Damiano Zummo's father

[B.]

- Bonanno acting captain Damiano Zummo's father Paolo Zummo was a Sicilian heroin trafficker connected to the Pizza Connection who visited Cafe Aiello, owned by Bonanno associate Antonino Aiello and a popular heroin hub frequented by many important members of the Bonanno "zip" faction.

- Paolo Zummo (b.1945) was caught in a 1985 bust with fellow Queens residents Pietro Amato, Pietro Tussa, Joseph Spatola, and a Belgian diplomat. Zummo acted as the middleman, obtaining heroin from the diplomat for the other Sicilians. During surveillance, Zummo was seen visiting Cafe Aiello and Cafe Mondello in connection with these heroin transactions. The men were convicted but Zummo was able to get his conviction reversed on appeal.

- The Zummos lived in Middle Village / Maspeth area and later Ozone Park. I haven't been able to determine where Zummo or his Sicilian associates were from in Sicily, only that they were identified in the investigation as "Sicilian organized crime figures" and their hangouts were linked with more well-known Pizza Connection figures and in particular the Bonanno "zip" faction in the Middle Village / Ridgewood area. Aside from that, Paolo Zummo is an obscure figure and I can't connect him to any other crimes or mafia activities, though this information alone shows us that his son Damiano didn't come completely out of nowhere to become a Bonanno member.

- It makes sense why Damiano Zummo was connected to Paul Ragusa in the recent case, as Ragusa was from Middle Village / Ridgewood and formerly associated with Baldo Amato, himself a major player in the Pizza Connection and a top Sicilian Bonanno member. Their backgrounds give them an obvious connection.

[CabriniGreen]

Okay, after reading all that....
I'm convinced all these people are connected.....


This is why when he met with the Violis, I'm sure it was to solidify a formal business tie, that business being narcotics trafficking, for access to thier connections to Colombia.... Is this assumption off?

The ORGANIZATIONAL tie I think matters less, they are ALL LCN/ Ndrangheta anyway......

This from FBI files?

[Eld]

Good post, B.

I belive Paolo Zummo was from Gibellina in Trapani and was related to Pasquale Zummo who was the mafia boss of Gibellina until he was murdered in the 1980s.

[B.]

Good post, B.

I belive Paolo Zummo was from Gibellina in Trapani and was related to Pasquale Zummo who was the mafia boss of Gibellina until he was murdered in the 1980s.

Gibellina is where I was leaning, too. Many Zummos are from there and Pasquale Zummo had a nephew named Paolo Zummo who was killed. It is a different Paolo Zummo from Damiano's father, but these names recur in families so it's one possibility, especially since Zummo and his associates were labeled "Sicilian organized crime figures" -- that implies a Sicilian mafia association. EDIT: One article about the 1985 bust describes the men as "four known members of the Sicilian mafia" and states that Zummo, Tussa, and Amato lived in Queens, while Spatola was an "Italian national." Spatola could be a Giuseppe Spatola who has been identified as a Palermo mafia member which would probably connect him to the Spatolas of the Gambino family.

A couple of us were trying to figure out which crew Damiano Zummo may be acting for a while back and I still believe it may be the Asaro/Giallanzo crew. The timeline for his promotion matches with Giallanzo going to prison and Zummo's Ozone Park/Maspeth background fits. The Asaro crew has tended to have American-born members of Sicilian background, especially from Trapani province (Castellammare, Santa Ninfa, etc.), so if the Zummos are from Gibellina that would be another fit, coincidence or not.

Zummo was also likely well-acquainted with Sal Montagna given their similar age/background. Would make sense if Zummo came up in the family when Montagna was acting boss and potentially add an angle to Zummo's visit to Canada. It should be noted that Zummo and/or other Bonanno figures at the Morena induction ceremony would have been introduced as members to the Canadian figures prior to that induction ceremony, which would require someone to make the introduction, so it may not have been Zummo and/or the other Bonanno members' first visit to Canada. In addition to Ragusa already mentioned, Zummo also may have known the informant Morena for many years given where he grew up and the circles all of these guys ran in. Ragusa and Montagna surely knew each other through Baldo Amato.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Great info B.

Where did you source if I may ask?

[B.]

Various records, court docs, articles and crossreferencing.

Meant to mention in the original post, Paul Ragusa's father Filippo Ragusa was a well-known Ridgewood "zip" heroin trafficker with the Pizza Connection who was busted along with a number of others, including an Andrea Aiello of Buffalo. This Aiello may have been from Bagheria (like many other mafia-related Aiellos in history) and not Castellammarese like the Bonanno Aiellos. Heroin from Italy was being brought to Aiello's warehouse in Buffalo through a man named Gianfranco Tierelli who obtained the heroin from the Bagheria family under Rosario Russo. Allegedly they were going to be bringing heroin in from Canada to the US via Buffalo. The Ragusas are from Bagheria and Filippo Ragusa was photographed in Bagheria with Bonanno figures Salvatore Catalano, John Licata (son of murdered Pietro), etc. I have never seen Ragusa identified as made member in Sicily but he was one of the top associates of the Bonanno zip group.

Luigi Ronsisvalle made it clear in his testimony that he considered the Bushwick / Ridgewood area Bonanno territory (though they paid homage to the Gambinos at select times), while he pointed out that 18th avenue in Brooklyn was Gambino territory. Along with the well-known Bonanno zip members active in this area, the non-made Sicilian associates Antonino Aiello and Filippo Gambina (Aiello's bro-in-law) were with the Bonannos and each of their sons would be with the Bonannos as well. Filippo Ragusa was very close with the Gambino zips but looks to have been more or less under the Bonannos, too, which is reinforced by his son being a Bonanno associate. There isn't enough as much info on Paolo Zummo as these other guys, but he follows the same pattern as these other examples and his son ending up with the Bonannos is a good indication that he too operated under the Bonanno banner.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Great stuff B

[B.]

Maybe Felice knows if Filippo Ragusa was made in Bagheria. Along with his son later becoming a mafia associate, Ragusa's daughter and son-in-law were involved in heroin trafficking as well as at least one or two other relatives by marriage. There was an interesting geographic triangle between San Giuseppe Iato (Ganci), Ciminna (Catalano), and Bagheria (Ragusa).

Would be curious what happened to Andrea Aiello of Buffalo. Their scheme was to bring narcotics from Canada in through Buffalo, so they would have likely had contacts in Ontario. Would be good to know if this was via Sicilian mafiosi in Ontario, Buffalo members/associates, or the Bonanno Montreal crew which had some presence in Ontario going back to at least the 1960s.

[CabriniGreen]

Maybe Felice knows if Filippo Ragusa was made in Bagheria. Along with his son later becoming a mafia associate, Ragusa's daughter and son-in-law were involved in heroin trafficking as well as at least one or two other relatives by marriage. There was an interesting geographic triangle between San Giuseppe Iato (Ganci), Ciminna (Catalano), and Bagheria (Ragusa).

Would be curious what happened to Andrea Aiello of Buffalo. Their scheme was to bring narcotics from Canada in through Buffalo, so they would have likely had contacts in Ontario. Would be good to know if this was via Sicilian mafiosi in Ontario, Buffalo members/associates, or the Bonanno Montreal crew which had some presence in Ontario going back to at least the 1960s.

Are they related to Emmanuelle Ragusa?

[B.]

Emanuele Ragusa was born in Cattolica Eraclea so not likely.

You have Filippo Ragusa's group with a connection through Buffalo and Ontario in the 1980s. Ragusa's heroin trafficking daughter and son-in-law owned the Cafe Giannini that later served as HQ to the "Giannini crew" which included Filippo's son Paul and the future informant Vincenzo Morena. Move forward to recent years and you have Paul Ragusa, Morena, and Damiano Zummo in Ontario dealing with at least one Buffalo member. It's strange that Montreal didn't directly factor into either situation (that we know of) considering it was a major transfer point for NYC heroin traffickers, in particular the Bonanno family, and that two generations in the "Giannini" circle had connections to Ontario ~30 years apart.

You also can't ignore the Paul Semplice /18th Avenue Gambino crew connection. With Filippo Ragusa's earlier ties to the 18th Avenue Gambino group, it seems many parallel connections exist then and now. Semplice is from Agrigento and has many direct relatives living there; not sure if he is connected to mafia members in Sicily.

Paolo Zummo was described as the "middleman" in the heroin case against him and it was clearly not his first/only time dabbling in the business. The case against him and his associates wasn't bundled in with the bigger Pizza Connection cases though Zummo was running in the same circles. Would be good to know who else he may have been in contact with.