families have long historic ties. But has anyone ever made a list of what family answered to who? It might have changed depending on the era. After Bruno, the Genovese's and Gambinos kinda competed for power much like Russia and the USA 'fought' eachother in VN.

I also have to wonder if the families of Detroit, Buffalo and Philadelphia were nixed because they were essentially irrelevant in the functions of high mafia government and were probably seen as political pawns for a reigning NY boss. For instance Gambino could count on Bruno and Zerilli, some say even Magaddino. Other than that.. And one can argue that the Commission lost it's relevance in the 1970's because by 1980 it was mostly a NY affair.

SInce 1984 there has not been a Commission in that way that JBonanno wrote about, but the occasional Five Family meet-and-greet of it's highest members where they lay out some rules/agreements that affect NY and maybe NE, NJ and Philly. but it's not annual, there are no national ramifications that involves what another family is doing outside of the east coast. Chicago could start making Chinese members and I don't think NY would be in any position or even care. The Commission is a reflection of the state of OC as a whole, it's more localized.

[Snakes]

Pretty sure Chicago represented everything out west; Milwaukee, KC, LA. I don't believe that they ever sent anyone east to speak with the NY families but I do know that Aiuppa and Cerone had a big say in who got the Teamsters presidency after Hoffa was killed so some sort of communication was going on, even if it was with NY/Salerno through Cleveland.

[B.]

Originally the Luccheses represented the LA family. Dragna was from Corleone and was an associate if not members of that family when he lived in NYC. This may have changed after Lucchese died... seems Chicago took a bigger hold at some point.

The DeCavalcantes have been under the Gambino family since at least the 1960s up to present day. Nick Delmore was said to be very close to the Genovese family and even Vito himself, plus before the DeCavs were well-known to be their own family some LE thought he was a Genovese captain. Seems possible they were with them.

[Angelo Santino]

Pretty sure Chicago represented everything out west; Milwaukee, KC, LA. I don't believe that they ever sent anyone east to speak with the NY families but I do know that Aiuppa and Cerone had a big say in who got the Teamsters presidency after Hoffa was killed so some sort of communication was going on, even if it was with NY/Salerno through Cleveland.

Well about that. I read (not sure if it's true) that Chicago formed it's own mini-commission. How true that is I have no idea.

Originally the Luccheses represented the LA family. Dragna was from Corleone and was an associate if not members of that family when he lived in NYC. This may have changed after Lucchese died... seems Chicago took a bigger hold at some point.

The DeCavalcantes have been under the Gambino family since at least the 1960s up to present day. Nick Delmore was said to be very close to the Genovese family and even Vito himself, plus before the DeCavs were well-known to be their own family some LE thought he was a Genovese captain. Seems possible they were with them.

I'm not as well rounded in this area, if I'm wrong on anything, correct me.

I heard through an unreliable source that Gagliano had relatives in San Diego. I can't confirm it's accuracy. But we also know that the Dragna's were associated with E Harlem (Morello's-Corleonesi) and Di Giorgio was associated with New Orleans, who in turn was associated with both the Palermitans and Corleonesi. This was proven by 1902 and 1908 with letters between NY and NewO. NY also had ties to Chicago and SF so all the connections were interrelated. Williamsurgh had ties to Detroit who had ties to St Louis. All were tied to Chicago. We could go on and on with the interconnecting relationships.

Chicago had branches in multiple cities (for reasons I'm not going into) including Omaha and Grand Rapids and Kenosha. But had influence over Madison, Milwaukee. But LA seemed more east coast connected. SD more so with Detroit. CO with LA (or am I wrong?) And there was (for a time) some OC remnants in AZ who were both NY and SJ connected, mostly JB related. But then members of LA and SF had ancestors/relatives that go back to OH/PA/NY early OC history. You see surnames such as the Limas, Vellotas and others JCB could name that I can't. Also Buffalo and LA had some connection for a time.

[Antiliar]

San Diego was part of Los Angeles, and like B said, it was represented on the Commission by the Luccheses. Then in the early 1960s Los Angeles was represented by the Bonannos until Joe Bonanno made it clear that he wanted to take over the Family for himself. After that I believe it was represented by Chicago. On its connections, Los Angeles had guys from all over the country. Sometimes they were guys who had problems in their previous cities but would be accepted in Los Angeles because they were short on manpower. Frank Bompensiero was connected to Milwaukee, Nick Licata to Detroit, Momo Adamo to Kansas City, the Milanos to Cleveland, the Sciortinos to San Jose and San Francisco, etc. In several cases there were retired members of other Families living in Los Angeles territory, but not part of the Los Angeles Family, or they were related to members but not made themselves. The San Diego Matrangas were related to Detroit guys, but weren't made (Big Frank may have gotten made much later though), Tony and Frank Milano didn't join Los Angeles and remained part of Cleveland, but were relatively inactive. Anthony Pinelli was retired from Chicago, but still advised on occasion.

We could probably come up with a list of representation like this:

A. Cities/Families that represented themselves:
Genovese
Gambino
Bonanno
Lucchese
Profaci
Chicago
Buffalo - later represented by another Family
Cleveland - Nick Gentile said they were on the original Commission, but if so, lost their seat around 1935 and was represented by the Genovese after that
Detroit - on the Commission when Zerilli was boss; possibly represented by Profaci or Bonanno before then and possibly Chicago afterward
New Orleans - as the original Mafia Family it always did what it wanted, but informed the Commission of its activities so they were aware
Philadelphia - on the Commission under Joe Ida and Angelo Bruno, not sure who represented it before and afterward

B. Cities/Families represented by others on the Commission and never had a seat:
Los Angeles - Lucchese, then Bonanno, then Chicago
Pittsburgh - Genovese
St. Louis - D'Aquila/Gambino, then Chicago
Milwaukee - Chicago
Elizabeth, NJ - Gambinos?
Newark, NJ - Profaci?

Other posters can add or correct

[HairyKnuckles]

Interesting thread and good post Antiliar.

The smaller Families of San Jose and San Franisco were represented by the Bonannos. But what about Dallas? Bill Bonanno said they too were represented by the Bonannos but I have no idea if he was correct about that. It could be that Dallas was represented by the Bonannos at one point but was "given" to some other Commission based Family later. It also appears that the Bonannos represented the small Family of Madison, Wisc. Joe Bonanno had very close ties with some of the members there.

[Wiseguy]

According to Capeci, you had the original 7 families on the Commission until the 1956 meeting when it was decided Philadelphia and Detroit would have seats starting in 1961.

Chicago started skipping more and more Commission meetings in the 1960's and the result was a two-headed Commission with Chicago mediating disputes west of it.

Buffalo lost its seat with the death of Magaddino in 1974. Detroit lost its seat with the death of Zerilli in 1977. And Philadelphia lost its seat with the death of Bruno in 1980.

After that, at least in terms of the East coast, the Commission was comprised of the NY families with the Genovese family representing Buffalo, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit at different points. This was confirmed from different sources including the RICO complaint against the Laborers Union back in the 1990's.

The NY families continued to meet, obviously, though of course we know the Bonannos lost their seat for a time. The last time the official bosses all met in NY was prior to the Commission case in early 1985. The last known meeting of leaders of the 5 families was in 2000.

I think Christie hit the nail on the head about the makeup of the Commission changing to show the more localized state of the mob.

[Wiseguy]

Below is part of that RICO complaint against LIUNA from the 1990's. It's apparently before the Bonannos got their seat back or at least before it was known they had. It's also apparently before the Trafficante family, or what was left of it, affiliated themselves with the Gambinos.

The complaint verifles what Capeci said about the 5 NY families, Chicago, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Detroit all having Commission seats. The only difference is it also says Cleveland held a seat at some point.



The BONNANO family which is headquartered in New York City and operates in various other locations in the United States. The Bonnano family is the one New York City LCN family whose boss is not a member of the Commission;

The BUFALINO family which is headquartered in the area of Pittston, Pennsylvania and operates in Northeastern Pennsylvania and New York State;

The BUFFALO family which is headquartered in the area of Buffalo, New York and operates there and in various other locations;

The CHICAGO family which is headquartered and operates in the area of Chicago, Illinois, in the Eastern Division of the Northern District of Illinois, in other areas of Illinois, and in various locations in Florida and the western part of the United States. The Chicago family is commonly referred to as "the outfit." The boss of the Chicago family is a member of the Commission. Often the views of the Chicago family are presented to the Commission by the Genovese family, which is identified in subparagraph j. below;

The CLEVELAND family which is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio and operates there. The Cleveland family is represented on the Commission by the Genovese family, which is identified in subparagraph j. below;

The COLOMBO family which is headquartered in New York City and operates there and in various other locations. The boss of the Colombo family is a member of the Commission;

The DECAVALCANTE family which is headquartered in northern New Jersey and operates there and in various other locations. The boss of the DeCavalcante family answers to the boss of the Genovese family;

The DETROIT family which is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and operates there and in various other locations. The Detroit family is represented on the Commission by the Genovese family;

The GAMBINO family which is headquartered in New York City and operates there and in various other locations. The boss of the Gambino family is a member of the Commission;

The GENOVESE family which is headquartered in New York City and operates there and in various other locations. The boss of the Genovese family is a member of the Commission;

The KANSAS CITY family which is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri and operates there and in various other locations. The Kansas City family is represented on the Commission by the Chicago family;

The LOS ANGELES family which is headquartered and operates in Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles family is represented on the Commission by the Chicago family;

The LUCHESE family which is headquartered and operates in New York City and various other locations. The boss of the Luchese family is a member of the Commission;

The MILWAUKEE family which is headquartered and operates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Milwaukee family is represented on the Commission by the Chicago family;

The NEW ENGLAND or PATRIARCA family which is headquartered in the areas of both Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island and operates there and in various other locations. The New England family is represented on the Commission by the Genovese family;

The NEW ORLEANS family which is headquartered and operates in New Orleans, Louisiana. The New Orleans family has close relationships with both the Chicago and Genovese families;

The PHILADELPHIA or BRUNO/SCARFO family which is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Philadelphia family is represented on the Commission by the Genovese family and is sometimes referred to by the last names of former bosses, Angelo Bruno and Nicodemo Scarfo;

The PITTSBURGH family which is headquartered and operates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh family is represented on the Commission by the Genovese family;

The ST. LOUIS family which is headquartered and operates in the area of St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis family operates under the supervision of the Chicago family;

The TRAFFICANTE family which is headquartered and operates in the area of Tampa, Florida. The Trafficante family is represented on the Commission by the Chicago family.

http://www.ipsn.org/laborers/internatio ... newest.htm

[OlBlueEyesClub]

Good posts, Wiseguy. Is there any truth to Russell Buffalino having a commission seat and representing the Genovese between the incarceration of Vito and the appointing of Eboli, Lombardo and that triumvirate?

[Angelo Santino]

Made this a few years back. It's not all accurate.

http://themafianow.com/wp-content/uploa ... Chart1.gif

[Snakes]

Just as long as you didn't make anything up

[Pogo The Clown]

Good posts, Wiseguy. Is there any truth to Russell Buffalino having a commission seat and representing the Genovese between the incarceration of Vito and the appointing of Eboli, Lombardo and that triumvirate?

No truth to that.


Pogo

[OlBlueEyesClub]

Didn't think so. Frank Sheeran claimed it and I remember discussing it on the other forum with members who felt it to be possible but I couldn't figure out where he'd fit in the timeline since that time frame of the Genovese boss seat is sort of well documented.

[Angelo Santino]

We've discussed this as various points.

For one, Tony Bender was never acting boss, he disappeared around the same time Genovese went to prison.

Second, FBI wiretaps revealed that Catena was AB, Eboli was UB and Miranda was Consig. JBon I think cited Eboli as Gen's successor whereas BBon cited Miranda.

To me, just from what I've seen (and B. might understand what my thinking is), Mike Genovese and Phil Lombardo played an integral role in how the group was ran post-Gen. Michael Genovese (NOT the same guy that went onto boss Pittsburgh later) was a conduit to his brother in prison and Lombardo functioned in what one would call a Messenger between the admin and group leaders.

[Antiliar]

Interesting that after the 1960s out of the Five Families only the Genovese Family represented other Families on the Commission. Wonder why that was?