Bellomo family history and connections

[B.]

Liborio Bellomo from Corleone
- Born May 1879. Died in the Bronx in February 1972.
- May have come into the US in 1913, traveling with a Salvatore and Vincenzo Bellomo.
- Had a relative named Joe Bellomo, likely his brother Giuseppe, who lived at the same address on the westside of Manhattan circa late 1910s, where Liborio was working as a shoemaker.
- Traveled to Sicily sometime in the early 1920s and arrived back in the US in 1923, said to have a wife named Giuseppa Catania and arriving to meet a brother-in-law named Bellomo. From his 1926 travels we know that a brother-in-law was named Salvatore Bellomo, so this is likely the same guy and possibly the same Salvatore Bellomo he traveled with in 1913.
- In 1907, a Salvatore Bellomo (b. 1879) married a "Frane" Bellomo, said to be the daughter of another Salvatore Bellomo. This could explain why the brothers-in-law shared the same last name. Other records point to Liborio's father also being named Salvatore, so "Frane" may have been his sister.
- Naturalized in 1933.
- By WWII, he is a butcher living on 116th in East Harlem and lists his family contact as a Leo Bellomo. This is his second son, Leoluca. Leoluca was busted in the late 1930s in connection to a widespread scam where butchers were adding weight to their scales. Stefano Magaddino discussed his early background as a butcher on one of his office tapes and mentioned a similar scam.
- A Liborio Bellomo returned to the US from a travel to Sicily in 1947, heading to a Brooklyn address. May not be him, but a Vincenzo Bellomo had settled in Brooklyn so if he did head to Brooklyn that might explain it.

Liborio's possible mafia connections
- During a 1926 return to the US from Sicily, Bonanno member Nicolo Guastella was on the same ship as Liborio Bellomo. Guastella had strong ties to San Jose and would later move there, and interestingly on the ship manifest Guastella is listed alongside two Sciortinos (Giovanni and Paolo) from Bagheria going to San Jose. The San Jose family's first known leaders were brothers Onofrio and Carmelo Sciortino from Bagheria so could be a relation to these ones.
- A fellow Corleonese of Bellomo on the same 1926 manifest was Concetto Cannella said to be meeting his cousin Salvatore Bellomo near the Upper East Side, who Liborio Bellomo is listed as meeting as well, with Salvatore described as Liborio's brother-in-law. It would appear that Cannella and Bellomo were traveling together and relatives of one another given the mutual connection to Salvatore Bellomo.
- There was an early NJ member of the Profaci family named Salvatore Cannella (b.1885) who was likely a Newark member before that. I can't find where he came from, but New Jersey had an early Corleonese boss so would be interesting if Salvatore Cannella was from Corleone like Concetto Cannella and if there is any connection. Edit: Salvatore Cannella's WWII registration lists his hometown as Palermo.
- The 1940 US census record had Liborio Bellomo (b.1879) listed as a federal inmate in Springfield, MO at the time of the census. This means Liborio was involved in illegal activity of some kind while in his 50s or 60s which would lend itself to the idea of him being a mafioso or associate.
- A Vincenzo Bellomo was also the son-in-law of Toto Riina, infamous Corleone boss. Obviously too young to be the same one that traveled with Liborio in 1913, but shows that these names are recurring.
- Giuseppa Catania Bellomo (the elder Liborio's wife) was a first cousin of early Gagliano/Lucchese member Nunzio Pomilla, who was also the brother-in-law of boss Tom Gagliano. Giuseppa's mother's brother was the father of Nunzio Pomilla. Technically, Genovese boss Barney Bellomo is not related to the Pomillas (via this connection at least, as Giuseppa was his stepmother, but half-brother Leoluca (father of Liborio T. Bellomo) would be a blood relative of the Pomillas.
- It has been mentioned that Genovese boss Liborio "Barney" Bellomo and Charles Majuri of the DeCavalcante family are first cousins. Thanks to a Corleonese genealogy researcher, we know the exact relation now. The wives of both Salvatore and Leoluca Bellomo were the daughters of Calogero Majuri's wife's sister, making them first cousins of DeCavalcante underboss Frank Majuri. Barney Bellomo and Charles Majuri aren't first cousins, but Barney's mother is a first cousin of Charles' father.

Salvatore Bellomo, father of Barney
- Cafaro and Capeci implied that Barney's father Salvatore was a Genovese member who died in the 1970s. Closest SSDI match for Barney Bellomo's father is a "Salvatore Bellamo" b. April 25, 1915 who died in January 1980 (sometimes January dates indicate a rollover from 1979) in the Bronx.
- An immigration record from 1932 has a Salvatore Bellomo matching this one's age arriving in the US, listing an address in East Harlem. Said to be born in NYC April 4th, 1915, so the month and year at least match the one who died in the Bronx ~1980.
- A Salvatore Bellomo b.1915 arrived in the US in 1948 listing an address on 187th street in the Bronx. A name below it is scratched out but lists the same address. I can make out the first name Giuseppa and written below is "nee Catania", so this is clearly the Giuseppa Catania Bellomo, wife of Liborio of Corleone b.1879, listed as his wife in his 1913 manifest. Her age is listed as 63 and Salvatore's as 33, so given the context it seems a pretty good indication she is his mother (EDIT: turns out she is his step-mother), meaning that this Salvatore is also the son of Liborio (b.1879). This is supported by Liborio's father being named Salvatore and his son Salvatore naming his own son Liborio in the typical naming tradition.
- Salvatore has a US passport while his mother has an Italian one, implying Salvatore was a US citizen, like the one who traveled in the early 1930s.
- Edit: There may be some discrepancies with this bit. Giovanna would have been on the older side to be Barney's mother so it's not clear if she is his mother; given the number of Salvatore Bellomos from Corleone, there could be confusion but I'll keep the info here for now. Salvatore was married to Giovanna DiGillio/DiGiglio/DeGiglio (DiGiglia) in late 1936. Not sure where her father Giuseppe came from. Records show that Giovanna "Jennie" Bellomo lived at an address associated with Barney Bellomo's immediate relatives and available info points to her being his mother.
- Despite rumors that Barney Bellomo and/or his father were born in Corleone, it appears they were both born in the US. However, Salvatore Bellomo and his father Liborio look to have traveled overseas quite a few times between them, so it appears they stayed close to their Sicilian roots at least through the 1940s.

Salvatore's membership in the Genovese family
- As Mentioned, Salvatore Bellomo was mentioned as a member of the Genovese family in the Saverio Santora crew (among other captains, not sure the timeline) at the time of his death by Fish Cafaro. This crew was very close to Tony Salerno.
- To my knowledge, Salvatore Bellomo is not identified anywhere else as a member and would have gone completely unknown if not for his son's infamy and Cafaro's information.
- The Santora crew seems to have had few members of Sicilian heritage by the 1970s, making Salvatore Bellomo somewhat of an outlier. However, before the non-Sicilian Coppola took over the crew in the 1930s, it was run by the Corleonese Ciro Terranova.
- Many, if not most, Corleonesi went with the Reina/Gagliano family after Giuseppe Morello joined the Masseria family, bringing with him relatives like Ciro Terranova and what would seem to be a minority of Corleonesi who remained loyal to Morello.
- The Genovese family, more than other families, tends to have more consistent crew assignments with fewer members (and their relatives) being moved around or assigned to random crews. Aside from examples of crews being split up or breaking off (and even then the crews seem to stay relatively consistent), my perception is that Genovese members tend to stay with the same crew for most of their lives. If Salvatore Bellomo was always with the former Terranova-Coppola crew and his father Liborio was indeed a mafioso, this could point to Liborio Bellomo (b. 1879) having been with the Terranova crew, which would make sense given they were both Corleonesi in a family that was increasingly non-Sicilian.
- With the last two points in mind, it is very interesting that the Bellomos didn't end up being Lucchese members like many Corleonesi, especially given the relation to Pomilla/Gagliano. This could imply that if Liborio Bellomo b.1879 was a mafioso, he had a reason to stay loyal to Morello and Terranova. Relation, close friendship, business relationship?
- Liborio's wife and Salvatore's mother had the surname Catania. Ciro Terranova's wife was also a Catania and his nephews Joe and Jimmy "Baker" Catania were mafiosi, with Joe Baker being infamously killed during the Castellammarese war. I can't find a relation between Giuseppa Catania Bellomo (from Corleone) and the Terranova Catanias (said to be from Palermo) but it is oddly coincidental if nothing else that Salvatore Bellomo's stepmother was a Catania and he was one of the few Corleonese to end up with the Genovese family.

[johnny_scootch]

Great stuff.

[aleksandrored]

this is amazing, I did not know there was so much about Barney's family.

[Snakes]

Cool. Thanks, B.

[DPG]

Bet Barney wouldn't mind reading this lol. You probably know more about his family then himself at this point.

Great post BTW B.

[slimshady_007]

Good post.

[B.]

One thing I need to do more research on is Giovanna "Jennie" Bellomo's age -- if they were married in 1936 and didn't have Barney until 1957, that would point to her waiting many years and being fairly old to have children unless she was married as a relatively young teen. Edit: She seems to have been born in December 1915, which would have made her 42 at the time of Barney's birth. Very old for a woman, though not unheard of. It's also possible this is yet another Salvatore Bellomo who married Giovanna.

[Antiliar]

Good research, B

[B.]

Good research, B

Thanks, man. If you or any other researchers feel like digging in and can find anything to add or correct, please feel free.

One angle I'm most interested in is the possible Catania connection. The Terranova Catanias come up frequently because of Ciro Terranova and the Joe Baker Catania murder but I'm wondering how extensively these Catanias have been researched on their own. Joe and Jimmy were the sons of an Antonio Catania (brother of Ciro's wife), who I haven't seen mentioned as a mafioso or associate of any kind. I'm wondering if they were from the city of Palermo proper or if, like other cases, the province was incorrectly recorded as the city. The Giuseppe Catania, a member/associate of Lupo, killed in 1902 was from Bagheria.

No clue if Liborio Bellomo's wife Giuseppa Catania was from Corleone like him or another village, or if they were married in the US or Sicily. If it was in Sicily I would suspect she was from Corleone as that's the common scenario (though not always the case), but they don't seem to have started having children until they were in the US which may mean they were married here which opens up more possibilities.

[B.]

Here is another interesting bit:

- As mentioned, in 1940 Liborio Bellomo was in federal custody in Springfield, MO in a prison hospital (with notation that he's Italian-born, from New York). In addition to Bellomo, a Carl Civella b.1910 from Kansas City was in the same federal hospital and shows up on the same page as Bellomo. I'm unfamiliar with Kansas City, but from quick searching the birth year matches the well-known KC mafia leader Carl Civella. Does anyone know if he was in federal custody in MO circa 1940?

Great stuff.

I was going through some old stuff and found a note I had saved where you mentioned hearing that Bellomo and Majuri were first cousins. This was a few years before JD mentioned it in his great DeCavalcante thread(s). People have given you a hard time over the years, but you were on the ball with this. Was it something you had dug up in research or heard from someone? I had done some social media sleuthing years ago and saw the Bellomo and Majuri families were connected on there but there is no mention of being relatives. One of the most interesting modern day connections in my opinion.

[bronx]

great work B. thanks

[TommyNoto]

Just unreal info and I agree about the first cousin info

Since it’s known Barney was a heroin wholesaler when he was younger it’s probably save to assume his fathers principle racket was heroin trafficking as well.

That area I believe produced many of NYs biggest heroin dealers , specifically 116th and 107th st, Galante , Ormento , Pappdio amongst others I’m forgetting

[felice]

Great work as usually, B.

[johnny_scootch]

I was going through some old stuff and found a note I had saved where you mentioned hearing that Bellomo and Majuri were first cousins. This was a few years before JD mentioned it in his great DeCavalcante thread(s). People have given you a hard time over the years, but you were on the ball with this. Was it something you had dug up in research or heard from someone? I had done some social media sleuthing years ago and saw the Bellomo and Majuri families were connected on there but there is no mention of being relatives. One of the most interesting modern day connections in my opinion.

Zero credit shall be given to me. When 2 bosses are first cousins people talk about it, I just keep my ears open.
I appreciate the nod though. Great research feed us more.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Great stuff B.