More Magaddino family info 1960s (including Rochester)

[B.]

Some random bits on Magaddino family affairs in the 1960s. There are a few topics already around about Magaddino during this period but too hard to dig through broken search.

- Magaddino was concerned that Giacomino "Jake Russo" Russolesi wouldn't be able to stand up to some sort of expected questioning in late 1963 and would turn informant. He had Fred Randaccio contact John Cammilleri who then met with Magaddino. Magaddino told Cammilleri to contact Russolisi's brother and to send the message that if Giacomino gave up any information, both he and his brother would be killed. Magaddino was adamant that Russolesi's brother be contacted and not Russolesi himself. Seems pretty clear that Magaddino no longer trusted him by this time and that this was a factor in his murder. Russolesi would be killed in 1964.

Drug trafficker and Magaddino soldier Albert Agueci was found murdered near Rochester, with Russolesi possibly being involved in the murder, so it is possible Magaddino's concerns about Russolesi were focused on the Agueci case. This case was particularly big because Joe Valachi had been involved with the Aguecis and talked quite a bit about them.

- Speaking of Russolesi, in 1958 Rochester police raided a hotel room and arrested Rochester Italian racket figures Giacomo Russolesi, Antonio Arena, Charles Russo (possibly Charles Russolesi?), Samuel Malta, Anthony Oliveri, Gardnoff Russo (Gandolfo Russolesi?), William Lupo, Frank Muoio, and Joseph Randazzo on charges of disorderly conduct and consorting with known criminals. One of the men had a handgun and they had 11 shotguns and a rifle. Most if not all of these men were significant members/associates of the Rochester crew. I'm curious what the meeting may have been about and why they were stockpiling weapons in a hotel room at this time.

- In 1964, a meeting was held in Niagara Falls with Stefano Magaddino, Peter A Magaddino, Peter J Magaddino, Fred Randaccio, Danny Sansanese and Samuel Rangatore. Apparently they discussed concerns that a woman in Canada believed to be Mrs. Albert Agueci would give information to police about her murdered husband and his involvement with the Magaddino family. Apparently John Cammilleri and Danny Sansanese were supposed to travel to Canada and kill Mrs. Agueci. Sansanese was by this time believed to be an experienced killer for the Buffalo family.

- At another meeting in 1964, Magaddino stated that they should get a Jew to operate their numbers business for them, listing several Jewish associates. He felt that Sam Freedman in particular should run the operation. Sam Rangatore was adamant that Jews were "no good" and became "excited" (i.e. upset) by the idea. Magaddino explained that he didn't care what background someone had as long as they made the organization money. Rangatore continued to insist that they shouldn't associate with Jews and Magaddino told him that Jews could be used to handle affairs, spy, and do hits. Side note, but Rangatore was known as Sam "Pogo" Rangatore according to fresh street talk.

- Magaddino talked about making alliances and business relationships with policemen and disparaged some of them who were backing his gambling operations. Apparently Vito Domiano was originally responsible for paying off the Buffalo police. Without Domiano, Magaddino says their operations would have been raided but instead they received tipoffs. He also claims to pay legislator Frank DeFalco a weekly salary.

- A numbers operations run by Tony Perna in Niagara Falls was in partnership with members of the Detroit family identified as Pete Pagliacco (ph) and Matera (ph). Other partners are said to be "Capone's son" (Al Capone?) and a "group" from Canada. Perna and "Chick" TNU were stealing from the operation. It's said here that the term "musician" is used for someone who steals from a numbers operation and when they are in the process of stealing from the operation they are said to be "playing the piano".

Danny Sansanese was sent to oversee the operation to catch the men cheating, but Magaddino was told that Sansanese was also cheating him. Apparently a Jew working for the operation made the claim against Sansanese but it was felt he was forced to make the accusation by other people in the operation who wanted Sansanese out. Sam Rangatore didn't believe the accusations and cited someone named Tony Chalederico (ph) who was in charge of supervising aspects of the operation. John Cammilleri also agreed the other people working for the operation simply wanted to get rid of Sansanese. Sansanese was later cleared but Tony Perna was fired from the operation after "Chick" confessed the truth and the Detroit associates complained. Among other things, Perna had brought his son into the operation without approval and was paying him a salary as well as collecting a weekly salary for himself.

- Perna was also arrested in 1964 in connection with an abortion. The woman who had the abortion, Janice Eppolito, was also arreated along with two other men. It's not clear if Perna was personally involved with the woman or if he was involved in some kind of abortion racket.

- In May 1964 a meeting at the Connecticut Athletic Club was disrupted by Buffalo police. When police arrived the door to the club was locked but they rang the doorbell and were let in. Several tables had been pushed together making for a larger table and the following men were seated around it drinking coffee: Stefano Magaddino, Fred Randaccio, Pasquale Natarelli, Fred Mogavero, Daniel Sansanese, Salvatore Bonito, Samuel Frangiamore, Benedetto Spano, Stephen A. Cino, Samuel Rangatore. Leonard Falzone was the doorman at the club.

- The Buffalo family was attempting to smuggle someone from Canada to the United States and Magaddino insisted on making this happen. It's not clear who they might be talking about but from context it may be Antonino "Nino" Cruciata, who they begin talking about, a Castellammarese who is visiting from Sicily and has stayed longer than his alotted time. Cruciata was interviewed by the FBI and claimed to be familiar with the mafia back in Sicily but not in the US. Though nothing is said, reading between the lines it sounds like Cruciata may be involved in the Sicilian mafia back in Castellammare. Cruciata/Crociata is a well-known CDG name, with Peter and Frank Crociata being significant Bonanno members during this period.

- Along with their principal territories in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Utica, Syracuse, Binghamton, Erie, and Ontario, they were trying to get involved in fixing horse races in Boston, MA. No mention is made of a relationship to the Patriarca family.

[antimafia]

[snip]There are a few topics already around about Magaddino during this period but too hard to dig through broken search.

Here's the link to one of these important threads:

http://www.theblackhand.club/forum/view ... f=29&t=773

I was actually looking for that thread about a day ago and came up short--I thought it had been deleted.

[antimafia]

- The Buffalo family was attempting to smuggle someone from Canada to the United States and Magaddino insisted on making this happen. It's not clear who they might be talking about but from context it may be Antonino "Nino" Cruciata, who they begin talking about, a Castellammarese who is visiting from Sicily and has stayed longer than his alotted time. Cruciata was interviewed by the FBI and claimed to be familiar with the mafia back in Sicily but not in the US. Though nothing is said, reading between the lines it sounds like Cruciata may be involved in the Sicilian mafia back in Castellammare. Cruciata/Crociata is a well-known CDG name, with Peter and Frank Crociata being significant Bonanno members during this period.

Here's a link to an Evernote item in which I clipped pages from the Mary Ferrell site a number of years ago. Not all of the pages deal with Nino Cruciata.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/ ... 1d871de967

[felice]

Very interesting, thanks B.

[B.]

Yeah, Giuseppe Tarantula was believed to have been involved in smuggling the unidentified person across the border, then later Cruciata was interviewed by the FBI and questioned about Tarantula and whether or not he (Cruciata) had visited Canada. Cruciata simply said that he had last seen Tarantula in Sicily many years earlier. Not entirely clear why he was being snuck around or why the FBI was so interested.

[AlexfromSouth]

Guiseppe TARANTULA?

[B.]

Bumping this up to see if anyone has come across Antinino "Nino" Cruciata (or "Crociata") anywhere else. He appears to be a Castellammarese resident of Sicily sneaking between Canada and the US somehow in relation to mafia business; it's interesting to think that the two families dominated early on by Castellammaresi had strong foundations in Canada yet no known Castellammaresi members/associates in Canada.

[B.]

Just crossed my mind that Giuseppe Tarantula's true name could be Tarantola. Sicilian dialect often replaces O with U (which can be seen with Cruciata / Crociata in this same instance) and there were Tarantolas in the Bonanno family. Not sure where the Bonanno Tarantolas were from, but this Giuseppe "Tarantula" was from Castellammare.

[B.]

After turning government witness in 1962, Joe Valachi identified the names of 14 soldiers and an underboss who traveled to NYC in 1929 and 1931 with Stefano Magaddino to assist in the fight against Joe Masseria. In addition to Magaddino, Valachi identified the following members:

Fred Randaccio (underboss)
Sebastiano Bonito [sic -- real name Salvatore]
Roy Carlisi
Dominic D'Agostino
Joseph DiCarlo
Joseph LaBarbara
James LaDuca
Sam Lagattuta
John Charles Montana
Salvatore Pieri
Sam Salli
Anthony Privatera
Angelo Rizzo
Pat Sciortino
Frank Valenti

- Valachi also identified other made members in Buffalo, including Pasquale Natarelli and Joseph Fino, among others, but not in connection with the above group.

- Most of these guys would have been very young, but old enough to be involved in mafia activities (especially for the era) and it would make sense that younger men would have been brought down to participate in the war. However, Angelo Rizzo was between the ages of 12 and 14 during this period and Pasquale Sciortino would have been between 14 and 16. We know Philadelphia inducted Harry Riccobene at 16 and possibly other teens, with Riccobene himself inconsistently claiming to have gone to NYC to participate in the Castellammarese War, so that could add some credence to the idea of Buffalo bringing down teenagers, especially since outside shooters would be unknown faces who couldn't be easily recognized. We also have info that the mafia in Sicily used to induct members as young as 13, so with the early Buffalo family's strong Sicilian influence, I wouldn't rule anything out no matter how unlikely. Angelo Rizzo was said to have been very close to the DiCarlos, which could have factored into his involvement. The Joseph DiCarlo Valachi listed would obviously be DiCarlo Jr., as DiCarlo Sr. was deceased by the time of the war.

- I don't believe Randaccio was the underboss in 1929-1931, as he replaced Angelo Acquisto as underboss in the 1950s, who was demoted and then killed himself in 1956 (Acquisto was from Serradifalco, Sicily, like Buffalo member Sam LoVullo, who also lost standing in the organization though I'm not sure if it was connected to Acquisto's demotion -- John Termini was said to have losting standing along with Acquisto, though not sure Termini's position in the family). So Randaccio's rank would refer to present time (1960s), not the time Randaccio is said to have traveled with Magaddino to NYC. I wonder if the same is true for the membership of the above names -- it seems unlikely they were all made members at the time Valachi claims they traveled to NYC but he must have learned of their membership at some point, as most if not all of the names have been confirmed as members in later years.

- It should be noted that in testimony (the above info was from an FBI interview), Valachi referred to Randaccio as a "lieutenant" and John C. Montana as a "former lieutenant" under Magaddino. We know from his book that Valachi's use of lieutenant was identical to capodecina.

- In the same testimony, Valachi ID'd Sam Pieri as the "former underboss" of Magaddino. Valachi served prison time with Pieri in Atlanta. Pieri's brother-in-law was Joseph DiCarlo Jr.

- I'm guessing the full list of men didn't travel to NYC both times -- seems more likely that some of the group came down in ~1929 while others came down in ~1931, with likely some crossover.

- Bonito lived just outside of Buffalo and was a frequent visitor to Canada, referred to by Magaddino as "messenger boy", as he was used as the go-between to Canada for Buffalo/NF.

- Salvatore "Sam" Lagattuta was a suspect in the 1936 murder of undertaker Alfred Panepinto. Panepinto ran a funeral home in Niagara Falls and was murdered at a Buffalo wedding. Antonio Magaddino later became a partner in the funeral home formerly run by Panepinto which became the infamous Magaddino Memorial Chapel.

- In late 1932, Anthony Privatera and Nicholas "Red" Pace, both of Buffalo, shot two men to death in Buffalo, the victims being Anthony Bonaveta and Charles Centinello.

- Roy Carlisi was born in Chicago and is mostly known for being the brother of Chicago mafia leader Sam Carlisi. Carlisi was a close associate of Sam Pieri. One of Carlisi' associates was Joseph "Chicago Joe" Sciales, presumably from from Chicago as well given the nickname. Despite his odd last name, Sciales shows up on some reports as a suspected member. Roy Carlisi's younger brother Alphonse of Chicago was said to be a messenger between the Chicago mobm led by Fiore Buccieri and Joseph Aiuppa, and the east coast mafia.

- Valenti is another question. I don't know his full background, only that he was connected to Pittsburgh and ended up with the Rochester family when they broke off. He was always in the Buffalo orbit given his connection to Rochester but I don't know enough to speculate whether he may have started out with Buffalo early on. A report from 1966 claims that Valenti was having some kind of issue with Magaddino and if it wasn't resolved, Valenti was going to "go with" the Bonanno family. Valenti shows up as early as 1964 as the Rochester capodecina under Magaddino, likely taking over for murdered Giacomo "Jake Russo Russolesi, believed to have been a Rochester captain, with part of the profits from the Rochester area being split 50% with Magaddino, which was collected by Buffalo soldier Pasquale Natarelli. 50% was also Magaddino's take from Utica/Syracuse.

- Valachi was very familiar with Buffalo, having gone on the lam there during the Castellammarese War, where he was hosted personally by Stefano Magaddino. He continued to associate with other Buffalo members through drug trafficking up until his final incarceration, including a second period spent on the lam in western NY, so he was familiar with the landscape. His close relationship to Maranzano and active role in hit squads during the Castellammarese War would likely have given him knowledge of the Buffalo family's involvement in NYC during the war, so while the info may not be 100% accurate, it is the most detailed glimpse we have into a non-NYC family sending members to NYC during the war.

[cavita]

Joseph "Chicago Joe" Sciales last name could very well be Scalise which is an infamous name in the Chicago area.

[faffy444]

sam lovullo died in 1955 which was about a year before angelo acquisto committed suicide.

[Snakes]

There were four Carlisis, this is the first I heard of Alphonse being involved. Roy was of course UB in Buffalo and Sam and Carmen were both with the Outfit, although Carmen died fairly young (early seventies).

[B.]

sam lovullo died in 1955 which was about a year before angelo acquisto committed suicide.

Acquisto was said to have been demoted in the early 1950s, a few years before he killed himself and Magaddino speaks very poorly of LoVullo, so I'd be curious if LoVullo also lost standing related to the Acquisto situation during that window of time between Acquisto's demotion and LoVullo's death.

[faffy444]

magaddino spoke poorly of most people most of the time. lovullo may have lost standing at some point in the early 50's. in the old days lovullo was one of the top guns .

[antimafia]

Far be it from me to post or comment about a topic with which I am wholly unfamiliar, but I accidentally became aware of the item to which I've linked below when I was searching for something else. There is a 4 min. video interview embedded in the article (ignore the 1 min. video embedded earlier in the article).

Was Rochester Mobster Jake Russo Strangled In This Restaurant Basement?

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/st ... 191800002/